May was not a quiet month for Tasman Nankervis. First, he won the UCI Gravel World Series in Nanup, Western Australia. Then he won a close race to finish runner-up at the Australian Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships, and the next day he took off for his first gravel race in the United States.

June will bring more action for the 27-year-old Australian. Especially considering that his first race in the US will be the Unbound Gravel 200.

That means 205 miles (330 km) of gravel roads on a prestigious field filled with American gravel specialists, international challengers, and riders from other disciplines gathered for the prestigious gravel race in the Flint Hills of Kansas The event will be held in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

"It's the toughest first race and the biggest unknown," Nankervis (BMC-Shimano) told Cycling News before leaving Australia.

"I've increased the amount of endurance training I've been doing over the past month, but unless I've had some unbound experience, who knows how my body will react in a 9-10 hour race... I can ride for 9-10 hours, but it's a different challenge when it comes to racing. Fueling and pacing will be critical. And there is also luck.

But unbound is only the beginning.

Nankervis has been selected as one of 70 riders (35 men and 35 women) to compete in the Lifetime Grand Prix Series, which offers seven rounds of racing and $250,000 in prize money in the US. This is a chance to make a headway in the gravel world, which seems to be the ideal type of racing for this multi-talented rider from Bendigo.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. The same is true of a series that mixes long mountain bike events and gravel races under one banner.

"I have a mountain biking and road racing background and these long mountain bike marathons and gravel races are dream events. There is prize money if you do well in the series, and the opportunities are great in the US."

"I'm very excited to be a part of this series," he said.

This could mean that, if all goes according to plan, he will not have to dig deep into his own pockets to travel to North America in the future. Nankervis says that he is fortunate that his sponsors will pay for all the equipment, but more than that, he will be forced to take a 20-plus hour flight, accommodations, and several months of leave in order to compete in the US.

"I will definitely be living cheap," said Nankervis, who is traveling with his girlfriend.

That means staying with a homestay whenever possible, borrowing a pickup truck from a friend, throwing a mattress in the back, and even renting a box trailer to haul his motorcycle and camping gear. At the very least, we'd like to avoid a second Nancap experience where we get off the plane and the bike hasn't arrived.

Nankervis missed the first Grand Prix of April, the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race, Fuego XL, and instead stayed in Australia a little longer. He will be battling big unknowns in the second round, the Unbound Gravel 200, but it will be important to get as many rounds in as possible. He will compete in six of the seven rounds in this event, five of which will be added to his series ranking.

"Every race is new to me, and it might take me a year to figure it out, and maybe I'll be asked to come back next year, but financially ...... I hope to be able to do it next year with support. "

The race that will be the catalyst for him to move up the leaderboard is just around the corner: the Crusher in the Tushar on July 8, a hilltop finish that will showcase the climbing prowess of the Australian, who also contributed to his solo victory in Nanup.

And the Leadville Trail 100 MTB in August is the race Nankervis has chosen as the most likely to improve his ranking and achieve his goal of a top-10 finish.

"I know I'm competitive and a top 10 overall finish would put me in the money.