The past 12 months have been a huge challenge for everyone involved in cycling, but none more so than for individual riders operating outside the safety net provided by team infrastructure and national federations. Peter Stetina, who will leave the men's WorldTour at the end of 2019 to pursue a gravel campaign in the United States, is one such rider. He signed with only one individual sponsor, and for the first time in his life, he is a businessman and a professional athlete. the COVID-19 pandemic effectively killed most of his plans for 2020, but Americans are recovering this year, and a full race calendar is Even though there is little certainty that the event will take place--especially with parts of the United States on lockdown--the former Trek-Segafredo rider is prepared to combine races with out-of-the-box thinking. [Stetina told Cycling News from her home in California.

"One thing is that vaccines work and there are no travel restrictions. That's my perfect world scenario, in which case we're almost replicating the 2020 plan before all the shit hits the fan."[3

"The alternative is also a plan that can handle something like what happened last year. Realistically, it would be a mix of the two, but I think we could have a pretty solid gravel calendar, combining some of my ideas with existing races. It will be a blend of the biggest domestic events and international expeditions," Stetina said.

The original plan was for Stetina to start the race at the iconic Rock Cobbler event in February. However, race organizers recently confirmed that that date will be postponed. This means that Stetina's first race could be in the Mid-South, which will be held later in the spring. Either way, Stetina will combine a more eccentric gravel race with a more established event. She will also be participating in two of the growing number of gravel stage races this year.

"There's the Rock Cobbler, which is an event early in the year where you run through the living room of the organizer's house and up a hill with beach balls being thrown at you. It's great. It's happening next month and it's part of a more underground racing scene. One year we'll run up the stairs of his house like a cyclocross race, another year we'll run through his barn. For now the race has been postponed, but hopefully one day it will happen. [As of now, it looks like it will start in mid-March in the Mid-South. We'll do some Grasshopper Series, then the Belgian Waffle Series. There's also Unbound, Icelandic Lift, and the Lead Boat Challenge.

"There are some personal events, and what I'm most excited about is the rise of gravel stage races: there's the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder and the TransRockies Gravel Royale. These are 4-5 day gravel races and these are the races I excel at. These races have the potential to create a safe bubble as long as you participate with a negative test or vaccine card. These events are really heating up right now. There are about 35 race days in all, and it's a busy schedule."

Stetina had to forgo the race last year because of the U.S. shutdown, but he still made good use of his time. He set record times on Moab's spectacular White Rim Trail, and as a self-described "privateer," he worked tirelessly with sponsors to produce video content. The entire experience was a complete change for a rider who once had his daily schedule organized by a road team for over a decade.

"It was tough. We had built up the business and sport side of things off the road, and then we got hit with the pandemic and things got fixed. I had to reinvent myself twice in a matter of months. It took a lot of motivation and hard work to maintain my relationship with my sponsor.