A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
Tune into Visit Bentonville’s podcast series for a weekly update on all things Bentonville, Arkansas. Hosted by Beth Bobbitt, you’ll hear captivating stories and updates from our city—connecting you with the locals that make this town worth visiting.
A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
Christopher Blevins and Riley Amos: Start to Finish as USA Cycling Mountain Bike Stars
In this inspiring episode of A New American Town, USA Cycling teammates Christopher Blevins and Riley Amos take listeners on a thrilling ride through their journey to the Olympics. These mountain biking phenoms share their roots in Durango's cycling culture, their strategic quest to secure two male spots for Team USA in the Olympics, and the gold medal win in the team relay at the World Championships.
From popping wheelies as kids to competing on the world stage, Blevins and Amos offer insights into the dedication, community support, and sheer love of cycling that propels them forward. Whether you're an aspiring Olympian or simply love to shred trails, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice for cyclists of all levels.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Find us at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
Welcome to the bike edition of A New American Town presented by Visit Bentonville. We are in downtown Bentonville, we are at the Square in Haxton Road Studios and we have two special guests Christopher Blevins and Riley Amos. These are members of the US team and this is the mountain bike team, so this is basically Team USA in the house. So, Riley, welcome.
Riley Amos:Thank you. Thanks for having us. Pleasure to be here. Yeah, good to be here.
Nat Ross:Well, we're excited. So Bentonville has been watching the mountain bike kind of history piece take off and you guys are bike racers. You kind of have some jobs that are pretty up there in the world of being a professional cyclist, and on top of that, not just cyclists but you guys are professional mountain bikers. I want to know from each of you a little bit about kind of the history of how you started mountain biking, how you got into it and what that means for you as an inspirational person. So, Riley, let's hear about how you got into mountain biking.
Riley Amos:Yeah, I think you're going to get a little bit of crossover between me and Chris, but I mean, honestly, I wouldn't be into mountain bikes without the town and the community I grew up in. My dad liked to ride a little bit for fun but yeah, I didn't really have any knowledge about mountain bike racing or really like grow up doing it that much when I was, I think, 10, 12 years old I got my parents were really big on trying to just keep us busy as kids, just have us try anything and everything outdoors, just to see where the creativity went, I guess you could say. And they just signed me up for Durango devo, which, uh, it's a local youth cycling organization about just getting kids on bikes having fun.
Riley Amos:I think the the motto is developing lifelong cyclists, one ride at a time, um, so not not trying to make professional bike racers, not trying to make um competitive people, but trying to make good people. And so I really feel like my my roots as a person and in sport were kind of developed through that program and I had a lot of really special coaches that took me on anything and everything from cave explorations to bike packing trips in the desert, um, and we just did a lot of really cool shit on bikes when I was a kid is so cool, um, super lucky to grow up and just like the outdoors and and experience all the magic that that is. And so as we got a bit older, we were just kind of naturally introduced through competition a little bit, with local races, fun races, um, and then a little bit later through traveling around with the high school, like my high school nika team team. That kind of planted the seed for me, so yeah.
Nat Ross:Great. Well, we're going to learn a little bit more about the Olympic trajectory because both you and Christopher are Olympians, and that's a very special thing to be able to represent Team USA, and you guys have fantastic memories that we hope to hear a little bit about. So, Christopher, mountain biking for you. What was the segue? How did it all get started?
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, I mean, Riley said everything exceptionally well about Durango. Like you said, there's definitely overlap. Durango, Devo was just, you know, a dream program for a kid who loves mountain bikes in Durango, and it's really the thing to do. You know, if you're, if you're a kid in, uh, in Durango, maybe it's a little bit like being a kid in Texas, where you you pick up a football, you know, it's just you pick up a bike in Durango.
Christopher Blevins:Um, and I actually started with BMX racing when I was five, which was kind of a balance to uh Durango's or Devo's, um, really kind of adventure, spirited riding uh BMX. At age six I was almost as serious as I am now, uh, like traveling, you know, twice a month around the nation to race BMX nationals, um, so I kind of had those two balance each other and eventually I raced a ton of disciplines, uh, BMX until I was 16 cyclocross, road and, um, mountain bike is really what I love the most. So I kind of funneled everything into that uh for my first Olympics in 2020. And, um, yeah, mostly, mostly, just race mountain bikes now.
