Summer is busy time in the cycling season during the best of times, so you might think that UnTapped Co-Founder and Chief Maple Syrup Proselytizer Ted King was trying to make things harder on himself as he moved his family from Vermont to Bentonville, Arkansas, just as the season was hitting its full stride.
In addition to the move, during a mid-July mountain bike race, he hit a tree hard enough to suffer four broken bones. However, now that we’re here in the late summer, Ted is on the mend and successfully took on the Gravel Worlds 300-mile Long Voyage in Lincoln, Nebraska, last weekend.
“I’m not sure what the perfect preparation looks like for an ultra these days,” Ted recently explained. “Racers are tackling these huge distances at such high speeds, they feel less like ultras and more like all day drag races. Probably train hard all day and rest hard every night? Whatever the case, I’m certain that my summer’s approach of moving and injuring myself was not it!”
“The heat is a considerable challenge, but getting behind in hydration is an even bigger problem to solve. So I just planned to drink an absurd amount.”
Gravel Worlds has a storied history in North American gravel racing, with their inaugural event dating back to 2010. Well before the idea that UCI and gravel could be uttered in the same sentence, this Nebraskan version of Gravel Worlds has always been a bit tongue-in-cheek. As such, they lean into the pirate theme; for example the event was spawned from a Lincoln Pirate Cycling League, which sought out fewer rules and more adventure than traditional road racing. Additionally, the winners of the 150-mile races earn a pirate sword; the ultra distance is called the “Long Voyage.”
Taking a page out of do-the-best-you-can-with-what-you’ve-got, Ted worked to control his controllables. “I made sure my nutrition and equipment were uncompromised on the start line,” he said.
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“The new UnTapped 30oz Hydrapak bottles were perfect because of the heat. These ultras add the element of needing to be self-supported, so instead of traditional gravel-race feedzones peppered throughout the course, ultra racers are on our own to carry what we need and then seek out supplies at gas stations and grocery stores. Therefore, extending the distance I could ride before stopping was a massive advantage.”
In the lead group of six riders at mile 60, three stopped to refuel while Ted and two others powered on. By mile 100, Ted set off solo, having consumed nearly a gallon and a half of Mapleaid, four Waffles, and eight UnTapped Energy Gel packets. (He had a hydration pack on his back and another in a frame bag, in addition to the two big Hydrapak bottles.)
“The heat is a considerable challenge, but getting behind in hydration is an even bigger problem to solve. So I just planned to drink an absurd amount.”
And continue to hydrate he did. Ted continued to power to the finish line so that all said and done, nearly 17 hours and 300 miles later, he crossed the line first and soon after was sipping celebratory champagne… followed quickly by a double serving of Maple Recovery.
