Lifetime Launches $250,000 Grand Prix Gravel and MTB Series

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Seems like big news for the off-road community. The six races are Sea Otter XCM, Unbound, Leadville, Big Sugar, Crusher in the Tushar and Chequamegon. Three gravel and three mountain bike marathon.

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I don’t follow the Lifetime series closely enough to know every event they own, or know what the Sea Otter XCM is like, but I find it curious they have built it so heavily around the Gravel riders. I guess it’s to do with the boom in popularity of that segment right now.

Awesome for a big prize purse in the off road segment to be a thing. I just hope there’s enough actual single track to make things interesting/challenging.

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There are 6 events. Three are mtb and three are gravel. Not sure what you mean.

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I just mean that I’d have loved to see it be pitched more along the lines of technical MTB vs Gravel. I don’t know if they have more technical events in their catalogue, I guess some of the ones I’ve heard mentioned are competing series (epicrides?).

The MTB events on that list are close cousins of the gravel events.

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This looks epic.

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Do you suppose this is in response to the interest generated by LeadBoat? And guess it’ll make that an unlikely repeat event.

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Exactly what I thought as well - LeadBoat was just a collab from Lifetime and the SBT GRVL organizers, but seems Lifetime now decided to go their own route.

It’s probably a smart move to try and establish themselves as the ultra series, since the UCI-based races (XC) attract a mostly different crowd to the ultra long stuff.

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The roster has been announced, and there were a few surprises for me. For one Ruth Winder is not fully retired, and two, world and national TT champ Amber Neben will be part of it. Should be some spicy racing, and I’m here for it. Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda on Instagram: "Your 2022 class of the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix. Moriah Wilson @mo__wilson Ruth Winder @ruthwinder8 Katerina Nash @katkanash Rose Grant @rosekgrant Sofia Gomez Villafane @sofithevilla Sarah Sturm @sarah_sturmy Isabel King @king_iz Hannah Otto @hannah_finchamp Lea Davison @leaeatsalot Amity Rockwell @amityvil Rebecca Fahringer @gofahr Kaysee Armstrong @kaysodip Emily Joy Newsom @emilyjoynewsom Melisa Rollins @melisa_rollins Erin Huck @eehuck Kristen Legan @kplegan Evelyn Dong @evelynd11 Maude Farrell @maude.tmg Angela Naeth @angelanaeth Alexis Skarda @alexisskarda Whitney Allison @whit.allison Amber Neben @ambernebenpx4 Flavia Oliveira-Parks @lilcrush27 Rach McBride @rachelmcb Amanda Nauman @amanda_panda_ Haley Hunter Smith @haleyhuntersmith Paige Peters @paigepowered Helena Gilbert-Snyder @hel.racer Kathy Pruitt @kathypruitt Hannah Shell @hannahgshell Adam Roberge @adamroberge Alex Wild @alexwildmtb Payson McElveen @paysonmcelveen Peter Stetina @pstetina Russell Finsterwald @finsty Laurens ten Dam @laurens_ten_dam Alexey Vermeulen @alexeyvermeulen Cole Paton @colepaton Andrew L'Esperance @andrewlespy TJ Eisenhart @tjeisenhart Kiel Reijnen @kielreijnen Ted King @iamtedking Jeremiah Tyrone Bishop @jeremiah_bishop_mtb_ Alexander Dominic Howes @alex_howes Eddie Anderson @eddieanderson44 Lachlan Morton @lachlanmorton Keegan Swenson @keegels99 Ashton Lambie @bahamalongbottom Rob Britton @rob_britton John Keller @johnkeller101 Taylor Lideen @tlideen Joshua Berry @joshuaraspberry John Borstelmann @johnborstelmann Logan Owen @logansowen Howard Grotts @howardgrotts Lance Haidet @lancy_pants Colin Strickland @colinatx Stephan Davoust @steefooon Dylan Johnson @dylanjawnson Bradyn Lange @bradyn.lange We want to send an exceptional thank you to the over 200 amazing athletes who took the time to apply. We are blown away by you all and found the decision making process incredibly challenging. Ultimately we decided to increase the field size from 40 total to 60 total, with parity. We are especially excited to see these amazing humans, on and off the bike, take the series on this year."

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And the individual pursuit world record holder.

Interesting make up of entries. There’s some upskilling to be done for some.

I’m hoping we get an update from Keegan, Sofia, and Alex soon with their plans and all the changes. This will impact the opportunity to race at the highest level I’d assume?

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Sofia just posted that she is in…and that they expanded both fields to 30 riders each.

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Yeah, I meant an update on their team/sponsors/schedule etc. I am thinking they’ll struggle to hit the WC circuit

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Gotcha…misunderstood. Reading too fast. :stuck_out_tongue:

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What are the odds that two women from my city are in?

Amber I’ve never met but she has ridden past my real fast a few times, once even motorpacing super fast uphill.
Not sure what she’s done off-road.

Amanda I know pretty well. One of the hosts of the Groadio podcast. Her rough estimation is $9k+ in travel for the series. Two of them should be drive able, maybe even Leadville.

Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

I wonder if there will be any streaming coverage?

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I hope not…these are not races that broadcast well. Just look how awful the live “coverage” was last year at Unbound or SBT GRVL. Film it, edit it and put out a polished recap show, either for each race or the entire series. Make it watchable and enjoyable, not staring at two “announcers” who are scrambling to fill time because there is nothing to show.

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While it looks like an interesting series, I have to say I agree with you. Leadville’s essentially a gravel race. I’ve never ridden Sea Otter, but the 2021 course vids on YouTube looks glass-smooth with some elevation. Not sure what the third “MTB” event is. Would’ve been interesting to make the semi-retired pros and gravel specialists work a bit harder to compensate for time lost during actual MTB events.

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Agree. A recap is fine. 8+ hours of live streaming of a gravel even would be boooooring.

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So you want to say it’s like Mediolan-San Remo? :slight_smile:

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Oh hell no….Milan-San Remo is one of the best races to watch, at least the from the Cipressa on.

But before that, yeah, it is a pretty big snooze fest. :worried:

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Why are only the riders they selected eligible for the prize money? I.e. why isn’t each race open to all, with the best placed rider at the end of the six races the winner?

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Thats a great question.