Keegan just shrugging at Finsterwalds attack after getting looks is absolute fire! 🤣 He's right, why would he chase down his buddy after already securing the overall. They are friends, what did you expect in this situation. 🙌🏻👍🏻
Yup, classic and predictable strategy, beautifully executed. That feeling of "I know what they're doing and I haven't got the legs or lungs to do anything about it" is so awful!
@9:42 Once upon a time, gravel used to be just about going out and riding about. Then some ex World Tour Pro showed up and started finishing first. Then, some mountain bike pros started coming out and winning by treating it like a race. Then the complaints came that it wasn't true to gravel by racing to be first. I don't know man, seems like someone opened up the box and didn't like what came out. One could always just show up without the aero kit and just go ride the event and have the adventure and not finish anywhere near the top 30.... I mean, if the "spirit of gravel" is really what you believe in. Or... I just thought of this, quit the sponsors, get a desk job, use that money to buy a budget gravel bike, ask your boss for time off, buy your ticket, fly out, do the event, get smashed and really embrace the "spirit of gravel".
Also I rode this race in 2022 as well. That “spirit of gravel” he’s griping about is very much alive in the 50mile and non elite race categories. He wants everyone to treat gravel racing the way he wants it but that’s not how any of this works.
I'll just add...what an annoying, whinny sob stories he is paddling. Race it, don't race it, chase spirit or not. I don't see what makes gravel so special and soul searching vs road and mtb but whatever. Someone needs to talk less and ride more I guess ...or just write a book or something but shut up about it already.
100% - he liked it when he was racing average Joe’s who had less than 10% of his experience so he could be competitive. It is hilarious when he cries about the “spirit of gravel” in his manufacturer-provided gear, covered in sponsors etc. Does he realise how ridiculous he sounds? Most of the people in the race are there for the experience and to have fun, the guys near the front are there to win and for their careers… nothing wrong with that at all.
I preferred the dual coverage of both men and women racers like this Big Sugar episode, instead of focusing on one side and ignoring the other, like Leadville. That one opinion aside, a great series - well done.
Admittedly I think the format they chose made me pay more attention to the women’s race than I normally would, while still getting coverage of the men’s race. I probably would have just skipped the women’s race episodes, but this format showed that their racing is just as exciting, if not more.
I preferred the episodes with a single focus-- more time to spend on the athletes, race, and storylines. But it's good to bookend the series with the dual coverage like this one
The single focus on men’s or women’s race is ridiculous, in my opinion, as we are literally left with no coverage of the ‘other’ race. Surely they could focus more on the stories from one or the other (interviews etc.) but still at least show how both races played out.
Thanks Lifetime for starting the grand prix and making these videos. Haley Smith is my new favorite women’s rider after seeing these. The men’s side finished with the right top three for the year. Hoping Payson has better luck next season. And Cole, just go do a bunch of longer rides and you’ll be right there too. Can’t wait to see next year.
Absolutely sensational. I too just binged all 6. Loved every second of every one of them. Fantastic job by everyone and wow those athletes are amazing. Bring on 2023 Life Time Grand Prix.
Shout out to Kimo Seymour, our old riding buddy from Phoenix, for great vision and leadership at Lifetime Events. This is a nice video series and does a great job capturing the essence of these treasured events. I enjoyed getting to know these athletes better.
Watched the entire series on one 3 hour z2 ride. I loved this. Wish it was longer. Do twice the episodes next time and cover both men's and women's races.
I watched this series while on the trainer (winter here) getting ready for my amateur races this upcoming season. Absolutely loved it, great job Life Time!! Provided entertainment and motivation and a look at these amazing races, which are now on my bucket list (for the most part, Leadville seems insane)
Bravo Life Time GP! An amazing series w amazing athletes men and women. Hope this is the new trend for bike racing w mtb and gravel. Maybe even a road course for next year.
Really good stuff but it seems a shame that only a few riders are featured. Were the producers worried more narratives would make it a mish-mash? Paige Onweller's story deserved far more attention than the brief clip at the end of this episode. Still, kudos to Life Tim for stepping up in a big way.
It was produced by a fairly small production company and only had 8 cinematographers, a few of whom were also on drone duty. 1 of the 8 was also the field producer, and another the director. Just not a big enough production to get more riders. Considering how small the production team was, you'd never know it while watching, which is a testament to the whole team.
