The week of UNBOUND Gravel is always one to remember. We come here every year and throw ourselves into one of the toughest gravel races in the world. If we’re lucky, we come out of the other end exhausted, and covered in sweat, mud, and dust, but with a smile and plenty of fun stories to tell.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Litespeed gravel bikes our team rode at UNBOUND, check out our UNBOUND Gravel bike check to get the key details. Now, let's look back at a couple of highlights, talk about some new trends emerging at the Super Bowl of gravel, and provide a brief recap of our UNBOUND experience.
The Litespeed Team Came to Race

Left: the Litespeed recon ride | Center: Sam, Brad, Chris, and our friend Chip | Right: Jay at the 100-mile finish
Litespeed might be one of, if not the only brand at UNBOUND, that had every employee in attendance also participate in the race. We brought a team of six to Emporia. All of us competed, and all of us finished!
Here’s a breakdown of how we performed in our respective race distances:
Rider |
Bike |
Distance |
Finish Time |
Chris Pascarella |
Toscano FI |
50 mile |
3:54:55 |
Brad DeVaney |
Prototype |
50 mile |
3:38:05 |
Sam Voigt |
Toscano FI |
50 mile |
3:05:10 |
Audrey Mace |
Toscano FI |
100 mile |
5:53:57 |
Jay Prasuhn |
Ultimate G2 |
100 mile |
7:07:35 |
Bruce Lin |
Toscano |
200 mile |
12:12:28 |

Audrey (in 4th) on stage at the Granada Theatre.
With hot conditions and competitive fields, everyone had to dig deep, and we all finished strong. Our biggest race day success came thanks to our amazing Digital Content Creator, Audrey Mace. Last week, she told us her goal was to “have fun and make friends and not bonk.” But she did a lot more than that! She rode aggressively and set a blisteringly fast time on the 100-mile course (which was actually 108 miles long), earning a 4th-place finish in her age group!
The Litespeed Team Came Here For Riders

It’s never easy to race after working an event. I experienced this firsthand when I worked the Litespeed booth at Belgian Waffle Ride California. Standing in the sun for two days straight, talking to an endless stream of people, and falling behind on your nutrition and hydration takes its toll and can leave you feeling zapped on race day.
The leaders of the Litespeed team, though, exemplified what makes Litespeed special. Our President, Chris Pascarella, and sales lead, Sam Voigt, stood in the Litespeed booth all day Thursday and Friday and talked to every single person who came by. How many bike brands have their President on the ground at events, sweating their butt off and getting sunburned, to make a personal connection with customers?

Left: Brad swapping wheels for a Litespeed Flint rider. | Right: Chris and Sam after the 50 miler.
Brad DeVaney, our lead Product Design and Development engineer and the brain behind every Litespeed bike, was there too, and he wasn’t content with just hanging out. He was in the booth, fixing flats, derailleurs, and other mechanicals for Litespeed riders (and riders on bikes from our sister brand, OBED) so people were ready for race day. How many lead engineers do you see on the ground at events getting their hands dirty with customers’ bikes?
After all that hard work, Chris, Sam, and Brad took on the UNBOUND 50-miler on Saturday, and all three finished under 4 hours. It makes me feel a bit selfish for putting my feet up to try and stay fresh for the 200-mile race!
What’s Trending with UNBOUND Racers?
Panicking About Mud

The hottest topic in the week leading up to the race was mud. Heavy rains hit Emporia early in the week, and many riders encountered the legendary UNBOUND “peanut butter” mud while pre-riding key parts of the course. It seemed like everyone was panicking. I got endless texts and Instagram messages from people trying to find out if I was changing tires.
Audrey got stuck in some serious mud during her recon rides, and the images made my heart sink. I still have some unresolved trauma from my 2023 DNF in the mud! Fortunately, the sun came out and dried things out by race day. There were still puddles and muddy spots, but the course ended up being mostly dry.
Wider and Wider Tires

MTB tires are gaining traction in gravel. Some of our own are experimenting with MTB tires, too, but they weren’t the most popular tire we saw in Emporia. Gravel tires around the 45mm range are still pretty common. That makes a lot of sense, since the majority of current gravel bikes max out around 45mm.
We did notice an interesting increase in the number of riders using 50mm tires. I saw countless riders on the 50mm Schwalbe G-One RX Pro, 50mm Continental Terra Hardpack, 50mm Specialized Tracer, 50mm Maxxis Rambler, 50mm Pirelli Cinturato, or 50mm Panaracer GravelKing X1. For gravel bikes that have enough clearance (like our Toscano), 50mm tires seemed to be the most popular choice for UNBOUND.
Will MTB tires take over completely? Maybe some day. For Litespeed fans who want to make the leap to running MTB tires right now, the Flint is ready with generous clearance for 54mm tires.
Gravel Suspension Forks
People were super interested in the Cane Creek Invert and Fox Taper-Cast gravel suspension forks installed on our suspension-corrected frames. A lot of people stopped by to give these forks a squish. We saw A TON of suspension forks at the expo and on course. Gravel suspension is becoming more mainstream, and a rough race like UNBOUND is perfect for the extra comfort that suspension provides.
I appreciated having a suspension fork, and I can’t see myself riding UNBOUND without one (read my thoughts on gravel suspension fork here). If you want maximum comfort or you need a confidence boost on UNBOUND’s rough and rowdy descents, a suspension fork can make a serious difference.
Anodized and Painted Ti Finishes

