Marley had an awesome time at Unbound 2025! She and Ellen sit down to talk about what was different this year—her 5th time riding—plus what she recommends for future rides and what to expect from your body after you've completed a long bike ride. (109 miles of gravel takes its toll, no matter what!)
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Episode Transcript
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Marley (00:00):
Some reason it has, uh, closed captioning turned on.
And it says You're a gym.
No, you are a gym.
Ellen (00:06):
Jim, like the name
Marley (00:07):
No, like gymnasium.
Like you're a set of monkey bars.
And
Ellen (00:13):
Well,
Marley (00:14):
I
Ellen (00:14):
well,
Marley (00:14):
just went over a set of monkey bars.
I'm like
Ellen (00:17):
Well.
Marley (00:19):
from Unbound.
It took, uh, what day is today?
Today's Friday.
It took almost six days.
Ellen (00:26):
Here we're,
Marley (00:27):
human again.
Ellen (00:28):
yay.
Well, we wanted to talk about Unbound,so I'm glad that's what you started with.
Marley (00:33):
Yeah.
Ellen (00:34):
Six days is a long time to.
Marley (00:38):
Yeah, I mean I still have this cold sore that is, uh, wreaking havoc on
my social life and my dating life becauseof course, when I get a cold sore is also
when I get meet like five interesting newpeople and I'm like, I can't kiss you.
I don't even wanna go on adate with you because I have
this monstrosity on my face.
Ellen (00:56):
Oh, so tell me, tell me more.
We're gonna kind of dive in, buttell me more about your cold sore.
Marley (01:02):
So, um, it's herpes.
Uh, yum.
Ellen (01:06):
Yay.
Every, a lot of peoplehave herpes, first of all.
Marley (01:09):
80% of the population, so
Ellen (01:11):
Yeah.
Marley (01:12):
it.
But, um, it, I get them when Iget like an outbreak whenever I'm
out in the sun and stressed and,I know that this happens to me.
And I tried to be good about sunscreen,but I really wasn't this year.
Like I was good about sunscreen on therest of my body, but on my lips I wasn't.
And so, uh, I just got an outbreak andI know that that happens when I'm in
the sun for 12 plus hours and hard.
Ellen (01:36):
Does it?
I get them when I am superstressed out, it's one of the ways
that my body will be like, hi,
you've done too much.
Marley (01:43):
it's funny, I didn't feel super stressed out.
Because I think I'velearned how to cope with it.
But objectively I had a millionand a half things going on
Ellen (01:53):
Yeah,
Marley (01:53):
Unbound running a nonprofit.
Um, you know, I did an activationfor ride with GPS and then riding
109 miles in 90 degree heat.
Like I
Ellen (02:03):
yeah.
Marley (02:04):
my body was like, you are stressed.
Even if I didn't actuallylike, feel stressed.
Ellen (02:08):
Right, which is also gonna be a part of the recovery process too.
So, okay, let's rewind andtake it back to the top.
'cause there's one other thing thatis somewhat newsworthy about your
participation in Unbound this year.
Do you remember what it is
Marley (02:21):
It was my fifth time.
Ellen (02:23):
that's newsworthy, but that's not what I mean.
Marley (02:25):
Uh, no.
What was.
Ellen (02:28):
you trained for it.
Marley (02:30):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ellen (02:36):
You took time out of your days
Marley (02:40):
trained so much for this bike ride and I never trained for
bike rides, but uh, I had thiskind of desire this year to see.
What could happen if I didn't justlike go couch to a hundred miles?
And as it turns out, training works.
Ellen (03:00):
really.
You don't say,
Marley (03:06):
I mean, I know it sounds obvious, but like, yeah, I, I've never in my
life put forth the effort to, thisis gonna sound really bad to prepare.
Ellen (03:17):
wait, this is truly the first time you've trained for a, for a long race.
Marley (03:23):
For a specific event.
Yeah.
I've previously, I've justkind of like ridden a lot, but
Ellen (03:27):
Right.
Marley (03:27):
intentional with like ramping up my miles and working on nutrition
and like working with a training group.
Like I
Ellen (03:36):
Oh my gosh.
Marley (03:38):
There's a group in Bentonville called Femmes Gravel that, um, basically
starting in the winter, does group ridesevery week in pursuit of a century.
Um, so we started at like 30 milesin February and worked their way
up to like, well, they workedtheir way up to 70 miles by May.
Um, and my travel schedule gotsuper crazy busy in like April,
(03:59):
and so from April to Unbound lastweek, I was basically on my own.
I did have like that initialthree month training.
Ellen (04:06):
Yeah.
Marley (04:07):
really set me up really well, and it's like I learned
how to ride in a pace line.
I learned how to like, getbetter at eating on my bike.
I learned like actual endurance.
Um, I mean, I, want to.
Discount my previous efforts becausethey've been awesome and really good.
But like I got good at being efficienton the bike and like not, I'm
(04:29):
really, really good at wasting time.
Like really good at wasting time.
I mean, my previous century tookme like 14 and a half hours.
That's a long time to be out there.
Ellen (04:37):
That's a long day.
Marley (04:39):
yeah.
And this one, my riding timewas like nine hours, 47 minutes.
Ellen (04:45):
Nice.
Marley (04:46):
which is.
Like my fastest century ever.
My like finish time was 11hours and 44 minutes, so I
Ellen (04:52):
Yay.
Marley (04:53):
to stop for two hours
Ellen (04:54):
Yeah.
Oh, who knows?
How, how could you ever poss,I mean, that's not fair.
Even if you think of like a road trip,like suddenly the time just takes longer.
But like you stop for 10 minuteshere, 10 minutes there, big break
for like a couple, a meal or two islike suddenly that's two extra hours.
Marley (05:12):
Yeah.
Ellen (05:13):
Yeah.
Marley (05:13):
back, like I, it's funny, I put a story on my Instagram yesterday because I.
Took all this footage during Unboundwith the goal of making some long
form content to show like what it's,what it's actually like to ride a
hundred miles when you're not a pro.
And I'm just having impostersyndrome of like editing it and
putting it together and just feelingreally overwhelmed by that process.
(05:35):
But I was going through it.
I was like, man, this iskind of cool actually.
Like I filmed myself stretching at onepoint when I had a cramp and like eating
and I stopped to help a guy change histire, which that's kind of a funny story.
And
Ellen (05:46):
Okay,
Marley (05:47):
I have pretty good trust that he'll never hear this,
so I'm gonna be very candid.
we were like 20 miles in, maybe 25 milesin, and I see this guy on the side of
the road kind of looking exasperated.
Ellen (05:58):
cool.
Marley (05:58):
a, I'm a nice person.
You know, whenever I see anybody stoppedon the side of the road in a race, I
like to check in and just say, Hey,um, do you have everything you need?
Um, that's become my go-to,rather than, Hey, can I help you?
Because sometimes it's like, oh no, Ijust need an extra tube and I can like,
drop the tube and keep going, you know?
And so this one, this guy was like,uh, I'm just gonna call the sag.
(06:19):
And I was like, why?
He was like, oh, I have a flat tire.
And I was like.
You don't need to quit this racebecause you have a flat tire.
Um, so I pulled over and I helped him out.
Turns out, uh, he had noidea what he was doing.
he, yeah, I felt kind of bad.
He was from Norway.
Um, so he had come all this way
Ellen (06:37):
Literally like lives in Norway and showed up in the middle of Kansas
Marley (06:41):
yeah,
Ellen (06:41):
for a bike ride.
Marley (06:42):
for a bike ride
Ellen (06:43):
Yeah.
Marley (06:43):
ready to quit.
Um.
Ellen (06:46):
And didn't know how to change a tire.
Marley (06:47):
know how to change a tire.
Ellen (06:48):
Oh
Marley (06:48):
his change, his tire changed.
Um, I mean it was like as simpleas getting his tire off the rim.
Like he didn't know how to do that.
Ellen (06:54):
yeah.
Marley (06:55):
did that.
We got his tire changed.
It was kind of funny.
He was running an insert,like, are you familiar with
Ellen (07:00):
No, no, I don't know what that means.
Marley (07:02):
It's like a foam,
um, insert
Ellen (07:07):
Insert.
Marley (07:08):
inside with tubeless.
I, I think it's supposed tohelp with flat protection.
Ellen (07:12):
I was gonna say, I'm picturing almost like half of a tube that
somehow nests up into the tire.
Marley (07:18):
That's exactly what it is, but it's like
Ellen (07:19):
Okay.
Marley (07:19):
foam.
Ellen (07:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Marley (07:22):
So anyway, he took that out of his wheel and he just like threw it
into the field and I was like, Uhuh.
You gotta carry that back.
And he
Ellen (07:29):
Yeah.
