Jenna Rinehart and Chase Wark, both from Minnesota, just completed their 2024 Life Time Grand Prix racing season. The season was full of big highs, disappointing crashes, and lessons learned for the future. Here we check in with them on how they felt about the 2024 season and what's next for 2025.
Follow Chase Wark and Jenna Rinehart on Instagram. Photos by Taylor Chase.
2024 was Jenna Rinehart's second season in the Life Time Grand Prix. In 2023, she finished 6th overall and just wrapped up the 2024 season finishing 13th overall. Chase Wark got a last minute entry to the Life Time Grand Prix this year. He finished the 2024 season in 24th overall.
Interview with Jenna Rinehart & Chase Wark:
How Did You Feel About the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix?
Jenna Rinehart
Overall I'm satisfied with my 2024 season in the Life Time Grand Prix (LTGP). This year had some big highs and big lows compared to 2023. I started out the season on a high with a strong ride at Sea Otter finishing 6th overall. Unbound went pretty well with no mechanicals and riding with the lead pack for the first 130 miles. After not finishing it last year I was happy to have survived the 200 miles.
I then battled with some fatigue in July and August which was really hard. Leadville was just brutal but I finished it. This took quite a bit out of me though. I took 8 days off the bike after Leadville in hopes of being able to recover a bit for the end of the season. I was really hoping for a good day at Chequamegon at my home LTGP race but unfortunately got caught up in a crash and was left chasing for over half the race.
I started to feel a bit more like myself for the last LTGP race of the season, Big Sugar. This course suits me pretty well and I was able to ride to a 10th overall and 8th LTGP. I was happy to finish the season with a solid ride. My favorite part of the series was being able to ride with the strongest women's field yet and having our own separate starts this season!
Chase Wark
The Lifetime Grand Prix originally wasn’t a part of my 2024 season plans until I got a last minute spot in the series this spring. Before getting into the series I was having a great early season where I won Rock Cobbler, got 13th at BWR AZ, and I got 2nd at Valley of Tears where I finished right behind Keegan Swenson. After those results is when I got my last minute entry into the series. Just getting to compete in the biggest off road series in the US was a highlight of my 2024 season. My favorite race from the series had to have been Unbound. Riding 100 miles off the front at the largest gravel race in the world was pretty heckin cool. I think I gained a few fans after that risky move. On top of being off the front, my bike setup got featured on GCN and Ben Delaney’s Youtube channel, The Ride.
My biggest highlight from this past season was having several younger riders throughout the year come up to me and tell me that I’ve inspired them to try to become a professional cyclist and that they look up to me. As someone who isn’t winning or getting any spectacular results, that meant a lot to me. Being someone who inspires young riders to pursue their dream has been a dream of my own for a long time.
My results at Unbound and all of the other races in the series are nothing to write home about. I feel like before each race I always made a mistake on how to prepare or had some unfortunate luck with sickness. If I get back into the series I’ll take a different approach into the races and hopefully get one or two break out results. I’ll also try to avoid crashing at Chequamegon, which wasn’t my lowest point of the season. I had to pull out of Chequamegon because I hit my head really hard. The concussion meant I had minimal training going into The Rad and had my worst performance of the year there. The positive part about having to take some time off the bike was that I went into my last few weeks of training with a lot of motivation. I put in a big 2 week block where I rode around 65 hours leading into Big Sugar.
At Big Sugar I was pretty timid in the chaotic start which had me off the back pretty early on. I ended up riding with Lachlan Morton most of the day then and we picked riders off every few miles. I was happy with my performance on that day which has me excited and motivated going into next year where I hope I can build upon my 2024 season.
What's Next for Your in 2025?
Jenna Rinehart
I haven't quite nailed down my plans for 2025 yet. I'd like to do the LTGP again but it is getting so competitive with only 22 women and 22 men being selected for next season. We won't find out who is accepted into the series for next year until November 7th.
I learned some big lessons this last season and found my limit so I will try to not make the same mistakes.
There are so many good events out there I'd love to do but it's hard to do them all. Other than the Grand Prix, races I have on my radar include Midsouth, USAC Gravel Nationals in Minnesota, Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, and possibly the UCI Gravel World Championships again. I also hope to go on plenty of bike adventures along the way and do some big days on the bike. I didn't get to ride my mtb as much as I'd like this last season so I'm hoping to spend some more time on it and ride some fun trails in 2025.
Chase Wark
I’ve applied for the LTGP for next year! I’m crossing my fingers I get in, but if I don’t I’ll go
for one of their new wild card slots which means I’ll have to have a good Sea Otter Gravel
Race and a good Unbound. If I don’t get into the Grand Prix after that, that’s okay since I
still have a lot of fun races planned. I’ll be directing Granny’s Gravel Grinder, The Day
Across MN, and a couple other races next year which will be a huge task in itself! Gravel
Worlds just announced a $100,000 prize purse so that will be a big race to focus on. Then
there’s USA Cycling Gravel Nationals which will be only 25 minutes from my house! That’s
the most important race for me next season I think. Not many people have a chance to win
a national championship on the roads they train on, so I need to make the best out of that
opportunity in 2025 and 2026. Another big project of mine that I’ll be starting this fall/winter
is creating a YouTube channel. I want to be able to create race recap videos, show what
training and life looks like as a pro, and be able to express myself more than I can over
other social media networks like Instagram and Facebook.
I already have a rough schedule of what my race season will look like:
Feb. 8th - Rock Cobbler
March 1st - BWR Arizona
March 8th - Valley of Tears
March 15th - Midsouth
April 5th - Ragnorak
April 11th - Sea Otter Gravel
May 3rd - Host Granny’s Gravel Grinder
May 31st - Unbound
Maybe Lutsen
July 12th - Lyon’s Heart Gravel
July 19th - Nepomuk Narly
August 2nd - Host The Day Across Minnesota
August 9th - Leadville (If I’m in the LTGP)
August 23rd - Gravel Worlds
Sept. 13th - Chequamegon
Sept. 19th (?) Gravel Nationals
Old Fashioned Gravel
Oct.12th - Little Sugar (if I’m in the LTGP)
Oct. 18th - Big Sugar
I’ll be putting a big focus on those early March races as that can set the tone for the rest of
the season. I’m hoping I can add a few more local races next season since I really missed
connecting with the local MN gravel community this year. A few ideas that have crossed my
mind if I don’t get into the LTGP are to focus on the UCI World Championships and try to
collect as many UCI points as I can so I can get a good callup. Another idea that I have
chatted about with Silca is doing something dumb like setting the unofficial world record for
the furthest distance traveled in a roundabout in 24 hours. Also, maybe a gravel Everest in
the Driftless? I also want to make the Driftless Adventure Club a little bit more of an official
club that anyone can join. I want to host a monthly ride down in the Driftless for that.
Until then, I’ll enjoy catching up with my friends and family over the next few weeks before
hitting the training hard for those early 2025 seasons! See ya around!
Here are some ways that folks can help support me next season:
Come out to Granny’s Gravel Grinder on May 3rd
Order some cool cycling kits from my Driftless Adventure Club clothing store. I think the blaze orange vest is a good idea to get with deer hunting and winter coming up!
Use code “waxingwithwark” on Silca.cc for 15% off for all those marginal gains.
Use code “chase” on www.piedmontese.com to save 25% off all of their grass fed, grass finished beef products while cooking with the family this winter!
