Amanda Nauman is an official member of the Gravel Grail (1,000 mile club) and one of the few cyclists to have completed the Unbound Gravel 200 five times. She is also the winner of this notoriously grueling gravel race, but this year she is taking it to another level by competing in the Unbound XL, a 350-mile ride through the Flint Hills of Kansas. [In an interview with Cycling News a few days before the event, Nauman said.

"In an event like this, where you're riding a lot at night, you practice riding with lights, in the dark, on aerobars, and you learn what happens to your body when you ride for hours at night," Naumann said.

"Training for this was a big experiment. My training hasn't changed in terms of the amount of riding, but it's not as focused on high intensity.

A former swimmer and triathlete, Naumann switched to off-road sports mountain biking and cyclocross, entering gravel racing in 2015.

She won the 200-mile version of Unbound Gravel in 2015 and 2016 and then decided to consistently race gravel across North America. She also runs her own gravel event, Mammoth Tough, in Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

Nauman has completed the Unbound Gravel 200 five times and joined the Gravel Grail Club, but said this year is the time to create new goals.

"If you complete the 200-mile event five times, you get the Gravel Grail and you can join the so-called 1000-mile club... I got the Gravel Grail in 2019 because that was my fifth time completing it... Once you complete it five times, you think about what's next. I'm thinking about what crazy things I can do next," Nauman said.

Naumann said he expects to finish the Unbound Gravel XL in about 24 to 30 hours, with the goal of finishing before dark the next day.

"If you want to take a nap, you can stop, but the point is to keep going straight. That lack of sleep is what makes this competition unique. It's long enough that you don't need to sleep," Nauman says. 'It's completely self-sufficient, and it's based on gas stations, so we ride to the gas station point.'

Her closest competitor would be defending champion Reel Wilcox, who specializes in ultra-endurance racing and won the 2019 Unbound Gravel XL in 23 hours 51 minutes.

Nauman expects a tough battle, but is hoping for two results: a finish and a win.

"The first goal is to finish the race, and the second is to win. I think we can win," Naumann said.