Marley (07:29):
like, yeah, don't litter.
so
Ellen (07:33):
Okay.
All right.
Marley (07:36):
it was quite the experience to change this guy's tire.
Um, but it was funny becauselike, normally going back
to the whole training thing,
Ellen (07:42):
Yeah.
Marley (07:43):
I don't worry about my time.
I'm like, oh, cool.
10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.
But I found myself like annoyed becauseall these people that I had passed.
Were suddenly passing me and I wanted toget back out there and pass him again.
So like I had this likecompetitive spirit come out in me.
Ellen (07:58):
Oh, interesting.
Marley (07:59):
yeah.
Yeah, it
Ellen (08:01):
That is, it's um, actually similar to parenting in that way, to
where it's just like, I've noticed if I.
Have a different goal versus whatmy child is currently focused on.
I have so little patience for whateveris going on, and if I can like reframe
it to be like, it's not about that.
It's about, you know, biggerpicture, blah, blah, blah.
You can be chill, but like, it'skind of exciting and I think that's
(08:22):
what we were talking about, right?
It's like you had a goal, you trained
Marley (08:25):
Yeah,
Ellen (08:25):
and so it's, that is an interesting pointing out of how your
mentality shifts in all of that.
Marley (08:30):
yeah.
And it's interesting because people,you know, before Unbound were
asking me, well, what's your goal?
What's your time goal?
And I was hesitant to put a time on it I.
The conditions out therecan be so variable.
Ellen (08:43):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (08:44):
you know, even if my goal was 12 hours, if we ended up getting a section
of mud that forced off, forced us toget off and walk, like that time goal
can just get thrown out the window.
Ellen (08:55):
Yeah.
Marley (08:55):
as folks have probably seen, it was a surprisingly
very dry, very fast year.
Um, it has been so wet in theMidwest recently, like so, so wet.
Um, and.
It got hot, it got windy, and theroads were like prime condition.
It was incredible.
There was like one spot of mud,um, and didn't, problematic to be
(09:20):
Yeah, it wasn't, didn't phase me.
It was on the a hundred mile course, butit was just a super fast day out there.
It was really, really fun.
Ellen (09:25):
That is fun and very rewarding to feel like you trained and then you got
great conditions instead of feeling like,uh, you trained and it was inevitable
that you wouldn't hit your goal.
Marley (09:34):
Yeah, and I think the best part was, I felt good all day long.
Ellen (09:40):
Well, how does that, like you love to ride, so how is
that different from other rides?
Marley (09:44):
that's a
Ellen (09:44):
I.
Marley (09:44):
question.
Um, you know, oftentimes I will reacha point on my ride where it's like my
body kind of shuts down and it's like,
Ellen (09:53):
Oh.
Marley (09:53):
hit a, you've hit a wall.
And this isn't fun anymore.
You know, my knee will hurt or someother body part, or I'll just kind of
lose my endurance, I'll lose my stamina.
And it's like, cool.
That 40 mile ride felt really good.
Ellen (10:06):
Hmm.
Marley (10:06):
but during Unbound it was like the first, I think 25
miles, I averaged 14 miles anhour, which for me is stupid fast.
Like
Ellen (10:15):
That's,
Marley (10:15):
gravel.
Ellen (10:17):
yeah, I mean that's a good pace for any long distance race
Marley (10:20):
Yeah.
Um, and it's funny, do you, do youride for the cycling computer, Ellen?
Ellen (10:26):
I have.
I don't currently, but I have in the past.
Marley (10:28):
Okay, so my, my computer, normally when I'm on a route like Unbound or
any significant ride, it'll, when I'mclimbing a hill, it'll say, you know, hill
one of eight or one of 15 or whatever.
The hill profile is for the,the race the first 25 miles.
I didn't get any hills on my computerscreen, even though we were climbing some.
(10:50):
I was like, oh,
Ellen (10:51):
Okay.
Marley (10:51):
they just like turned off that function or maybe there
was an update to the system.
I hit mile like 26 or 27 andit was like climb one of 14.
I was like,
Ellen (11:02):
Oh no.
Marley (11:03):
this is why I've been going so fast.
The first er part of thecourse was just like.
if it trended downhill orjust flat or what it was.
Ellen (11:11):
Sure.
Marley (11:12):
I started hitting the hills, my time slowed down and I think I ended up
averaging like miles or 11 miles an hourover the course of the day, which is
Ellen (11:22):
still great.
Marley (11:23):
awesome for me.
Yeah.
Ellen (11:24):
Yeah, they like, 'cause you could even think of like if you get to
average it out across the whole course,at some point you were going 10 miles
an hour up a hill, which is real fast.
Marley (11:33):
it's true.
Um, my max speed was 36 miles an hour,
Ellen (11:37):
Is that fast?
Like, that feels very fast to me.
Marley (11:41):
it, it felt fast on the, on the, on the gravel.
Ellen (11:44):
On gravel.
Marley (11:45):
yeah, my, I think my max speed ever was like 48 miles an hour, but that
Ellen (11:49):
Holy.
Marley (11:50):
on a road bike, and I don't know that I'll ever hit that speed again.
Ellen (11:55):
I don't want you to, that feels.
So dangerous.
Um, I have a little, I do have aspeedometer on my bike, and now that
I'm riding with Remy Moore, it's likeI'm figuring out how fast his little
bike goes and how fast he's like,comfortable going, and I'm just shocked.
It's like going down the righthills at the right times.
It's like he's,
Marley (12:13):
to?
Ellen (12:14):
he's going up to like 17, 17, 18.
I know.
No.
Marley (12:18):
That's wild.
'cause he's four.
Ellen (12:20):
Yes.
He'll, he's very, very close to five,
Marley (12:23):
Wow.
I love that though, like instilling thatconfidence because you know, sometimes I
Ellen (12:27):
Yeah.
Marley (12:27):
who are afraid to go fast and
Ellen (12:29):
Yeah,
Marley (12:30):
there's nothing wrong with that, but going fast is one of
my favorite things in the world.
Ellen (12:33):
of course.
That's why you climb hills.
That's why you, that's whyyou make it up the hills.
Marley (12:37):
exactly.
Ellen (12:38):
That's fun.
Well, I'm so, I am glad that you feltgood the whole time, like that's,
that also feels really significant.
Marley (12:45):
has been so problematic.
Ellen (12:47):
So it didn't bother you as much or at all.
Marley (12:49):
me a lot,
Ellen (12:50):
Oh.
Marley (12:53):
but I think I figured out a good combination of ibuprofen, acetaminophen.
Um, there's a topical creamcalled Voltarin and CBD Cream,
so I was just kind of like arolling medicine cabinet all day.
Uh.
Ellen (13:08):
We're gonna numb the shit out of this knee.
Marley (13:11):
And it worked.
Um, I also did lots of stretching.
I mean, to be fair, there were, I, I thinkaround mile like 53 or 54, right as I was
coming into the aid station, I seriouslyhad the thought of I shouldn't keep
riding, like I'm doing damage to my knee.
Ellen (13:26):
Oh,
Marley (13:27):
but then I got to the aid station.
I ate some pizza.
I had a cold Dr.
Pepper waiting for me.
Ellen (13:32):
oh,
Marley (13:33):
Um, so the way that Unbound works
Ellen (13:35):
I was gonna say like you specifically had a Dr.
Pepper or.
Marley (13:38):
So for Unbound, for the 100 and the 200, it is unsupported except at
the aid stations, but you have to supplyyour own crew and your own resupply.
So like most
Ellen (13:51):
your own crew, so like you have to have a buddy.
Marley (13:53):
yeah.
Yeah,
Ellen (13:54):
Oh,
Marley (13:54):
or there's bike shop, you can do crew for hire and that's what I
Ellen (13:58):
oh,
Marley (13:58):
Um.
Ellen (13:59):
that's cool.
Marley (14:00):
so there's a bike shop in Ottawa, Kansas called Ottawa Bike and
Trail that runs support for folks.
It's like 30 bucks I think.
And um, you give them your drop bagin the days leading up to the race,
um, you know, labeled with your name.
And then at the midway point theyare waiting for you and they've
got a cooler and they've got tents.
So you can like sit down and takea leg, take a, take a leg off.
(14:22):
That doesn't make sense.
Ellen (14:24):
Uh, take a load off
Marley (14:25):
a load off.
Ellen (14:26):
your legs.
Marley (14:27):
there are bike shops.
They have a mechanic, so they, you know,
Ellen (14:30):
Cool.
Marley (14:30):
that your bike needs.
Um, it's kind of, if, have youseen the pros showing all their
videos of like their pit stops?
Ellen (14:37):
No.
Marley (14:38):
It's like absurd.
Like theirs is like NASCAR style.
