Looking for a new show to binge watch this weekend, or trying to figure out how to get your non-cycling family and friends to finally care about bike racing? The Call of a Life Time from—you guessed it—Life Time’s Grand Prix Series in 2022 has finally dropped, and it does not disappoint.
Cycling is often called out for (let’s be honest) fairly crappy race coverage, with few exceptions. And covering gravel and remote mountain bike races proves to be challenging at the best of times. But a docuseries that focuses on the riders as well as the races themselves? Now that might be worth tuning into.
“A key objective for creating the Life Time Grand Prix was to generate fandom around the United States cycling scene. The Call of a Life Time aims to showcase the humans who exemplify this scene by profiling their personalities on and off the bike and their unique and relatable stories,” said Michelle Duffy, Director of Brand and Content for Events at Life Time, and Co-Executive Producer of the series. “Non-cyclists (and new fans) can indulge in the drama and complexity of these athletes, their unique stories and the sport as a whole.”
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Let’s hope that the series proves to be as dramatic as Netflix's hit show, Drive to Survive, which made Formula One see a huge surge in fandom thanks to the storylines about the racers.
While Life Time originally planned to stream all six events in the 2022 Grand Prix series, they were stymied by a series of obstacles like poor reception and an inability to get to certain key points in the race... and they also had to contend with the fact that no matter how exciting a gravel race is, tuning in for 200 miles of dirt-covered roads in Kansas isn’t how most people are willing to spend their weekends. However, The Call of a Life Time isn’t a set of race recaps. With filmmaker Shannon Vandivier of Cold Collaborative at the helm, the series is actually a fascinating deep dive into the hearts and minds of the top pros in the series. And it gets juicy!
“The idea was to focus more on the characters and to glorify the races/championship aspect a bit less,” said Vandivier. “We wanted to uncover why they do this kind of thing, and what it takes emotionally and physically.”
The Call of a Life Time covers all six races in the series: Sea Otter Classic, Unbound, Crusher in the Tushar, Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Chequamegon MTB and Big Sugar. The format of the series flips back and forth: the first and last episodes highlight both the women’s and men’s races, while the second and fourth event highlight the men’s race, and the third event and fifth highlight the women’s race. All six episodes are available for free on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel, so get ready for a weekend of streaming.
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training, with an emphasis on women in sport. Her new middle-grade series, Shred Girls, debuts with Rodale Kids/Random House in 2019 with "Lindsay's Joyride." Her other books include "Mud, Snow and Cyclocross," "Saddle, Sore" and "Fuel Your Ride." Her work has been published in magazines like Bicycling, Outside and Nylon. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast.
