Lifetime Grand Prix Video Series

gcab

gcab

Active Member


Did anyone watch? I just binge watched all six episodes, found it rather entertaining.
I would have loved a video each for men and women for each race, especially Leadville or Unbound, but this was cool.

Bicycling.com calling it "cyclings drive to survive." I don't know how I feel about that, having watched DTS and now follow F1, but definitely more interested in these race results now..
www.bicycling.com

Gravel Racing Gets a Binge-Worthy Reality Show

The Call of a Lifetime could be cycling’s Drive to Survive, and it's free to watch.
www.bicycling.com www.bicycling.com
 
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Hopefully this series makes bike racing in the USA great again. Big purses and good competition help.

But I think the lifetime Grand Prix lost its live coverage mid way though the series last year. I could be wrong though
 
Cassinonorth said:
Sheesh....how unlikeable is Sofia Gomex Villafane?
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Oh yeah! After episode 5… don’t want to get on her bad side.
jShort said:
Hopefully this series makes bike racing in the USA great again. Big purses and good competition help.

But I think the lifetime Grand Prix lost its live coverage mid way though the series last year. I could be wrong though
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Bummer they stopped the live coverage. That would have been cool to watch for this year. Hopefully they can bring it back.
 
Cassinonorth said:
Sheesh....how unlikeable is Sofia Gomex Villafane?
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I didn’t watch these but I got the same vibe from her. She has a special on flow bikes and meh… she was on the trainerroad podcast and meh… Not a fan.
 
Cassinonorth said:
Sheesh....how unlikeable is Sofia Gomex Villafane?
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As soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew someone would comment on her. I watched all of them and paused at one point to tell my wife that she was really coming across as a rotten human being. I saw a few people commenting that no one would be complaining if it were a guy saying those things or acting that way, but I totally disagree with that. I think anyone who acts as toxic as she does in multiple scenes of those films is just a full stop asshole, guy or girl. The part where she tells the other girl she was looking forward to the opportunity for payback after that girl cut her off at Chequemagon was unreal. I wouldn't have been surprised if Lifetime kicked her out of the series and cut ties with her after a statement like that because threatening other riders is not exactly an "on brand" message.
 
1speed said:
As soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew someone would comment on her. I watched all of them and paused at one point to tell my wife that she was really coming across as a rotten human being. I saw a few people commenting that no one would be complaining if it were a guy saying those things or acting that way, but I totally disagree with that. I think anyone who acts as toxic as she does in multiple scenes of those films is just a full stop asshole, guy or girl. The part where she tells the other girl she was looking forward to the opportunity for payback after that girl cut her off at Chequemagon was unreal. I wouldn't have been surprised if Lifetime kicked her out of the series and cut ties with her after a statement like that because threatening other riders is not exactly an "on brand" message.
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The comment that got me was after Hannah Otto's win, like damn..salty as fuck. Maybe because of how far ahead the leader was for the men from basically the first race but there wasn't nearly the same bitterness.

The one dude droning on about the "spirit of gravel" was annoying as hell. though Take the money or don't bruh, get over it.
 
1speed said:
As soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew someone would comment on her. I watched all of them and paused at one point to tell my wife that she was really coming across as a rotten human being. I saw a few people commenting that no one would be complaining if it were a guy saying those things or acting that way, but I totally disagree with that. I think anyone who acts as toxic as she does in multiple scenes of those films is just a full stop asshole, guy or girl. The part where she tells the other girl she was looking forward to the opportunity for payback after that girl cut her off at Chequemagon was unreal. I wouldn't have been surprised if Lifetime kicked her out of the series and cut ties with her after a statement like that because threatening other riders is not exactly an "on brand" message.
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Rotten attitude aside, she’s a pretty talented rider and won some huge races so I’m sure she gets leniency. Plus she’s Keegan’s girl.
 
jShort said:
Rotten attitude aside, she’s a pretty talented rider and won some huge races so I’m sure she gets leniency. Plus she’s Keegan’s girl.
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She only won Unbound in the series - I think a different woman won each race, isn't that right? And even if Villafane is very talented and was in it for all races, it's kind of likely that if Mo Wilson was around, the women's series would have been more like the men's with one rider dominating. Wilson was just better than everyone else in both disciplines that series contained. At any rate, the way Villafane acted (at least in the edit cuts included in the film which might be somethign to consider) isn't offset by her talent. Your post brings up an interesting thought experiment, though - what would have happened with Swenson if she was kicked out of the series? Does he quit in support or keep going? I could see her wanting him to quit in solidarity - she seemed to feel a lot of pressure from his success so if she was kicked out I could imagine her being pretty bitter about it if he kept going.
 
