A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

Blevins’ Big Year

• Visit Bentonville • Season 9 • Episode 34

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We sit down with Christopher Blevins in Bentonville to unpack The 2025 racing season, which finished with Christopher at the top of the sport claiming both overall titles (XCC & XCO) in the World Cup MTB. If you’re curious about sustainable high performance, athlete creativity, and the community that keeps joy in the grind, this conversation delivers.

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Nat Ross:

Welcome to the Visit Bendville Podcast, a new American town. I'm your host, Nat Ross, with an extra special edition of our bike podcast. We have Christopher Blevins, Team USA, who has secured the overall UCI mountain bike short track as well as cross-country titles in our studio here in downtown Bentonville. Christopher Blevins, welcome back to Bentonville. What a long season. What an incredible ride. So I know you're uh just fresh off the plane, landed on the tarmac. You're in Haxton Studios in Bentonville, Arkansas, downtown right now. Let's talk about your race season. So you just ended the season and boy did you end it on a high. So fill us in on the very beginning of how you got there, which is the support, which is your family, your network.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. Well, first of all, it's great to be back. Uh definitely feels a bit like home, you know, spending more and more time here. And uh I had my just you know, in Europe, you know, you don't get like just real good drip coffee. And I just was so glad to sit with my Onyx this morning. And and uh yeah, this is obviously a very busy week. Um, the sugar weeks week in between. So so many people to see, and I'm just really happy to be here. Um, but yeah, no, this season, man, it's a great question to just start off uh the support because yeah, it just stacks on top of each other for uh uh uh of itself on for years, you know. And the first people to mention, obviously, are my parents. Um my mom still, I have to remind her that uh this is what I do and have done since I was five years old because she gets so nervous every single race. But that's just because she, you know, she's a mom. And she was in Lake Placid. Um, and I was so grateful to yeah, have her there. She's been at a lot of my big races, she counts herself as a lucky charm. My sister as well. And then my dad, you know, who's been my right-hand man in the sport. He literally, as a BMX racer at age five, would place me in the gate, catch me at the finish because I couldn't clip out at that point. So, and then I mean, there'll so many people I can't mention, you know, uh with with the time, but uh the team I'll mention specialized, and uh I I've said this, you know, in a lot of interviews recently that people use the word family when they talk about kind of business or or sports sometimes, and it and it kind of feels clunky. And I don't like using that word if it's not really like that, but without a doubt, I can say that this team is my family. And I spend so much time with this band of you know 20 people from you know, I don't know, 10, 12 different countries, and um the boys of my, you know, that I've we've had so many, so much success with um are like brothers to me. Um my coach Mike Postumus is the performance manager, and there's just been an immense amount of support from really the whole brand and and the whole team. Um, and then there's a couple people uh to thank from this unique approach that I've really blended this year, which is really applying mindfulness to bike racing. Um Patrick Sweeney, who's who's my teacher and and and uh has really helped me understand how you know, in the last six years, mindfulness and really bike racing can be like a martial art, you know, like we have a we have a view of sports in the Western world that kind of negates that and doesn't think that there's like this inner game happening all the time, but that's what it's felt like this year. So he's been hugely supportive. Um yeah, I could ramble on this one, but I've got I'm I'm really just a product of all the support um from USA Cycling, Durango, Colorado, San Luis Obispo, Bentonville. I mean, it's just there's so many people, um, and I feel so grateful to really go for it because I have that support.

Nat Ross:

Sure. And then just real quick, can you highlight um specialized factory racing and what type of uh infrastructure that would be for the general public? So the factory element, similar to NASCAR, you guys, there's a hole behind the scenes moving behind you. You've got all these elements and pieces that you're doing, but the World Cup overseas and not just Europe, but the amount of travel and the logistics. Um, so that's what you mean by the specialized factory racing team and that part.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, we are a thousand percent a traveling circus, you know, and um there's so much stuff to bring around. There's so many moving parts, and um, there's so much downtime with your people, you know? Yeah. Like you in a sport like this, um, you don't you don't really, yeah, you don't go to work from nine to five and then go home. You're with your people the entire time, for better or worse. But with this team, it's really mostly for the better. Um, but yeah, I don't have to lift a finger when I when I show up with the team. I have so many people, you know, we got a great chef, people taking care of our bodies, our bikes. So, um, and then just good friends. Yeah, it's that simple. But there's there's a whole performance element to it that the whole machinery has felt flawless this year, uh, and natural, like really organic. Like, you know, we're not doing anything crazy from my perspective, but things are working. We're developing like products better than we ever have with specialized um from the RD side, and then we know what works, we know the process, um, and we've just stuck to it, and I think that's why we succeeded.