Like they come
Ellen (14:41):
Oh my God.
Marley (14:41):
like, it's like a race to do it as fast as possible.
Ellen (14:44):
Do they like swap bikes out to make it faster
Marley (14:47):
they
Ellen (14:47):
or,
Marley (14:48):
bikes like
Ellen (14:48):
okay.
Marley (14:49):
to stay on the same bike.
Ellen (14:51):
Okay.
Marley (14:52):
at Unbound, you can swap components, but you have
to stay on the same frame.
Um, but they like swap out hydrationpacks and like for the pros, they try and
get in and out within like 30 seconds.
It
Ellen (15:01):
I have to.
Marley (15:03):
Um, my goal was 15 minutes, uh,
to give some context there.
Um, 'cause I knew I wanted to like refuel.
I wanted to reapply sunscreen.
Um, I.
Had had such a blazing fastmorning that I knew I had time
to burn and they removed the timecutoffs on the a hundred mile so I
Ellen (15:23):
Oh, cool.
Marley (15:24):
for four hours and been fine.
Ellen (15:26):
Sure.
Marley (15:27):
but, um, I wanted, my goal was really to get in before dark.
I had lights on me, but Ididn't wanna have to use them.
So,
Ellen (15:33):
Okay.
Marley (15:34):
um, know, my knee was hurting really bad coming into the aid station.
All I wanted was pizza.
Um, but I hadn't packed myself any pizza.
I had packed like.
on my gels and candy and waterand, um, I had packed myself a Dr.
Pepper.
Um, because I knew thatthat was gonna be delicious.
I had packed myself Cheetos andOreos and just a lot of like, really.
Ellen (15:58):
Comfort food.
Marley (15:59):
Comfort food, but nothing substantial.
Ellen (16:02):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (16:02):
as I was pulling into the aid station, I was like, damnit, I wish I had
like a cold slice of pizza or a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich or something.
And sure enough, when I got there,they had pizza, uh, and I was like, can
Ellen (16:14):
Yeah.
Marley (16:15):
a slice of this?
And it was the best pizza.
And so, you know, I sat there,I stretched, I ate pizza, I put
more, um, arthritis cream on,my knee started feeling better.
Um, I.
Ellen (16:26):
Okay.
Marley (16:27):
So I was like, okay, I'm gonna keep going.
Um, and so I would have stretchesof like 20 miles with no pain.
It was awesome.
Ellen (16:34):
That is exciting.
That must feel good too,and kind of freeing.
Marley (16:37):
yeah, yeah.
Definitely.
Especially because like, you know,normally doesn't hurt my knee.
It's walking, it's being on my feet.
Ellen (16:45):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (16:45):
like three days of expo before Unbound, so it was like
just really inflamed and angry.
And I've been to my doctor a bunch,you know, for folks listening.
I was like, Marley, why are you stillriding if your knee is messed up?
there's nothing wrongwith my knee right now.
Um, I had meniscus surgery in November.
It's healed right now.
I'm just dealing witharthritis pain, so yeah.
Ellen (17:08):
like what's the definition of arthritis?
That's just the swelling then.
Marley (17:11):
I think it's swelling, like loss of cartilage, bone on bone.
Ellen (17:15):
Okay.
Marley (17:15):
yeah, and so I,
Ellen (17:17):
Kind of.
Not a lot you can do about it, but.
Marley (17:19):
No, and I am eventually going to need a knee replacement, but my doctor
says not yet, which is really frustrating.
Um, but it still feels really goodthat I was able to ride 109 miles.
It wasn't just a hundredmiles, it was 109 miles.
Um, and then my knee feels fine this week.
Um, you know, it still hurts whenI'm walking, but I feel good that
I didn't do any further damage to
Ellen (17:40):
Yeah, you, it's not feeling worse now that you're off the bike.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tell me about the alarms that you set.
'cause I think I saw an Instagramreel where you have this stack
of reminders that show up.
Is that on your bike,computer, or just an app?
What is the.
Marley (17:55):
Yep.
So I use a Wahoo element, um, or wa,yeah, wahoo element, bolt bike, computer.
And so it sits on my handlebars andI have it set up to remind me to eat.
To drink to have a good timeand that I can do hard things.
So the way that it works is I weara heart rate monitor when I ride.
Um, and basically that's so I canlike maintain my efforts all day long.
(18:19):
You know,
Ellen (18:19):
I was gonna say that I think, not sorry to interrupt, but it's like.
When I was doing more recreational,like ride for exercise, ride for
sport, it's really helpful to knowwhen you're like, when your heart rate
is super high or too high, because Ididn't never, I wouldn't notice that.
It's like when it's so high, high,high, that's actually then when I
(18:40):
feel the worst and it's like thesignal to chill or to slow or to like
recover and like within the ride.
Marley (18:46):
Yeah, and I've really learned that if I keep my heart rate around
like 150, um, I can go all day long.
I can maintain a conversation.
It's when I push myself beyond that,and that happens when I'm climbing
hills or if I'm trying to keep upwith people who are faster than me.
And so it's a really good, um,just kind of self regulator of
like, Hey, keep it in this zone
Ellen (19:07):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Marley (19:08):
with that it counts calories.
And I, I know we don't talkabout calories, we don't
talk about food restriction.
Um, but.
Staying properly fueled onthese long rides is crucial.
And so I have it set up to where everya hundred calories that I hit, um, it
sends me a reminder to eat something.
Um, which is kind ofannoying to be honest, like.
Ellen (19:29):
Right, a hundred calories, but you hit that pretty quickly.
Marley (19:33):
quickly.
Um, and so like I'll eat like,you know, a handful of gummy bears
or a nerd nerd gummy cluster.
Um, I have dialed in my, my candy mix.
We'll talk about that.
Um, you know, sometimes I'll eatsomething more substantial, but
yeah, it's like, I don't know.
It came, I think over thecourse of the entire day.
supposedly burned like 5,600calories, which is a lot.
Ellen (19:56):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (19:57):
it got annoying having to hit that reminder every time
'cause you have to dismiss it.
But I kept it on there because itis a good reminder because you get
to a point where you don't wannaeat anything else, but you need to.
Ellen (20:09):
Yeah,
Marley (20:10):
I also have this really bad habit of like, I'm at Miles 75.
I'm basically done.
Not
Ellen (20:15):
not
Marley (20:15):
all.
No.
I still have like 30 miles to go, which is
Ellen (20:18):
have a
Marley (20:19):
hours.
Ellen (20:19):
right.
Marley (20:20):
so it's just a reminder.
So I've got that, I've got it set upevery 20 minutes to remind me to drink,
um, which that one's a little bit easierto, to self-regulate 'cause it was hot.
You get thirsty.
Um, but that one's especiallyhelpful for like winter time.
Then, like I said, uh, Ithink it's every 15 miles.
It tells me to have a good time.
And then I think at mile 50 I had areminder that you can do hard things, so,
Ellen (20:46):
like.
I like both of those a lot.
There is, I think a good mentalshift when you have something pop up.
It's like, don't forgetyou're here for fun.
Marley (20:53):
exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I like to switch 'em updepending on the ride or the race.
Um, but it is, it, it pops upand it makes me smile and I'm
like, oh, yeah, yeah, this is.
I'm living the life right now.
This is incredible.
Ellen (21:05):
That is lovely.
I like that a lot.
It is true.
I think you say this a lot.
It's like, I can'tbelieve this is my life.
Yeah,
Marley (21:10):
Yeah,
Ellen (21:12):
if you're paid, you're not paid.
I guess you weren't paid to goon Unbound, but you're making,
it's part of your living.
Marley (21:16):
it is part of my living.
Really cool this year.
Um, we'll, we'll have a link to it,but um, Shimano did a profile on me and
my bike setup, which is really cool.
Ellen (21:26):
That is cool.
Marley (21:28):
Um, it's, you know, I'm a, I'm an ambassador for Shimano,
Ellen (21:31):
Okay.
Marley (21:32):
cool to be included because, you know, they, they profiled Lauren
Stevens and Pete tna, two of the pros.
Um, and it's just cool to be kindof like a regular person being
Ellen (21:41):
Yeah,
Marley (21:42):
which is
Ellen (21:42):
exactly.
Yeah.
Someone who's representative of morethan just a person, a pro who was
of course, knows everything abouttheir elements on their bike, but you
also are a pretty, like, you're a,a fun rider, you're not a pro rider,
Marley (21:55):
Yeah.
Ellen (21:55):
but you also care about your components and here's why.
And here's what.
Marley (21:58):
and I rode flat pedals.
Um, controversial, unpopular
Ellen (22:02):
Hmm.
Marley (22:03):
flat pedals.
Ellen (22:04):
Yeah,
Marley (22:04):
need to be clipped in.
