With the widely-coined 'Unbound Week' officially upon us and 2025 Unbound Gravel just days away, the great pilgrimage to Emporia is undoubtedly in process for the 5,000 or so competitors set to descend on the Kansas town this weekend.
With the stakes in the elite field higher and budgets more plentiful, many of the pro athletes have already arrived in the Sunflower State, and the social media coverage of their recon rides has been painting a picture of the conditions on course.
Contrary to the summery impression given by the state's aforementioned nickname, the weather in Emporia has been more akin to the Pacific Northwest, or this writer's home in the UK. There are currently flood warnings in place to the south of the city, and there are forecasts of rain and thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday, with Unbound Gravel XL riders the first to set off on Friday covering 350 miles to the north and south of Emporia. The signature Unbound Gravel 200 event begins Saturday with a northbound course.
It's a topic of conversation that intertwines with every other narrative about the race. Case in point, Life Time Senior Director, Michelle Duffy, was even forced to address in a virtual press conference Tuesday whether the drafting rule would be adjusted in the face of a muddy course, since the speeds would be slow enough that drafting wouldn't be possible.
Her answer to that was 'no'. But there was not an area of racing that was more in sync with course conditions of a gravel race than tyre choice.
Tyre clearance for mud
Over the past year, the sport has collectively accepted that wider tyres are the better choice.
Some bike brands are early adopters, such as Lauf with the Seigla and Allied with its new Able. Both of those offer clearance for 2.2-inch (57mm) mountain bike tyres, but they're an exception to the current rule. Many bike brands are yet to catch up with the trend, and their tyre clearances are limited to more modest widths. As a result, a lot of riders choose to push their clearances to the limit, and in both our Santa Vall tech gallery and our tech gallery from The Traka, we saw riders risking clearances down to just a few millimetres.
The mud across the Flint Hills and Kansas prairieland could very quickly put a stop to that practice, but with the forecast currently looking to brighten on Friday and Saturday, Brendan Johnston, racing Giant bikes as the Australian National Champion, told Cyclingnews that he remains optimistic that it will dry before the race begins and wider tyres will continue to prevail.
"It dries really fast around here, even though we've had a lot of rain. We've been here a while, and if it dries by Friday afternoon, then I think we'll see most people on big tyres.
"It's such a long race, even though there's some fast sections where maybe you want some aerodynamic advantage, honestly, it becomes less about that, I think, and more about surviving and comfort and efficiency. So I think unless we have a lot of rain on Thursday, then I think it would be dry enough to use a wider setup."
Alongside the 'Flood Warning' image shown above - originally shared in an Instagram story by South African, Rogan Smart - a photo seen by Cyclingnews taken by Petr Vakoč showed tyres so clogged with mud – the mire which Paige Onweller described as "not normal" – that the wheels can no longer turn.
Third in last year's Unbound Gravel 200 women's race, a rather defeatist Onweller explained, "It doesn't matter what tyres or how much clearance you have, it just cakes and cakes and cakes. You want clearance, but at the same time, if it's muddy, it really doesn't matter what your setup is. You're walking through that mud whether you're running 30s or 50s or 2.2s."
Onweller continued, and addressed the shift toward wider tyres, saying, "I wouldn't even say it's a trend at this point. I would just say it's – maybe people will disagree – but they are faster. It's more efficient and a lot more comfortable too."
Our gallery covering tech at the 2023 Unbound Gravel featured one very lo-fi tech hack. Plenty of riders were seen carrying paint stirrers – simple wooden sticks bought from a hardware store – to use to clear the mud.
Local bike shop, Merchant Cycles even took the opportunity to give miniature paint stirrers away as gifts before the 2024 race, although the dusty conditions didn't warrant their use.
It's a safe assumption that even if the conditions do dry out across some of the course, we're likely to see their importance come to the fore again in 2025.
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