What an absolutely awesome series! I’m totally hooked and can’t wait for this season to start!!! Congrats to all the racers and Life Time for creating something positive here in the US
Pete Stetina, such a dork. A pro cyclist who came to dominate gravel is now upset that pro cyclists are coming over to dominate gravel. Just because you were an early adopter doesn’t make you any different.
Outstanding series of videos of a really cool initiative by LifeTime. Hopefully we will see the sport continue to grow and gain interest. I hope for next year that similar videos could be produced and release between events. It would really help build the drama from event to event and further drive interest in the athletes and the sport.
This was such an inspirational and awesome series to watch that I signed up for the Rad Dirt Fest (the Life Time Grand Prix wildcard race for 2023). Looking forward to experiencing a part of the 2023 series (not from the front of the race though 😂). Kudos to all who were involved in making these videos happen -- hopefully there will be more for each subsequent season. Great work like this is what we need to get more people on bikes.
This was done very well , Bravo! I’m making a prediction with Sagan changing his program that after the Olympics he will compete in this Series. Maybe before , time will tell!
Great video, great series formed by great events and great athletes + all others participants, that's what is so nice : it's not elite only. Kudos for the quality of the coverage and videos, but I have to say it as I already shared : this episode and the first one are the best as they MIX men and women, I prefer to get the whole story of all races, rather than 50% one out of 2, I felt it is a missed opportunity to share the whole event... probably it is mostly frustration talking as I knew there is 50% of the drame not told 😉 Hopefully you'll take that into account for next year. But overall : what a success, thank you, and congrats to all !!
“the spirit of gravel” in a race series worth 6 figures to the top riders, sponsored by a billion dollar organization…😂 When someone turns their check away, I might buy into such a notion.
The prioritization of adventure and good vibes over racing is the end of this series. It’s a race (for a ton of money), and you don’t get to dictate how others race. Diversity means accepting even people who want to race differently than you.
Seems like 95% of women, 90% of men (and 99% of the audience) just want feel-good “vibes.” This is ultimately a race series. Call of a Lifetime to *race* your bike.
Def rooting for Keegan. Peter stop your whining about everything from aerobars to aid station etiquette to more 'euro grand tour' riders taking interest in gravel. Didn't you as a former grand tour pro do the same thing and started racing Kanza and various gravel events? Also talking about changing the landscape of such events...blah blah blah...you and a few other former grand tour pros were some of the first to join gravel yourself.
Ironic hearing Stetina - the man who gleefully proclaimed he would "ruin gravel" when he committed to a full-time alternative racing calendar back in 2020 - complaining so openly about how everyone else is ruining gravel.
Peter Stetina, a professional bike racer, complaining about gravel "racing" becoming more competitive... ha! He didn't want people to use aero bars in the 200 mile gravel race in Kansas, but he has no problem with using deep dish carbon rims, as if those do not provide an aerodynamic advantage. He seems to draw arbitrary lines regarding what is "acceptable" and what isn't, based on his own philosophical views. I understand what he means when he says gravel riding/racing is perhaps losing its "soul", but he comes also across as being very hypocritical, at times. By contrast, Keegan seems to embrace the challenge of road racers coming over from Europe to get a taste of American gravel racing, without the dogmatic hullabaloo.
Hey Chad - glad you're enjoying the series! As you can imagine, things happen fast (and slowly) in the sport between what riders expect, the industry provides and what participants and fans look for. Consider these episodes snapshots in time and if you'd like to learn more, there are many articles and podcasts that delve deeper into these subjects than just what is show here. Hope to see you out on the bike sometime soon, reach out anytime!
Maybe if they cover the series this year they can skip out on all the professional athletes complaining about how the other athletes choose to race. Nothing is more of a turn off for an amateur watching professionals is some guy or girl who’s living most people dream bitching and complaining.
Lol Pete Stetina complains that these events have lost there fun,? Laughable as he was won of the first road pros to come and smash amateur riders at BWR years ago. Suddenly he’s not at the pointed end of the stick and now it’s lost it’s soul… pros came and the money came with them. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
@@LifeTimeGrandPrix your vids make it look great. I’ve also been to Whistler, Chamonix, and Kitzbuhl. None of those places are claiming to be capital, despite being absolutely stunning and being mountain biking nirvanas. Listen, your series is great, but American exceptionalism is obnoxious.