Litespeed wasn’t the only titanium manufacturer in attendance. Among the Ti brands, there was a bit of sneaking around at the expo to see what the competition had brought. There was one thing we all had in common: color. Whether it was anodization, paint, or our own Ano Blast finish, it was clear that the best way for titanium to shine is with a bit of extra color. Who did it best? Well, that’s a matter of taste. I think our Ano Blasted rigs looked pretty good!
Aero Geeks Using Aero Gear

Aerobars are still pretty common among non-elite UNBOUND 200 and UNBOUND XL riders. But now things are getting really crazy! I wore a Rule 28 Gravel Suit, a TT-style aero helmet, and aero socks. Did I look super goofy? Unfortunately, yes. But I was far from the only aero geek out there.
The Rule 28 Gravel Suit was insanely popular, and I noticed a lot of Rule 28, DeFeet, and Silca aero socks too. As for helmets, it seemed pretty evenly split between aero and more classic ventilated designs. You can hate it, but aero is becoming a big deal for competitive gravel racers. Expect to see more gravel skinsuits and TT-style helmets in the near future.
How the Litespeed Toscano Handled UNBOUND 200
The Litespeed Toscano I had built for UNBOUND performed brilliantly. It’s actually lighter than my old carbon gravel bike, and it climbed amazingly well on UNBOUND’s endless steep kickers. (In case you don’t know, the Toscano is the lightest titanium gravel bike in production.)
With 50mm tires, a gravel suspension fork, and a springy titanium frame, I had a ton of traction and comfort. I actually felt more comfortable than ever! My hands and backside were sore at the finish, but unlike previous years, I was able to easily walk back to my room and go up and down stairs instead of shuffling around like a dried-up mummy.
In a race notorious for breaking bikes, I was also glad to have a tough titanium frame. When riding through spots of mud in the first 20 miles, my rear tire packed up. When I looked down at the mud and grit grinding into my titanium chainstays, I didn’t give it a second thought. There are some light scratches in there now, but they add character rather than cause concern.
The Toscano’s geometry felt impressively dialed. It already impressed me on the singletrack sections at BWR CA. Riding it at UNBOUND just confirmed how good it is. I bombed every descent and attacked every technical sector. Combined with the suspension fork, I had a lot of confidence and ended up dropping or passing riders whenever things pointed downhill. The fork also helped me smash through all the water crossings without any worries.
What would I change next time? Even though it goes against everything I believe, I found myself wishing for aerobars after riding alone in the wind for hours. I’m wearing an aero skinsuit and helmet, so I look pretty silly already. Can I live with the added aesthetic sin of putting aerobars on a gravel bike? I guess we’ll find out next year!
How I Handled UNBOUND 200
This is my fourth time riding the 200-mile event at UNBOUND, and every single time, this race presents new and surprising challenges. I dodged four major pile-ups and crashes in the first hour. I tried to position myself toward the outside of the group to give myself an escape route whenever the group would accordion. This saved my skin four times!
Once things settled down, I stayed with the lead group until I got dropped like a brick on the climb up Divide Road at mile 40. From there, I settled into the longest time trial of my life—160 miles of pure suffering. Last year, I had good luck and found a cohesive and motivated group to work with. This year, I had no such luck and spent most of the day alone.
Then there was the heat. This was the first hot UNBOUND I’ve experienced, and it destroyed me. The forecasted high was 86°F (30°C), which feels much hotter when you’re moving slowly and baking in the sun. I saw so many riders pulled over in the few spots of shade with their heads hanging. I had to spray myself down with a water bottle every 15-20 minutes just to stay alive. At the second checkpoint, I stuffed my skinsuit with ice, which gave me a brief second wind.
In the end, I drank over 9 liters of water, ate 20 50 g Carbs Fuel gels, and took in 470 mg of caffeine. My average pace fell off a cliff at mile 80, but I never fully cracked, and finished in 12 hours, 12 minutes, and 28 seconds. This is almost 15 minutes slower than what I did last year, but considering how bad I felt in the heat, how much time I spent alone in the wind, and how many matches I burned trying to stay upright in the first hour, I’m very happy with how I did!
See You at SBT GRVL!

Until next time, Emporia!
The next stop for the Litespeed team is SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Come find us at the expo to see the Toscano, Ultimate G2, Flint, and the world's lightest titanium bike, the Coll dels Reis, in person, along with suspension forks and our new Ano Blast colorways. If you ride a Litespeed, our pro mechanics will tune it up for free! Interested riders can swing a leg over their dream bike and chat with anyone from the Litespeed team about the joy of riding titanium gravel bikes!