The boundaries of Unbound Gravel go effectively past the Flint Hills of Kansas this 12 months. You don’t even need to be within the US to participate within the ‘Super Bowl of Gravel’ or to comply with the progress of the world’s high elite riders as they pound throughout the open prairie, punchy climbs and unforgiving parts.
Thanks to Laurens ten Dam of Live Slow Ride Fast and JOIN Cycling, cyclists anyplace on this planet might be a part of Rebound Gravel on the identical day as Unbound Gravel and win a ton of cool prizes, together with a free entry to the occasion in 2025.
As for dwell streaming, it’s not making a repeat efficiency from two years in the past, however Life Time, which owns and operates Unbound Gravel and the Grand Prix collection, is severe about bringing it again, and till then, will present real-time updates on social media feeds, in addition to dwell monitoring from the outcomes web page and a post-race highlights present in 2024.
Here is a abstract of how any bicycle owner can get near the motion on Saturday with out shopping for an airline ticket to fly to Kansas.
Rebound Gravel
On June 1, almost 5,000 riders depart from Emporia, Kansas on 4 of the favored journey routes – 25 miles to 200 miles – at Unbound Gravel. What would it not appear like if greater than 200,000 cyclists jumped in to journey? Since that expansive quantity is for a Rebound Strava Challenge for individuals all over the world, utilizing their very own gravel roads, singletrack, cobbles and pavement near dwelling, it turns into a day “in regards to the journey, not outcomes”.
Pro bicycle owner Laurens ten Dam, who has completed both second or fourth within the final three Unbound Gravel 200 races, based the choice mass-start occasion in 2020 along with his Live Slow Ride Fast podcast after two months of the COVID-19 world pandemic left individuals stranded indoors and when many individuals, together with himself, had large occasions cancelled, together with that 12 months’s rebranded Unbound Gravel.
The problem occasion was an prompt hit for amateurs and professionals, and was held for 2 years. After taking off 2023, Ten Dam partnered with JOIN Cycling and acquired assist from Strava and Shimano to refresh Rebound.
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“And individuals began moaning like, ‘Hey, you probably did it already two years. We did it on the identical day as Unbound and we wish to do this once more. Oh, we wish our occasion. We need rebound. We need prizes’,” Ten Dam recounted to Cyclingnews about bringing the do-it-yourself problem again, however in a giant method.
He mentioned 290,000 individuals have registered since 2020, and by way of miles ridden by individuals, it has change into the most important occasion by a bunch worldwide on Strava.
“The cool factor about that is which you can actually make it into an occasion from dwelling. You go to locations you will by no means see on the bike, usually from dwelling. Then do it with a bunch of pals, and have a pleasant after-party. It’s virtually like an occasion, you already know. And that is what we present individuals, which you can additionally do issues from dwelling, and it may be actually enjoyable. It’s in regards to the journey, not the outcomes. And so I’m actually fairly happy with the way it turned out.”
Riding is among the many rewards, and all riders obtain a digital badge to make use of for bragging rights. There are plenty of different prizes, together with one assured entry into Unbound Gravel in 2025. Other prizes embody a prize bundle from Skoda that features two grandstand tickets for the Tour de France end in Nice, a Live Slow Ride Fast biking equipment, Shimano RX6 biking footwear and socks, and JOIN Cycling coaching plan for all times. Entry is free, and there are not any cut-off dates to emphasise the enjoyment of biking. Details can be found at www.rebound.cc.
‘Life’ broadcast for elite races
In 2022, the primary season of the Life Time Grand Prix, organisers tried dwell streaming on the first three occasions within the collection, together with Unbound Gravel 200. Aerial protection from a dozen roaming cameras, together with drones and 4x4s on the 200-mile route, have been mixed with cameras on the end line, broadcast by FloSports. The effort was made, however the product suffered.
The technical limitations and the distant places for each Unbound, and later Crusher within the Tushar, “proved insurmountable” and a joint determination between Life Time and FloBikes suspended the broadcasts for the ultimate three occasions that 12 months. But Life Time isn’t giving up.
“So how we’re approaching content material this 12 months goes to be completely different than how we have now in years previous. One of our objectives is to create extra fandom of the game. We’re shifting our content material format to be extra within the second,” Michell Duffy, Senior Marketing Director, Events and Retail Marketing for Life Time, advised Cyclingnews.
“Trying to dwell stream in 12 months one [of the Life Time Grand Prix] was aggressive. But we do not wish to get there in 10 years, we wish to try to get there in three years or 5 years. So we’re regularly testing various things. We’ve been dabbling in numerous markets to determine what connectivity is like. And an instance of that was final 12 months on social media, we went dwell for the final 15 miles of the RAD.
“Our focus for this 12 months isn’t taking place the dwell stream rabbit gap simply but, principally as a result of if it failed, then we did not ship expertise. But as a substitute, rising the mannequin that we examined at Leadville after which Big Sugar, which is a ‘Life’ broadcast, so a race highlights video that comes out 24 to 48 hours following the race.”
Life Time mentioned it could solely present dwell streaming if high-production high quality may very well be offered, nevertheless, the remoteness of the vast majority of the gravel races proceed to plague the method.
So, in 2024, biking followers will be capable to view, free of charge, a long-form recap video of how the race unfolded. The video will probably be round 40 minutes in size and will probably be made out there inside 24 to 48 hours on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube Channel.
Instagram would be the foremost social channel for updates throughout each the 200-mile and 100-mile race, utilizing @lifetimegrandprix and @UnboundGravel. For updates as athletes publish cut up instances at numerous verify factors on the routes, the Athlinks, the timing info will once more be offered by Athlinks.
Fantasy League
The Life Time Grand Prix Fantasy League is underway. No, you’ll be able to’t win prize cash like the highest athletes within the 60-rider discipline, but it surely’s alleged to be enjoyable, and because the saying goes, ‘if it’s free, it’s for me’.
Starting with the primary spherical of the Life Time Grand Prix at Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL, followers can choose their high 10 favourites (5 males and 5 ladies) in every of the seven races and compete for recognition as a high prognosticator.
“So the fantasy league is only a enjoyable initiative that we put out. There’s been some feedback like, ‘simply choose Keegan, each race’. But we have created the fantasy league in a method that forces you to care about the entire Grand Prix, as a result of you’ll be able to solely choose every athlete two instances. That implies that you must faucet into the broader discipline, and really be strategic,” Duffy mentioned.
Sofia Gomez Villafañe was the most typical choose within the opening spherical, chosen by 80% of individuals. Keegan Swenson was chosen by 77% of fantasy leaguers, whereas Alexis Skarda and Haley Smith have been added by 68% and 67%, respectively.
Players might be part of the sport at any level within the season, so if people didn’t choose riders for Fuego XL there may be time remaining for Unbound Gravel 200. Selections shut at 11:59pm MT the night earlier than race day.