I also binged watched the series over the last couple days...it was definitely entertaining. The shiny spot for me was Sarah Sturm, I mean she is just a cool soul...I had heard of her before, but this series helped me get to know the racers better, her included. Looks totally chill and "whatever" but she's so fit lol.

Although it annoyed me somewhat (maybe the last episode? maybe second to last?) that on screen they kept spelling her name Sarah Strum lol...need some better editing and quality control lol.
 
rottin' said:
I also binged watched the series over the last couple days...it was definitely entertaining. The shiny spot for me was Sarah Sturm, I mean she is just a cool soul...I had heard of her before, but this series helped me get to know the racers better, her included. Looks totally chill and "whatever" but she's so fit lol.

Although it annoyed me somewhat (maybe the last episode? maybe second to last?) that on screen they kept spelling her name Sarah Strum lol...need some better editing and quality control lol.
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Yes! She was probably my favorite because of her attitude, and then its like oh by the way she totally rips too, which is awesome.
I did notice the misspelling at one point in the last episode and thought it was a one time mistake, but agree, better QC would be good.
 
I just saw episode 3 and threw up in my mouth with the equality talk. Sorry if that offends anyone with that statement but at the top of racing its not equal.
 
The Kalmyk said:
Cause facts?

Men and women are not physically equal. Thats where she showed her two step thinking.
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That's a whole complicated thing, though. I don't think anyone is actually arguing that they're physically equal - I think they are talking about having equal opportunities for competition. And I don't know - that just seems kinda ... reasonable, right? Like one of the things that kind of caused a stir earlier in the series was precisely because they know there isn't physical equality - at mass start events, some of the women were using a atrategy to burn matches early to get in with a faster group of men and then they sat on and were able to hold their lead because they were using the men as pacers. I interpreted that as most people just wanted to keep the racing fair among all competitors within their class, which is why some argued for separate starts for men and women. But that presents a problem for the series outside of the pros because it's goes in direct contrast to the so-called "spirit of gravel" stuff that appeals to so many average joe racers, doesn't it? That apparently holds that the gravel scene is less about that super competitive edge and more about the idea that a local nobody can be lining up next to an elite pro and all that. Separating men and women goes against that notion because it puts the competitiveness above the community aspect. (And all that said, let's not lose sight of the fact that while there isn't physical equality, it's just a matter of degree between two extremely capable athletes where one happens to be a woman. Just look at the time Hannah Otto put in at Leadville - with a 7:24, she'd have won the race outright 6 of the years it's been run. I know that's not an apples to apples comparison either what with conditions and all, but it's still something.)

BTW, I read a pretty interesting article about all that "spirit of gravel" notion. If you believe what was written there, the first person to really talk about the "spirit of gravel" was Colin Strickland when he wrote some article a couple of years ago calling out pro roadies for showing up at gravel events and using world tour tactics like drafting. There is a small problem with that opinion, though: Strickland's motives had nothing to do with some community ethos he was using as his rationale. He was a roadie with a big engine who never seemed to learn that pure power will never beat tactics - he used to get dangled on local crits by the field because he would always go out on these crazy attacks and then he'd complain to his friends how he didn't understand why his lead would always fade in the end. He thought it was because he couldn't sustain the effort. It never occurred to him (which means he's probably not the brightest bulb) that the field was just letting him do it to eliminate him as a threat later. When he discovered gravel, though, it was in its infancy and no one was using tactics yet so pure power COULD win. But once the purses grew and they started to attract more pros, he suddenly wasn't the big fish in a small pond any more. So his reasons for trying to preserve the "spirit of gravel" are suspect to say the least - the truth is, it was costing him money that they were showing up. It's not a surprise that after his one win at Unbound, he NEVER won another big race in the years that followed. It was like once tactics were introduced, he wasn't a threat anymore. That's why it's ironic that Stetina has decided to carry that torch now that Strickland is gone - he's exactly the kind of guy that Strickland was actually trying to get rid of in the gravel scene - a seasoned world tour pro who has the legs and the brain to succeed.
 
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