Free Shipping
on all orders
Delivery TimeShipping Method
1 - 5 business daysFREE Standard Delivery
2 business daysFedEx 2Day
1 business dayFedEx Overnight

Carriers

fedex shipping logoups shipping logousps shipping logo
Orders under 1lb or to APO/FPO & PO Box destinations: These orders will ship with USPS and typically take 1 to 2 days longer than the Standard Delivery estimate. Free Shipping Offers: Only valid within the contiguous USA. Future subscriptions will renew with free shipping if the renewal amount is $49 or higher otherwise shipping will cost $7.95.
 
  • Hydration
    Hydration
    • All Hydration
    • Workout
      Workout
      • All Workout
      • Caffeinated
      • High Carb (>60g)
      • High Flavor
      • High Sodium (>750mg)
      • Low Flavor
      • Low Sugar (<5g)
      • Neutral
    • Daily
      Daily
      • All Daily
      • Caffeinated
      • Effervescent
      • High Sodium (>750mg)
      • Powder
      • Stevia Free
    • Pre-Workout
      Pre-Workout
      • All Pre-Workout
      • Caffeinated
      • Caffeine Free
    • Electrolyte Boosters
    • Cramp Solutions
  • Carbs
    Carbs
    • All Carbs
    • Gels
      Gels
      • All Gels
      • Caffeinated
      • High Carb (>40g)
      • High Sodium (>100mg)
      • Isotonic
      • Maple Syrup
      • Neutral Flavor
      • Nootropic
      • Real Food
    • Drinks
      Drinks
      • All Drinks
      • Caffeinated
      • 40g to 79g of Carbs
      • Over 80g of Carbs
    • Chews
      Chews
      • All Chews
      • Caffeinated
      • High Sodium (>100mg)
      • Neutral Flavor
      • Sour Tasting
    • Bars
      Bars
      • All Bars
      • Gluten Free
      • High Carb (>40g)
      • Kids
      • Meal
      • Nut
      • Oat
      • Protein (>10g)
      • Real Food
      • Rice
    • Waffles
      Waffles
      • All Waffles
      • Gluten Free
      • Thin
  • Protein
    Protein
    • All Protein
    • Whey
      Whey
      • All Whey
      • Chocolate
      • Vanilla
    • Clear Whey
    • Collagen
      Collagen
      • All Collagen
      • Peptides
      • Skin & Nail Health
    • Isolate
      Isolate
      • All Isolate
      • Clear
      • Whey
    • Protein Bars
      Protein Bars
      • All Protein Bars
      • Low Sugar (<4g)
      • Plant Based
      • Vegan
      • Workout (>20g)
    • Plant
      Plant
      • All Plant
      • Brown Rice
      • Hemp
      • Pea Protein
      • Soy
      • Vegan
    • Night Protein
    • Recovery Shakes
    • Blenders & Shakers
  • Supplements
    Supplements
    • All Supplements
    • Formulas
    • Vitamin & Minerals
      Vitamin & Minerals
      • All Vitamin & Minerals
      • Vitamin B
      • Greens & Reds
      • Gummies
      • Immune Support
      • Iron
      • Magnesium
      • Multi-Vitamins
      • Omegas
      • Vitamin C
      • Vitamin D
      • Women Specific
      • Zinc
    • Creatine
    • Athlete Performance
      Athlete Performance
      • All Athlete Performance
      • Adaptogens
      • Beta-Alanine
      • Bicarb
      • Caffeine
      • Creatine
      • Ketones
      • Nitric Oxide
      • Pre-workout
    • Strength
      Strength
      • All Strength
      • Aminos & BCAAs
      • Peptides
    • Sleep
      Sleep
      • All Sleep
      • Go to Sleep
      • Magnesium
      • Melatonin
      • Stay Asleep
    • Recovery
      Recovery
      • All Recovery
      • Aminos & BCAAs
      • Beets
      • Collagen
      • Injury
      • Joint Support
      • Tart Cherry
      • Turmeric
    • Gut & Biotics
      Gut & Biotics
      • All Gut & Biotics
      • L-Glutamine
      • Lactic Probiotics
      • Probiotics
    • Longevity
      Longevity
      • All Longevity
      • Brain Health
      • Glutathione
      • Heart Health
      • Liver Health
      • NAD
      • Resveratrol
      • Stress
    • Focus
    • Hormone Support
    • GLP1 & Weight Loss
      GLP1 & Weight Loss
      • All GLP1 & Weight Loss
      • Blood Sugar Regulation
      • Metabolism
    • Other
      Other
      • All Other
      • Apple Cider Vinegar
      • Copper & Silver
      • Energy
      • Keto
    • Ketones
      Ketones
      • All Ketones
      • Bulk Bottles
      • Ready to Drink
      • Shots
  • Gear
    Gear
    • All Gear
    • Packs & Vests & Belts
      Packs & Vests & Belts
      • All Packs & Vests & Belts
      • Accessories
      • Bladders
      • Hydration Pack
      • Insulated
      • Running Belts
      • Running Vests
      • Soft Flasks
    • Technology
      Technology
      • All Technology
      • Cooling
      • Headphones
      • Heat Sensor
      • Hydration Sensor
      • Sleep
      • Swim Goggles
      • Watches
    • Recovery Gear
      Recovery Gear
      • All Recovery Gear
      • Accessories
      • Back
      • Compression
      • Cooling
      • Cupping
      • Feet
      • Heat
      • Massage & Percussion
      • Muscle Stim
      • Red Light
      • Rollers
    • Bottles
      Bottles
      • All Bottles
      • Branded
      • Cleaning
      • Daily Hydration
      • Insulated Bottles
      • Running
      • Shaker
      • Soft Flasks
      • Water Bottles
    • Socks
      Socks
      • All Socks
      • Compression
      • Feed Branded
      • Run & Ride
    • Hats & Headgear
      Hats & Headgear
      • All Hats & Headgear
      • Beanies
      • Bucket Hats
      • Cooling
      • Headbands
      • Running Hats
      • Sweat Trapping
      • Visors
    • Bags
      Bags
      • All Bags
      • Bike
      • Day & Gym
      • Hike
      • Medical
      • Travel
    • Body
      Body
      • All Body
      • Anti-Chafe
      • Foot Care
      • Pain Relief & Recovery
      • Shaving
      • Skin & Hair
      • Sun Protection
    • Feed Gear
      Feed Gear
      • All Feed Gear
      • Clothing
      • Cycling Kits
      • Training Gear
  • Superfoods
    Superfoods
    • All Superfoods
    • Super Drinks
    • Functional Gummies
    • Mushrooms
    • Beets
    • Tart Cherry
    • Meat Snacks
    • Bone Broth
    • Snacks
    • Oatmeal
    • Pancakes
    • Granola
    • Baking
    • Coffee
  • Hot Deals
    Hot Deals
    Shop All Hot Deals
  • Insider
  • New
    Shop All New
  • Brands
    Top Brands at The Feed
    View All 175+ Brands
Top Brands
Hot DealsInsiderNewBrands
LoginCreate an account
Change country
All undefined
All undefined
The Feed Insider
Cycling
Running
Triathlon
How to Fuel
Feed News
Training Tips
Athlete Stories
Product Highlight
Background
  1. Home
  2. The Feed Insider
  3. Athlete Stories
  4. Unbound Gravel: Reflections
Jun 10, 2024