Um,
Ellen (22:07):
you do.
You boo.
Marley (22:08):
Do you
Ellen (22:08):
I like,
Marley (22:09):
clips?
Ellen (22:10):
I ride flats now, but that's like on my e-bike around town.
Once I was doing recreation,I liked clipped it.
I like clips.
It just like I got good aboutlike kind of using the full stroke
and you, you get clipped it whenyou're clipped and you can do that.
But, uh, I don't knockflat pedals for sure.
Marley (22:25):
A lot of people do though.
Ellen (22:26):
Well, they can shut up.
Marley (22:28):
I agree.
Ellen (22:30):
You did great on flat puddles.
Marley (22:32):
Thank you.
Ellen (22:33):
You're welcome.
Marley (22:34):
Yeah.
Ellen (22:35):
have, we have a little bit of time left and I wanna talk a bit
more about like kind of the recoveryprocess that you've been through.
You said it took six days foryou to really feel kind of back
up to, uh, you know, neutral so.
What should someone, especially,I know you trained for it, but it
still winds up being a big ride.
What should someone who's either kindof not used to riding that mileage
(22:56):
expect as far as this recovery,and what was your experience?
Marley (22:59):
Uh, you're gonna be really, really tired.
You are gonna be hungry, and every systemin your body is going to be out of whack.
Um, you
Ellen (23:08):
Hmm.
Marley (23:08):
me that meant sleep.
That meant my period.
I, I also started my periodduring Unbound, which was
Ellen (23:13):
Great.
First, just, yeah.
Wonderful.
Marley (23:18):
Um,
Ellen (23:19):
um, our friend in St.
Elmar, or she's not our friend, St.
Elmar just did a, a reel about, she didswimsuit week with her on her period.
Marley (23:29):
that and she was in some skimpy bikinis.
Ellen (23:33):
So Sy, when I'm on my period, all I wanna do is wear like black
things and jeans to just make sure.
And she's like, yeah, shewas out there doing it.
So good job.
You and you and Alona just doinghard things while bleeding.
Marley (23:46):
Exactly.
Um, but yeah, recovery, Imean take care of yourself.
Um,
Ellen (23:51):
Hmm.
Marley (23:52):
eat, drink.
Um, for me I was really cravinglike watermelon and lots of fruit
afterwards, which was interesting'cause I don't normally crave that.
And I think I was just like so dehydrated.
Um,
Ellen (24:02):
Hmm.
Marley (24:02):
I had two liters on my back and then two water bottles and
I was peeing throughout the day.
still super dehydrated.
Um, and then it's just, youknow, for me, I had a huge
inflammatory response afterwards.
Um, I have inflammation issuesanyway, but it was like, I got puffy.
I got swollen, I got this cold sore.
Um, and it's really takenlike six days of, you know.
(24:26):
Eating a bunch of non-processedfoods, just taking care
of myself, sleeping extra.
Um, so yeah, it's, really just made methink about people like Lael Wilcox who
do century after century after century.
Like she just rode around the world.
Ellen (24:40):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (24:41):
she is made different.
I, I don't know how you coulddo that every single day.
'cause
Ellen (24:47):
I don't.
Marley (24:48):
everything was just depleted.
Ellen (24:50):
Hmm.
Yeah.
Marley (24:51):
Yeah.
Ellen (24:52):
Yeah,
Marley (24:53):
And I
Ellen (24:53):
we should.
Marley (24:54):
because like, I don't wanna do this again.
Like the ride was super funand it was probably one of
my most fun days on the bike.
But the recovery hasbeen kind of atrocious.
Like, I don't want togo through this again.
Ellen (25:05):
That is Okay.
So that's interesting to me.
Be are, do you think you're gonnaremember it or do you think it's gonna
be one of those things that like fourweeks, five weeks, five months from
now, you'll be like, unbound onlyand not remembering the recovery.
Marley (25:17):
Probably, I mean,
Ellen (25:19):
Okay.
Marley (25:19):
I've done undo 100 twice before this,
Ellen (25:22):
Yeah.
And you.
Marley (25:24):
remember this being this bad.
Ellen (25:26):
Well, well, we'll check in with you in a year and see if what, how you feel.
And the other thing I remember yousaying is that like you specifically
chose a hundred, 'cause last yearyou did 50 and you missed it.
So maybe, so maybe it's justthat you're gonna wind up like
alternating, you'll remember.
And then do the 50 next year and belike, oh, and then do the a hundred.
Marley (25:44):
honest, I wanna do the a hundred again minus the recovery.
Um, because it's somethingincredible happens out there.
When you're out there for that long.
It's like you just have.
So many different experiences.
I remember at one time, at one point, mile30, I was like, this is going too fast.
The day is gonna be over.
Before I know it, Iwanna be out here longer.
(26:04):
And by mile 80 I was like, yeah, I'm good.
I'm, I'm over it.
Ellen (26:08):
Yeah, I'm fine now.
Let's go.
Marley (26:10):
Yeah,
Ellen (26:11):
That's funny, but.
I think it's a bit, again, it's kind ofone of like any ride could be your best
and your worst, like within five minutes.
Right.
So
Marley (26:20):
Yeah.
Ellen (26:21):
with it and staying out there means that you'll get more of each.
Marley (26:24):
Exactly.
Yeah.
I'm just really proud of myself.
I, you know, going back to thetraining thing, like I have never done
anything like this, and it's like, Iwonder what else I'm capable of if I
was actually consistent with things.
Ellen (26:38):
Yeah.
How about that?
Do you think you'll train again?
Marley (26:42):
Probably because it did, it made the door the day so much
more enjoyable to not be suffering.
So, um, I think even just maintaininga really good level of fitness
Ellen (26:51):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (26:52):
So that way I do have like, oh, I'm gonna go ride 60 miles
and it's not gonna be a big deal.
Um, but we'll see.
Ellen (26:58):
Yeah.
Marley (26:59):
hard 'cause summer's here and it's really hot here.
Ellen (27:01):
Yeah, that's true.
I don't know what to tell youother than you're right, but.
Marley (27:09):
so.
Ellen (27:10):
Maybe we should find who was the coach who helped the unbound
gravel team, not unbound gravel team.
Who was the coach whohelped the Midsouth team?
Marley (27:18):
Dave, Dave Shell,
Ellen (27:20):
Maybe we have Dave on to just talk about hurdles and training and what, what
do you do when it's super hot outsideif, if you would rather be outside.
I guess there's all, you can alwaysget on the trainer in the ac, but.
Marley (27:33):
but I did enough of that this winter.
Ellen (27:35):
Exactly, but that's also, I feel like that's just,
that's a hazard of the Midwest.
You get like two weeks of beautifulweather and you remember why you ride and
why this is wonderful and then you get 75weeks of cold and 75 weeks of hot and you
have to figure out what to do in that.
Marley (27:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ellen (27:54):
Well, I am really, really, really glad you had a good time.
We're pretty much at time.
I think you have a meeting to.
Marley (27:58):
we give a couple updates?
Um, on general, all bodieson bike stuff, so we talked
about this a couple weeks ago.
We still have themembership program going.
It is going, I don't wanna say bonkersor bonanza, but we've got a lot of
folks who have joined as members.
Um, we have a free tier.
We've got $5 a month, $10 a month ormore depending on what you can afford.
And that really helps uskeep our programming going.
(28:21):
Um, we've got some.
A ton of all bodies on bikesevents with our chapters coming up.
Um, go to all bodies on bikes.com/events
to see all of that.
Um, we were just on the Today Show.
Ellen (28:32):
Yay.
Marley (28:32):
will do a link and maybe another story about that.
Ellen (28:35):
We talked a little bit about it, I think, behind the scenes, but
I think it'd be fun to have even justlike a little episode that's like, Hey,
did you find us from the Today Show?
This is what we're about.
Marley (28:46):
And then trying to get what else is going on?
We've got, yeah.
Check out our website for events.
Um, and things are rocking and rolling.
Ellen (28:55):
I know it's summer, it's like high season for us.
Marley (28:59):
Yeah.
Ellen (28:59):
Like how bridger tin comes out in the middle of the summer
and everybody's out and aboutand doing things and being seen.
Same or cycling?
Marley (29:06):
turn coming out?
Ellen (29:07):
There will be, but not, I just mean like how they all like the summer.
The summer is the season andyou have to do everything.
Marley (29:14):
Yeah,
Ellen (29:15):
Sorry, I didn't mean to get your hopes up that something
was happening this year.
I don't think it's until nextyear that it's like 2026,
Marley (29:21):
Okay.
Ellen (29:22):
but it's, I mean, we can have a whole episode about
Bridgeton if you want later.
It's gonna be good.
Marley (29:27):
Oh my God, I'm so excited.
