Clovis's story: Unbound Gravel

BaseCamp athlete Clovis Pitchford shared his experience at the 2026 Unbound Gravel bike race in Kansas.

Unbound gravel (206 miles, 9000 ft of elevation, the largest gravel event in the world) exceeded my expectations of challenging weather, mud, rain, lightning, and hot sun in the Flint Hills of Kansas, which do not care about your resume, FTP (functional threshold power), or anything else. They are beautiful in ways best appreciated firsthand.

It was an epic day of endurance, both physical and mental. Roughly an hour into the ride, the first round of storms led to riding and pushing my bike through lots of mud and wading through calf-deep water through an underpass along the official race route.

Around mile 67, my SRAM eTap derailleur battery died. My backup battery got me to mile 115. I decided that wasn't the end of my day. I would just keep moving until I could get to the next aid station at mile 160, where I hoped I could get help. If I couldn't, I felt committed to finish, even if I would be the last guy on the course.

The high/low cadence variability training that I loathe really helped me realize that it could be done; it was just going to be harder. I felt fine physically, so I just kept moving.

I rode single speed for about 20 miles until I met a superhero, Jason Zichettella, who gave me his spare (I traded him my dead battery and later paid him for it with Venmo). That got me to mile 198, until it also died. From there it was single speed (biggest gear) until mile 206.

My goals were to finish in 16 hours, plus or minus, but to feel well at the end. I accomplished both. Finished with a gun time of 14:56, chip time of 14:54, moving time of 14:11, 556 overall, and 93rd in age group.

Thanks to Coach Brig Brandt for preparing me for this one and to BaseCamp.