Inside the Women's Unbound 200

Considered the world’s largest gravel race, Unbound has become the Superbowl of gravel racing. By now, most of you know how the race played out.

HPT Athlete Lauren De Crescenzo, a former winner, made an early solo break and gained a significant lead before being reeled back by the main chase group. This group, consisting of top riders and HPT Athletes like Sarah Sturm, Haley Smith, and Paige Onweller, ultimately couldn’t be broken until the line. The top nine finishers were separated by only a few seconds as all of them sprinted in for the win.

This year’s event was highlighted by a significant change with separate start times for the women, allowing for a more independent and unique race free from the influence of either pro or amateur men. The women’s race was intense, tactical, and very tight.

Here’s what each had to say about their race experience in this year’s Unbound.

Sarah Sturm:

There's so much that happened, but essentially the race got to play out because we weren't caught immediately or we weren't mixed into the men. Historically, our race has been: You warm up for a 200-mile race, we're mixed in with the men, and then it becomes how long can you dangle at your VO2 max? Then the field gets blown apart and you don't know where anyone is, and you eventually settle into a group with both men and women.

But, Saturday, it was [different]. I was at the front of the race the whole day and we knew when Lauren attacked. We all worked together to bring her back. It was pretty clear at mile 150 to me that it was going to be a sprint finish, and I'm not a sprinter.

Haley Smith:

I'm still not better. I actually decided that I was going to race at 5:47 AM on the morning of Unbound. I texted my coach and I was like, “I'm going to give it a go. I'll get to checkpoint one and then reassess.” So I had no performance expectations, not having done any intensity in seven weeks, and pretty modest volume training.

And then I got there and I was still in the group, so I just kept going. It ended up being a good result. In retrospect, you're like, “Well, maybe I should have been more aggressive and actually given myself the benefit of the doubt of thinking I could win.” But I also know that if you decide you're going to start 15 minutes before the race, your best hope is probably to survive it. So I'm trying to cut myself some slack on not animating things more.

[With the group of nine], I don't feel there were many attacks, but it was very hard to get away. It wasn't a super selective course and we were all kind of assessing each other so no one was super aggressive.

Paige Onweller:

I was super stoked to just be able to line up. I had ankle surgery 12 weeks before Unbound, and so honestly, the week of –even a couple days prior– I didn't even know if I'd be able to finish. Especially if it was muddy.

I remember having a conversation that I have to be ready to the DNF at any point in time. So honestly, I came into it with low expectations and just wanted to celebrate that I was healthy enough to line up. I had no expectations to perform as well as I did.

I was super stoked to actually have a good result and it really solidified that I was intentional during my rehab process, which was great. Honestly, The Feed was a part of that too because you all helped me a lot with Collagen, healing, and not losing muscle mass.

I didn't have any mechanicals – like zero, which is great. I attribute that to [the fact] that I rode all sections of the entire course at least two times. I think that was a testament to knowing where to go slower.

The big development that came out of Unbound this year was the impact of having a separate men’s and women’s start. The women started behind the pro men and ahead of the amateur waves.

Sarah Sturm:

That's what I would start with for sure – taking my personal result out of the picture, it was a big day for women's off-road racing.

That's kind of how it felt. We've had a separate start before at on Unbound but the mud, by no fault of anyone, put a kibosh on it being a separate women's race. But it was the first time I raced exclusively with women the entire day. I had this thought, I was like, “Is this how the dude's races have gone? This is way more fun. This is insane. This is so fun. I actually want to do Unbound again.”

I've never felt that. In years past, my effort has been exponentially higher, but not as fun. It's just like an individual time trial of how long you can push yourself to your limit. I'm not saying I was soft-pedaling out there by any means, but it was tactical. It was interesting. Everyone had the same motivation, which is the biggest difference.

Haley Smith:

It was actually a race. We've never had that before. We've never had a race that is also a game and not just a fitness test. The way that we've raced in the past, it's been very specific who can stick with the men for the first 20 minutes. So we had a bike race and we've never had that before.

Paige Onweller:

Ultimately it allowed us to all see each other and it's much different racing and riding with women than racing and riding with men. From a physiological standpoint, it just makes the race a lot more enjoyable. Instead of going out hard to find some really fast guy’s wheel and then kind of dying the rest of the day, it was nice to race with people who were physiologically the same as me.