Okay,
Ellen (29:30):
that.
I'll see you soon, Marley.
Bye.
Marley (29:33):
good.
Bye.
Some reason it has, uh, closed captioning turned on.
And it says You're a gym.
No, you are a gym.
Ellen (00:06):
Jim, like the name
Marley (00:07):
No, like gymnasium.
Like you're a set of monkey bars.
And
Ellen (00:13):
Well,
Marley (00:14):
I
Ellen (00:14):
well,
Marley (00:14):
just went over a set of monkey bars.
I'm like
Ellen (00:17):
Well.
Marley (00:19):
from Unbound.
It took, uh, what day is today?
Today's Friday.
It took almost six days.
Ellen (00:26):
Here we're,
Marley (00:27):
human again.
Ellen (00:28):
yay.
Well, we wanted to talk about Unbound,so I'm glad that's what you started with.
Marley (00:33):
Yeah.
Ellen (00:34):
Six days is a long time to.
Marley (00:38):
Yeah, I mean I still have this cold sore that is, uh, wreaking havoc on
my social life and my dating life becauseof course, when I get a cold sore is also
when I get meet like five interesting newpeople and I'm like, I can't kiss you.
I don't even wanna go on adate with you because I have
this monstrosity on my face.
Ellen (00:56):
Oh, so tell me, tell me more.
We're gonna kind of dive in, buttell me more about your cold sore.
Marley (01:02):
So, um, it's herpes.
Uh, yum.
Ellen (01:06):
Yay.
Every, a lot of peoplehave herpes, first of all.
Marley (01:09):
80% of the population, so
Ellen (01:11):
Yeah.
Marley (01:12):
it.
But, um, it, I get them when Iget like an outbreak whenever I'm
out in the sun and stressed and,I know that this happens to me.
And I tried to be good about sunscreen,but I really wasn't this year.
Like I was good about sunscreen on therest of my body, but on my lips I wasn't.
And so, uh, I just got an outbreak andI know that that happens when I'm in
the sun for 12 plus hours and hard.
Ellen (01:36):
Does it?
I get them when I am superstressed out, it's one of the ways
that my body will be like, hi,
you've done too much.
Marley (01:43):
it's funny, I didn't feel super stressed out.
Because I think I'velearned how to cope with it.
But objectively I had a millionand a half things going on
Ellen (01:53):
Yeah,
Marley (01:53):
Unbound running a nonprofit.
Um, you know, I did an activationfor ride with GPS and then riding
109 miles in 90 degree heat.
Like I
Ellen (02:03):
yeah.
Marley (02:04):
my body was like, you are stressed.
Even if I didn't actuallylike, feel stressed.
Ellen (02:08):
Right, which is also gonna be a part of the recovery process too.
So, okay, let's rewind andtake it back to the top.
'cause there's one other thing thatis somewhat newsworthy about your
participation in Unbound this year.
Do you remember what it is
Marley (02:21):
It was my fifth time.
Ellen (02:23):
that's newsworthy, but that's not what I mean.
Marley (02:25):
Uh, no.
What was.
Ellen (02:28):
you trained for it.
Marley (02:30):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ellen (02:36):
You took time out of your days
Marley (02:40):
trained so much for this bike ride and I never trained for
bike rides, but uh, I had thiskind of desire this year to see.
What could happen if I didn't justlike go couch to a hundred miles?
And as it turns out, training works.
Ellen (03:00):
really.
You don't say,
Marley (03:06):
I mean, I know it sounds obvious, but like, yeah, I, I've never in my
life put forth the effort to, thisis gonna sound really bad to prepare.
Ellen (03:17):
wait, this is truly the first time you've trained for a, for a long race.
Marley (03:23):
For a specific event.
Yeah.
I've previously, I've justkind of like ridden a lot, but
Ellen (03:27):
Right.
Marley (03:27):
intentional with like ramping up my miles and working on nutrition
and like working with a training group.
Like I
Ellen (03:36):
Oh my gosh.
Marley (03:38):
There's a group in Bentonville called Femmes Gravel that, um, basically
starting in the winter, does group ridesevery week in pursuit of a century.
Um, so we started at like 30 milesin February and worked their way
up to like, well, they workedtheir way up to 70 miles by May.
Um, and my travel schedule gotsuper crazy busy in like April,
(03:59):
and so from April to Unbound lastweek, I was basically on my own.
I did have like that initialthree month training.
Ellen (04:06):
Yeah.
Marley (04:07):
really set me up really well, and it's like I learned
how to ride in a pace line.
I learned how to like, getbetter at eating on my bike.
I learned like actual endurance.
Um, I mean, I, want to.
Discount my previous efforts becausethey've been awesome and really good.
But like I got good at being efficienton the bike and like not, I'm
(04:29):
really, really good at wasting time.
Like really good at wasting time.
I mean, my previous century tookme like 14 and a half hours.
That's a long time to be out there.
Ellen (04:37):
That's a long day.
Marley (04:39):
yeah.
And this one, my riding timewas like nine hours, 47 minutes.
Ellen (04:45):
Nice.
Marley (04:46):
which is.
Like my fastest century ever.
My like finish time was 11hours and 44 minutes, so I
Ellen (04:52):
Yay.
Marley (04:53):
to stop for two hours
Ellen (04:54):
Yeah.
Oh, who knows?
How, how could you ever poss,I mean, that's not fair.
Even if you think of like a road trip,like suddenly the time just takes longer.
But like you stop for 10 minuteshere, 10 minutes there, big break
for like a couple, a meal or two islike suddenly that's two extra hours.
Marley (05:12):
Yeah.
Ellen (05:13):
Yeah.
Marley (05:13):
back, like I, it's funny, I put a story on my Instagram yesterday because I.
Took all this footage during Unboundwith the goal of making some long
form content to show like what it's,what it's actually like to ride a
hundred miles when you're not a pro.
And I'm just having impostersyndrome of like editing it and
putting it together and just feelingreally overwhelmed by that process.
(05:35):
But I was going through it.
I was like, man, this iskind of cool actually.
Like I filmed myself stretching at onepoint when I had a cramp and like eating
and I stopped to help a guy change histire, which that's kind of a funny story.
And
Ellen (05:46):
Okay,
Marley (05:47):
I have pretty good trust that he'll never hear this,
so I'm gonna be very candid.
we were like 20 miles in, maybe 25 milesin, and I see this guy on the side of
the road kind of looking exasperated.
Ellen (05:58):
cool.
Marley (05:58):
a, I'm a nice person.
You know, whenever I see anybody stoppedon the side of the road in a race, I
like to check in and just say, Hey,um, do you have everything you need?
Um, that's become my go-to,rather than, Hey, can I help you?
Because sometimes it's like, oh no, Ijust need an extra tube and I can like,
drop the tube and keep going, you know?
And so this one, this guy was like,uh, I'm just gonna call the sag.
(06:19):
And I was like, why?
He was like, oh, I have a flat tire.
And I was like.
You don't need to quit this racebecause you have a flat tire.
Um, so I pulled over and I helped him out.
Turns out, uh, he had noidea what he was doing.
he, yeah, I felt kind of bad.
He was from Norway.
Um, so he had come all this way
Ellen (06:37):
Literally like lives in Norway and showed up in the middle of Kansas
Marley (06:41):
yeah,
Ellen (06:41):
for a bike ride.
Marley (06:42):
for a bike ride
Ellen (06:43):
Yeah.
Marley (06:43):
ready to quit.
Um.
Ellen (06:46):
And didn't know how to change a tire.
Marley (06:47):
know how to change a tire.
Ellen (06:48):
Oh
Marley (06:48):
his change, his tire changed.
Um, I mean it was like as simpleas getting his tire off the rim.
Like he didn't know how to do that.
Ellen (06:54):
yeah.
Marley (06:55):
did that.
We got his tire changed.
It was kind of funny.
He was running an insert,like, are you familiar with
Ellen (07:00):
No, no, I don't know what that means.
Marley (07:02):
It's like a foam,
um, insert
Ellen (07:07):
Insert.
Marley (07:08):
inside with tubeless.
I, I think it's supposed tohelp with flat protection.
Ellen (07:12):
I was gonna say, I'm picturing almost like half of a tube that
somehow nests up into the tire.
Marley (07:18):
That's exactly what it is, but it's like
Ellen (07:19):
Okay.
Marley (07:19):
foam.
Ellen (07:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Marley (07:22):
So anyway, he took that out of his wheel and he just like threw it
into the field and I was like, Uhuh.
You gotta carry that back.
And he
Ellen (07:29):
Yeah.
Marley (07:29):
like, yeah, don't litter.
so
Ellen (07:33):
Okay.
All right.
Marley (07:36):
it was quite the experience to change this guy's tire.