Nat Ross:

You're developing bikes for us as we speak in your entire team, so it's not just about the podiums, but it's about the product that you guys are putting through the ringer, that the mechanics are pulling off your bikes at night, going through sending them back to the motherships for testing and just digging in for intel.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, I I could definitely say the Epic Eight, you know, that we're racing this year. First of all, I I think it's pretty safe to say it's the best bike on the circuit, and it without a doubt gives us an advantage. And I don't I think people would have a hard argument to go against that. But the tires we're racing, the wheels, the way the tires and the wheels link together, the suspension, the flight attendant, and the whole geometry of the frame. Like I, you know, we've been a real active part in that whole process. And I think that's that cutting edge that like has been so fun to really progress the sport and build those relationships. And yeah, it's cool, it's really cool. So I'm not much of a nerd with product, but like I'm yeah, without I'm so stoked on the way that the factory team is operating, you know, on this front.

Nat Ross:

Um, love it that actually in town right now, you have some team members and former colleagues and folks that have gone through Nica, Durango Devo. Um, because like you mentioned, this is basically like the Sea Otter of the beginning of the season. We're in Bentonville, we're at the end of the season, book capped by the mountain bike race, which was Sunday, and the gravel race, which last year you were in the sprint finish for. And guess what? What happened last year? Little sugar?

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. End of the year there, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, there are so many people that I could, you know, just stumble around the the square and see, you know, a bunch of old friends, um, you know, people that I could have an hour-long chat with. So that's kind of the nature of this week. Um, there's so many people I want to see and only so much time, but it's great. It's it's really it's the perfect place to end the year like this. And uh yeah, although it'd be fun. Part of me is like, yeah, I should just race big sugar. Uh I uh yeah, I'm gonna have more fun just hanging out. So yeah. Weight off my shoulders.

Nat Ross:

Well, one thing uh I remember watching you at Leadville because you did the support piece there, and I I think that's pretty invigorating for you to be able to not just give back but see it in motion without being a part of it and know you weren't even worried about being plugged in and racing. You were there for that day, you were there for those moments.

Christopher Blevins:

Totally. And I do, you know, one topic we could veer off on, you know, for too long, but the the split between the North American racing community and the World Cup scene. Sure, there is a split there. And I I grew up and the people within the you know Lifetime series and racing more than endurance, scrabble racing, like those are the those are the people I grew up with, and it's the same community in my eyes. Um but I think a lot of work can be done to join those two within the US and to have World Cup, you know, UCI level races that give this kind of capture the, I don't want to say the word spirit because spirit of gravel, right? But capture the general atmosphere of these North American races that you see like big sugar and little sugar, mass participation, fun, very good for families. And yeah, anyways, that's a that's a bigger topic, but I'm huge. Yeah.

Nat Ross:

Because the the weaving of the cultures, right? So you have uh immersed yourself in the race culture on the global level now. You are an icon and you've reached that status where not only of all the hard work has paid off over the years, but you're a North American um athlete through and through. So you're on the road probably 200 days a year for this commitment. Um, and and what you've done um personally to achieve your goals is also setting the stage for the next generation. So we'll touch on that in a little bit because that's something that has always been dear to you, and you've always been that athlete that's a true professional that gives back instead of just shows up at the races and does what they're paid to do. Um, one question for you, Chris. Super curious. Um, I think where do you get FOMO um when you're on your global stage with your commitments, but your friends are doing something else for a race. So, what would be a race that you didn't get to do um on the calendar that um that you're following and want to be a part of?

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah.

Nat Ross:

Um, good question.

Christopher Blevins:

There's uh yeah, there's there's there's so many good races on the calendar, really. And every year when the World Cup schedule comes out, and then I look at the North American races or whatever else, like you just try to imagine how it all can link together. Um it never does, you know. But this year, I really I think I yeah, I only did XC races, I didn't do a single gravel race or long race, which was first year in a while. But um this year, without a doubt, little sugar. I would have loved to do it. Um I love these trails. Uh, you know, it's it's unbelievable. When I raced it last year, I was just amazed at the 60 miles of pure single track the entire time. So um that's an easy one to say. Okay. Yeah.

