Durango’s representation in mountain biking in the Summer Olympics is incredible for a town in Colorado with a population of 20,000.
Before the current local stars Riley Amos and Christopher Blevins were named Olympians, Travis Brown was the first Durangoan to compete in the Summer Olympics in men’s mountain biking in Sydney in 2000. He finished 32nd.
Todd Wells was the next local rider to compete at the Summer Olympics. He competed in Athens in 2004 and finished 19th in men’s mountain biking. He then competed in Beijing in 2008 and finished 43rd. Wells finished out his Olympic mountain biking career well in London in 2012 with a 10th-place finish.
After Wells, Howard Grotts was the next up from Durango and finished 38th in 2016 at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
Grotts said he was at the peak of his cross-country racing career and said it was a really special moment. He described himself as a steppingstone and an interim person between Wells and the current generation.
Despite being at the top of his cross-country powers, Grotts said the Olympic race in Rio was chaotic and full of setbacks. He said if he could be in the same position now he’d approach it with a lot more maturity.
“I got a decent start, then got shoulder checked into a barrier and then was pretty much last,” Grotts said about the Rio Olympics race. “Then I chased back and was feeling all right and then got a flat tire and got that swapped. Then my seat got bashed way backward and this was before the era of dropper posts. So there's things that right now wouldn't happen and you evolved as a rider too. But it was kind of a mess. It was one of those where there’s a lot of hype and nothing to show for it.”
Unlike this year, mountain biking in the Olympics was at the end of the Olympic schedule. Therefore Grotts was focused on training the entire time and didn’t get to see much.
Grotts was proud to represent his country and said it’s the beauty of the Olympics to see a different culture like Brazil.
It’s only been eight years since Grotts was in the Olympics. He says the Europeans are as strong as ever and he described the American mountain biking success to be on a bimodal curve, meaning a curve with two distinct peaks separated by a valley.
The first peak was when Ned Overend, John Tomac and others were at the top level in the late 1980s and in the 1990s. Then there was a dip in performance after that where the U.S. didn’t have many medals in world competitions. Grotts knows he was in the middle of that dip. But now Blevins and Amos winning along with Savilia Blunk getting podiums on the World Cup stage, Grotts believes there’s another peak in United States mountain biking with this current generation’s resurgence.
Grotts also thinks the equipment has improved a decent amount in eight years with dropper posts, wider tires and different geometry to tackle steeper and rougher terrain.
The 31-year-old said the talent of Blevins and Amos was on display from when they were a young age. Grotts could see Blevins’ talent from when he was very young and racing BMX. He also saw the talent in Amos especially when Amos was finishing on the podium in Epic Series races as a junior.
Grotts credits Wells with being a mentor in his career. They were both on the Team Specialized World Cup team for a few years and Wells showed Grotts the ropes of how to race at that level.
Overend also helped Grotts by providing him with bikes at the junior level and helping Grotts get on Team Specialized.
Grotts said part of what makes Durango so special is the geography with the intersection of altitude, mountains and diverse terrain for riding.
“There's a momentum that has been built with the community,” Grotts said about Durango. “Durango has always sort of emphasized performance. Kids can see that from a young age, whether it's for better or for worse and can associate bike racing with getting results, which definitely is not the case. But it’s still there, there's a legacy and for those who are competitive, that's a really strong motivator. If you grow up and don't see that at all, or don't realize that it's a possibility, then it's maybe not something you're going to strive toward. But if you are of a competitive mindset, and you say, ‘Oh, wow. There's someone in my hometown who made it to the top level and so I can do it too.’ That plays a big role, for sure.”
Wells has been an inspiration for mountain bikers of various ages with the longevity of his career. In his first Olympic experience in 2004 in Athens, he said he enjoyed the experience the most because it was his first one.
It was such a tough selection process based on UCI points, the international ranking system, that Wells felt like once he got to Athens he’d used up all his energy trying to make the team.
Wells really enjoyed staying in the Olympic Village and could ride from the village to the mountain biking venue.
Beijing was the biggest disappointment for Wells. He had a great season going before the Olympics but the course in Beijing wasn’t that great, they only got one day of practice because of the weather and he had a horrible race.