We showed the world that we're worth watching and having our own show, when you mix us with men, the women can't be highlighted. I think at Unbound, if anything, the most important theme of the entire weekend across the board was that the women put on an amazing show. And that's what happens when you give women the opportunity to showcase.

What was really special was that as you're racing those other women for 200 miles, there's a camaraderie and mutual respect that occurs in the peloton. We have yet to really have a lot of opportunities to develop that.

Unbound is notorious for being a fueling test as much as it is a fitness test. The level is higher than ever, so what did these pro women do to fuel the biggest gravel race in the world?

Sarah Sturm:

Well, yes. I hired a nutritionist. It's been probably the best thing I have done for my career since I started racing. I went from eating 30 grams of carbs an hour in races last year to 90-110 grams.

I feel like it should be cheating.

For Unbound specifically, I learned some lessons from Traka, which was another 200-mile race. I can pretty much fuel exclusively with gels and drink carb mix until a certain point and then I switch to plain water and gels, and then I have backup bars if needed. And I actually had backup Pizza Bagel Bites again this year that they honestly saved me last year at a certain point in the day. This year's unbound was so fast, it was a really fast year. So I would say past hour 12 is when I start getting like, “Okay, I don't think I can take on more gels.” But we finished in 10 and a half hours, so I pretty much fueled the whole day on Flow Formulas and then Spring Energy.

Basically, every 20 minutes I was eating and drinking something. In my pack, I had 120 grams of carbs from Flow Formulas, that's a liter and a half of water. I was eating Maurten 160 gels and took a CAF gel two hours out [from the finish]. I probably could have done another caffeinated gel 40 minutes out - maybe it would've magically turned me into a sprinter.

Haley Smith:

The majority of my health issues right now are related to my gut. So I've had to be really careful. I'm definitely not well-fueled and in Unbound I had to be deliberate. I was only hitting 50 or 60 grams of carbs per hour, and I was trying to get most of my nutrition through liquid because I'm not digesting things very well.

I was using First Endurance but not mixed to the full high-carb amount. Then I was using First Endurance gels and UnTapped – both because they don't have fructose, and one of the things I'm struggling with right now is digesting fructose. I had to choose options that were a single fuel source instead of a dual fuel source, which is not ideal, but if you're dealing with health issues, it's a way to get around it. I had to be really crafty because I knew that I didn't have as many calories in the tank as the other girls.

Paige Onweller:

We're always pushing high carbs. We're always pushing 120g an hour and I did target and consume about 110g an hour. But what I'm learning is that for the really long stuff –and when it's hot out– I do not do well with high-carb drink mixes. So I've had to transition to doing a high-carb drink mix in the early part of the race transitioning around halfway through to hydration only in the bottle. That's been a game-changer for how I felt when racing. It also means I have to be a lot more intentional with having more gels. For me, that was a big change – I also focused a lot on salt and hydration and making sure that I had a solid plan there because it's really easy to just focus on the carbs.

I really like the Mortal Hydration and I alternate Salty and non Salty. For gels, I use the Beta Fuel, First Endurance, and Enervit gels. For the most part I just kind of kept things on rotation and varied what I was doing every hour.

What are they looking forward to next? Well, let’s see.

Sarah Sturm:

A UCI Gravel World Series race and Migration Gravel. They're both in Nairobi, so it's sort of like if you fly 30 hours, might as well just sign up for another race. That's part of the Gravel Earth series, so if I do well there I could be in the running for the overall.

Haley Smith:

It's hard because I'm still trying to figure out the health stuff, so there are still lots of doctor's appointments and things going on. But, it's the “early days” for the Grand Prix because there's only been two races and you can drop two. I haven't reassessed any goals or really looked at that too in-depth, but my biggest goals for the rest of the year would be the Leadville 100, Gravel World Champs, and Marathon Mountain Bike World Champs. I'm also doing BC Bike Race and it's going to be about just enjoying the trails.

Paige Onweller:

I just started racing. So for me, I feel like I'm really hungry and eager because I just took a lot of time off with the surgery. I have some decisions to make looking at the second half of the season, you can either prioritize Grand Prix ranking or you can prioritize Gravel Nationals and UCI Gravel Worlds. So there's some conflicting preferences there and I'll make those decisions probably after Crusher.

I'm just looking forward to Crusher, SBT, The Rad, Gravel Nationals…all these events are right up my wheelhouse. So honestly, I'm just pumped to keep racing and excited to get started again.