UNBOUND Gravel, live.

Two hundred miles of Flint Hills gravel

The world championship of gravel racing is a day of sharp flint, deep mud and Kansas wind, all of it out of one small town.

UNBOUND is the race the whole gravel calendar is built around. Four distances leave Emporia — the XL 350, the 200, the 100 and the 50 — and all of them run the same kind of ground: chunky flint rock that shreds tyres, sudden peanut-butter mud when it rains, whoop-de-doo climbs that never stop, and a crosswind with nothing in the state to slow it down. The 200 is the one the professionals target and the flagship of the Life Time Grand Prix.

It is also a race where a rider can be alone for two hours with no phone signal and no way to tell anyone what has happened. That is why the crews in Emporia watch a dot. Livebib puts the whole route on the map with the rider on it, distance covered, the checkpoints in order, and an arrival estimate for the next one that keeps updating — one link for the person waiting with the spare wheels.