"Funnily enough, the conversation surrounding Unbound was brief. We talked about it during a morning coffee ride, I looked into registration that night, made a Group FaceTime and told the boys I just entered my name in the lottery. Fortunately, my friends followed, and I was excited to possibly take on this adventure surrounded by my two very close friends." – Carter

"Getting into gravel last year I heard about Unbound pretty quick. At first I was really hesitant to enter the lottery because of how gnarly and potential bike breaking it would be, but kudos goes to Carter for just forging ahead saying we’re doing it. – Joe

“I don’t think any of us expected all three of our names to get drawn from the lottery, but when they did, it was instantly real. From that point on, everything about the season shifted. It gave us something to build toward, something we’d all take seriously. It was a big step up, for sure — but it also gave us focus.” – Tommy

"Devon and Chalks really stepped up to the plate with this one. She outlined a plan specific to my needs – turning a washed up ski racer who is used to short interval/weight training into an endurance athlete ready to take on 325 kilometers of grueling gravel. I can confidently say I couldn’t have done it without her and the whole Chalks family." - Carter

“Training started in the middle of winter, so we spent a lot of time indoors. Devon at Chalks built out a program that worked around life and weather. Early on it was mostly zone 2 stuff, long and steady. Later we added in longer rides, tempo efforts, back-to-backs — all the usual suspects. It wasn’t flashy, just solid work, 6 days a week.” – Tommy

“I’ve known from the past my long endurance was strong but I’ve never been a hugely powerful or strong rider. My first 2 months were mainly strength training with Devon. After that it was 6 days a week of riding. I think if you really want to make training effective you have to be fueling like you race, training your carbohydrate consumption especially on the long rides. Devon deserves a lot of credit for getting us ready on the physical side but having the consistency of Olway™ main fuel source removed any question marks on nutrition.” – Joe

"Never try anything new on race day, but knowing that you may have to have options depending on how your body is feeling over 200 miles in is just as important. I split up the strategy into thirds (each aid station). My target was 100g/hr. Each hour I knew I needed about 2/3 of my carbs from Olway™ and the last 1/3 from a choice of Banana, rice crispy square, oat bar or gummies. Going through highs and lows in races and training before meant I could tell what type of food I would need to consume more of. " – Joe

“My bottles were all filled with Olway™ — four scoops per bottle, so about 130 grams of carbs per bottle. My plan was to drink half a bottle every hour, and carry water in a 2L vest. That gave me some flexibility depending on heat and pace. For food, I kept it simple. Rice Krispies were my crutch, and I had some rx bars and oat bars that I rotated, but Rice Krispies were the common denominator. These were just things I knew I could eat without thinking. It sounds small, but training with that exact setup made everything feel automatic on race day. No gut issues, no decision fatigue — just stick to the plan.” – Tommy

"Dialing in my nutrition plan was simple, slowly build up consumption of a carb mix easiest on my stomach, Olway™. I started with 50g of carbs an hour no matter what workout I was doing and eventually reached 100g of carbs per hour in order to train my stomach to handle the large volume of carbs I would be consuming in the race. During the race I targeted 80g of carbs per hour with a 70/30 split between Olway™ and hard food." – Carter

“The crash really defined the day for me. It happened about five hours in — just after the first aid station — and because there weren’t any neutral medics on course, I didn’t get it looked at or bandaged for another five hours. By that point, it was already infected, and some of the road rash had actually started to heal into my clothes. That wasn’t fun. On top of the usual pain from a ride that long, now I had this too. As soon as I went down, I thought of Pogačar at Strade Bianche this year — he crashed, but bounced back up and went on to win. That was the mindset I leaned on. I didn’t really have time to feel sorry for myself. I just thought, I have to finish. So I got back on and kept going.” – Tommy

"The last 85k Carter and I were hammering to get the “Beat the Sun” award. I was toast and had a dark hour where I could barely take turns with Carter. But knowing Carter wasn’t leaving me I knew I had to recover. I knew I needed some sugar and morale. I downed some gummies and water. I was able to smash the final climb, Kaola Hill, about 50k out – from then on I had the legs to keep going. That little win was what brought me back. I was really proud of that comeback. " – Joe

"For me my lowest point was Little Egypt, a section 167km in that is comprised of two rough descents, two steep climbs, and a river crossing. I have a bad back, and I think Little Egypt loosened a couple screws back there. I was confident in my legs but suffered severe back spasms leaving this section and was worried these would persist for the balance of the race. The highlight was watching Tommy bounce back from his crash early on." – Carter

"Sometimes something so big feels insurmountable but if you create a plan with key checkpoints to chase, it becomes manageable. My motto was “Hold tight to the process and loose to the outcome”. I feel incredibly grateful I get to do these things and make lifelong memories. I’ll never forget Unbound 2025. " – Joe

“I could say something about work ethic, but my biggest takeaway was accomplishing this surrounded by 4 very very important people in my life, Joe, Tom, Jack (my brother), and Mom. I was fortunate to have Joe and Tom pick me up when I was down, and have Jack and Mom take care of us at both aid stations. So, to answer the question, surround yourself with good people, because it made tackling what might seem like an out of reach goal a whole lot easier.” – Carter

“Looking back, the biggest thing I learned is that you don’t get to control everything — but you do get to choose how you respond. Things will go wrong. That’s a given. But if you’ve done the work, and the goal matters to you, you’ll find a way through it. One thing Ali Tretnik said before the race really stuck with me: 'You’re going to feel good, and it’s gonna pass. You’re going to feel bad, and it’s gonna pass. You just have to keep going.'” – Tommy