Nat Ross:

Well, and also on the Oz trails, going by your house that you have here, because I know bit like Bitonville is a place that you train and and do some stuff. Yeah. Durango is your home. Your home's in the mountains, but racing on your home trails um while you're away is kind of nice too.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, absolutely. No, um, yeah, right under right in down under loop. Um that's where my spot is, and I'll spend some time here, you know, um, over the next year, like that without a doubt, doing some training. And we obviously have a lot of races here. So I really am so it just felt like a natural decision to kind of build a base here with how much uh community there is.

Nat Ross:

Um so yeah, it's sorry, our Australia's bike park, or is that like some of your sponsors don't want to hear?

Christopher Blevins:

Oh no, no, without a doubt. Absolutely. I'll get a sneak peek of it tomorrow, but no, uh yeah, no question.

Nat Ross:

Dig it. Well, I think for a lot of folks, um, they expected a big season out of you because you put that pressure on yourself. But let's just highlight, and I I want to recap kind of what you did this year um because it's never been done before, and you're humble, so you don't go around informing folks of like the difficulties of the achievements. So I think to highlight the overall World Cup victories in two different disciplines, it's an immense uh even just to line up and be on the podium at a World Cup is uh a large task. Not only have you done that consistently through the season, but you took two overall UCI mountain bike world cup titles. Short track, um, kind of a discipline that you are an animator on and definitely uh an entertainer for folks that are watching you race, um, but also a motivator for the North Americans because really short track was something that started in North America and and you're bringing it back um to owning it again and and the prowess. So sit it was 1991 since any overall UCI titles um were taken, and that was an American John Tomac in your backyard.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean winning the cross-country, yeah, World Cup overall without a doubt, is the thing I'm most proud of in my career. Um, and you know, I'm still catching up with myself on what it means. I never thought I could, quite frankly. I mean, you know, you it's the top. It's the in a lot of ways, it's a I think for riders it may mean more than a world championship title. Um I don't know, I get asked, like, would I rather be world champion or world cup winner or overall winner? Probably probably world champion, but but um the consistency of having to show up and string together the 10 races that I've had throughout the year. Um I'm really proud of yeah, how I brought it together. And uh yeah, I I you know I really wanted this. You know, I I I definitely midseason was more locked in and just there was nothing that I wouldn't do to to make it happen. And uh yeah, I did it. So I am pretty uh I am pretty happy this week and just letting it catch up with me.

Nat Ross:

And probably a little bit um the catch-ups happening, but it was on US soil where you claimed it, and it was the the throughout the season, the nine victories, that is absolutely an accomplishment. So what was it like at Lake Placid?

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, um, well, I started the season super hot. I won um second in the first XC, but besides that, I think I had seven out of eight victories to start the year. Um yeah, so like I definitely was on a run, a roll that um was pretty unprecedented, and and I was always you know reminding myself not to take it for granted and to always start from ground zero every race. Like start fresh. Don't, you know, don't get ahead of yourself and don't get behind yourself. Don't like you know try to lift up the version that you were last weekend or in Brazil. Um, because this sport naturally keeps you humble and keeps you human. And everybody, you got to go to the start line and leave everything behind and give it without a quite without a doubt, every ounce of you. There's no other race way to race your bike and to do some sport this hard besides that that full commitment and presence, really.

Nat Ross:

So, Christopher, no doubt you uh went out all cylinders firing the beginning of the World Cup season. It was incredible. Um, then the it's a long season, you guys are traveling the globe. Um, there was for you probably just uh a lot going on. So what was that like to end up um the entire season packed into a quick nutshell here?

