Peter Stetina and Amity Rockwell will compete in the Grasshopper Adventure Series season opener on February 27 in Northern California. They will tackle the 48-mile course from Todd Grove Park in Ukiah, California, with an elevation gain of 6,664 feet and the last 22 miles consisting mostly of dirt (mud) and climbing.

Stetina, last year's Low Gap Pro men's winner, will be joined by Tyler Williams (Miami Knight), last year's third place finisher, Ian Lopez de San Roman, last year's fifth place finisher, and Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles), 2022's second place finisher. Former World Tour pro Levi Leipheimer, a resident of Olympic Valley, California, and Canadian cross-country MTB rider Jeff Kabush will also start in the Pro Men.

In addition to Rockwell, who placed fourth in 2022, there will be a strong California-based pro women's lineup led by multi-discipline rider and Olympian Katerina Nash, who won the Belgian Waffle Ride in 2021. Also starting in second and third are Six Sigma Hopper winner Flavia Oliveira Parks, Anna Yamauchi, and Allison Tetrick (Specialized), and 2023 podium finishers Nikki Taylor and Maude Farrell (Pivot/Easton/Path Normal Studios), respectively Scheduled.

Low-gap organizers still had slots open in the series earlier in the week, with the customary 50% discount for juniors. The Grasshopper Series is now in its 27th year, and Sportful has returned as a sponsor for the fourth year in a row.

The series' fourth race, the Ukiah Mend Epic on May 11, was one of this season's additions to the global Gravel Earth Series, and Rockwell finished second overall in the elite women's standings.

Loxo Racing, which started as a national women's elite team in 2021, will begin its second season at the continental level and rebrand as Boneshaker Project p/b Orange Seal.

The team name has changed for the 2024 season, but the 12 riders will continue to be anchored by Canadian Emily Marcolini. She will be supported by returning American riders Margie Bemis, Jaime Larmer, Jacqueline Laroche, and Kira Payer, as well as Canadian rider Ariane Bonhomme and Mexican riders Ana Belen Garza and Romina Hinojosa.

New additions to the team are two-time U23 ITT National Champion Canadian Neil Barraclough and 2023 University MTB National Championship bronze medalist Chiara Lillick. Also joining them are three-time Mexican time trial champion Andrea Ramirez and Colombian Karen Villamizar, who finished second three times at last year's Vuelta Guatemala Femenina and was fourth in GC at the Vuelta Colombia and Vuelta Costa Rica.

The 28-year-old Marcolini had her biggest year with DNA Pro Cycling in 2022, winning stages at the Redlands Bicycle Classic and Tour of the Gila and finishing in the GC top 10 at both races and the Joe Martin stage race. In the last two years, she crashed at the Tour of Colombia and took a break in 2023 to fully heal from various lacerations and brain injuries.

The women's Boneshaker team will again partner with the U.S. men's national elite-level Voler Factory Racing p/b Schnurr team for a second season in the NCL Cup Series. the 2024 season will feature the Valley of the Sun Stage Race and the Tucson Bicycle Classic Stage Race.

Red Walters, who won a stagiaire spot from the Axeon development team three years ago courtesy of Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, will begin his second season with Canadian men's continental team XSpeed United.

In 2021, he was spotlighted as a top candidate for Hagens Berman Axeon. He began his career on the development team and secured a position with Hagens Berman Axiom through funding provided by Geoghan Hart, who wanted to increase racial diversity in professional cycling.

Walters, a two-time winner of Grenada's road and time trial national championships, will be joined by seven North Americans and seven Europeans on the 2024 Canadian team.

Among the new Canadian riders are 18-year-old road and track rider David Olejniczak, 21-year-old off-road rider Eric Berg, and 27-year-old time triallist Declan Kelly. Also joining them are Britain's Zach Coleman and Ireland's Leo Doyle.