I feel a bit sorry for Stetina, cast as the Debbie Downer in the series. Sadly, though, if gravel is a discipline that carries the marks of its American origins, that's going to include turning the whole thing over to corporations, ad men, and outright competition. If we're setting it apart from European racing for its ethos then you're also going to lose aspects of the culture that are well-entrenched in World Tour racing: 'unwritten rules', veneration of tradition, and a tendency to try to keep the sport culturally static. You can't have it both ways.
@@philipjohnson8444 Well, there are other things. Merchandise, tie-ins, paid-for access to content, and coverage, direct sponsorship. But certainly, ads and general involvement of business bring more money. My point is really that if that's how they choose to grow the sport--which is entirely legitimate--I don't think there's any space for a more homespun vision of grassroots racing governed by the unwritten 'spirit'.
If you don’t want gravel to be “professionalized”, why would you agree to ride a series with a $250k purse? I don’t worry about money when I ride, I don’t ride with aero bars on gravel, I don’t send emails to my fellow riders…but then I just ride because I love it and I have an actual job. Hard to complain about something when you’re a part of the cog.
Gravel riders seem to have a real chip on their shoulders about World Tour riders 😂 It’s not even the top Tour riders that are coming over and being competitive, imagine E if the big dogs decided to get involved!
Pete is a whiner, it’s a frickin race, wow!!! Not much he won’t complain about, usually happens when you’re not on top winning the race, easy to pick things apart
Unfortunately as more pros/ex-pros race gravel and payouts become bigger, the original gravel feeling is being lost. Gravel was started as an escape from the road traffic and the desire to explore new areas. As gravel gets bigger there will need to be more rules to keep things even in the fields and this goes directly against the spirit of gravel. Also, bigger gravel races have become either a pros race or someone riding for fun, the middle fielder amateur racers have been kind of left behind.
That’s absolute nonsense. If someone wants to explore, go and explore. You don’t need to enter a race to do that. If you want to experience the event/course… you can still do that too. How does what happens at the front of the race affect you if you are just there to enjoy your experience? The “Spirit of gravel” is just some rubbish a few people came up with after faster people came along and started crush them. Many of whom sit there and complain about the commercialisation of gravel on their factory bike and wearing their factory kit covered in sponsors etc. It’s sour grapes, basically.
Are you kidding!!?? That guy's the worst! Former low-level WT rider turned gravel-racer who was winning all of the races he entered.....until more pros started showing up and taking it seriously, so now he's upset? If he wants his "spirit of gravel", he can go to races that don't offer thousands of dollars to the winners, have sponsors or interviewers, and just ride anonymously "for the love". Get this guy out of my face with his sour grapes.
Pete is the worst. Wahoo Frontiers highlight on Pete: th-cam.com/video/O_O-ISeJLYc/w-d-xo.html Starts at ‘2:20’ “I want to win all the races, I want to ruin all the gravel.” Pete is so quick to change his tune when he cannot win the races.
@@alanstoughton36I love how he complains about it while sitting in his gear covered in sponsors. Complaining about people not stopping at aid stations too 🤦🏼♂️😂 Basically, he liked it when he was a big fish in a small pond.
Please stop calling some place in Arkansas "the mountain biking capital of the world." That's such a dumb thing to say for a place that has no mountains and really nothing to do with world wide mountain bike culture.
These "Pete Stetina complains about _____" videos are great.
Keegan just shrugging at Finsterwalds attack after getting looks is absolute fire! 🤣 He's right, why would he chase down his buddy after already securing the overall. They are friends, what did you expect in this situation. 🙌🏻👍🏻
And still ripped their legs off in the sprint :)
Yup, classic and predictable strategy, beautifully executed. That feeling of "I know what they're doing and I haven't got the legs or lungs to do anything about it" is so awful!
🤣 yes! Crazy tidbit I recognized the AirBnb they stayed at in the vid "The Green Stove" we stayed there last year good times.