Unbound Gravel: Reflections

By Joe Laverick

Guest Writer

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Joe Laverick is back with his reflections on the 2024 Unbound Gravel. After unpacking his fueling plan for the big event in a previous blog, we find out how his day broke down.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are, and what your intentions are – Unbound will test you and bring stories that last a lifetime.”

This is a quote from my own writing piece the week before Unbound. Unbound Gravel is 200-miles long, it is a beautiful race, but it is a bastard of a race. It is an unforgiving slog through the flint hills of Kansas.

There’s a saying in boxing: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”, that has some correlations with Unbound Gravel.

Where do I start?

For me, Unbound prep started in quite the unconventional way – on the floor of a random Irish road with blood pouring from my arm.

I’m a rider that mixes road and gravel, and the week before the Unbound I raced the Rás Tailteann in Ireland. To cut a long story short, my race was cut short by a pretty bad crash leaving me questioning if all of my bones were intact, let alone if I’d be racing Unbound.

I took a few days off, and travelled to Emporia regardless. Too much time, effort and resources had gone into the race. If I was healthy enough to be on the start line, I would race.

Arriving in Emporia on Wednesday morning, my brain clicked into race mode. What tyres would I use? How would my carb load look? Can I dial my fuelling strategy more?

I did everything that I could to keep my stress levels low. I even ordered a groceries delivery to our race house, because who wants to spend an hour walking around Walmart after 24hrs of traveling?

Carbs, carbs and more carbs – that’s how the run up to Unbound looks. For a 10hr+ race, you need to be fuelled. In the 72hrs before a race, I weigh every single piece of food and input it to a tracking app. This isn’t because I’m scared of my weight, or eating too much, but is instead to ensure that I don’t underfuel.

It’s unfathomable the amount of food you need to eat before a race.

