Totally. That was the first thing that popped in my head. Keegan had nothing to lose and it let Finsty jump up in the overall. And honestly, I have nothing against it. I’m a big fan of Keegan bucking the trend and very vocally stating that he wants to win and will do what it takes, and I think it’s funny that that mentality somehow upsets the “spirit of gravel” people. Like you are allowed to win, that’s ok, but you can’t “want” to win.
Agreed, that’s the strategy part of bike racing I love. It’s not all power numbers.
I’m not sure what the “spirit of gravel” truly is or if it can actually work with a pro field trying to make bike racing a career.
What I’m pretty sure is not the “spirit of gravel” is complaining about aero bars, or that somebody “attacked” at the aid station, or a group decided to ride together at a certain pace, or somebody didn’t put in the work.
I feel like the “spirt of gravel” is or more show up and race how you want to race or chill in the back or whatever.
Fortunately most of this petty pro racing drama doesn’t trickle into the rest of the field.
I love seeing how fast pros can go on these courses but just roll my eyes with their petty squabbles
I thought the videos were solid, especially for a first go at it. Like others have said, i would have been fine with longer/more videos, especially with the amount of trainer time i’m having to put in because of wyoming’s current weather status
It would be great if they released these throughout the year, but also they are probably doing them all at once to work through the different storylines
Aw neat. I do a XC ski race every year on the Chequamegon trail. (Actually the bike race is technically on the ski trail as that came first.) American Birkiebeiner.
Excited to watch this and see the trail in the summer.
I’m going to stand up for Stetina here. I totally understand where he’s coming from:
Gravel was an escape from the win at all costs mentality. It was fast, fun and basic. Then seeing its success, along comes the money and the pursuers of money and the whole thing becomes yet another cog on the treadmill.
It was special and now its not. Its just part of corporate America.
Go Pete!
This would be more meaningful coming from Pete if he didn’t himself benefit from sponsorships, prize purses, and ‘influencer’ income. He seems to complain about the very thing he brings to the party.
Sorta seems like Stetina is the one taking the fun out of it. There’s only really a couple handfuls of people that are reliably in the money, and the guys that are winning seem to be having a great time.
The rub with Stetina is if it truly is just about going out and having fun, then go out and have fun and stop complaining about what everyone else is doing. If you win you win, if you don’t, you don’t.
Stetina is a smart guy and I have to think he is aware of his public persona taking a hit after this past year and at some point that’s going to impact his sponsorship and appearance dollars. It will be interesting to see if he tries to reinvent himself somewhat this year.
Just makes me feel a bit more frustrated that the seventh event wasn’t a proper MTB race. The series is a glorified gravel series for these level of athletes.
I understand why the events exist and the appeal to something like Leadville or Chequamagon, but it’d be cool to see a differentiator instead of sitting in the middle ground.
Just one opinion. LTGP is fantastic for American off road racing in general and this YouTube series is really good.
A lack of technical single track, or technical features.
Those races are great and legitimate MTB races. But I’d have liked to see something more technical than baby heads.
ETA: this isn’t a crack at American races. There’s plenty of great races to choose from. I also think the XCM races in Europe (as in the World Cup type ones) are too monochrome with their level of technicality.
That and the fact he pays for and brings his own mechanic to races.
I mean nothing says “Spirit of Gravel” like having your own wrench at every race…
(I will give him credit in that Wayne is more than willing to help others out at some of the races…at The Rift in 2021, he straightened a buddy’s RD hanger at the second stop, allowing him to finish the race)
The challenge with making a race too technical in the series is that it could really widen the gap between the true mountain bikers vs those with more of a road background. It might work for one year, but then in future years they might have a harder time attracking people with strong road backgrounds.
Leadville, where a lot of the course is pretty non-technical, has just enough technical parts like the Powerline descent, that it already pretty clearly separates those with mountain biking skills vs those that don’t.
I think its great that Lauren De Crescenzo will be in the GP this year. She will certainly be right in the mix in the gravel races, but how she handles something like Leadville will be super interesting. She mentioned she found Big Sugar pretty technical and that course is certainly much less technical than portions of the Leadville course.
I agree. I can understand why they have set it up the way they have, I just wish there was a wider range. Maybe add a drop race (but make everyone compete the full series).
Even watching Sea Otter, there were quite a few stacks on non-technical terrain, purely due to speed, grip, and skill.
I’m also aware there’s a wider range in abilities on the women’s side with more pure roadies (at least in 2022) having a crack.
You don’t want to make it exclusionary, but I just personally wish there were more opportunities to differentiate based on skill.
Problem is… these races are also for the masses. They whole “line up with the pros” thing. If you make the course too technical you lose participation numbers, which in turn is loss in revenue. It’s the age groupers that fund the race and the prize purse.