In 2012 in London, Wells said it was the least Olympic-like experience because they didn’t stay in the Olympic Village. The venue was quite a distance from the village so his team stayed there. The lead-up to the race was more typical for Wells and he had his best race where he got as high as sixth place before finishing 10th.
It was a tight race and Wells finished a little over two minutes behind the winner despite finishing 10th. Wells and his team stayed in the Olympic Village after and watched the closing ceremonies.
Wells enjoyed going into the massive Olympic cafeteria and seeing the variety of foods available. He also thought it was cool to see the different body types of all the athletes from the small gymnasts to the tall volleyball and basketball players. It was also a cool experience to go to the Olympic parties which made him feel like a part of an exclusive club that someone can’t pay to get into.
The 48-year-old has seen the change in equipment and course design at the highest level. In the first few Olympic Games, everyone rode hardtail mountain bikes with suspension in the front and not the rear, according to Wells.
He also said he rode 26-inch wheels in his first two Olympic Games and everyone is now on 29-inch wheels. Wells also pointed out the full-suspension bikes have come down in weight which is a big deal. He thinks the majority of the riders will ride a full-suspension bike at the Olympics this year.
Tubeless tires are also a change from Wells’ time to now which he said lowers the chance of a flat tire. Dropper seat posts were available during Wells’ career but no one used them. Now they’re more common because they help get the seat out of the way and it creates more of a margin of error going down steep drops or rock gardens.
Another change is during Wells’ first two Olympics, he rode with two chainrings in the front. Now everyone rides with a single chainring in the front with the gears in the back. There used to be a chance the front chain ring would drop during shifting, which was costly in a race to put the chain back on the bike.
Wells remembers how at the first Mountain Bike World Championships in Durango in 1990, laps took 30-40 minutes and it was one big loop. Wells estimates the winning time was around two hours and 45 minutes.
“These Olympic courses, they shoot for 10 to 12 minutes per lap and you're back in the venue one or two times,” Wells said. “So it makes it easier to film for TV. It makes for shorter climbs, shorter defense, so it keeps the racing tighter and it favors a more explosive rider. These riders, they're all the best in the world, so they're great at going steady and long, they're great at being explosive. But it really favors the explosive rider. Whereas for that World Championships in 1990 when you're racing in 9000 feet and you're riding up Purgatory, it doesn't really matter if you were that explosive because, throughout the race, it kind of sorts itself out.”
Wells also mentioned more man-made features like rock gardens and big drops and jumps have made it more spectacular for TV.
The three-time Olympian also recognized how Amos and Blevins have helped raise the status of American mountain biking. Wells said some mountain bikers in the past switched to road racing whereas both Amos and Blevins have stayed with mountain biking.
Coverage of mountain biking has also improved with improvements in technology and companies like Red Bull have committed to covering mountain biking, according to Wells.
Wells has known Blevins since he was a kid but never coached him. He said Blevins hasn’t changed how he’s treated others since he’s been on the world stage. Wells did train Amos for a few years and they still ride sometimes and exchange messages.
“Riley, he definitely had a ton of drive,” Wells said about Amos. “He was ready. He was willing to do whatever it took, put in all the work, do whatever he had to do to get better … A lot of people can have good data or they can do good training rides, but then when they get to the race, that data doesn’t translate into race results. I don't know if it's nerves, if people crack under the pressure, or they can't replicate those results, or in the race everybody else can go a little bit better. But whatever it is, Riley could always perform. He got nervous, but it didn't affect his performance.”
Amos may be a little under the radar since he dominated U-23 but not the men’s elite field in the World Cups, according to Wells.
Wells sees firsthand how Amos and Blevins inspire and treat the next generation. When Amos is back in Durango, he often takes Wells’ 10-year-old son Cooper and his friends out on rides and they go for ice cream after. Blevins takes time to say hello to Cooper when he’s home and Blevins would ride the track with Cooper when Cooper was younger.
There’s a chance the next visit Cooper gets from Amos or Blevins, either one of them could have an Olympic medal to show to inspire the next generation even more.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