Um, but it was funny becauselike, normally going back
to the whole training thing,
Ellen (07:42):
Yeah.
Marley (07:43):
I don't worry about my time.
I'm like, oh, cool.
10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.
But I found myself like annoyed becauseall these people that I had passed.
Were suddenly passing me and I wanted toget back out there and pass him again.
So like I had this likecompetitive spirit come out in me.
Ellen (07:58):
Oh, interesting.
Marley (07:59):
yeah.
Yeah, it
Ellen (08:01):
That is, it's um, actually similar to parenting in that way, to
where it's just like, I've noticed if I.
Have a different goal versus whatmy child is currently focused on.
I have so little patience for whateveris going on, and if I can like reframe
it to be like, it's not about that.
It's about, you know, biggerpicture, blah, blah, blah.
You can be chill, but like, it'skind of exciting and I think that's
(08:22):
what we were talking about, right?
It's like you had a goal, you trained
Marley (08:25):
Yeah,
Ellen (08:25):
and so it's, that is an interesting pointing out of how your
mentality shifts in all of that.
Marley (08:30):
yeah.
And it's interesting because people,you know, before Unbound were
asking me, well, what's your goal?
What's your time goal?
And I was hesitant to put a time on it I.
The conditions out therecan be so variable.
Ellen (08:43):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (08:44):
you know, even if my goal was 12 hours, if we ended up getting a section
of mud that forced off, forced us toget off and walk, like that time goal
can just get thrown out the window.
Ellen (08:55):
Yeah.
Marley (08:55):
as folks have probably seen, it was a surprisingly
very dry, very fast year.
Um, it has been so wet in theMidwest recently, like so, so wet.
Um, and.
It got hot, it got windy, and theroads were like prime condition.
It was incredible.
There was like one spot of mud,um, and didn't, problematic to be
(09:20):
Yeah, it wasn't, didn't phase me.
It was on the a hundred mile course, butit was just a super fast day out there.
It was really, really fun.
Ellen (09:25):
That is fun and very rewarding to feel like you trained and then you got
great conditions instead of feeling like,uh, you trained and it was inevitable
that you wouldn't hit your goal.
Marley (09:34):
Yeah, and I think the best part was, I felt good all day long.
Ellen (09:40):
Well, how does that, like you love to ride, so how is
that different from other rides?
Marley (09:44):
that's a
Ellen (09:44):
I.
Marley (09:44):
question.
Um, you know, oftentimes I will reacha point on my ride where it's like my
body kind of shuts down and it's like,
Ellen (09:53):
Oh.
Marley (09:53):
hit a, you've hit a wall.
And this isn't fun anymore.
You know, my knee will hurt or someother body part, or I'll just kind of
lose my endurance, I'll lose my stamina.
And it's like, cool.
That 40 mile ride felt really good.
Ellen (10:06):
Hmm.
Marley (10:06):
but during Unbound it was like the first, I think 25
miles, I averaged 14 miles anhour, which for me is stupid fast.
Like
Ellen (10:15):
That's,
Marley (10:15):
gravel.
Ellen (10:17):
yeah, I mean that's a good pace for any long distance race
Marley (10:20):
Yeah.
Um, and it's funny, do you, do youride for the cycling computer, Ellen?
Ellen (10:26):
I have.
I don't currently, but I have in the past.
Marley (10:28):
Okay, so my, my computer, normally when I'm on a route like Unbound or
any significant ride, it'll, when I'mclimbing a hill, it'll say, you know, hill
one of eight or one of 15 or whatever.
The hill profile is for the,the race the first 25 miles.
I didn't get any hills on my computerscreen, even though we were climbing some.
(10:50):
I was like, oh,
Ellen (10:51):
Okay.
Marley (10:51):
they just like turned off that function or maybe there
was an update to the system.
I hit mile like 26 or 27 andit was like climb one of 14.
I was like,
Ellen (11:02):
Oh no.
Marley (11:03):
this is why I've been going so fast.
The first er part of thecourse was just like.
if it trended downhill orjust flat or what it was.
Ellen (11:11):
Sure.
Marley (11:12):
I started hitting the hills, my time slowed down and I think I ended up
averaging like miles or 11 miles an hourover the course of the day, which is
Ellen (11:22):
still great.
Marley (11:23):
awesome for me.
Yeah.
Ellen (11:24):
Yeah, they like, 'cause you could even think of like if you get to
average it out across the whole course,at some point you were going 10 miles
an hour up a hill, which is real fast.
Marley (11:33):
it's true.
Um, my max speed was 36 miles an hour,
Ellen (11:37):
Is that fast?
Like, that feels very fast to me.
Marley (11:41):
it, it felt fast on the, on the, on the gravel.
Ellen (11:44):
On gravel.
Marley (11:45):
yeah, my, I think my max speed ever was like 48 miles an hour, but that
Ellen (11:49):
Holy.
Marley (11:50):
on a road bike, and I don't know that I'll ever hit that speed again.
Ellen (11:55):
I don't want you to, that feels.
So dangerous.
Um, I have a little, I do have aspeedometer on my bike, and now that
I'm riding with Remy Moore, it's likeI'm figuring out how fast his little
bike goes and how fast he's like,comfortable going, and I'm just shocked.
It's like going down the righthills at the right times.
It's like he's,
Marley (12:13):
to?
Ellen (12:14):
he's going up to like 17, 17, 18.
I know.
No.
Marley (12:18):
That's wild.
'cause he's four.
Ellen (12:20):
Yes.
He'll, he's very, very close to five,
Marley (12:23):
Wow.
I love that though, like instilling thatconfidence because you know, sometimes I
Ellen (12:27):
Yeah.
Marley (12:27):
who are afraid to go fast and
Ellen (12:29):
Yeah,
Marley (12:30):
there's nothing wrong with that, but going fast is one of
my favorite things in the world.
Ellen (12:33):
of course.
That's why you climb hills.
That's why you, that's whyyou make it up the hills.
Marley (12:37):
exactly.
Ellen (12:38):
That's fun.
Well, I'm so, I am glad that you feltgood the whole time, like that's,
that also feels really significant.
Marley (12:45):
has been so problematic.
Ellen (12:47):
So it didn't bother you as much or at all.
Marley (12:49):
me a lot,
Ellen (12:50):
Oh.
Marley (12:53):
but I think I figured out a good combination of ibuprofen, acetaminophen.
Um, there's a topical creamcalled Voltarin and CBD Cream,
so I was just kind of like arolling medicine cabinet all day.
Uh.
Ellen (13:08):
We're gonna numb the shit out of this knee.
Marley (13:11):
And it worked.
Um, I also did lots of stretching.
I mean, to be fair, there were, I, I thinkaround mile like 53 or 54, right as I was
coming into the aid station, I seriouslyhad the thought of I shouldn't keep
riding, like I'm doing damage to my knee.
Ellen (13:26):
Oh,
Marley (13:27):
but then I got to the aid station.
I ate some pizza.
I had a cold Dr.
Pepper waiting for me.
Ellen (13:32):
oh,
Marley (13:33):
Um, so the way that Unbound works
Ellen (13:35):
I was gonna say like you specifically had a Dr.
Pepper or.
Marley (13:38):
So for Unbound, for the 100 and the 200, it is unsupported except at
the aid stations, but you have to supplyyour own crew and your own resupply.
So like most
Ellen (13:51):
your own crew, so like you have to have a buddy.
Marley (13:53):
yeah.
Yeah,
Ellen (13:54):
Oh,
Marley (13:54):
or there's bike shop, you can do crew for hire and that's what I
Ellen (13:58):
oh,
Marley (13:58):
Um.
Ellen (13:59):
that's cool.
Marley (14:00):
so there's a bike shop in Ottawa, Kansas called Ottawa Bike and
Trail that runs support for folks.
It's like 30 bucks I think.
And um, you give them your drop bagin the days leading up to the race,
um, you know, labeled with your name.
And then at the midway point theyare waiting for you and they've
got a cooler and they've got tents.
So you can like sit down and takea leg, take a, take a leg off.
(14:22):
That doesn't make sense.
Ellen (14:24):
Uh, take a load off
Marley (14:25):
a load off.
Ellen (14:26):
your legs.
Marley (14:27):
there are bike shops.
They have a mechanic, so they, you know,
Ellen (14:30):
Cool.
Marley (14:30):
that your bike needs.
Um, it's kind of, if, have youseen the pros showing all their
videos of like their pit stops?
Ellen (14:37):
No.
Marley (14:38):
It's like absurd.
Like theirs is like NASCAR style.
Like they come
Ellen (14:41):
Oh my God.
Marley (14:41):
like, it's like a race to do it as fast as possible.
