'Because I’m a dumbass' — at 93, Fred Schmid returns to Unbound Gravel one last time

Before Fred Schmid even made it to Emporia this year, his 25-year-old diesel truck broke down on the highway.

A radiator hose failed, the engine overheated, a tow truck was needed, along with a night at an RV park and eventually a borrowed Suburban just to make the annual trek to the Unbound Gravel event.

At 93 years old, even getting to the start line has become an endurance event. And yet Fred came anyway, as he has done on and off since 2015.

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After completing the Unbound 100 three times, the Texan has returned to Emporia again and again chasing the Unbound 200 finish line, enduring sickness, exhaustion and unfinished miles along the way. One attempt ended after 110 miles when, as Fred put it, he was "puking and crapping and just feeling like hell." Another attempt ended at 120 miles because he missed the time cutoff. Last year, at 92, the adventure stopped at the first checkpoint after Fred decided that the prospect of another 130 miles, half of it in the dark, was simply "not intriguing."

When asked why he’s come back at all, Fred jokes: "Because I’m a dumbass."

But one doesn’t rack up 54 national championship titles and two world titles by being dumb. That kind of longevity comes from loving the sport and being unable to resist the draw of a distant finish line. Maybe all those things can be true at once, but not this year.

This year, Fred is showing a remarkable amount of wisdom and restraint.

"I’ve been training for the 200, but have decided it’s too much for me," Fred tells Cycling Weekly after he’s finally reached Emporia.

"I don't think I'm qualified to do the 200. Traditionally, for the last, oh, 10 years or so, I've been riding a distance equivalent to my birthday age. So I rode 93 miles on the 20th of April, and, um, I was pretty worn out by the end of that, to tell you the truth about it. So I've downsized to the 100."

What’s more, Fred revealed that this may be his very last Unbound, of any length.

"I think this is the last time I’m gonna do this. The old body’s beginning to show signs of wear," he admits.

But the Unbound 200 still lingers as unfinished business.

"I’ve said I would do it," Fred says, revealing that he’d seriously considered sleeping on the side of the road for rest if need be. "But I’ve never gotten myself to do that."

His wife, Suzanne, reminds him that "the whole point of it is to have fun."

And "fun" is what has kept Fred going all these years.

Long before the national championships and world titles, before the gravel races and mountain bike starts, Fred simply liked being outside. He spent his career working as a surveyor, hiking riverbanks and carrying heavy equipment across rough terrain in Louisiana and Texas.

"I never did let myself get in bad shape," Fred says. "I worked outdoors all my life."

At 61, Suzanne bought him his first mountain bike. At the time, the couple lived near Cameron Park in Waco, the host of several state and national championship events. But Fred’s original ambition didn't lie in racing at all.

"What I wanted a bicycle for was to do gravel riding," he says. "I enjoy riding and looking at ranches and farms."

As a child, Fred had lived on a plantation and developed a lifelong fascination with land, agriculture and open country. A bicycle became the best way to move through it all, slowly enough to appreciate it.

Racing happened almost accidentally. After some encouragement from another rider, Fred entered a beginner mountain bike race in South Texas and won. He kept moving up categories from there, collecting national and world titles across mountain biking, road, cyclocross and gravel racing.

These days, though, Fred no longer mountain bikes. Glaucoma has damaged his vision enough that shadows and technical terrain have become difficult to process safely. But gravel still works, especially on the long ranch roads outside Waco, where Fred regularly rides with his friend Whitney Fanning, an 80-year-old fellow Unbound racer who loaned the couple the Suburban that got them to Kansas this year.

"Biking to me is fun," Fred says, and credits the exercise for his physical and mental well-being. "If you enjoy it, you want to keep doing it."

At 93, Fred still drives long distances, still keeps up with cycling trends—he was swapping his gravel tyres from 42s to 50s when we spoke—and still texts, emojis and all. His cardiologist recently told him he has "the heart of a 33-year-old," and his mind remains sharp, even if, as Fred puts it, "the blade is getting a little dull."

Suzanne, whose background is in neuropsychology, believes the connection is undeniable.

"Fitness is the best way to maintain your memory and mental capacity, period," she says.

Fred has seen the contrast firsthand. Some of his peers and siblings, he says, stopped staying active as they aged and later struggled with severe health problems and dementia.

"Just keep going,” Fred says simply when asked for advice. "And maybe you can keep going a little longer."

Last year at Masters Nationals in Milwaukee, Fred met a 97-year-old rider who ‘kicked his butt’ in the time trial. Fred asked him what advice he gives people about ageing.

“He said, ‘Keep pedalling,’” Fred recalls.

And for now, Fred intends to keep doing exactly that, even if the rides are getting shorter. Even if the body is beginning to protest. Even if the unfinished Unbound 200 remains unfinished forever. There are endless gravel roads left to explore, ranches to admire and horizons worth chasing.