@9:42 Once upon a time, gravel used to be just about going out and riding about. Then some ex World Tour Pro showed up and started finishing first. Then, some mountain bike pros started coming out and winning by treating it like a race. Then the complaints came that it wasn't true to gravel by racing to be first. I don't know man, seems like someone opened up the box and didn't like what came out. One could always just show up without the aero kit and just go ride the event and have the adventure and not finish anywhere near the top 30.... I mean, if the "spirit of gravel" is really what you believe in.
Or... I just thought of this, quit the sponsors, get a desk job, use that money to buy a budget gravel bike, ask your boss for time off, buy your ticket, fly out, do the event, get smashed and really embrace the "spirit of gravel".
I love when street Pete says that he’s an og gravel guy…. uhh okie dokie 😂.
Also I rode this race in 2022 as well. That “spirit of gravel” he’s griping about is very much alive in the 50mile and non elite race categories. He wants everyone to treat gravel racing the way he wants it but that’s not how any of this works.
I'll just add...what an annoying, whinny sob stories he is paddling. Race it, don't race it, chase spirit or not. I don't see what makes gravel so special and soul searching vs road and mtb but whatever. Someone needs to talk less and ride more I guess ...or just write a book or something but shut up about it already.
100% - he liked it when he was racing average Joe’s who had less than 10% of his experience so he could be competitive. It is hilarious when he cries about the “spirit of gravel” in his manufacturer-provided gear, covered in sponsors etc. Does he realise how ridiculous he sounds? Most of the people in the race are there for the experience and to have fun, the guys near the front are there to win and for their careers… nothing wrong with that at all.
I don’t think Pete would complain about the ‘spirit of gravel’ if he was winning.
I preferred the dual coverage of both men and women racers like this Big Sugar episode, instead of focusing on one side and ignoring the other, like Leadville. That one opinion aside, a great series - well done.
Admittedly I think the format they chose made me pay more attention to the women’s race than I normally would, while still getting coverage of the men’s race. I probably would have just skipped the women’s race episodes, but this format showed that their racing is just as exciting, if not more.
No one single black people in Arkansas is really scarering
I preferred the episodes with a single focus-- more time to spend on the athletes, race, and storylines. But it's good to bookend the series with the dual coverage like this one
The single focus on men’s or women’s race is ridiculous, in my opinion, as we are literally left with no coverage of the ‘other’ race. Surely they could focus more on the stories from one or the other (interviews etc.) but still at least show how both races played out.
Thanks Lifetime for starting the grand prix and making these videos. Haley Smith is my new favorite women’s rider after seeing these. The men’s side finished with the right top three for the year. Hoping Payson has better luck next season. And Cole, just go do a bunch of longer rides and you’ll be right there too. Can’t wait to see next year.
Good gesture by Keegan letting his friend win after securing the overall. That's a true friend!
I binge-watched the entire series: I’m hooked!
+1! This is awesome, I'd love to see this every year! Watched it on the trainer, really motivating!
I binge watched all the episodes. This was incredible. I need more!!!!
Absolutely sensational. I too just binged all 6. Loved every second of every one of them. Fantastic job by everyone and wow those athletes are amazing. Bring on 2023 Life Time Grand Prix.
Shout out to Kimo Seymour, our old riding buddy from Phoenix, for great vision and leadership at Lifetime Events. This is a nice video series and does a great job capturing the essence of these treasured events. I enjoyed getting to know these athletes better.
Payson is the Danny Ricciardo of this series and I'm here for it
Watched the entire series on one 3 hour z2 ride. I loved this. Wish it was longer. Do twice the episodes next time and cover both men's and women's races.
Great series: loved it and binge watched it. Can't wait for the 2023 series. You rock!
This was great to watch, nice to see that off-road bike racing is getting this high quality coverage!
Super awesome coverage here. Love the dual M/W coverage and the raw emotion. No faking here.
Great series! Makes me want to get off the road & onto gravel. Kudos to Kimo Seymour & Lifetime crew for putting this series together!
I watched this series while on the trainer (winter here) getting ready for my amateur races this upcoming season. Absolutely loved it, great job Life Time!! Provided entertainment and motivation and a look at these amazing races, which are now on my bucket list (for the most part, Leadville seems insane)
What a great series!!! I could not stop watching.
Keegan is such a monster. Literally one of the greatest Endurance athletes in the world right now.
Bravo Life Time GP! An amazing series w amazing athletes men and women. Hope this is the new trend for bike racing w mtb and gravel. Maybe even a road course for next year.