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, uh as I was saying earlier, the sport keeps you humble and human naturally. Um every race is so hard, you you can't, you know, you can't do anything but but start from ground zero. And uh, you know, you're not the the the previous winner. You're only as good as you are on that day. And uh you got this, it's a lot of times I think the mistake athletes make and and the public makes is they they uh have an image of a rider and it's it's separate from the actual experience. And like it's just so important to stay human and to remember that you're you're constantly changing, the process is always fluid, and you never know you know where you're gonna be that day. You just gotta sort of create the causes and conditions. But yeah, I I started incredibly hot in the season and then the mid the midpoint, um, just naturally, it's just you know the natural ebb and flow fluctuation. Uh I I wasn't I wasn't good. Um I had some poor results, but I had a good lead in the overall, and then I had a six-week chunk to come back and train in the midsummer, um, which was great. And then I got sick a couple times when I was back in Europe. Um, so the two European rounds to end the year, Leger and Lenzer Hyde, didn't didn't go well for me. It didn't have a top 10 even. Um, had a mechanical in there, broke a chain. And like that just gives you perspective. You gotta keep going, and you don't know when you're gonna break through. And I really didn't know I was gonna break through like I did in Lake Placid. Um there's sort of a part of your mind that's like, yeah, just get to the line, get to the line, like you know, you don't want to lose this now. And I had to have a real quick check-in and shift before Lake Placid, saying, you know what, like screw it. I'm going, I'm going all the way for it and full commitment. Um this isn't something to you know get to the line. This is something to start fresh, really. And just like and Lake Placid was a culmination, I think, of a lot of the work I've done. Um and it just came together two times. So to do the double there, to seal both overalls, um, yeah, it's it's yeah, as good as it gets. So, but I I really worked hard to shift my perspective and to remember everybody's tired. You know, you gotta meet your body with where it's at, and you don't know what you're capable of until you really give it everything. And yeah, that's what I was capable of.

Nat Ross:

And you proved it in Lake Placid. A couple things we'll hit on Lake Placid because we want to talk about uh another thing you did there, but back to the victories, and then what is it like to line up? Um, because the UCI now, as this year and this season, once you started um the dominance, you were wearing a bullseye basically on your back. So, what's that jersey? Um, what does it mean? How do the number plates work? Um, for just the general public, like for you, it's just part of the process. But for us to watch, yeah.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah, I got this bright red jersey with a massive number one on the back and my name on it. And yeah, talk about a target on your back. Um, but I guess this is you know, it's just important to separate yourself from from that from that image again, you know. Um, I didn't feel and I I did feel like the guy, you know, who could own that spot and be number one and and and claim it, but at the same time, like yeah, not get wrapped up in that process and just like you're you're lining up with the best in the world every weekend, and they're all working just as hard as you. So again, that like naturalness to stay humble is so important. Um, but it was cool. Um, it was really cool. And uh the shift this year with the World Series was to have uh career numbers if you've won a World Cup. So my my number's eight, which uh 24 was taken. So I went with with Kobe Bryant's first number, number eight. Um but uh I had after the first rate, first round in Brazil, um I had a number one on my bike the entire season, which is the World Cup leaders position. So yeah.

Nat Ross:

Well, I think that's kind of memorable because you also owned um a previous season, the rainbow, and uh and that was in a short track discipline where you were the world champion, and the rest of your life you wear the rainbow stripes um in that discipline.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. Yeah. Um and you're probably gonna ask your next question about short track worlds this year, so I'll just beat you to it and get into it. We won't know. Yeah, yeah. I won uh the first five short tracks, and then I was second in the next one, and then and then I was all in for short track world championships, which I won in 2021, my first year elite, and definitely a breakthrough moment for me back then. Um was was way I was shooting way over what I was capable of at that point. Um, but this year I really proved what I was capable of. And then uh at Short Track Worlds, I I had a I had a gap going into the finish, and then my teammate, Victor Kuretsky, had a brilliant last slap to to finish for the win. And um yeah, he's he's got the full rainbow, so I guess yeah, no, it so so this year, even though there have been so many successes, like there's that second place stung more than any second place I've had, but it also like success, winning or losing, kind of two sides of the same coin. Like, you know, it's it's it's the competitor in you that shows up and gives it everything that you know means more than you know, yeah.

