One Way to Improve the LifeTime Grand Prix
Trust me, I did a seance, and the Spirit of Gravel told me this was a good idea.
About two weeks ago, my social media feed was all Big Sugar Gravel. All the time. This Monday, something else caught my eye. It wasn’t wall-to-wall coverage. Honestly, I only saw it via Alexey Vermeulen, but damn, the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race looked amazing.
This got me thinking about all of the great dirt races throughout North America. What if some of them could get in on the action with the Lifetime Grand Prix?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m not saying that Lifetime should up and buy these plucky independent events that we know and love. Although, ahem, I do know a thing or two about breaking this kind of news. Instead, I’m suggesting that Lifetime rework its system for creating the Grand Prix schedule, just a little bit.
ICYMI, the Lifetime Grand Prix is a series of six dirt events organized by — you guessed it — Lifetime. This inaugural year, 2022, included: Sea Otter Classic, Unbound Gravel, Crusher in the Tushar, Chequamegon MTB, Leadville 100 MTB, and Big Sugar Gravel. Pro-only. Invite-only. Get points for your finishes at each event. Consistently earn points and win some money at the end of the series.
I’ve done four of these six events, and I can confirm — they’re good, hard, and worthy of their status. However, I think the Grand Prix should offer up one slot per season to a wild card event, something that’s not in its own portfolio of races. Something like Iceman.
From a sporting standpoint, this could make the Grand Prix a bit more unpredictable and interesting. Find a more technically challenging mountain bike event, such as the Shenandoah 100, and the tables could turn on the ex-roadies. Or, bring in a fast gravel burner like Barry-Roubaix and the racing might get tactical. Just examples.
Lifetime is a very good event promoter, but for better or for worse, its events are kind of one-note — they’re all long, sloggy, fitness tests.
Also, another drawback of the Lifetime-only calendar is that it tilts toward the western half of the country. Hey, I live in Colorado, so what do I care? However, if it’s serious about this being the premier off-road event series, the East Coast needs to join the chat. And there is no shortage of good mountain bike and gravel events on that side of the country.
Know what I love about a Lifetime event like Leadville and Unbound? It’s one big happy family with amateurs and pros mixed together. Unfortunately, it’s kind of expensive and sometimes difficult for normies to register for these events. Bring in a wild card event that’s maybe not quite so popular and it opens the door for more enthusiasts to see the show in person. Do it for the fans!
And last but not least, this is a great PR move for Lifetime. The brand gets dinged for being the Globo Gym of the bike promotion business because it is a $4 billion company that owns many of the biggest events. Bringing in a different independent event every season will be good for the racers, good for the fans, and a nice gesture of goodwill toward the grassroots that support the sport.