The Lifetime Grand Prix Off-Road Series gets a fresh start for its third season this Friday with the Fuego XL 100k.

Adjustments to the mass start and changes to the points system are the two most significant changes to the series, and the season opener will be on display at the Lifetime Sea Otter Classic, a cross-country mountain bike endurance race in Monterey, California.

Lifetime owns and operates the U.S.-based Lifetime Grand Prix Series, which features seven MTB and gravel events with $300,000 in season-ending prize money.Life Time's Senior Event & Retail Marketing Marketing Director Michelle Duffy told Cycling News that athletes are part of the decision-making process as to what changes should and will be made for 2024.

"Going into year three, we definitely understood some of the things we wanted to change. That is reflected in the new rule changes, the point adjustments, etc. And we've also figured out some of the things we want to keep consistent, like the schedule of events," Duffy said in an interview with Cycling News.

"In terms of scoring, we've moved to a model where basically if you get on the podium, you get bonus points. Last year, there was a discrepancy between third-place podiums and fifth-place podiums; there will be a sliding scale of two points for first through fifth place and one point for sixth through 30th place.

"If you finish higher in an event like Unbound Gravel or Leadville, you should be rewarded for that. And secondly, we'll try to increase the dynamics a little bit towards the end of the race, knowing that more points are at stake.

Adjusting the time gap in the pro division at the start was a major change, promoting the elite women to give themselves a race and avoid crowding the amateurs who start a few minutes later.

"In all competitions, elite men and women will have separate starts. We started moving in that direction toward the end of this year. It's the first time that's happened at a meet like Leadville, so it's a bigger change. And we adjusted the time difference between the men and women to give them more leeway. For the women, the difference in start times between the amateur men and the amateur women is much greater."

The selection of the 60 contestants takes place every fall. New this year, riders who finish in the top 15 in the 2023 series and who reapply will receive an invitation to the 2024 series. Selection criteria for invitees only also took into account non-cycling activities such as storytelling and fan engagement that contribute to the development of the sport of cycling.

Duffy said that Lifetime's biggest "value proposition" this year for the elite field will include a holistic approach to content as well as rider resources to support personal branding.

"As an example, we just completed three training sessions that we provided to the Lifetime Grand Prix riders: the first was on USADA's drug testing protocol, giving them the opportunity to ask USADA about their policy; the second was media training The third was social media training, how to brand yourself," she explained of the new resources.

"I think we have an obligation as producers of this series to help USADA and many athletes find ways to optimize what they endure all year long in a new format for them."

In addition to the competitive field, Duffy said that Life Time is looking to move to creating sports "fandom" with more real-time storytelling. Live streaming is still difficult in the remote areas where most races are held, but she said that element is still being considered. Live streaming was attempted for the first three 2022 Grand Prix events, but was later cancelled due to lack of resources.

"We were proactive in trying live streaming in the first year. Our focus this year was not to go down the rabbit hole of live streaming just yet, because if we failed, we would have failed to provide a good experience. Instead, it's about growing our video highlights of the race, which we tested in Leadville and Big Sugar, called "Life Broadcasts," which will be available 24 to 48 hours after the race," she explained.

"One of our goals is to grow the fandom of the sport. It would be a disservice to the series to not tell the stories that are happening in real time to the work we are doing and the athletes who are dedicating their seasons with us. So we're changing the format of our content to something more instantaneous."

Last year, Lifetime experimented with short live broadcasts on its social channels, including the final 15 miles of the Rad Dirt Fest in Colorado and the first 20 miles of Big Sugar in Arkansas. This is an ongoing process, and Duffy emphasized that he hopes to continue producing content "without barriers to entry," i.e., free of cost to view.

The rules that eliminated bar extensions for pro riders last year will remain in place. In addition, random doping testing for pro riders will continue in all events for a second season.