Ellen (14:44):
Do they like swap bikes out to make it faster
Marley (14:47):
they
Ellen (14:47):
or,
Marley (14:48):
bikes like
Ellen (14:48):
okay.
Marley (14:49):
to stay on the same bike.
Ellen (14:51):
Okay.
Marley (14:52):
at Unbound, you can swap components, but you have
to stay on the same frame.
Um, but they like swap out hydrationpacks and like for the pros, they try and
get in and out within like 30 seconds.
It
Ellen (15:01):
I have to.
Marley (15:03):
Um, my goal was 15 minutes, uh,
to give some context there.
Um, 'cause I knew I wanted to like refuel.
I wanted to reapply sunscreen.
Um, I.
Had had such a blazing fastmorning that I knew I had time
to burn and they removed the timecutoffs on the a hundred mile so I
Ellen (15:23):
Oh, cool.
Marley (15:24):
for four hours and been fine.
Ellen (15:26):
Sure.
Marley (15:27):
but, um, I wanted, my goal was really to get in before dark.
I had lights on me, but Ididn't wanna have to use them.
So,
Ellen (15:33):
Okay.
Marley (15:34):
um, know, my knee was hurting really bad coming into the aid station.
All I wanted was pizza.
Um, but I hadn't packed myself any pizza.
I had packed like.
on my gels and candy and waterand, um, I had packed myself a Dr.
Pepper.
Um, because I knew thatthat was gonna be delicious.
I had packed myself Cheetos andOreos and just a lot of like, really.
Ellen (15:58):
Comfort food.
Marley (15:59):
Comfort food, but nothing substantial.
Ellen (16:02):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (16:02):
as I was pulling into the aid station, I was like, damnit, I wish I had
like a cold slice of pizza or a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich or something.
And sure enough, when I got there,they had pizza, uh, and I was like, can
Ellen (16:14):
Yeah.
Marley (16:15):
a slice of this?
And it was the best pizza.
And so, you know, I sat there,I stretched, I ate pizza, I put
more, um, arthritis cream on,my knee started feeling better.
Um, I.
Ellen (16:26):
Okay.
Marley (16:27):
So I was like, okay, I'm gonna keep going.
Um, and so I would have stretchesof like 20 miles with no pain.
It was awesome.
Ellen (16:34):
That is exciting.
That must feel good too,and kind of freeing.
Marley (16:37):
yeah, yeah.
Definitely.
Especially because like, you know,normally doesn't hurt my knee.
It's walking, it's being on my feet.
Ellen (16:45):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (16:45):
like three days of expo before Unbound, so it was like
just really inflamed and angry.
And I've been to my doctor a bunch,you know, for folks listening.
I was like, Marley, why are you stillriding if your knee is messed up?
there's nothing wrongwith my knee right now.
Um, I had meniscus surgery in November.
It's healed right now.
I'm just dealing witharthritis pain, so yeah.
Ellen (17:08):
like what's the definition of arthritis?
That's just the swelling then.
Marley (17:11):
I think it's swelling, like loss of cartilage, bone on bone.
Ellen (17:15):
Okay.
Marley (17:15):
yeah, and so I,
Ellen (17:17):
Kind of.
Not a lot you can do about it, but.
Marley (17:19):
No, and I am eventually going to need a knee replacement, but my doctor
says not yet, which is really frustrating.
Um, but it still feels really goodthat I was able to ride 109 miles.
It wasn't just a hundredmiles, it was 109 miles.
Um, and then my knee feels fine this week.
Um, you know, it still hurts whenI'm walking, but I feel good that
I didn't do any further damage to
Ellen (17:40):
Yeah, you, it's not feeling worse now that you're off the bike.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tell me about the alarms that you set.
'cause I think I saw an Instagramreel where you have this stack
of reminders that show up.
Is that on your bike,computer, or just an app?
What is the.
Marley (17:55):
Yep.
So I use a Wahoo element, um, or wa,yeah, wahoo element, bolt bike, computer.
And so it sits on my handlebars andI have it set up to remind me to eat.
To drink to have a good timeand that I can do hard things.
So the way that it works is I weara heart rate monitor when I ride.
Um, and basically that's so I canlike maintain my efforts all day long.
(18:19):
You know,
Ellen (18:19):
I was gonna say that I think, not sorry to interrupt, but it's like.
When I was doing more recreational,like ride for exercise, ride for
sport, it's really helpful to knowwhen you're like, when your heart rate
is super high or too high, because Ididn't never, I wouldn't notice that.
It's like when it's so high, high,high, that's actually then when I
(18:40):
feel the worst and it's like thesignal to chill or to slow or to like
recover and like within the ride.
Marley (18:46):
Yeah, and I've really learned that if I keep my heart rate around
like 150, um, I can go all day long.
I can maintain a conversation.
It's when I push myself beyond that,and that happens when I'm climbing
hills or if I'm trying to keep upwith people who are faster than me.
And so it's a really good, um,just kind of self regulator of
like, Hey, keep it in this zone
Ellen (19:07):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Marley (19:08):
with that it counts calories.
And I, I know we don't talkabout calories, we don't
talk about food restriction.
Um, but.
Staying properly fueled onthese long rides is crucial.
And so I have it set up to where everya hundred calories that I hit, um, it
sends me a reminder to eat something.
Um, which is kind ofannoying to be honest, like.
Ellen (19:29):
Right, a hundred calories, but you hit that pretty quickly.
Marley (19:33):
quickly.
Um, and so like I'll eat like,you know, a handful of gummy bears
or a nerd nerd gummy cluster.
Um, I have dialed in my, my candy mix.
We'll talk about that.
Um, you know, sometimes I'll eatsomething more substantial, but
yeah, it's like, I don't know.
It came, I think over thecourse of the entire day.
supposedly burned like 5,600calories, which is a lot.
Ellen (19:56):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (19:57):
it got annoying having to hit that reminder every time
'cause you have to dismiss it.
But I kept it on there because itis a good reminder because you get
to a point where you don't wannaeat anything else, but you need to.
Ellen (20:09):
Yeah,
Marley (20:10):
I also have this really bad habit of like, I'm at Miles 75.
I'm basically done.
Not
Ellen (20:15):
not
Marley (20:15):
all.
No.
I still have like 30 miles to go, which is
Ellen (20:18):
have a
Marley (20:19):
hours.
Ellen (20:19):
right.
Marley (20:20):
so it's just a reminder.
So I've got that, I've got it set upevery 20 minutes to remind me to drink,
um, which that one's a little bit easierto, to self-regulate 'cause it was hot.
You get thirsty.
Um, but that one's especiallyhelpful for like winter time.
Then, like I said, uh, Ithink it's every 15 miles.
It tells me to have a good time.
And then I think at mile 50 I had areminder that you can do hard things, so,
Ellen (20:46):
like.
I like both of those a lot.
There is, I think a good mentalshift when you have something pop up.
It's like, don't forgetyou're here for fun.
Marley (20:53):
exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I like to switch 'em updepending on the ride or the race.
Um, but it is, it, it pops upand it makes me smile and I'm
like, oh, yeah, yeah, this is.
I'm living the life right now.
This is incredible.
Ellen (21:05):
That is lovely.
I like that a lot.
It is true.
I think you say this a lot.
It's like, I can'tbelieve this is my life.
Yeah,
Marley (21:10):
Yeah,
Ellen (21:12):
if you're paid, you're not paid.
I guess you weren't paid to goon Unbound, but you're making,
it's part of your living.
Marley (21:16):
it is part of my living.
Really cool this year.
Um, we'll, we'll have a link to it,but um, Shimano did a profile on me and
my bike setup, which is really cool.
Ellen (21:26):
That is cool.
Marley (21:28):
Um, it's, you know, I'm a, I'm an ambassador for Shimano,
Ellen (21:31):
Okay.
Marley (21:32):
cool to be included because, you know, they, they profiled Lauren
Stevens and Pete tna, two of the pros.
Um, and it's just cool to be kindof like a regular person being
Ellen (21:41):
Yeah,
Marley (21:42):
which is
Ellen (21:42):
exactly.
Yeah.
Someone who's representative of morethan just a person, a pro who was
of course, knows everything abouttheir elements on their bike, but you
also are a pretty, like, you're a,a fun rider, you're not a pro rider,
Marley (21:55):
Yeah.
Ellen (21:55):
but you also care about your components and here's why.
And here's what.
Marley (21:58):
and I rode flat pedals.
Um, controversial, unpopular
Ellen (22:02):
Hmm.
Marley (22:03):
flat pedals.
Ellen (22:04):
Yeah,
Marley (22:04):
need to be clipped in.
Um,
Ellen (22:07):
you do.
You boo.
Marley (22:08):
Do you
Ellen (22:08):
I like,
Marley (22:09):
clips?
