Video: Sea Otter to Unbound to Leadville - Keegan Swenson, Haley Smith & More Compete for the 2023 Lifetime Grand Prix by VerdeBrandCommunications

21 Comments

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hellyadude FL (Jan 29, 2024 at 16:53)

Big season ahead. Who will dethrone Keegan?

stefanroussev (Jan 29, 2024 at 23:02)

Nobody!

BuntyHoven1 FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 9:16)

@stefanroussev: In the current field you're probably right. I think Blevins or a number of Euro's would give him a good run if they didn't have bigger fish to fry.

shandtke FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 12:09)

BHD for sure. Start fast, go fast in the middle, end fast.

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owenskyle4 FL (Jan 29, 2024 at 21:09)

Really awesome series and production, gets me stoked to ride bikes. Although it’s different, this makes me miss the fast life series Red Bull used to make!

garrettstories FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 10:50)

Kudos to Lifetime for investing heavily in telling stories and elevating North American cycling. I can only imagine how much this video series helps the privateer racers because it provides value to their sponsors.

ski-bike-repeat (Feb 2, 2024 at 3:57)

Have only watched the Sea Otter race so far, but great story telling. Will be back for the others. But can't resist a bit of e-bike bashing. That guy that shadowed the 2 guys fighting it out for the win on the final climb really bugged me (maybe he was part of the film crew for one of the riders?), but my feeling is that he should not have been so close. You earn the right, you earn through blood sweat and tears the the privilege to be there. Then some e-bike pops up. No, show some respect and keep away. If you were film crew, I think t was inappropriate...............and breath

stefanroussev (Jan 29, 2024 at 23:03)

Great watch!

bignoah (Jan 30, 2024 at 14:29)

Binged it all on Sunday. It is really well done. I love that it has equal coverage of both men's and women's races. Kudos!

theflyingdanish FL (Jan 29, 2024 at 16:22)

I thought the Sea Otter Classic was moving to Leadville for a second. I was kind of excited...

i-like-toytles (Jan 30, 2024 at 7:10)

I don't think there are enough parking spots in Leadville to handle Sea Otter

JSTootell (Jan 30, 2024 at 7:41)

With the Nimbys around Sea Otter, you never know.

suspended-flesh FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 11:53)

@JSTootell: They are making some noise, but for the near future we are good. When I grew up 7 miles over the hill from Laguna Seca we heard nonstop heavy artillery shells exploding and nobody complained about that or some INSANE open exhaust Can-Am races. Now the Nimbys have built their little McMansions right up against the track and they are grumbling about noise and traffic. For now they don't have the political muscle to shut it down.

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foxweildingvapeking420 (Jan 30, 2024 at 0:10)

Ya not a whole lot of glory to go around in this sport is there. the glory is the guilt-free food. Food good. Health good. Adrenaline good. We feel it. It’s a drug- the best natural high ever

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MutleyAdams FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 10:07)

KSwenson makes part of his $ from domestic races with no testing and then comes off the doping for sanctioned races overseas or ones that test. Theres no excuse for him not to be racing on a world tour team or racing mtb in world cups with his high power to weight ratio. His p2w is on par with tdf winners. Does he not have the bike skills to race with the intl pros?

numbnuts1977 (Jan 30, 2024 at 10:29)

Pretty big accusations right there with nothing to back it up? Poor form.

ndutton (Jan 30, 2024 at 11:05)

You are incorrect, If you follow Keegan you see him post multiple times a year with pictures of US anti doping agency audits where they randomly show up at his house and test him.

bkm303 (Jan 30, 2024 at 11:36)

I get that the doping regs are kinda loosey goosey in the LTGP but the making accusations isn't cool unless you have some evidence.

He's probably making way more money off his personal sponsorship deals + prize purses than he would if we gave all that up and joined a WT team as a 29 year old domestique/stageur on a newb's salary. And he gets to live at home. He's making all the right moves unless he's really dying to go live abroad and do the WT lifestyle.

I also don't think there's much reason to think he's on par with the grand tour big guns. His numbers are awesome, but he was 7 min behind Mohoric at gravel worlds last year. Wout was like 2 minutes behind him even after a big crash and a puncture he struggled to fix. Keegan has raced XCO world cups before and never cracked the top 10.

Hogfly (Jan 30, 2024 at 11:52)

Harsh to make that accusation. How about Keegan would rather do what he wants to do, which is create new or smash existing FKT routes and race a variety of disciplines, setting himself apart from the pack for his sponsors. Similar to Sepp, he's a high-altitude freak and seems to really excel at altitude, but that doesn't mean he wants to compete in that style of racing..

MutleyAdams FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 16:45)

USADA doesnt have to release results to the public. The entity paying for them for the testing handles this and its their discretion whether to make results public. Simply put, they can have a positive test and make that rider agree not to return to their events in exchange for a non disclosure of their test results. These smaller, domestic events can have their brand tarnished badly by a doping scandal. If theres one, theres always more and that makes fans along with non doping riders question the event owners credibility. Not trying to be a conspiracy guy, but never say you've heard or seen it all. Swenson can get away with doping until he cant. How many of you said Armstrong was innocent early on and thought there was no way he could hide doping..pretty much all of you!

MutleyAdams FL (Jan 30, 2024 at 16:55)

Correction: I meant he "could come off doping" and not "comes off the doping". I love bike racing, riders taking whatever they want and crazy power numbers! I just want riders to be transparent about their fueling so we know how to train better and what we may gain through following their system!