Nat Ross:Um, excellent point about how dedicated you were racing BMX and I think, uh, BMX, like Tulsa and then even in Missouri, um, close to here, there's quite a bit of BMX, so actually that is a little bit more historical for a lot of folks in our listeners. The BMX component they can relate to that. They can relate to, um, what you used to do and the, the weeks and just the commitment.
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, I'll just say you know, for um 12 years of my life, like right now, um, I'd be thinking 12 years of my life in late October, I'd be thinking BMX, grand nationals, Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's always like Thanksgiving week and I spent, yeah, half my life in Tulsa for Thanksgiving at BMX Nationals. So I love the BMX world and I think it's a great, great way to get kids on bikes and teach them the skills.
Nat Ross:Well, and one thing too we have a couple of pump tracks in Bentonville and you guys have Bentonville as like one of the training grounds. So the two of you, you spend a lot of time like as much possible time at home, because I don't know that folks can quite relate to the time of your commitment to racing and what that means away from your family, away from your loved ones, and what it means for just actually being on European soil, for the commitment that you two have signed up for on the factory teams and the responsibilities. So, um, what does a typical year look like in terms of travel, um, or training? Once it's, let's just say, right now, you're excited, the season's over, you guys have had a phenomenal year and you've got a lot going on. But once you can decompress, detune, walk away from this, um, what is the year look like for a professional mountain biker, Riley yeah.
Riley Amos:So I guess we're kind of just going into our off season. Right now um have a couple weeks off the bike, usually trying to completely disconnect, uh, from racing and training as much as possible, because it's pretty full on the rest of the year. Um kind of get back into it around end of November, um, and then honestly, it's like pretty heavy training from there all the way to spring through the winter, just trying to lay the foundation for a good year with some base training and then we'll kind of probably pick up some early season small racing around february, march and first world cup next year is in april. So we have around in the past has been like eight world cups a year. Um, I think we have 10 next year, but eight world cups a year like try and hit nationals, continentals, some other small races. So you're probably looking at like 15, 20 race days a year.
Riley Amos:Um, yeah, all over the world. So primarily the world cup season has been based in Europe and is based in Europe and we probably spend, I don't know, anywhere from 10, 12-plus weeks a year over in Europe A couple North American early season races. I know me and Chris both like to be home as much as possible in the States. But yeah, it's like you said. We live and breathe this sport every day. You know it's more than a job. We try not to make it our whole lives, but in a way it is um, and so we're super fortunate to be able to do that.
Nat Ross:But it's also important to have more than just the bike and be able to disconnect here and there as well well, when you say disconnect, uh, some outdoor activities, what would be something that you're really looking forward to now and you haven't got to do too much this summer, not enough?
Riley Amos:oh yeah, I really, I really miss home in Colorado a lot. In the summer this year I got a good opportunity to have a couple weeks in the middle at home, um just getting out on some fishing trips, camping trips, um exploring the mountains with my friends, so anything just kind of taking advantage of home. When I can have it is because there's just there's no place like it.
Nat Ross:Yeah, great Christopher, tell us a little bit about, like, what Bentonville offers that is unique when you come here, that it helps you with your preparation and, like someone with you, you're honing in your skills. So you have a skill set but you just want to dial it in and keep it at that top, precise level. Well, what are the trails have here that helps you at the high caliber of an athlete that you are?
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, I think there's. There's two levels to it. In a place like Bentonville which there really isn't a place like Bentonville, um, you've got the trails, uh, both here in town, and then we've had a number of high level UCI races the highest we've had in the U? S other than the world cups in Fayetteville at Centennial park for a few years, yeah, um, so you've got the training ground, the literal training ground for, for the races in Europe and everything else, um. And then the other side of it is having a community here, I mean the, the wide communities, I should say, because, um, you've got, you've, you've got the industry here, you've got USA cycling, um, you've got a bunch of people to ride with, train, with, um, and then really just such a welcoming, inclusive, uh, community around the bike, I mean I've never.
Christopher Blevins:It's just amazing how thoughtfully everything is designed to integrate the bike, um into the lifestyle here.
Christopher Blevins:Uh, whether you're commuting to town on the bike or you're, or you're going out to do a serious training ride. So, um, I mean, as far as the trails, the course in Fayetteville, I think is the best one we have in the U S? Um, and you've got, you've got really everything kind of in a condensed area where, if you want to go practice rock gardens, skill work, you can go. Find something like that here, um. But I think, like if you just had the trails and you didn't have the community, you wouldn't really put two and two together and, uh, I think, coming up to a place like this, um, coming to Bentonville, and just feeling like you can, you know, walk down the street and see friends, see people who, who love doing what you're doing, it gives you kind of motivation and you don't feel as isolated and you're this, this, this fringe sport of mountain biking that you're, you're taking on, um, it's really integrated, like I said, which, uh, yeah, is, is is just a beautiful thing, nothing short of that.
