An American six peats, Pidcock 4 peats, Factor teams with Rapha, and more…

👋 Good morning and happy Friday! Welcome to the Front Pack newsletter, your source for all things endurance. Click here for the web edition.

We’re going with a shortened newsletter this week because I’m in Kansas for Unbound Gravel. From my house, it took 9 hours to Gravel City, USA. Lots of podcasts, stayed hydrated, and arrived to 75 degree weather.

Wish there was a live tracker but I’ll have plenty to recap next week.

Thanks for subscribing and as always, share with a friend.

Stay moving…✌🏼 – Scott

Headlines

🚴 Pidcock Goes Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back (4 peat): At the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series, the Europeans have entered the chat. As the first European UCI World Cup stop, Tom Pidcock made his presence felt as he secured his 4th straight win at the event, while France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot grabbed the women’s checkered flag. A legend in mountain biking, the Frenchman highlighted this would be her last year racing on the dirt and hinted at focusing on road races saying, “I think I did everything on MTB and I still like it, but it doesn’t make sense to continue more.” Read more…

🚴 BUT an American goes Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back (SIX PEAT!): Insert the obnoxious USA! USA! chant. But that’s right, at the same race, American and Durango, CO native Riley Amos stole some headlines after sealing his sixth consecutive win in as many starts this season in the men’s U23. Read more…

Meanwhile

Unbound to be Fast and Intense: In speaking with Cycling World, pro and five time finisher of the event, Peter Stetina, fully expects 2024 to be more competitive and faster than ever. And it’s no surprise if you look at each event in the LTGP and across cycling in general. Times are getting faster and with the last hour at Unbound being flat, it’s going to create an exciting finish. Read more…

Training Fad Debate: For more than a few years now, the Norwegian Method has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue in triathlon as both Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden famously won a lot of races by sticking to it. But now it’s appearing in the running circuit too with Jakob Ingebrigsten swears by it, while the running community pushes against it. Known for it’s meticulous and carefully controlled workout intensities, the Norwegian Method pushes athletes just hard enough to stimulate adaptation without incurring fatigue that would compromise the next workout. Read more…

Factor partners with Rapha: By partnering with Factor, Rapha’s cycling club (RCC) will offer members the ability to hire a special edition Ostro VAM aero bike from cities across the globe. This allows riders to travel to new destinations without the hassle of travelling with their bike. Instead, they can arrange to hire a bike when they arrive at their destination, allowing them to explore cities and the surrounding areas including Los Angeles, Copenhagen and Taipei. Read more…

Get Lange fast: Arguably the fastest marathon runner in IRONMAN, Lange gives an interview with Triathlon mag and discusses his workouts, tips on getting faster, his theory on carbon shoes not all being fast, and nutrition training. Read more…

My Unbound Gravel 100 Plan

Noted above but we took off for Emporia, KS around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, got 90 minutes away, picked up our 25 foot RV and finally got to the Emporia RV Park around 6 p.m.

Was a long day of driving, hit some major rain north of Dallas and even drove through a town where the tornados hit last week. I’ve never seen what a tornado can do outside of YouTube but it was insane to see the damage that can be done; a mix of twisted metal woven within the highway median, full on warehouses ripped apart to their metal skeletons and a car dealership that had more cars flipped over than standing upright.

But the good news is – today we pre-ride some of the course (15 miles) and have the day for meetings, the expo, hanging and getting the legs ready.

For the 108 mile race on Saturday, the plan is to stick with the 6:30 – 7 hour self-seeded group and see what we can do there. I’ve heard the first 30 miles of the course will be ripping fast followed by more technical roads filled with chunky gravel, sharp rock, and headwinds. For perspective, at my earlier century race, I completed it in 6 hours and 38 minutes and that’s after getting lost for 30 minutes. So I’m feeling confident. It’s of no concern, but there is only one aid station at mile 54 so the plan is to go heavy on two concentrated bottles with 1.5 LMNTs (sodium) and 3 scoops of RAW Endurance (carbs + sodium). And then to avoid gut rot, I’ve got a 2L USWE pack of H20.

At mile 54, I’ve got some aid help who will swap everything out for a second round of the above. Then off I’ll go to complete the remaining 54 miles.

More to come…

Training Tips

Because training is life.

🚴 The Fastest Bike you can Frankenstein for Unbound: Pro cyclist and renowned data nerd Dylan Johnson hits the wind tunnel to piece together the ultimate bike for the Unbound 200 race. Check out what he pieces together.

🏊 Learning How To Swim As An Adult | Episode 1: For all the bad swimmers out there, you’re not alone. A conversation I consistently have with athletes is would you rather swim or run well. Everyone always highlights swimming as a core discipline thats nearly impossible to get really great at if you’ve never done it before you’re an adult.

Rewatchables

Content for long training days inside or just everyday life.

🚴 How to Survive Unbound Gravel | 2024 Race Recon: As my favorite course recon video, Paige gets in-depth on her tire selection, sealant of choice and her nutrition planning. All huge things anyone doing the 100+ need to consider.

🚴 Anton: A Rapha short film highlights Anton Krupicka who at 23 years-old won Leadville 100 in Colorado and more recently has blazed a high altitude trail on extensive bikepacking tours. The film dives into why Anton chases these experiences.

🏃 Cocodona 250 Solo – A 250 Miles Ultra Running Adventure Across Arizona: Highlighted this race a few weeks ago but this was my favorite recap of what it’s like to run solo over the course of 5 days, day-and-night.