Unbound Gravel, formerly known as the Dirty Kanza, is an event comprising gravel racing covering various distances held annually during the late spring on rural roads in the Flint Hills region of the Great Plains around Emporia, Kansas, United States. The race’s organizers refer to the 200 miles (320 km) race as the “World’s Premiere Gravel Grinder”, and ranked as one of the top gravel bike races.
“To be unbound is to be untethered and unrestrained. The term’s pre-12th century origins illicit notions of liberation and escape. Those who are unbound embrace life without limits or restrictions. The word owns many definitions and derivations, but each one ultimately reaches the same finish line.
To be unbound is to be free.
It’s the spirit that 4,000 riders bring with them to the Flint Hills of Kansas for one weekend each spring; the spirit of an event that began with 34 participants in 2006 and now stands as the “World’s Premier Gravel Event.” And so it is fitting that the event and its organization, the one embodied by a limitless ethos that calls Emporia home, now has a name to match its ferocious spirit.” -Emporia Gazette
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