Ellen (22:10):
I ride flats now, but that's like on my e-bike around town.
Once I was doing recreation,I liked clipped it.
I like clips.
It just like I got good aboutlike kind of using the full stroke
and you, you get clipped it whenyou're clipped and you can do that.
But, uh, I don't knockflat pedals for sure.
Marley (22:25):
A lot of people do though.
Ellen (22:26):
Well, they can shut up.
Marley (22:28):
I agree.
Ellen (22:30):
You did great on flat puddles.
Marley (22:32):
Thank you.
Ellen (22:33):
You're welcome.
Marley (22:34):
Yeah.
Ellen (22:35):
have, we have a little bit of time left and I wanna talk a bit
more about like kind of the recoveryprocess that you've been through.
You said it took six days foryou to really feel kind of back
up to, uh, you know, neutral so.
What should someone, especially,I know you trained for it, but it
still winds up being a big ride.
What should someone who's either kindof not used to riding that mileage
(22:56):
expect as far as this recovery,and what was your experience?
Marley (22:59):
Uh, you're gonna be really, really tired.
You are gonna be hungry, and every systemin your body is going to be out of whack.
Um, you
Ellen (23:08):
Hmm.
Marley (23:08):
me that meant sleep.
That meant my period.
I, I also started my periodduring Unbound, which was
Ellen (23:13):
Great.
First, just, yeah.
Wonderful.
Marley (23:18):
Um,
Ellen (23:19):
um, our friend in St.
Elmar, or she's not our friend, St.
Elmar just did a, a reel about, she didswimsuit week with her on her period.
Marley (23:29):
that and she was in some skimpy bikinis.
Ellen (23:33):
So Sy, when I'm on my period, all I wanna do is wear like black
things and jeans to just make sure.
And she's like, yeah, shewas out there doing it.
So good job.
You and you and Alona just doinghard things while bleeding.
Marley (23:46):
Exactly.
Um, but yeah, recovery, Imean take care of yourself.
Um,
Ellen (23:51):
Hmm.
Marley (23:52):
eat, drink.
Um, for me I was really cravinglike watermelon and lots of fruit
afterwards, which was interesting'cause I don't normally crave that.
And I think I was just like so dehydrated.
Um,
Ellen (24:02):
Hmm.
Marley (24:02):
I had two liters on my back and then two water bottles and
I was peeing throughout the day.
still super dehydrated.
Um, and then it's just, youknow, for me, I had a huge
inflammatory response afterwards.
Um, I have inflammation issuesanyway, but it was like, I got puffy.
I got swollen, I got this cold sore.
Um, and it's really takenlike six days of, you know.
(24:26):
Eating a bunch of non-processedfoods, just taking care
of myself, sleeping extra.
Um, so yeah, it's, really just made methink about people like Lael Wilcox who
do century after century after century.
Like she just rode around the world.
Ellen (24:40):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (24:41):
she is made different.
I, I don't know how you coulddo that every single day.
'cause
Ellen (24:47):
I don't.
Marley (24:48):
everything was just depleted.
Ellen (24:50):
Hmm.
Yeah.
Marley (24:51):
Yeah.
Ellen (24:52):
Yeah,
Marley (24:53):
And I
Ellen (24:53):
we should.
Marley (24:54):
because like, I don't wanna do this again.
Like the ride was super funand it was probably one of
my most fun days on the bike.
But the recovery hasbeen kind of atrocious.
Like, I don't want togo through this again.
Ellen (25:05):
That is Okay.
So that's interesting to me.
Be are, do you think you're gonnaremember it or do you think it's gonna
be one of those things that like fourweeks, five weeks, five months from
now, you'll be like, unbound onlyand not remembering the recovery.
Marley (25:17):
Probably, I mean,
Ellen (25:19):
Okay.
Marley (25:19):
I've done undo 100 twice before this,
Ellen (25:22):
Yeah.
And you.
Marley (25:24):
remember this being this bad.
Ellen (25:26):
Well, well, we'll check in with you in a year and see if what, how you feel.
And the other thing I remember yousaying is that like you specifically
chose a hundred, 'cause last yearyou did 50 and you missed it.
So maybe, so maybe it's justthat you're gonna wind up like
alternating, you'll remember.
And then do the 50 next year and belike, oh, and then do the a hundred.
Marley (25:44):
honest, I wanna do the a hundred again minus the recovery.
Um, because it's somethingincredible happens out there.
When you're out there for that long.
It's like you just have.
So many different experiences.
I remember at one time, at one point, mile30, I was like, this is going too fast.
The day is gonna be over.
Before I know it, Iwanna be out here longer.
(26:04):
And by mile 80 I was like, yeah, I'm good.
I'm, I'm over it.
Ellen (26:08):
Yeah, I'm fine now.
Let's go.
Marley (26:10):
Yeah,
Ellen (26:11):
That's funny, but.
I think it's a bit, again, it's kind ofone of like any ride could be your best
and your worst, like within five minutes.
Right.
So
Marley (26:20):
Yeah.
Ellen (26:21):
with it and staying out there means that you'll get more of each.
Marley (26:24):
Exactly.
Yeah.
I'm just really proud of myself.
I, you know, going back to thetraining thing, like I have never done
anything like this, and it's like, Iwonder what else I'm capable of if I
was actually consistent with things.
Ellen (26:38):
Yeah.
How about that?
Do you think you'll train again?
Marley (26:42):
Probably because it did, it made the door the day so much
more enjoyable to not be suffering.
So, um, I think even just maintaininga really good level of fitness
Ellen (26:51):
Mm-hmm.
Marley (26:52):
So that way I do have like, oh, I'm gonna go ride 60 miles
and it's not gonna be a big deal.
Um, but we'll see.
Ellen (26:58):
Yeah.
Marley (26:59):
hard 'cause summer's here and it's really hot here.
Ellen (27:01):
Yeah, that's true.
I don't know what to tell youother than you're right, but.
Marley (27:09):
so.
Ellen (27:10):
Maybe we should find who was the coach who helped the unbound
gravel team, not unbound gravel team.
Who was the coach whohelped the Midsouth team?
Marley (27:18):
Dave, Dave Shell,
Ellen (27:20):
Maybe we have Dave on to just talk about hurdles and training and what, what
do you do when it's super hot outsideif, if you would rather be outside.
I guess there's all, you can alwaysget on the trainer in the ac, but.
Marley (27:33):
but I did enough of that this winter.
Ellen (27:35):
Exactly, but that's also, I feel like that's just,
that's a hazard of the Midwest.
You get like two weeks of beautifulweather and you remember why you ride and
why this is wonderful and then you get 75weeks of cold and 75 weeks of hot and you
have to figure out what to do in that.
Marley (27:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ellen (27:54):
Well, I am really, really, really glad you had a good time.
We're pretty much at time.
I think you have a meeting to.
Marley (27:58):
we give a couple updates?
Um, on general, all bodieson bike stuff, so we talked
about this a couple weeks ago.
We still have themembership program going.
It is going, I don't wanna say bonkersor bonanza, but we've got a lot of
folks who have joined as members.
Um, we have a free tier.
We've got $5 a month, $10 a month ormore depending on what you can afford.
And that really helps uskeep our programming going.
(28:21):
Um, we've got some.
A ton of all bodies on bikesevents with our chapters coming up.
Um, go to all bodies on bikes.com/events
to see all of that.
Um, we were just on the Today Show.
Ellen (28:32):
Yay.
Marley (28:32):
will do a link and maybe another story about that.
Ellen (28:35):
We talked a little bit about it, I think, behind the scenes, but
I think it'd be fun to have even justlike a little episode that's like, Hey,
did you find us from the Today Show?
This is what we're about.
Marley (28:46):
And then trying to get what else is going on?
We've got, yeah.
Check out our website for events.
Um, and things are rocking and rolling.
Ellen (28:55):
I know it's summer, it's like high season for us.
Marley (28:59):
Yeah.
Ellen (28:59):
Like how bridger tin comes out in the middle of the summer
and everybody's out and aboutand doing things and being seen.
Same or cycling?
Marley (29:06):
turn coming out?
Ellen (29:07):
There will be, but not, I just mean like how they all like the summer.
The summer is the season andyou have to do everything.
Marley (29:14):
Yeah,
Ellen (29:15):
Sorry, I didn't mean to get your hopes up that something
was happening this year.
I don't think it's until nextyear that it's like 2026,
Marley (29:21):
Okay.
Ellen (29:22):
but it's, I mean, we can have a whole episode about
Bridgeton if you want later.
It's gonna be good.
Marley (29:27):
Oh my God, I'm so excited.
Okay,
Ellen (29:30):
that.
I'll see you soon, Marley.
Bye.
Marley (29:33):
good.
Bye.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.