In just four months, Alex Paton will take on the world’s best gravel racers at Unbound—the biggest, toughest, and most famous gravel race on the planet. The countdown to race day has begun! In this video, Alex takes on a gravel test run with Si Richardson to get a taste of the challenge ahead. He also hears from other experienced Unbound cyclists about what to expect on race day. But is it enough? …Will Alex truly be ready?
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⏱️ Timestamps: ⏱️
00:00 – The Mission: Unbound Gravel
03:24 – How Favero Pedals Will Help
03:xx – power meters
04:21 – Our Practice Loop & Insta360 Set Up
05:32 – Off we go!
06:29 – Talking Stats & power data with @Dylan Johnson
06:59 – How’s The FTP Looking?
11:49 – Do You Think I Stand Any Chance?
14:05 – Pedal based power system + Heat Training with Favero
18:14 – Conor’s Unbound Experience
19:33 – What Equipment Will We Need?
21:05 – Practice Ride Continued
23:11 – What Have We Learned From Testing So Far
26:51 Does Chloe Think Alex Has Got It?
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How do you think Alex will get on at Unbound? What are your top training tips?
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36 Comments
How do you think Alex will get on at Unbound? What are your top training tips?
Alex, are you doing this as penance for goading Dan into riding Manchester to London?. I'm not sure which of you got the short straw.
Please do a follow-up on how you structured the workout plan and eventuell apps you use to keep on top!
Uau, this is exciting!
On a Grail? Does it have clearance for the tyres you will need + mud? Listen to DJ concerning equipment, not just fitness requirements. It would be a hoot if you made top 20, knowing the big hour blocks the top gravel riders do in preparation for Unbound you have your work cutout for you given home life and work. Lots and lots of sweet spot. Good luck!
Need the new trek checkmate
Looks like you were only using about the front 1/3 of your saddle riding on the nose. Maybe you should move your saddle forward a couple of inches? I would find that very uncomfortable. Maybe you need a tri bike with the seat forward geometry. I know your're an x-pro and know what your doing but it looked strange in the vid. Especially from the rear view. Hope you get a top 10 finish but there are many young, top cyclist competing.
Great video. Awe inspiring stuff. Genuinely rooting for you here, Alex. Knock 'em dead.
Absolutely love the bravery of the challenge, and great video.
Top 20 all finished within 15 mins of Lachlan Morton last year … I think that is a HUGE ask…
Top 100 is about 35 mins back, so that seems more realistic, and still a huge achievement….
To echo everyone else here – great content gents. Really authentic, and a pleasure to watch. 🤜
Watch loads of old Bonk Bros video podcasts ‼️ All the details of gravel racing are endlessly discussed with loads of crazy talk included. Tyres are Dylan’s life 😂. I’m an old roadie and I don’t yet do gravel but the characters in the sport interest me so I have watched loads of Dylan’s output and his group chats on Bonk Bros. You can obsess over bike set up and power training but just finishing will be a huge achievement. I would be worried about electrolyte levels from sweating in the heat, coming from the UK where we just don’t get the heat and humidity. Many hours of heat training and slamming in carbs to train the body to cope with ten hours of grinding in the heat will be needed. Good luck
🍀 Alex
I love it. Go Alex. Now I have an underdog to root for. It would be awesome if Dylan ends up sucking your wheel at 190 in😅
I think that Dylans commitment to keeping his core temp low was his secret sauce.
When did riding just below the red line morph into FTP?
I think that just finishing Unbound would be an amazing accomplishment
The north course being used this year at Unbound is a lot tougher, more brutal than the south course that Conor did in '23. As it happens, I actually helped out Conor a couple of times and showed up briefly in his video! It's an eating and drinking contest really…in the heat. Go to Spain or somewhere hot. Do Traka or similar. If it storms…and it almost always storms…all plans go out the window.
Hi Alex. Good luck. Come do some tougher gravel Sportives in South Africa for training.
5-6 years ago is different from what your body can achieve now… good luck to you 😅
Love my assiomos. I have the duo shis, paired with a Shimano dual sided pedal. Yup…power meter flats.
Alex is missing out on the metrics, since he's bound to Wahoo instead of Garmin.
No chance in hell Alex will crack the top 20, but he’ll do fine nonetheless. Pleasant video to watch!
Good Luck! Grew up in Emporia and I’m excited to go back to ride Unbound this year. Unfortunately, I’m just in one of the shorter distances but I’ll look forward to greeting you and cheering for you. I think you have a good appreciation for the conditions of Unbound. (For someone who hasn’t done it before.) This race is #1 in the world of gravel racing FOR A COUPLE A HUNDRED VERY GOOD REASONS! If all you ever do is what you already knew you could… what’s the point?
As a busy married person with kids and a full-time job, Unbound is probably the last race where I'd attempt to be competitive. People who don't even have a shot at the podium are doing 40+ hour/week training blocks leading up to that race. That's what it takes to be competitive at Unbound.
Somehow cycling was more relaxed in my youth, before power meters, gps computers and strava. Nevertheless, I am very happy with my wahoo favero setup, the numbers make it easier to ride in a controlled way.
I'm 61 & heading to ride Unbound 200 & am from the UK, my aim is to complete the ride in around 15 hours. Its a big commitment to train for this so I'll be following your journey with interest. Really enjoyed this video, keep up the great work.
Hats off @AlexPaton. Wish you best of luck. Balls out!!!
Greets
Love the long term projects on GCN. The dream, the thinking, the plan, the execution, the reality, the result. Go for it Alex!
Good luck Alex. Looking forward to seeing your other videos!
Best of luck! I couldn't imagine cycling that hard for so long.
Not a chance 😂
Stop complaining about headwind and low tire pressure Si. As we say in German bouldering there are no excuses, only weakness 😉 Only joking ofc. Best of luck for race day to Alex, really looking forward for the video.
An unbelievably tough challenge, Alex will put in the hard yards but there will be a lot of luck involved as well.
good luck on unbound. that's one tough race with serious competition.
Hopefully Tour Divide next year 🙂
Alex is already looking leaner and seeing his numbers on Zwift he’s in a good position already.
This is all fine and good, but if Alex has to film content while racing, this is all lip service.