He just finished in 85th with a time of 17 hours 23 minutes 7 seconds! Congratulations Conner on the amazing performance! This has to be among your greatest ever cycling achievements.
That was 85th in the Elite Men Division. There were, unfortunately, well over 400 people who finished the race in less time than he did. Obviously, he had a really tough day yesterday. As someone who served as Support for another rider, I can tell you he was not alone! But, he finished what he started, regardless of the challenges, and for that I congratulate him!
I love the way Conor is listening to Ollie so carefully. He’s genuinely learning and is genuinely anxious. What a great bloke. Really hope he has a great ride in the States and that he’s learned how to fix a puncture (get some Dynaplugs not those useless bacon strips Conor… and some gloves for the ride). All the very best for Unbound.
I followed Conor on Live Tracking. No spoiler here, but a day to be proud of. He's inspired me to negotiate space for a trainer with my husband and schedule a training program with my Garmin. Just maybe I could try an event myself. Congrats, Conor 🎉, and thanks for nudging me in a new direction!
I live in the Midwest and have a few mates doing Unbound this weekend, too. What I learned long ago when doing triathlon was find a plan to follow and stick to it. I hope you have a great day in the Flint Hills-good luck!
What a brilliant advertisement for TrainingPeaks. I can picture myself hiring their help to plan for some event in the future. I loved the part where Conor penciled out his weekly schedule and the trainer adapted the plan around that -- it's obvious in hindsight that they would do that for you, but I had never thought about it.
Good luck Conor, you’ll give it 110% like you always do! Just watched your video ‘cos I’m sulking that i can’t watch the race itself live. Maybe one day it’ll be covered! Stay safe and enjoy it, can’t wait to see how you do, you’ve certainly put the work in. Whatever happens, we’re all rooting for you and we know we’ll get a genuine, honest and humble take on the race from a guy who knows what he’s talking about!
That bed time routine was totally relatable 🤣"Its not bedtime!" Good luck sir, representing us real life bikers with jobs and families as well as the passion for 2 wheeled adventure!
You're well prepared Conor! You'll do great over here in the US! Thanks for the look into your real world hard training effort. I just completed the TransVA Mountain Gravel race, a 565 mile gravel ride. It was difficult to get in enough training to complete it, much less be up in the lead. You're real world training efforts are inspiring to the rest of us who have a family, day job, and other responsibilities. Great video and I'm routing for you.
This was a great video, but my favorite moment has to be Jesse (sp?) declaring "that it isn't bed time" while standing on the windowsill. Very relatable.
I am so excited for you, Connor and was so excited to meet you today whilst you were getting your bike looked at. Best of luck and enjoy the ride! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Don't worry about the hills, everyone says Kansas is flat. 😂😂😂 And, the wind is always at your back around here. Hope you enjoy your visit to my state. I'm biking all the way accross the state this summer.
It was fun seeing Conor on the course, and I’m super stoked to watch the race recap video! I might even make a cameo coming out of a porta-potty with my skin suit half on at Water Oasis 2 😂. I wanted to say hi, but Conor was looking rough and I was feeling a bit shy. Not long after oasis 2 I then had a crash in the mud and was thinking about abandoning when I ran into the GCN film crew again-they were super nice and offered first aid etc. I was in a dark, dark place but managed to push through and finish, in part thanks to just the psychological benefit of them just being around and then offering to help. (I was concerned about getting DQ-ed for external help so I didn’t take them up on their offers.) Keep up the great work guys and thanks for your kindness out on the course! Also I was so happy to see Conor made it in the end. It looked like he was bonking hard or having heat/hydration issues when I had seen him at oasis 2. Hope he’s healthy and well.
We just had a week of rain so roads will have muddy patches. Forecast for Saturday is 87 with winds picking up a bit. Typical Kansas late spring weather. Hydrate Connor!
It's great to see the GCN crew take on the bigger gravel races, who's going to be the first to take on one of the bikepacking epic races? Something like the Tour Divide, the Arizona Trail, Badlands, the list goes on. Gruelling, multi day epics.
Fantastic video, to do that training round a busy work life is brilliant but to see you still being a great dad too is, well, the rest of us have no excuse!
You got this Conor! I just finished my first MTB Marathon ever last week. 5hrs on the bike was more than enough for amateur me, you're going to crush those 10hrs though! Rooting for you man!
Conor! Best of luck on the other side of the pond and great video. With 4 kids in my family this was a great motivational video to be able to find time and get some results from your training. Rooting for you!
I have two kids and one on the way. The alarm goes of 05:00 six days/week and I'm home at ~07. Every night I prepare everything (clothes, breakfast etc). If the weather is good I use the bike and otherwise I go to the gym. Been dock kg this for a couple of months and so far I've done 12h/week give or take. It is doable but it takes a great effort in planning and organisation
Its not always been that way. This is largely the result of teams forming and bringing roadie tactics into the race. Exactly what gravel started to avoid.
I think someone from GCN should try Styrkepröven in Norway, maybe Hank, or Ollie? 540km 3627m climb. The best did it in 14:32 in 2022. It's the longest and oldest touring cycling classic. 2023 will be the 56th edition.
Fuck yeah Connor. Love to see you getting passionate about Gravel and Bikepacking! Would be great to do some gravel riding and bikepacking in the Cascades while you're over here, would be a blast! Thanks again for your shoutout in the other video!
Love the way you challenge yourself Connor! I just signed up for the May 2024 Gran Fondo New York 100 mile road race. It’s my goal to complete a 100 mile race before I turn 50, and I’ll be 49 then. Now I just need to get: The bike An indoor trainer A head unit The shoes Pedals & power meter Side note: the annual GFNY is DEFINITELY an event GCN should feature on the channel
Best of luck, Conor! Goal 1 is just to finish. I’m interested in your fueling strategy, bike setup, and logistics for both. Probably just as important as your fitness. Hopefully Conor has been recording all of this time and will tell us how many Dynaplugs he’s brought vs how many he needed. Fingers crossed!
Just did the 100 UB. Your roads don’t even compare to what I just experienced. All the advice tho was solid. Line choice is the biggest one. Prepare for multiple flats!!
Best of luck Conor! If you can, hang out for a week and head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Tulsa Tough! It's a full weekend of cycling activities and I'd love to see it on GCN!
Good Luck Conner, My wife and I did UNBOUND last year. Remember to bring a paint stick. We had a one mile walk up a climb in mud so thick you could not push your bike. The Paint Stick helped get the mud out from around the tire. Added 1 hour to our overall time.
