Sue's story: Unbound

BaseCamp athlete Sue Hageman shared her experience at the 2026 Unbound gravel bike race in Kansas.

What a BLAST!!!! Believe it or not, I'm still smiling! Despite the weather and the conditions, I was so ecstatic to be at the starting line, ride, walk in the mud, even enjoyed a little rain and wet roads, but mostly FINISH!!!!! Almost every single picture that I see that Life Time took of me I am smiling!!! This was by far my favorite event/ride ever! I wasn't in it to race. It was all about riding and finishing. I didn't even mind the walk-a-bike section. I rode with my daughter-in-law, and we had a wonderful time. Chalk up those special memories!!!

Huge shoutout to Menachem for getting me ready for this event. It was definitely questionable about a month ago! With most of my last 8 months in recovery from 2 surgeries, I was so stoked just to be on the gravel roads and riding!!! Seeing so many BaseCampers was just icing on the cake (preferably chocolate). I wished we had more time to sit down and have a few adult beverages!!!!

Emporia is my home town. I am in awe how they pull this event off every year. It's truly fun riding gravel roads that I used to drive down. Some were for drivers ed, some were where friends lived, and some during teenage years meeting friends for a good time. 😉

Kansas rarely has "perfect" days for riding. It is always throwing something at you. Saturday's ride threw a little of everything. Thank goodness the tornados arrived on Sunday and not before.