14/06/2023

Nathan Haas blames Unbound Gravel organisers for destroying the race for casual bikers by keeping the 'mud pit' on the route

Dust has settled on this year's Unbound Gravel and Nathan Haas had some time to think about what he has witnessed. What angered him the most was the decision of organisers to keep a 'mud pit' in a section around mile 30. This saw hopes of many buried under levels of mud. In his blog for Cyclingnews, Haas mentions that some 80% of those who took on the 350-mile race which took off earlier DNF'ed.

"There was a viable option to reroute the course, which would have been mud free. Yes, it would have been wet, but not mud. It would have been easy to marshal as it was so early in the event that there would have needed to be marshals with flags for at most a few hours before we re-joined the part of the course that was ridable at kilometer 35."

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"I only saw first-hand the emotions for the riders in the front. Having spoken to riders who survived these sections with the front, they didn’t mind it so much. Again, my bias here is obvious, but in any race, making a front group through a difficult moment you will likely see it through rose-tinted glasses."

"There were other riders however, who’ve won the race in recent years stuck where I was, in the pit, cleaning their bikes in muddy river streams, running, walking, carrying their bike, trying to use quick chain links in a chain they couldn’t even see the links too. I saw frantic behaviour, frustration and even tears. And this was just the front group."