Table of Contents<\/h4>\n\u2022<\/span>Get right to the audio episode!<\/span><\/ul>\n<\/div>\nAs we mentioned last week, Logan Jones-Wilkins was in Emporia, Kansas covering Unbound 2026. Now he\u2019s back in the studio and Mike Levy and I get to talk about what he saw. Part of that is the new Specialized Crux, but before we get there, we started with a discussion of how Jones-Wilkins did in his own Unbound 100 race.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t exactly a quiet day out. Jones-Wilkins talks about a wild situation that unfolded right in front of him and left him going from 26 mph to on the ground in an instant. Despite going down, he still managed a 5-hour and 50-minute finish, pushing 270 normalized watts.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, because naturally this is what\u2019s important here people, the bike he was riding was okay. That bike was the new Specialized Crux 5, and now we finally get to hear the details and what it was like to ride. Last week Levy and I bumbled our way through without any real info, but now we know the bike was under 5 out of 6 podium finishers and Jones-Wilkins has real details about what it\u2019s like to ride.<\/p>\n
The Mud<\/h2>\n
From there, we get into the rest of the racing in Kansas, and that means the mud. This year the Flint Hills delivered thick, sticky mud that forced massive sections of walking. We discuss the toll it took on equipment and the measures riders resorted to\u2014including multiple pros peeing on their drivetrains.<\/p>\n
\nADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Men\u2019s 200 & The Arrival of Team Tactics<\/h2>\n
It wasn\u2019t all walking, though. As is often the case, the mud was what changed the race, but there was still plenty of racing without the mud. This year that means the arrival of true team tactics.<\/p>\n
The defining story of the Men\u2019s 200 race was the impact of World Tour-style team tactics. Specialized exerted absolute control over the front of the pack, and we analyzed how three Specialized riders leading the race dealt with punctures and the podium spots up for grabs. Is this level of coordinated team racing the natural evolution of the sport, or does it completely change the fabric of gravel racing?<\/p>\n
The Women\u2019s 200<\/h2>\n
The real fireworks weren\u2019t on the men\u2019s side, though. The men\u2019s race had its excitement, but it ended quickly. Meanwhile, in the Women\u2019s 200 it was a slow build with constant anticipation. The race blew up early, and with hours left in the race, there was a small pack with Specialized in control. Would someone attack and take a risk or let it go to the line? At one point riders Sophia Gomez Villafa\u00f1e and Geerike Schreurs actually texted mid-race to orchestrate attacks leading into the final sprint.<\/p>\n
The 32-Inch Wheel Debate<\/h2>\n
Finally, we tackle the giant prototype Scott 32-inch wheeled bikes that made their debut in Kansas. The men\u2019s 350XL top podium spot was riding one of the bikes, while in the 200 race the bike finished under the 10th place rider. What does that mean for the technology and will you see it roll out on production models soon?<\/p>\n
Timestamps<\/h2>\n
00:00 \u2013 Intro & Logan\u2019s Unbound 100
\n10:03\u00a0 \u2013 The Specialized Crux Deep Dive
\n21:55 \u2013 The Mud & Drivetrain Drama
\n27:00 \u2013 The Men\u2019s 200 & Team Tactics
\n42:05 \u2013 The Women\u2019s 200
\n46:38 \u2013 The 32-Inch Wheel Debate<\/p>\n\n\nSubscribe to the Velo Podcast<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n
Articles covered this week<\/h2>\n
Too much to list so instead, check out the Unbound Gravel hub.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nJosh Ross<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nPublished June 5, 2026 01:57PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/velo-podcast-unbound-debrief\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Velo-Podcast-thumbnail-copy.jpg”] Josh Ross Published June 5, 2026 01:57PM Table of Contents \u2022Get right to the audio episode! As we mentioned last week, Logan Jones-Wilkins was in Emporia, Kansas covering Unbound 2026. Now he\u2019s back in the studio and Mike Levy and I get to talk about what he saw. Part of that is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1975659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1975659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1975659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1975659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1975659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