I remember riding group rides out of Danville, CA with Ruth and her parents when she was about 13. Wow, what a career she's had so far.
Wow! What an amazing series. Can't wait for 2023! Great job Lifetime!!
Really good stuff but it seems a shame that only a few riders are featured. Were the producers worried more narratives would make it a mish-mash? Paige Onweller's story deserved far more attention than the brief clip at the end of this episode. Still, kudos to Life Tim for stepping up in a big way.
It was produced by a fairly small production company and only had 8 cinematographers, a few of whom were also on drone duty. 1 of the 8 was also the field producer, and another the director. Just not a big enough production to get more riders. Considering how small the production team was, you'd never know it while watching, which is a testament to the whole team.
Thank you for editing and spelling Sarah Sturm(not strum)correctly. Sarah is an inspiration to so many inspiring cyclist
Loved this series!!!! MORE MORE MORE LifeTime!
Awesome!! Loved the series!! Well done!! Congrats to Keegan and Haley and everyone!!
Incredible series! Thank you for making these. Never really followed any cycling racing circuit before but I likely will going forward.
Mountain biking is the spirit of gravel.
Mmmm Whistler is the MTB capital of the world thanks
u mad bro?
@@Di2huffy no, their claim is just false.
Whistler is only the gravity mtb capital of the year.
@@philipjohnson8444 false again. There is XC and general trail riding in Whistler. It's not just a bike park.
Great great series coverage....thanks so much guys!!
What an absolutely awesome series! I’m totally hooked and can’t wait for this season to start!!! Congrats to all the racers and Life Time for creating something positive here in the US
Great job lifetime and congrats to the riders!
What a terrific series! Great video production. Inspiring riders. Well done Life Time Grand Prix!
What a great series, gotta make this a regular thing.
Brilliant series, thanks so much for making it!! Was great to watch the whole thing and get inspired
What a fantastic series & insight into these US races! Thanks Lifetime 🙌🙌
Fantastic rockumentary 🎶
I don’t care who wins I love Alexey he seems like a guy I’d like to learn from, ride with & befriend
I talked to him at the Big Sugar autograph signing. A genuinely solid and engaging guy
Great series great coverage !
Great videos! Looking forward to this season.
Pete Stetina, such a dork.
A pro cyclist who came to dominate gravel is now upset that pro cyclists are coming over to dominate gravel. Just because you were an early adopter doesn’t make you any different.
The self appointed leader of the unwritten rules committee.
Really embodying the fact that "The Spirit of Gravel" is just bitching about things you don't like or not good at.
@@MountainStateJiuJitsu Sadly someone at Lifetime listened to him and now no aerobars for the pros at Unbound...
I agree, he comes across as this whiner, not a good look.
Pete can no longer dominate so he’s frustrated, understandable. 😝
Really enjoyed this. Can’t wait for this season!
Very well done! Love the racing and the inside look at all the racers I like to follow. Good stuff!
Sooooo AWESOME ! Very inspiring 🙂
Outstanding series of videos of a really cool initiative by LifeTime. Hopefully we will see the sport continue to grow and gain interest. I hope for next year that similar videos could be produced and release between events. It would really help build the drama from event to event and further drive interest in the athletes and the sport.
Great series at all levels
This was such an inspirational and awesome series to watch that I signed up for the Rad Dirt Fest (the Life Time Grand Prix wildcard race for 2023). Looking forward to experiencing a part of the 2023 series (not from the front of the race though 😂). Kudos to all who were involved in making these videos happen -- hopefully there will be more for each subsequent season. Great work like this is what we need to get more people on bikes.
Please show winners of other categories. Those of use that dedicated our lives to this series deserve coverage as well. Thanks 😊
This was done very well , Bravo!
I’m making a prediction with Sagan changing his program that after the Olympics he will compete in this Series. Maybe before , time will tell!
Same…
So I guess the appropriate number of bikes is N+1.... Great series.
Great video, great series formed by great events and great athletes + all others participants, that's what is so nice : it's not elite only. Kudos for the quality of the coverage and videos, but I have to say it as I already shared : this episode and the first one are the best as they MIX men and women, I prefer to get the whole story of all races, rather than 50% one out of 2, I felt it is a missed opportunity to share the whole event... probably it is mostly frustration talking as I knew there is 50% of the drame not told 😉 Hopefully you'll take that into account for next year. But overall : what a success, thank you, and congrats to all !!