Nat Ross:And also, um, you race for specialized factory racing and at the ledger, um, one of the prominent cycling buildings in town, is, uh, kind of a museum a little bit. So when I walk into the specializedized Experience Center, I can almost see or even, if I want to demo as a customer or even just someone looking into mountain biking, the bike that you're racing on or even platforms that you're training on. And the Specialized Experience Center is something unique to Bentonville. Several places have it, but this one in particular. There are a lot of bikes in there. Can you tell us about, like a, uh, one of your favorite bikes that you've got to ride on this year?
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, I mean the Epic eight, which I spend, you know, literally every day on pretty much um, is uh, just an amazing uh machine really. Uh, I think it's, you know, kind of the furthest edge of mountain bike high performance racing. I will say, the best bike I've gotten from Specialized is the Globe Hall, yes, the commuter with, I think Riley's been on it. We went surfing in Santa Cruz when he was there visiting and I've got a surf rack on it and my record is, I think, three people with three surfboards that I can like take from my house to the waves. So you can, you know this is a good place for a commuter bike and it's obviously a good place for the Epic eight as well. So, yeah, it's, I love both of those.
Nat Ross:I love that surf story. I wish we had some surf here in Arkansas Riley um. There you race for Trek factory racing and there are nine Trek dealers in this area and we also get to see a lot of the bikes that you're on. What's your favorite bike of the year or a bike that you like to get out there on the trails or ride?
Riley Amos:Yeah, I mean we have a lot in the quiver for sure. Obviously, I spend most of my day-to-day on the Trek Supercaliber. It's kind of our our Goldilocks bike, as we call it Not too much, not too little, just right in the middle, perfect bike for cross-country racing. And then recently we've kind of been introducing the Trek Top Fuel for some of our racing needs. It's been really cool to be a part of the evolution in the last couple of years with Trek, with the mountain bike division.
Riley Amos:We have a ton of resources at home in Durango that we've been really working on developing, I guess, the the next fleet of mountain bikes, and it's been really cool to be a part of that and be part of tweaking the top feel a bit for our race needs. But I actually didn't know that about the nine dealers in the area, so that's pretty sweet. I think it's cool that you have such a variety of bike companies in the area that all are all pretty good at sporting Bentonville but also, I guess, not stepping, not stepping on each other's toes, you know, yeah, that's the hard part.
Nat Ross:But there are a lot of kids and, especially every time you guys come to town, they want to ride with you and their parents are going to be shopping with the speed tools that you guys use. For sure, and listening to this podcast, I do want to know a little bit about Durango, a little bit more. So Bentonville has its own special thing going on, and we've got the culinary piece, we've got the aviation, we've got the arts, the music and that piece. But Durango has pure soul mountain bike, and both of you guys mentioned Durango Devo.
Nat Ross:What is the coaching qualities? And I'm friends with a couple of the coaches and I really know how special it is and how much they give to that sport. Um, what does a special coast provide? Like like at that age when, um, you guys have gone it, it obviously stuck with you and you've gone so much further past that and I'm sure someday you'll like be giving that back to the community and kids when you're not racing. But what, what were some of those um, secret sauce pieces that the coaches at Durango Devo or the coaches that you've had over the years? Like, what works and why is it working so well there?
Riley Amos:Yeah, it's a good question. Honestly, I think coach can take on many forms. When I was younger, I think coach meant less about cycling and more about um life and and they were just really impactful people in my life in terms of people to look up to. Uh, I'm the oldest of two siblings and you know my brothers had someone to look up to and, like I obviously have my my mom, dad and my family, but for me it was like super impactful to have some really cool people that kind of show me the way and, yeah, just be there as a older brother and and learn from them. And I think my coaching or coaches in my life over the years have kind of taken many forms and I've had some really cool cycling coaches over the years. I've had my very, very first coach.
Riley Amos:Todd Wells is actually a multi-time US Olympian and before me he's not's not stoked on it, but I took his record for the best American Olympic result. So it was pretty unbelievable having him to kind of, I guess, show me the ropes in terms of what being a professional athlete can look like, can look like um. He's a really special guy because he's able to balance um and really made me appreciate how special it is to have the opportunity to race mountain bikes at high level. Um, I think he's 40. I don't want to get this wrong. He's going to be upset, but he's. He's in his mid 40s now, but there's nobody that still loves to to go suffer.
