Lael Wilcox is, arguably, the world’s best ultra-endurance cyclist. She’s humble. She’s nice. She loves to ride her bike. This is, I think, what sports heroes, if such a thing properly exists, should look like.
Unbound Gravel has a twisty kind of history, but having shed its former race director and its old name, its making a unique claim to be the world’s premier gravel race. And I’ll be honest with you, I’m not even sure how I feel about gravel races, and I’ve done a few of them.
All of that aside, Lael Wilcox is the bomb, and this race is, especially in its XL version, testing the limits of human effort on the bicycle.
This stuff is just awesome. I was glued to the TV when it was LeMond v Hinault, but when the Tour de France became the Tour de Doping, I never thought I could get excited by bike racing again. This sort of competition puts the heart and soul back into the bicycle race.