Nat Ross:

So anyways, just all those parts of being an athlete, right? What what you uh have to defend for what the public wants to know, and that's part of the podcast, I guess, too. Yeah, yeah. But I think the back to Lake Placid and those special moments. So it was the racing, but um the give back to the community. You were part of Nika, and I go back um quite the era to watching you race Nica and your sister um and dominate even in Nica and just have fun on the courses in Colorado. So I do, and my wife Amy remember just watching you have fun on the bike for that period of time. NYCA's a huge piece of North America and growth and just the where kids get to find their community. You gave back in Lake Placid uh and fill us in on that day or what it's like and what um those kids get experience.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. So we did a kids' ride Saturday in between the short track and XC. Um, probably like 75 kids, Riley Amos, Bjorn Riley, and I um had a Q ⁇ A and some signings in the morning, and then did a lap with a short track course. We we stopped right before the rock garden, which was like the main feature of the short track course, and uh told kids, like, hey, yeah, let's just you know ride around it or you can walk through it. And every kid gave it a shot and rode through it. Nobody crashed. Um we were there like you know, picking kids, yeah, catching them before they fell. And uh everyone was just sending it. And I mean, I genuinely don't feel any any different from the kids when I'm in an environment like that. Like I just got a bigger bike and maybe I can, you know, wheelie through the rock rock garden instead of you know, just ride through it, which was the most proud moment I had probably the whole weekend was my wheelie through the rock garden. Probably wouldn't have done that nine out of ten times, but I got it and right in front of the kids. So that was just but at the end of the day, like we're just playing on bikes, no matter if you're racing a World Cup in fancy spandex or yeah, or the kids, like we're just riding our bikes around, and uh you gotta have that like yeah, perspective. So it was good for me. Hopefully, it was good for the kids, but I think in the US, there's there's such a different arc of development and it goes in all directions, it's not just to the you know, Olympic level of racing. Like, I I hope that kids can see a livelihood through the bike for you know in many ways for their entire life. And in places like Betonville, definitely in Durango, kids can understand how to progress through the bike, whether it's racing or coaching or guiding trips or working in the industry. And uh that's what's unique about this sport compared to a more I don't know, um, stadium-based sport, like say basketball. There's one way to play basketball, you can ride your bike a million different ways. Um and I think programs like Nica, Outride, you know, so many others that have to be kind of linked in this constellation of youth development. Um, can and then if we race in front of kids like we did in Lake Placid, I think it gives opportunities for them to connect the dots themselves.

Nat Ross:

Absolutely. And real quick, because you just tied two communities together, which Bittonville does when they aspire to do what Durango's doing. There will be the regional Nica championships where basically nine different states come to race in in the fall season, which is similar to Colorado NYCA and all the other NICA leagues can do spring or fall, and then that will be a great highlight here. But let's go and uh close this podcast out with uh going back to your home. There was a huge announcement this year behind the scenes. The community in Durango, since you guys are pioneers, have been working on bringing back a major event. Fill us in on what that is. Uh, people have kind of heard about it, but it's a big deal.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. Well, so Durango World Championships 2030. I can put it on the calendar now, is you know, my potential retirement party. Yep. Um and uh Ned Overin was my neighbor in Rockridge growing up in Durango, and he won the first world championship from Durango in Durango in 1990. So uh 40 years later to bring it back there is is really amazing. And I think the whole world can see a lot from how we do mountain bikes in the U.S. and in Durango, yeah, and in Bentonville. Like uh there's there's a different energy, and I think you know, my open call for the U.S. mountain bike community is to lean into that. Like we're not we're not just trying to do what the Euros do, we're trying to do it our way. And I think Durango World Championships will be a great moment for that. And there's so much momentum, generally. So yeah.

Nat Ross:

Well, I love that that's kind of the community that you thrived in, and then you'll recharge there. So we just had to hear it. But the Durango piece is big. So congratulations to your entire community. But first of all, Christopher, you're in seat this entire season was stellar. So um you went through the highs and lows, you left it on the best note ever. So congratulations on an incredible season. Thank you for coming to Bitonville to um celebrate it with us and this community here. And in what do in the world is next for Christopher Blevins? We all want to know. So thank you for filling us in. I know you got an off season in front of you. Um, Visit Bittenville appreciates it. So does this community.

Christopher Blevins:

Yeah. Well, great to be here. Um let's just play on bikes this week and then we'll be back to it next year, without a doubt. So yeah, thank you.

Nat Ross:

Christopher and everyone listening at home, thank you so much for joining us. Visit Bittenville is here to have a great time in Bittenville while you're visiting us. So check out visitbittenville.com for restaurant guides, places to stay, things to do, and more. You can also follow us on social media. Thanks for listening.