Riley Amos:Like him, man, and for a long time I wondered why. But it's because, like he, he cherished every memory he got on the bike, every race. He can remember, he can remember every moment, and so, like he really taught me how to appreciate how special I guess this position is and to remember, I guess, why we're here and how lucky we are to do it. And so, yeah, since um him, I've been working with jim miller, who's like the head of sports performance for usa cycling, and jim's approach is a little different now, um, but it's more professional, focused and like let's go win some shit, and so it's been really cool to kind of have that foundation of fun good people remember what life's about and then kind of stack that performance bit on top of it.
Nat Ross:Well, I've got one for you. So now you're working with Jim and Jim Miller in the performance side of things. Are you someday going to cope Cooper Wells? Will you be his coach and take Todd's role a little bit away, and will that torch be passed?
Riley Amos:Oh, I hope so. He's going to be better than me pretty soon. I love hanging out with the wells family and I I like to consider myself a bit of an older brother for coop. We've had a couple days out fly fishing this summer. It's been really, really fun. He's a special kid, uh, but actually I'm already starting to coach a couple people and I find it just so rewarding to be on the other side of the tape and be a part of someone else's journey, and it's really fun to be racing, but it's just as fun, if not more fun, to kind of like be a part of someone else's success for me, and it's like such a fun investment to to be able to contribute to that.
Nat Ross:So, yeah, wow, you guys are both carrying the US nation like as far as, uh, the upcoming generations. They're watching what you do. They follow kind of the training protocol and all of it. So back to the coaching, chris. What was that special piece for you?
Christopher Blevins:The coach that touched that got the most out of you and how it worked well um, people during a Devo's Chad Cheney, who, uh, is, um, just really like carries you know the spirit of mountain biking in such a profound, simple way. Um, I finally got back to Durango in the summer and had time to just go on a Devo ride and like, I felt like a Devo kid immediately again. Cause you go, you don't know what you're doing, you show up to practice, but you know Chad just flows with it and is so good working with kids and you end up on top of some trail and you playing foot down there and I mean the recipe really is simple, like you can apply it to so many different communities. The recipe is kids on bikes in a safe way, with, with, with good coaches, good mentors around them and good places to ride. And that recipe it works in Durango. It's worked for generations of cyclists coming out of Durango. It works here. It works.
Christopher Blevins:I've seen it in South Africa with Songo Foundation. There I'm really passionate about the Navajo Nation's efforts to get kids on bikes and it's just really cool to see the bike as a tool for really empowering kids. Um, and yeah, I mean the coaches play a huge role in that. Um, but again, it's simple, it's just, uh, it's just making kids, you know, allowing them a window into experiencing the bike and seeing what it can provide for them. You know, letting them learn their community through the bike, uh, like like literally letting them explore and get to know the.
Christopher Blevins:You know the mountains and um the peaks and, I guess, rolling Hills here, you know, and rocks um yeah, certainly biased, but I think there's, you know, not really a better tool for kids to get to learn their world and learn themselves. Um, so yeah.
Riley Amos:Yeah, and the the freedom and exploration it provides. You know, I just remember how far I could travel into the mountains and see so many cool things on my bike at such a young age is like insane for a kid to be able to do that and make some pretty far reaches of the world, world around them, their playground. And I remember being like 17 on some of my first usa cycling trips and we were just like living in a movie it was. It was so weird and cool that we could take, because of our our passion, on our bike to see so many cool places and have so many fun trips with, uh, so many cool people and like that's how I made my, my lifelong friends, you know so it adds a special thing and to tie it back into the Olympics this year, you guys did something special, so there was some strategy going on early into the year.
Nat Ross:So a lot of folks don't quite want to follow the politics of the Olympics and what it takes to get into the Olympics, but for the US to get two men into the Olympics this year, um, it was not an easy quest. So take us through those steps of what, what, how you guys made it possible and how it happened and what that meant, cause it was pretty neat to, instead of just watching one U S male, um, we got both of you racing this year.
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, you basically have every nation has three point scores over a two-year period, um that that scores points for for the nation and we'd be a top eight ranked country, which the us has never done before in an olympic cycle in order to get two spots, which is the maximum um in 2021, we we tried um to get myself and keegan swenson there and we came up just a little short.
