Peter Stetina has been one of the top protagonists in the Life Time Grand Prix since the series launched in 2022, but he will not return for a fourth season of the invitation-only field of athletes competing for the richest series purse in off-road racing. That does not mean the 37-year-old's career is coming to an end, but he was looking to "focus on the races that really suit me" and prioritise "quality over quantity".
"I'm late 30s, you know, I'm in the waning years of my career now. In the remaining time I have left in a professional capacity, I need to focus on the races that truly suit me," he told Cyclingnews.
"The Grand Prix is awesome. It has literally elevated North American cycling to the forefront of a discipline again, and that's amazing. There's a place for that, but for me, the series doesn't make sense".
All elite riders vying for spots on the Life Time Grand Prix 50-rider roster, a balance of 25 women and 25 men, needed to submit applications by October 28. For the first time since the Grand Prix launched in the 2022 season, Stetina's name will be absent from the list. He was one of four elite men, along with three-time winner Keegan Swenson, Russell Finsterwald and Cole Paton, who had finished in the top 10 all three years, which means taking a share in the $250,000 or more prize purse.
"The people at the Life Time Grand Prix are friends. We talk regularly and we bounce ideas off each other. And it's been a really fun process in being one of the names in these first generations of the Grand Prix. As I started to look at it this year, it just kind of became more of a personal decision," he explained.
"The Grand Prix skews toward the mountain bike results in the why it's going to play out. I love mountain biking, but I am a specialist at gravel racing, having my road drop bar background. If I'm unburdened by chasing a series only, then the door opens to all these other notable gravel races that I haven't gotten to yet, or that are cropping up. There's a lot of cool events out there."
After fifth and sixth overall placings in the Grand Prix, Stetina finished ninth in 2024. All three years he competed in the mountain bike opener at Sea Otter Classic, but used the results as a dropped ride in the series scoring.
Stetina is still crafting his 2025 competition and travel schedule, sending a first draft to his "boss", wife Dyanna Stetina, as he spoke to Cyclingnews by telephone. He confirmed he would compete in the three gravel races that are part of the Life Time Grand Prix - Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Unbound Gravel 200 and Big Sugar Gravel. He will start the season on January 26 at Low Gap, part of the Grasshopper Adventure Series close to his northern California home, then return to The Rock Cobbler and The Midsouth.
"Unbound is still the biggest in the world, and Big Sugar and Sea Otter Gravel are going to be very notorious. So I expect to be at those three still," he confirmed.
In 2024, Stetina stretched the bandwidth of participation across a handful of diverse mixed-surface race series - Life Time Grand Prix, Gravel Earth Series, BWR's Tripel Crown of Gravel and the northern California Grasshopper Adventure events. His "stories and glories" gravel tour included two series overall wins - BWR Tripel Crown and the Grasshopper - as well as four individual wins, 12 total podiums and one FKT attempt across 27,500km and 985 hours in 19 events.
"My North Star for this coming season is quality over quantity, and focusing on races that move the needle for me via a results potential or a new adventure. I guess I have to remember why I came to this in the first place, and it was a mix of racing and adventure," he said, having been one of the first WorldTour riders to make the switch to solo efforts in off-road races, taking part in his first Belgian Waffle Ride in California in 2019.
Gravel Earth Series interest
This past year Stetina grabbed a signature win at The Traka 360 in May, which he called "a monumental race for me". It is part of the Gravel Earth Series, where Stetina finished third overall. He competed in the two US stops at the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder and Ukiah-Mendo Gravel Epic, which allowed Stetina to stay close to his two-year-old twins, and then finished third at Ranxo Gravel in Spain a few weeks ago to claim third overall in that global series.
"There's a lot of interest from the US right now in the Gravel Earth Series. I think they'll have a presence here that riders can focus on. I want to be very clear, I'm not choosing the series over Life Time. It's just that their races are a gravel bike focus, and they are new adventures for me. There's some cool new stuff out there," Stetina said.
"One of the ones I'm really excited for is called The Last Grizzly, and it's from the organizers of Oregon Trail. It's going to be a three-day stage race in northern Utah, which will be super cool."
The Last Grizzly Gravel will hold its inaugural event September 20-22 as a point-to-point race with overnight camping. It is expected to be one of five new events from the US in the Gravel Earth Series, which announces its 2025 schedule on November 7.
Stetina may not find the Life Time Grand Prix a fit in the final stretch of his career path, but he said it was an opportunity for other athletes to earn a living, especially those looking for performance incentives and not banking on privateer-only contracts and endorsements.
"There's a lot of young, talented riders there out right now who still don't have a bike sponsor for next year, even though it's the 11th hour. For me, I'm set, I'm doing just fine. But for an up-and-comer, if they get the nod they're in the Grand Prix, there's a very good chance to land a bike sponsor."
In 2025, the Life Time Grand Prix field will split a $280,000 prize purse among the top 10 women and men. Now all six events in the series will each offer a $30,000 race prize purse, open to all athletes in the top five. Stetina would prefer to just go after more glory, and a little cash, on his own schedule.
"I'm still gonna line up at those three and I'm really happy to know that I can make some 'Christmas money'," Stetina said with a short laugh. "And that's the other thing too. The privateer model, we're making a living via contracts and endorsements. You can't ever bank on prize money. That's like a bonus, is how you have to view that."
