The lottery selection process for individual athletes opened this week for the 2026 Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB p/b Kenetik, and will remain open through December 15, 11:59 p.m. MST.
The "granddaddy of all endurance MTB races' takes place on August 15, 2026, which will be the 35th edition. There is not a team application this year, only individual or tandem options.
Last year 1,777 athletes competed in the 100-mile, high-elevation race in Colorado's Rocky mountains. Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) and Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) dominated the elite categories, with Swenson earning his fifth consecutive title for men. Courtney, a former cross-country MTB World Champion, set a new course record for women in a sub-seven-hour time.
On January 26, 2025, Kate Courtney won her fourth consecutive Low Gap race (Image credit: Brian Tucker @btuckerpics)
'Hoppers' are back for a 29th season, the Grasshopper Adventure Series delivering new courses for all five events next year.
The opening rounds at Low Gap, January 25, and Huffmaster, February 28, typically attract large fields with diverse mountain bike, road and gravel backgrounds, catering to top elite athletes who make off-season homes in California. Last year, Peter Stetina (Canyon) and Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) won the opening rounds in Ukiah, with Courtney going two-for-two at the next stop in Maxwell.
King Ridge moves from May to March 28 for the third round in 2026. Huffmaster and King Ridge both come in a large amount of pavement and climbing, close to 91 miles each. The fourth event, Jackson Forest, is a gravel and singletrack loop on April 25 in Casper, California, which only taken place twice before. The Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic is the final event on May 24.
Early registration is now open for individual events as well as the full series of mixed-surface events in northern California.
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Leavenworth Bike Fest adds pro prize purse for MTB and gravel races
Cole Paton, a regular at Leadville Trail 100 MTB and the Life Time series, designed courses for Leavenworth Bike Fest (Image credit: Life Time)
The Leavenworth Bike Fest returned last year to the racing calendar in the Pacific Northwest, a reinvention of the Bavarian Bike 'n Brews mountain bike race last held in 2018. In 2026, a new $24,000 pro prize purse will be on offer for athletes who compete in a new format presented on two of the three days, June 19-21, 2026, in Leavenworth, Washington.
Friday's Bike 'n Brews 24-mile mountain bike race presents 5,000 feet of elevation gain, and Saturday's SchötterFest Gravel Race is a 58-mile route with 7,400 feet of elevation gain. Courses for Leavenworth Bike Fest were designed by Cole Paton (Giant Bicycles), who finished in the top 10 of the Life Time Grand Prix for a fourth consecutive season and grew up in Cashmere, Washington.
A $10,000 prize purse will be split evenly for pro women and pro men at each event, with combined times of the two races determining King of the Fest and Queen of the Fest, who will share in a $4,000 bonus prize.
Early registration for both the two-day gravel and mountain bike event is available through February 28, 11:59 p.m. PST. There is a limit of 2,000 participants.
Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28 signs three-year partnership with Stromm Cycles
After 15 years with Felt Bicycles, riders on Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28's Continental squad will compete aboard Stromm Cycles for road, track and time trial events in 2026. The partnership will continue through 2028, with coordinated fit support and wind tunnel testing.
General Manager Nicola Cranmer noted that very few women's teams integrate wind tunnel testing with product development. The new partnership will use a multi-phase testing process focused on rider positions, front-end systems, wheel/tire optimization and race-day aero protocols, according to a team statement.
"Stromm brings fresh ideas, rapid prototyping, and a real hunger to prove themselves. In many ways, we’ve added a specialized technical unit to our staff," she said.
Fit sessions, data and evaluations at the Stromm's Michigan facility will "filter into athlete development programming", and later the team will look to collaborate in the future with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, located closer to the team's headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia.
Salt Lake Criterium returns to city centre with three-day event
Kendall Ryan wins LHM l CC Utah Crits 2025 (Image credit: @veloimages)
The American Criterium Cup stop in Utah returns to Salt Lake City after two years outside the city centre, and new event organisers, Breanne Nalder Harward and Dave Harward, will also expand events for three days of racing.
The races, August 14-16, 2026, will be rebranded as Salt Lake Criterium for the tripleheader, the Saturday contest for elite riders being the penultimate round of the six-race ACC series. The August 15 ACC race will provide a live stream.
The husband-wife Harward duo are familiar in US cycling circles for their management of the Utah Gravel Series, as well as The Ultimate Challenge amateur grand fondo that was held in conjunction with the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah stage race.
"The focus is on bringing the best crit racing to stay in Salt Lake City, hence going back to the original name of Salt Lake Criterium. We are adding a Gran Fondo to the schedule for cycling community involvement. And there will be some special events/throwbacks to pay homage to the Tour of Utah. Stay tuned," Nalder Harward told Cyclingnews.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
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