As we mentioned last week, Logan Jones-Wilkins was in Emporia, Kansas covering Unbound 2026. Now he\u2019s back in the studio and Mike Levy and I get to talk about what he saw. Part of that is the new Specialized Crux, but before we get there, we started with a discussion of how Jones-Wilkins did in his own Unbound 100 race.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t exactly a quiet day out. Jones-Wilkins talks about a wild situation that unfolded right in front of him and left him going from 26 mph to on the ground in an instant. Despite going down, he still managed a 5-hour and 50-minute finish, pushing 270 normalized watts.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, because naturally this is what\u2019s important here people, the bike he was riding was okay. That bike was the new Specialized Crux 5, and now we finally get to hear the details and what it was like to ride. Last week Levy and I bumbled our way through without any real info, but now we know the bike was under 5 out of 6 podium finishers and Jones-Wilkins has real details about what it\u2019s like to ride.<\/p>\n
The Mud<\/h2>\n
From there, we get into the rest of the racing in Kansas, and that means the mud. This year the Flint Hills delivered thick, sticky mud that forced massive sections of walking. We discuss the toll it took on equipment and the measures riders resorted to\u2014including multiple pros peeing on their drivetrains.<\/p>\n
The Men\u2019s 200 & The Arrival of Team Tactics<\/h2>\n
It wasn\u2019t all walking, though. As is often the case, the mud was what changed the race, but there was still plenty of racing without the mud. This year that means the arrival of true team tactics.<\/p>\n
The defining story of the Men\u2019s 200 race was the impact of World Tour-style team tactics. Specialized exerted absolute control over the front of the pack, and we analyzed how three Specialized riders leading the race dealt with punctures and the podium spots up for grabs. Is this level of coordinated team racing the natural evolution of the sport, or does it completely change the fabric of gravel racing?<\/p>\n
The Women\u2019s 200<\/h2>\n
The real fireworks weren\u2019t on the men\u2019s side, though. The men\u2019s race had its excitement, but it ended quickly. Meanwhile, in the Women\u2019s 200 it was a slow build with constant anticipation. The race blew up early, and with hours left in the race, there was a small pack with Specialized in control. Would someone attack and take a risk or let it go to the line? At one point riders Sophia Gomez Villafa\u00f1e and Geerike Schreurs actually texted mid-race to orchestrate attacks leading into the final sprint.<\/p>\n
The 32-Inch Wheel Debate<\/h2>\n
Finally, we tackle the giant prototype Scott 32-inch wheeled bikes that made their debut in Kansas. The men\u2019s 350XL top podium spot was riding one of the bikes, while in the 200 race the bike finished under the 10th place rider. What does that mean for the technology and will you see it roll out on production models soon?<\/p>\n
Timestamps<\/h2>\n
00:00 \u2013 Intro & Logan\u2019s Unbound 100 Too much to list so instead, check out the Unbound Gravel hub.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/velo-podcast-unbound-debrief\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Velo-Podcast-thumbnail-copy.jpg”] Josh Ross Published June 5, 2026 01:57PM Table of Contents \u2022Get right to the audio episode! As we mentioned last week, Logan Jones-Wilkins was in Emporia, Kansas covering Unbound 2026. Now he\u2019s back in the studio and Mike Levy and I get to talk about what he saw. Part of that is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1975659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1975659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1975659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1975659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1975659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n10:03\u00a0 \u2013 The Specialized Crux Deep Dive
\n21:55 \u2013 The Mud & Drivetrain Drama
\n27:00 \u2013 The Men\u2019s 200 & Team Tactics
\n42:05 \u2013 The Women\u2019s 200
\n46:38 \u2013 The 32-Inch Wheel Debate<\/p>\nSubscribe to the Velo Podcast<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nArticles covered this week<\/h2>\n