Christopher Blevins:But this year we really had a good concerted effort with Riley and Bjorn and I, and this time last year Bjorn and I were in Greece doing like six races to finish the season and get points. Okay. And this year, I think the biggest moment where we really flipped things was here in Arkansas at at centennial park, um for the fayetteville us cups. We had three, four races there, uh, in a week and three, three uci cross countries the highest level racing in the us um other than, you know, national championships in the world cups um. So that was really the moment where we we put ourselves in contention to get the two spots and then we had a great, really like historic, opening round of the World Cup season in Brazil and from there, yeah, we made it pretty safe to get two spots.
Riley Amos:Yeah, I don't think we can stress enough how important those early season races are for us this year. You know, in December of last year we were looking at things like. Things like, yeah, I mean it's possible to go to two spots in the olympics, but, like chris said, we came up short a couple years ago and, uh, it definitely wasn't a given. And so, like, we all three had to come into the season swinging and have some really good rides and earn some really good points. And, yeah, being able to have three uci races in fayetteville was huge for us, um, and we I'm I mean, bjorn was in Europe racing a bunch of races over there and then me and Chris both went to Fayetteville and were able to um race three in a row. So it was, it was unbelievable to do that and then go to Brazil straight off of that and have some really good momentum carry down there. It was, yeah, that was. That was the moment we punched the ticket for sure.
Nat Ross:Riley fill me in on uh, the gold medal performance this year.
Christopher Blevins:Yeah, so, first of all, the biggest um, one of the most special moments of my career was finishing the team relay, um, which is a super unique event. Team relay doesn't really exist in mountain biking outside of world championships. Um, and I've done it for nine years now, since I was 17. Um, and we have been close, we been second, we've been third. Maybe you know three times um, but it's always the french and swiss, the french and swiss, again and again, and again and again, and it's kind of been a thorn, you know, in my, in my head for the past almost decade of like, could we actually ever do this? And this year we had the strongest team we may ever have um with across u23 to elite.
Christopher Blevins:Unfortunately, riley got sick right before. It would have been a little easier for us to win if he was able to start, but I was able to beat the last leg and bring it home and I think that was a pretty historic moment for USA Cycling of just showing the depth of talent in the US. And yeah, I mean it is a. It's pretty monumental, I think, how how far we've come over the last decade Um, and it's a testament to development, to elite, you know, investment, to investment in the elite racing and everything in between. So that was a special moment for me this year. From from world champs yeah.
Nat Ross:Yeah, absolutely. Um, leave us off like the best thing possible for any kid in Bentonville to look forward to from here on out. So they're going to get to ride mountain bikes the rest of the season and you guys get to uh recover and look to the next thing. But give the young riders in Bentonville like, uh, some stoke to ride through the fall into, uh, the winter I mean, the weather's still pretty warm here, so that gets me stoked.
Riley Amos:Um, if you want to, if you want to go be world champions, if you want to go be olympians, you can do it. You have the resources, you have the community, like chris said, you have the trails, you have everything around you to support you. Um, you don't have to be an olympian by any means, um, but you have to be a good person and you have to enjoy loving your bike. So go get it.
Christopher Blevins:I think, uh, keep it simple. Like, go, go pop wheelies with your friends, go have a skid competition, like, let that be. You know what you look forward to the most and, uh, I think that will lead you to some amazing places. And, um, I think increasing opportunities through the bike is, is just gonna, it exists here, it's going to continue to happen and those opportunities look like, you know, going to the Olympics, but it also looks like finding a livelihood, a career and a passion through the bike for the rest of your life. Um, that's the lifelong cyclist component and it starts with, you know, that simple love, going out and just shredding with your friends. So this is the perfect place to do it. It really is. Um, and that's what I do, that's what we did this morning when we were out riding together. It was just, you know, shredding with your friends on the masterpiece. We did that probably like 10 times today that just absolutely beautiful piece of, you know, trail art.
Riley Amos:So yeah, I mean terrifying to fall on.
Christopher Blevins:I was, I was, I was scared of that but yeah, you know um go love the bike yeah.
Nat Ross:Well, that's the best news for them, cause I think they can do that watching you guys have a good time out there. So this is a brought to you by visit Bittenville. Uh, we have the Olympic team and the national team. This is a USA cycling Christopher Blevins and Riley Amos wrapping up a great season. Uh, thanks for supporting us in Bittenville training on our trails and uh, let's sign off and uh tell the kids to have a uh good ripping season.
Riley Amos:Thanks, matt, thanks for listening. Guys, rip it up.
Nat Ross:All right.