De Unbound van Thijs Zonneveld | BEAT Cycling Club

De Unbound van Thijs… Het trainen en verkennen, de fiets en de val.

Dit is het verhaal van Thijs Zonneveld. BEAT Cycling Club presenteert de korte film over de Unbound van Thijs. Grote dank aan alle partners voor het mede mogelijk maken van dit avontuur.

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Dit avontuur was niet gelukt zonder de steun van:
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CyclOn
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EatMyRide
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Regie, camera en montage door: Vincent Moes

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Left… Nothing. Right… Nothing. In front of me a gravel road that runs straight on to the horizon This is Kansas. This is where the biggest, most important and hardest gravel race takes place. Unbound, 330 kilometers across gravel. Gravel, lose stones so sharp you could cut roast beef with it.

A survival course disguised as a race. A prewar adventure, which I’ve been looking forward to for months. Because of the adventure. But secretly also to win. Because there isn’t another race like this one. What are you going to unpack Thijs? Bike of course! Let’s go! Let’s check if it survived.

The next couple of days we’ll need to finalize the final preparations Get used to the heat and time difference. Train one or two more times. And then on Saturday… Go for it. – Why are you here? Because I want to win Unbound. The least important reason, but still important.

Because in my opinion, as a journalist I have to be as close as possible to the world that I cover. I believe in participatory journalism. And I think that I’m at least at a level, where I can interpret cyclist that perform on the highest level. Favorites for Unbound come from everywhere.

A lot of Americans, but also Australians, South Africans, Italians. From across the world. And there is a pretty big representation for the Netherlands. They call them the “Dutch Mafia.” Under leadership of Don Laurens van Dam. But also with two friends of mine, Ivar Slik, last years winner.

And Jasper Ockeloen, on of the favorites. They regularly train with me. Yes, this part you need to explore, near Texaco Hill. We can maybe do that on Wednesday. Or today. Or do you want to ride 30 kilometers per hour on average? 2 hours and 15 minutes then.

And these are the big ones, what a pity. But you haven’t experienced Unbound yet. No, you’ve never been here. You’re going to get four flat tires and all that kind of crap. You are not going to do this easily… You also need to bring food and drinks.

It will be a long day. This is not to bad, but there is nothing nearby. Easy, let’s not go to crazy today. – Gray with Thijs Gray with Thijs. Are you talking about my hair color or how I train? We’re riding on the most Southern loop of the course.

And we’re going to some sort of riverbed of which we have to pass straight through. Let’s tell Jasper and Ivar to take it easy. They never take it easy. Reason number two. Also very important. Maybe even a bit more important than the previous one.

Is because I think I still have the ability to be an outlier. And that makes it possible to dream about winning a race like Unbound. The most important thing. The reason. The reason that probably overshadows all the other reasons. Is because I enjoy it tremendously.

This is the place where it needs to happen on Saturday. You’ll arrive here, and there is the finish line. We’ll ride across the first part today. There seem to be a couple of dirt sections. You have highways, just from A to B straight forward. And all the other roads are gravel.

If you cycle here, you only have one option: Gravel I think in the current cycling and current top sport, it’s a factor that is being underestimated. In my previous cycling life I also underestimated how important it is.

Being to busy with results and it has to happen now and it needs to be better. And didn’t notice how special it is to travel the world with your bike and participate in races. If I look around me now and I’m on an adventure with…

A lot of men that have the same goal. Honestly, I think it’s very special and I’m enjoying it to the fullest. A lot more then I used to in my previous cycling career. It’s not going fast today. Is there water left?

It feels like how a first warm day in the Netherlands can feel Very dusty that irritates the lungs. I’ll have to bite through… I’ll have to bite through… …but I will It’s warm, but slowly it’s going better. Tough guy, can’t destroy him.

The harder you hit him, the harder he retaliates. That is true. But I’ve taken some hits, I can tell you that much. Every time Ivar thinks, now he’s knocked out, and then he stands up again. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, it matters how many times you get up.

Especially here. The bike is very good. The wheels are lighter. We thought about what wax to use. What gears to use, you name it. It’s fun we could think about these things with an entire team. And the last important fact, is food.

How can you manage to get as much nutrition, so you won’t crash during those 10 hours. You have to make sure that you consume a minimum of 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour. What is 90 grams of carbohydrates?

This is what I have to consume during Unbound, according to Eat My Ride. Camelbags we need to transport it and change it in the technical zones. A lot of gels. Without and with caffeine. A couple of bars. Two cokes for during the switching zones. One banana.

And my secret weapon, and it is not noted in Eat My Ride, A bag of crisps. But that is more because I like it. I was surprised about how difficult the course is. Especially the first 130 kilometer is extremely difficult.

A lot of high parts, but a lot of gravel, much more coarse then I thought it would be. And what I found surprising is how much the weather impacts the course. Now and again it rains, and it turns into a mud bath.

And you get the advice to take a spade with you, so you can remove all the mud. And if it doesn’t rain, and the sun comes through, immediately it’s 35 degrees. And then you’re just sweating and puffing. And those two things… For Saturday both of them are predicted.

Both rain and very hot. So we’ll have to switch a lot to battle the elements. Rider sign in. Follow the signs. Handlebar plate There are rules of course. We’ll have to see how we can make it as aerodynamic as possible without breaking the rules. But that will be allright.

It’s 03:20 local time. And I just finished my breakfast. It’s pretty early. But it is… Raceday! All the equipment is top notch, it won’t be down to that if things go wrong. That is true, i can’t blame it. We’ve worked hard to perfect it. I think we’re very close. No excuses.

If we don’t make it, it’s not because of the material. It’s not because of the technician, it’s not because of the cameraman. In my previous cycling career I was nervous a lot. That is not the case anymore, but I am excited. We’ll go nuts for 10 hours. – Is it needed? Yes.

The circumstances are difficult, mud. Gravel sections with coarse stones. It will be one big survival ride. He can always try, but… Winning the first time will be difficult. You’re a two-hour drive from the starting place, I haven’t seen you all week. It’s unpleasant, right? Yeah, unpleasant.

How was the barbecue? – It was good. In the context of participatory journalism… You’ll have to show what you got, in both good and bad days. I have… Crashed pretty hard during a descent. On the rocks and my knee is messed up.

I will need stitches and I hope my knee isn’t broken. When I exited the slipstream of the other guys, I rode headfirst into a very sharp rock. Which I didn’t see. Thijs is a tough guy. You can’t bring him down easily, mentally he is very strong. He is very tough.

As I mentioned during the training. The more he gets knocked out, the more he gets up, and keeps fighting. He is tough.