Gravel racing and enduro mountain biking don’t have a whole lot in common on the surface; drop bars vs. flat bars, Lycra vs. baggies, etc., but they do share two pretty big things. One: they’re arguably the most popular racing formats in their respective spheres. Two: For years, both have struggled to make the leap from participant obsession to compelling spectator sport.
Enduro, with its raw terrain, technical stages, and split-stage format, has all the ingredients for great viewing. But when you’re trying to wrangle coverage of 200 riders spread across remote mountains over multiple timed segments, it’s no surprise it’s never quite translated to screens.
Gravel has had a similar problem. Take Unbound – the spiritual centre of American gravel, the de facto World Champs. Monumental in scale, steeped in culture, but in years gone by completely opaque if you’re not on the ground at the event. Despite its prestige, following the action as a fan has felt like trying to read a book through a keyhole.
That changed two weeks ago, when Life Time announced it would stream both the elite men’s and women’s Unbound 200 races live on YouTube for free. It’s the first live coverage since FloSports bailed after providing coverage in 2021 and 2022, ending a two-year live broadcast blackout.
For most sports, live coverage isn’t just nice to have anymore. It’s the gateway to a broader audience, a critical step in pushing gravel into the wider spotlight. And while this debut stream was a welcome move in the right direction, there’s still work to do if we want gravel to become something you don’t just race or ride, but something people actually watch. In my opinion, here's what needs to happen next.
What worked well?
First up, credit where it’s due: the stream held up. For a race that covers hundreds of miles with dozens of groups scattered across the Kansas prairie, the feed was stable and high quality. Life Time’s marketing director, Michelle Duffy, has previously raised that poor cell coverage was a real point of friction around attempting a live broadcast. (It was a significant factor in Flo's often-spotty production several years ago.) However, no network-based gremlins raised their heads during the nearly seven-hour-long feed. Whether through clever planning or sheer luck (likely both), the coverage ran smoothly from start to finish.
Then there’s the sheer scale of the operation. Covering one race like this is hard. Covering the men’s and women’s races simultaneously, over 200 miles? That’s borderline fantastical. But somehow, they pulled it off. Key groups were consistently shown, and while the feed-switching occasionally lagged behind the action, most of the action made it on camera.
Commentary-wise, bringing in Payson McElveen was a smart call. Injured from a crash at Sea Otter, he swapped racing for commentating and absolutely delivered. As a current pro, McElveen leveraged both that perspective and his considerable podcasting experience to offer insights that went well beyond the usual play-by-play, breaking down tactics, terrain, and what it actually feels like to be 150 miles deep in a gravel death march. He was a highlight of the broadcast.
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Still, there was always a question mark about what kind of audience would tune in. Live gravel coverage was an unknown quantity for Life Time. Recap videos have always pulled strong numbers; the 2024 highlights clocked 756,000 views, for instance.
But a highlight show can be viewed whenever is convenient, it sifts through the boring miles, and edits together a compilation of the best moments of racing. All that post-production editing helps distill and create a stronger narrative, and commentators can create a polished script to entertain and educate.
Live coverage is a different beast. It requires viewers to tune in on the race's schedule, and to commit the time and be willing to endure the inevitable slow sections of an 8-10 hour event. That’s what made this year’s live audience all the more impressive, as thousands decided to watch the racing unfold in real time.
Even during the mid-race lulls (75 miles to go for the men, 110 for the women, respectively), roughly 19,000 to 20,000 people were tuned in. As the races drew towards their conclusion, the viewing figures naturally began to spike, with a little under 30,000 people watching the conclusion of the men’s race. Even though there was a strong, consistent viewership throughout, an extra 10,000 or so viewers were motivated to watch the finale.
The full broadcast is now available to watch on YouTube, and as it stands, it now has 322,000 views as of June 2. That’s a strong debut, especially for a broadcast that ran for seven hours straight.
It was good, but not perfect
Let’s be clear: for a first-time live broadcast, Life Time delivered more than enough to have me tuning in again next year. But if gravel’s biggest event wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with WorldTour racing – and considering Unbound aired on the same day as the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia and likely will overlap again in future years, it sort of has to – then there’s room to raise the bar. Here's where there's room for improvement:
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