I disagree. The LTGP is not for the amateurs at all.
I completely understand about the mass start element, but are there no well subscribed technical MTB races in America? Or just not under the Lifetime banner?
Were the Epic Rides series well supported? And how does Breck Epic do?
I honestly don’t know. I know BCBR in Canada has big numbers. And watching some of MI-XC YouTube videos, some of those races are at least reasonably well supported, if not in the thousands like Unbound.
The series is comprised of events that only Lifetime owns, so what you get is what they have. But yeah, I almost spit out my drink when I heard the announcer mention how technical the Sea Otter course was. 
Breck Epic is its own thing and not part of the epic series. It’s just a coincidence they both share ‘epic’. The technicality of Breck Epic is a high bar. The descents aren’t smooth dirt sidewalks: West Ridge, Wheeler, Miners etc are all amazing but also fairly technical.
Oddly enough, LifeTime tried to buy Breck Epic but Mike Mac (the owner) said no after a few community meetings with the vibe of not wanting Life Time to come. They would have allowed thousands of racers, destroyed the Summit County trails, and all that. The beauty of Breck Epic is there’s only 400 racers per day. Breckenridge is one of, if not the busiest mountain town in the country in the summer and doesn’t need the added revenue from age groupers trying to tame that race.
I did a Sea Otter Recon last weekend and while it doesn’t have massive drops like some XC World Cup courses, it’s plenty technical (This coming from a former NORBA Sport Racer in the 90’s) with rock gardens, switch backs, fantastically rutted climbs, and sand traps. OMG so many sand traps. Also two 50k laps so more XCM than XCO.
Not to mention a pinch point right at the start where pros break their arms and age groupers stand around for 10 minutes waiting to get on the trail. 
Seriously though… there are better trails than what is on the Sea Otter course out there but it is a fair course. Especially because of (as you said) the SAND. Going around a turn, try to dig in your front tire and next thing you know it slides out from under you.
Yeah that’s not a technical feature, more like a bug. Hopefully the waved starts will help mitigate that with the age groups, but ALL of the pros are going for the same (only) line through there with red mist on at 100% is sub optimal (unless you’re the first person there). There sure has got to be a better way to get riders into Ord than pinching them into Couch Canyon straight away.
But this should be a different thread which will take on a life of its own…
Was the course fairly dry at this point from the rain?
From what I saw, the mountain bikers seemed to already have the upper hand. Making it more technical, will possibly eliminate any non-mountain biker from the competition.
There were maybe 50m of muck total. Hard to tell if that’s still drainage from the rains, or springs that are overflowing and likely to continue that way. I was running Nanos on my gravel bike and everything was cleared off pretty quickly. It should be in fine shape come race weekend this year.
I’ve ridden out at Ft. Ord for years. I rode there last weekend and have been riding there a lot lately in fact because after 9 atmospheric rivers, it’s the only place within an hour of home that trails are not completely closed or destroyed thanks to the sand. You have to go out of your way to find the technical stuff. For the most part, the singletrack is baby’s bottom smooth and fast.
People ride even the singletrack out there on gravel bikes. Someone always seems to race the SeaOtter Downhill course on a gravel bike just to be silly, or to make a point, or something.
In recent years, the course that the race directors put together for the XC however always seems to be the most dangerous and un-fun route as possible (i.e. too many gravel roads). One thing people coming from a road background don’t always seem to understand is that fire roads (gravel roads, or dirt roads) can be more dangerous than singletrack with tight switchbacks and rock gardens. The last year I raced it, they had just put down fresh, deep gravel on all of the dirt roads. By the time my category came through on Lookout Ridge, I passed the aftermath of like, half a dozen different crashes on it, including a helicopter rescue! It was nuts.
Great series! Hope to see more quality productions like this in the future 
Yes, but that’s where investment in new young talent has has the best risk/reward. MTB youth programs can be the foundation of US cycling. You can learn pack riding in your late teens. The skills and playful nature of MTB is irreplaceable.
I agree to some extent but it was the “sucks to be her” comment that was poor form and would feel the same regardless of who said it.
I got to episode 5 last night and I totally agree. I really loved her personality and I don’t think she was made out to be the “heel” of the series. She really wants to win and gets intense. Well yeah, she’s a professional bike racer! The conversation she had after Chaquamegon and that crash was totally fine and cool considering the stakes and it being right at the finish line. They also had that conversation with her talking about how she really didn’t have anything left and was trying to bluff her way to a win at Crusher. That was some real shit and showed some of that fear and human weakness that makes for a great hero. I came away (so far) from the series as a big fan of Sophia. Before this she was to me that woman that sorta raced Cape Epic with Nate and was in the Olympics.
Somebody like Sarah Strum I really didn’t like all that much based on how the show portrayed her. She’s obviously an immensely talented athlete that works her ass off, but it seems like she’s just happy to be there, riding bikes with her friends. Yay! It feels like she has the attitude of a weekend warrior when in reality she’s gotta have that killer instinct deep down inside. We just don’t get to see it because her happiness at the finish line for herself and the genuine happiness she shows to her competitors takes over so much.
Also, never had any idea Keegan was dominating that series so massively. Wow!
For somebody that never followed gravel one bit, this was a really cool series and reminded me of the F1 series on Netflix. Great way to get fans to follow the sport! Lots of positives, especially Sophia’s newest fan: me.
This is just something embedded in the culture, not genetic, not evolutionary. I’ve known profesional fighters that don’t have any of this stereotypical attitude. And these are rough dudes with hard upbringing. OTOH these racers are just kids playing with bikes, creating drama where’s non. Just performative, Kabuki for the masses.
As an aside, where can we read about Lifetime out of competition testing protocols?. Do they hire USADA? Or this is just another CrossFit type of enterprise?
I think the human psyche just has some kind of draw toward whatever person attracts us for whatever reason. It’s the reason half of the US population will say someone like Tom Brady is a jerk who will do whatever it takes to win and they can’t stand him… and the other half will say he’s exactly what an athlete who wants to be the greatest of all time should be and they love him for it. It just depends on your own personal perspective.
Another example would be “the spirit of gravel”. Half will say, “I hate to see the spirit of gravel destroyed just so people can win races” and the other half will say, “if it’s legal, I think you should do whatever it takes to win the race and you can’t even define what the spirit of gravel is anyway”.
Which side is “right” just depends on your own personal perspective.
Put a number on me or my bike and I want to crush you and steal your soul! 
Once the race is over, I’m more than happy to lend a hand to my rivals.
So yeah I guess my fandom of Sophia fits your model.
You didn’t like her because she didn’t show her “killer instinct”?
Idk I just feel like some people can be very focused and intense in the moment and switch over to relaxed very quickly.
Some LF-GP athletes were tested at the end of an event. I think it was USADA testing but not certain. I’m also not sure if everyone was tested or just winners plus/mini random selection. Non LT-GP athletes were not tested to my knowledge, even if on the podium. I don’t believe there was any random testing between races of any of the athletes.
Sorry if my post was a bit unclear. I didn’t come off as a fan of hers because whoever edited the show didn’t show that side of her. You know she has to have that drive to be where she is, but Call of a Lifetime focused on her personal struggles, then being super happy at the finish line after seemingly every race. I’m guessing because that’s the mentality of most of us. We do the best we can, battle our demons leading up to a race, and are super happy to finish. Sarah was the perfect person to use to try and connect to us amateurs.