“the spirit of gravel” in a race series worth 6 figures to the top riders, sponsored by a billion dollar organization…😂 When someone turns their check away, I might buy into such a notion.
Wow!!! Exciting...
Being from BC and hearing Bentonville being referred as the "MTB capital of the world".... Is laughable...
‘Merica marketing!
Mate: everything in the US has its capital of the world..love it or leave it..🤷♂️
Well Done!
The prioritization of adventure and good vibes over racing is the end of this series. It’s a race (for a ton of money), and you don’t get to dictate how others race. Diversity means accepting even people who want to race differently than you.
Seems like 95% of women, 90% of men (and 99% of the audience) just want feel-good “vibes.” This is ultimately a race series. Call of a Lifetime to *race* your bike.
Great video man ! I'm on the hunt for a late 90s bike myself
c'est plus ca change and all that - lots of great people worked hard to bring this series to life!
Hailey has it figured out…what a champion.
Cool film.
Keegan being a true buddy.
Great series but we need to see both the men and the women, otherwise utterly superb coverage. Here's to 2023.
Hope those checks get bigger next year!
Def rooting for Keegan. Peter stop your whining about everything from aerobars to aid station etiquette to more 'euro grand tour' riders taking interest in gravel. Didn't you as a former grand tour pro do the same thing and started racing Kanza and various gravel events? Also talking about changing the landscape of such events...blah blah blah...you and a few other former grand tour pros were some of the first to join gravel yourself.
Ex pro comes to gravel with sponsors and wins races, starts losing races, then complains about the spirit of gravel lololol
Cornelius Would Be Proud.
Pete Stetina seems like he hates bike racing, I dont know why he is there.
He’s there for the “spirit of gravel”… which means he enjoyed things before faster guys turned up and started smashing him 👀
12 episodes next season ? 2 episodes per race, 1 episode for men and 1 women. That’d be great!…please
Good stuff Life Time. Very impressed.
Ironic hearing Stetina - the man who gleefully proclaimed he would "ruin gravel" when he committed to a full-time alternative racing calendar back in 2020 - complaining so openly about how everyone else is ruining gravel.
wow 🚴🐐🇵🇭
Peter Stetina, a professional bike racer, complaining about gravel "racing" becoming more competitive... ha! He didn't want people to use aero bars in the 200 mile gravel race in Kansas, but he has no problem with using deep dish carbon rims, as if those do not provide an aerodynamic advantage. He seems to draw arbitrary lines regarding what is "acceptable" and what isn't, based on his own philosophical views. I understand what he means when he says gravel riding/racing is perhaps losing its "soul", but he comes also across as being very hypocritical, at times. By contrast, Keegan seems to embrace the challenge of road racers coming over from Europe to get a taste of American gravel racing, without the dogmatic hullabaloo.
Hey Chad - glad you're enjoying the series! As you can imagine, things happen fast (and slowly) in the sport between what riders expect, the industry provides and what participants and fans look for. Consider these episodes snapshots in time and if you'd like to learn more, there are many articles and podcasts that delve deeper into these subjects than just what is show here. Hope to see you out on the bike sometime soon, reach out anytime!
Maybe if they cover the series this year they can skip out on all the professional athletes complaining about how the other athletes choose to race. Nothing is more of a turn off for an amateur watching professionals is some guy or girl who’s living most people dream bitching and complaining.
Lol Pete Stetina complains that these events have lost there fun,? Laughable as he was won of the first road pros to come and smash amateur riders at BWR years ago. Suddenly he’s not at the pointed end of the stick and now it’s lost it’s soul… pros came and the money came with them. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
Loved this series and the racing but there’s a lot of whiney boys and girls out there on this circuit isn’t there.
Somewhere in the US: "We're the ______________capital of the World!!!"
Rest of the World: 'Huh?"
Highly recommend checking out Bentonville if you're a cyclist of any stripe.
@@LifeTimeGrandPrix your vids make it look great. I’ve also been to Whistler, Chamonix, and Kitzbuhl. None of those places are claiming to be capital, despite being absolutely stunning and being mountain biking nirvanas. Listen, your series is great, but American exceptionalism is obnoxious.