The morning of the race, at 4am in the morning, I had my tried and tested pre-race meal, a smoothie. I’ve tried plenty of pre-race meals over the years. From porridge, to rice, to overnight oats. Personally, a smoothie works best for me. I had 870kcals, and 179g of carbs for breakfast. I probably should’ve aimed for the 1000kcal and 200g of carb number.

The Race

The race itself was hectic. There were multiple crashes in the neutral zone, including one which left a big burn mark on the back of my leg when somebody's tyre got a little too close for comfort. I mean come on guys, why crash before we even start? We have 325km to fight for position!

It was a cagey start at the front of the elite race. Nobody wanted to blink first, everybody wanted to be in a good position and everybody wanted to conserve energy. There were crashes, there were splits, but the first 90-minutes wasn’t physically that hard.

I can’t comment on the pack dynamics for the rest of the day. After some 25-miles, on the first minimum maintenance road, I slit a side wall in my tyre. While I fixed it relatively quickly, there was no coming back to the front group. I chased, chased and chased some more. But, puncturing that early into a race like Unbound is goodnight

My brain switched into autopilot. Just get to the finish line.

I’ll hold my hands up, I made a big mistake in my fueling strategy. I realised after the first pit stop, some 80-miles in. It was a rookie mistake, and one that I realised pretty quickly, but couldn’t do anything about.

In my USWE Hydration Pack, I’d put 4x Precision Fuel and Hydration 1500 sachets. The thinking behind this was to give me the electrolytes I needed, but also the added boost of some carbohydrates too.

In my bottles, I was using the Carbs Fuel Original Sport Mix. I had three scoops in each bottle, giving me 75g of carbohydrates and 500mg of sodium. I simply had too much sodium, and my stomach was doing somersaults.

I craved water and my mouth felt like seawater. To add insult to injury, I’d predicted this problem in my Unbound prep article:

“Water can be the greatest tasting substance in the world. Don’t underestimate the power of crystal clear water when you have a dry mouth. In last year’s race, I purposely left the final aid station without any drink mix or electrolytes in one of my bottles. After a long day out, sometimes all your body wants is water.”

I stopped at the water oasis and dumped all of my Carbs mix in favour of plain, cold water. It was incredible. I was transformed within a matter of minutes and felt normal again. Water is so underrated.

Sometime not too long after this, I punctured twice more. It really wasn’t turning out to be my day. I limped to the second pit stop on a tyre liner, and got a sealant top up.

Some seven and a half hours into my day at this point, I was craving something that wasn’t sweet. Away from liquids, my race to this point had been fuelled by three sources: Precision Fuel and Hydration Chews, Precision Gels and Carbs Fuel gels. I had a little bit of flavour fatigue, and was craving anything that wasn’t an energy product.

My saviour came in a flavoursome jerky stick. I hadn’t predicted or foreseen this. I’d never had a craving for anything like that in my life, but it did the job and cleaned the sweet flavour out of my mouth which allowed me to return to energy products.

Overall, it will go down as ‘one of those days’. Some ten-and-a-half hours after I started, I crossed the line in Emporia feeling emotionless. It was a mentally challenging day out, with big chunks riding solo in autopilot to get to the finish line.

It was one of those days where lady luck was not on my side. Everyone has some sort of problem at Unbound, it’s just unfortunate that mine came so early on.

With all that said, it’s another Unbound Gravel in my legs, and most importantly, it’s another day of lessons. What I did wrong this year, I’ll bring back to the race next year with the goal of a top result.

The Feed.
About Us
Careers
Feed Insider Blog
NSF Certified for Sport®
All Products
Mobile App for Android
Socials
Instagram
YouTube
Strava
TikTok
Facebook
Twitter
Policy
Privacy Policy
Satisfaction Guarantee
Returns & Exchanges
Subscription Policy
Terms of Service
Cookie Policy
Email Us
hello@thefeed.com
Text Us*
+1 (720) 864 0086
Call Us
+1 (720) 864 0086

Mon-Fri 9am to 4pm MT

Address
12303 Airport Way #350,
Broomfield, CO 80021
USA

*By texting us, you consent to receive texts messages from The Feed at the mobile number you used to text and you are opting-in to receive future messages or a phone call at the number you provided. Message and Data rates may apply. Reply STOP anytime to opt-out.

About The Feed

We are athletes like you. We have experienced how eating smarter can make a meaningful difference in our training. Improving your nutrition is one of the quickest ways to see meaningful improvements in performance.

Subscribe

Get the latest new products, pro tips and be first to know about sales and special offers.

Change your country
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases. (FDA Disclaimer)
image