Emporia, Kansas can be called a boom town, but instead of gold or silver, it draws thousands of cyclists to the area for the Unbound Gravel event.

This Midwestern community has fewer than 25,000 residents a year. Unbound Gravel is responsible for adding 1% more people to Emporia 50 times a year and making it the gravel riding capital of the world. 

More than 12,000 people gather in small towns for unbound gravel, and this year 5,000 people are competing for 25 distances and routes ranging from 350 miles to 5 miles to see the field of the biggest athletes riding.

As Lelandains, Director of Visit Emporia, confirmed, a population explosion is good for the local economy. Danes was one of the owners of Merchant Cycles, the official bike shop for Unbound Gravel in 2024.  

Of course, all cyclists, support staff, industry experts and fans who are trying to find a place to stay nearby will have headaches and problems. 

"We have a community that can help, but it's still a problem. It will literally take almost every homeowner in this community to open their home to make it easier. It's a disappointing logistics hurdle," Danes told Cyclingnews about the crunch of unbound gravel housing. 

"It will lead to an increase in traffic in our small small town, which may offend some people who are not used to it, but overall, the majority of residents understand the positive impact.

Emporia not only serves as the front porch of Flint Hills for cycling, but is also the birthplace of disc golf, and in the year

5 early May an estimated 800 competitors and 3,000 spectators were in town for the dynamic disc open. 6 late May, Emporia will see another influx of disc golfers and spectators for the 2024PDGA Masters Disc Golf World Championship.

"Emporia is also the founding city of Veterans Day, home to the National Nurse and Hall of Fame. It's a pretty eclectic little town," Danes explained.

Hotel rooms are booked quickly every year and people are looking for traditional accommodation 60 miles away in Topeka or 80 miles away in Wichita. People can put their name on the waiting list for a handful of hotels in Emporia, but the convenience is not cheap - the going rate for brand-name properties like the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express was 3 392-6 643 per night.

Short-term private rental markets like Airbnb are also tight, with homes selling out a few months ago. Many riders opted for do-it-yourself camping options at the fairgrounds for a reasonable cost, a low-cost dorm room at Emporia State University dorm for those who don't mind sharing space with new friends, and the occasional$40 per night for a spare bedroom offered by local residents. 

Dorm rooms are very popular and some riders prefer that option over renting a private home. 

Ask Blue Ridge Twenty 24 of Virginia, where Melisa Rollins finished fifth in the Elite Women's Unbound 200 and Alexis Jaramillo won overall in the Junior Women's Division. The team had to buy air mattresses, sheets and linens to make it work, as it brought a massive contingency of riders in 2022 and rented a house without furniture.

So where in the unbound gravel and Emporia timeline, things start to change 'When the event got bigger.'

Multiple times in 2012, MTB National Champion Rebecca Rush competed and won (she was 3rd overall among men and women). Then she came back and won another 2 times. My head started to change in the world of cycling about this special off-road endurance event.

"The mass of people riding together didn't appeal to me as an explorer or mountain biker," Rusch told Cyclingnews last year that he was resisting trying the Kansas Gravel race.

"The terrain was exciting and a bit of fun. I found it very similar to a mountain bike. I took it seriously and went back to defend and it became part of my race schedule for years."

Lelain Dins said it was the presence of Rusch that was a key factor for people to pay attention to the event, but it was still modest. Then he said that "myths" about Flint rocks slicing tires and menacing mud put the event on the world map.

"I think the big launch point was the infamous 2015 mud year when Yuri Hauswald won with a sprint finish. And remember that there are a lot of myths that arose from the events of those years, and it took a kind of its own life. And from 2015, you can see some pretty clear accelerated growth around it, namely with caution. Media attention began to increase, and with it the number of participants increased."

Dains launched a Visit Emporia Pledge last year for visitors to demonstrate that they are good stewards of the community and environment during local time. 

Three components include: You treat others the way they want to treat you, leave no trace (do not litter) and respect our culture But the pledge is not only for visitors, he says they "walk a walk".

"We will start our cleanup efforts, especially the day after Sunday's race. Working with Life Time, we bring volunteers from across the region and do the best we can to canvas nearly every inch of these courses," Dins said.

"Let me tell you that most of the garbage we pick up certainly doesn't come from those cyclists. We were able to pick up everything, as well as [food] wrappers and bottles to get left behind. I'm picking up a TV, a beer can, whatever I can put in a car and pull back from there. It is our duty, our part of responsibility to being a good host.

"You don't accidentally host a World Championship or a Super Bowl of Gravel". The town of Flint Hills is not just us. We are not the only town with a disc golf course. It takes a desire, a go-get-em attitude that we have right here in Emporia.”