I feel a bit sorry for Stetina, cast as the Debbie Downer in the series.
Sadly, though, if gravel is a discipline that carries the marks of its American origins, that's going to include turning the whole thing over to corporations, ad men, and outright competition. If we're setting it apart from European racing for its ethos then you're also going to lose aspects of the culture that are well-entrenched in World Tour racing: 'unwritten rules', veneration of tradition, and a tendency to try to keep the sport culturally static.
You can't have it both ways.
Only way to increase the prize payouts is to bring in more ad money.
@@philipjohnson8444 Well, there are other things. Merchandise, tie-ins, paid-for access to content, and coverage, direct sponsorship. But certainly, ads and general involvement of business bring more money. My point is really that if that's how they choose to grow the sport--which is entirely legitimate--I don't think there's any space for a more homespun vision of grassroots racing governed by the unwritten 'spirit'.
Wow, they really make Sofia the villain huh
If you don’t want gravel to be “professionalized”, why would you agree to ride a series with a $250k purse? I don’t worry about money when I ride, I don’t ride with aero bars on gravel, I don’t send emails to my fellow riders…but then I just ride because I love it and I have an actual job. Hard to complain about something when you’re a part of the cog.
Gravel riders seem to have a real chip on their shoulders about World Tour riders 😂 It’s not even the top Tour riders that are coming over and being competitive, imagine E if the big dogs decided to get involved!
Mountain bike capital of the world? WTF? Good grief.
It’s not even the MTB capital of North America 😂
Pete is a whiner, it’s a frickin race, wow!!!
Not much he won’t complain about, usually happens when you’re not on top winning the race, easy to pick things apart
Unfortunately as more pros/ex-pros race gravel and payouts become bigger, the original gravel feeling is being lost. Gravel was started as an escape from the road traffic and the desire to explore new areas. As gravel gets bigger there will need to be more rules to keep things even in the fields and this goes directly against the spirit of gravel. Also, bigger gravel races have become either a pros race or someone riding for fun, the middle fielder amateur racers have been kind of left behind.
This will undoubtedly always happens when something get so popular over such a short period of time. It’s success will also be its downfall.
I would argue that it really isn’t. I rode this race in 2022 and that feeling is very much alive in the non elite categories.
That’s absolute nonsense. If someone wants to explore, go and explore. You don’t need to enter a race to do that. If you want to experience the event/course… you can still do that too. How does what happens at the front of the race affect you if you are just there to enjoy your experience?
The “Spirit of gravel” is just some rubbish a few people came up with after faster people came along and started crush them. Many of whom sit there and complain about the commercialisation of gravel on their factory bike and wearing their factory kit covered in sponsors etc. It’s sour grapes, basically.
Pete at 10:10... Truth, 110 % TRUTH, Good on Lifetime, very hard to grow the sport without some pot holes in the road. Long Live Gravel!!!!
Are you kidding!!?? That guy's the worst! Former low-level WT rider turned gravel-racer who was winning all of the races he entered.....until more pros started showing up and taking it seriously, so now he's upset? If he wants his "spirit of gravel", he can go to races that don't offer thousands of dollars to the winners, have sponsors or interviewers, and just ride anonymously "for the love". Get this guy out of my face with his sour grapes.
@@alanstoughton36 100% agree. The very one who turned a fun ride into a race.
Pete is the worst. Wahoo Frontiers highlight on Pete: th-cam.com/video/O_O-ISeJLYc/w-d-xo.html Starts at ‘2:20’ “I want to win all the races, I want to ruin all the gravel.” Pete is so quick to change his tune when he cannot win the races.
@@alanstoughton36I love how he complains about it while sitting in his gear covered in sponsors. Complaining about people not stopping at aid stations too 🤦🏼♂️😂
Basically, he liked it when he was a big fish in a small pond.
Please stop calling some place in Arkansas "the mountain biking capital of the world." That's such a dumb thing to say for a place that has no mountains and really nothing to do with world wide mountain bike culture.
Haha, yep, Walmart trying to buy its way into mountain bike culture. 99% of the cyclists you meet there are just visiting.
Season 1, you set the stage for greatness 🌈🚵♂. It's proudly added to our collection. Season 2 built on this, but the foundation is unforgettable.