Third overall in the last year's Life Time Grand Prix, Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Red Bull) radically changed his winter travel and training for a fast start to another round of the US off-road series. With his primary focus of the entire 2025 season set on a higher placing in the series, it all came unraveled when disaster struck on the first lap of the first Grand Prix race a week ago.
Riding in the lead group at Sea Otter Classic Gravel, McEleveen took a hard fall in the second feed zone while trying to grab a bottle on the fly. He was able to get back on the bike, but forward momentum up the first pitch of Lookout Ridge was almost impossible due to what later would be diagnosed as damaged muscles and 'minimally displaced fracture' of his hip.
