Riley Amos felt prepared for his first year competing in the men’s elite UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. However, Amos has had his share of humble pie while still feeling like he’s progressing.
It’s not hard to understand why Amos would feel confident and prepared making the jump from men’s U-23 to men’s elite. Amos dominated the first part of the 2024 men’s U-23 season and won the first five cross-country Olympic (XCO) races and four of the first five cross-country short track (XCC) races.
He then went to the Olympics in Paris and finished seventh, the highest finish ever for a male American mountain biker at the Olympics.
Amos finished with the most points in the U-23 men’s World Cup last year, despite taking a race off for the Olympics.
Fast forward to this year, Amos hasn’t sniffed a win or a podium in men’s elite World Cup races. It’s a massive jump from U-23 to elite and it’s very rare for someone to make the jump and consistently compete for wins and podiums right away.
Amos is 29th in the men’s elite World Cup standings after six rounds with four rounds to go.
“I wouldn't say it's been easy, for sure,” Amos said. “There's been a lot of days that could have been a good day that haven't, for a variety of reasons, from flats to crashes to bike fit issues to just not physically be in there. So, it's been not as smooth as it would have liked. But, it's been the biggest block I've ever spent in Europe, eight weeks straight bouncing all over. It's overall gone well; I've been happy, linked good, consistent training and not been sick. So there's a lot of things going well at the same time … and eventually it'll come.”
With the drastic jump from men’s U-23 to men’s elite, Amos is thankful to have time to develop. Racing for Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli, Amos has ride security and isn’t on a one-year deal.
He has time to learn about the advanced micro dynamics of racing in men’s elite. Amos compared it to a game of chess. Unlike at U-23, where it’s all about riding as hard and as well as you can, men’s elite requires riders to hold back to save some energy for later, according to Amos. It requires riders to think more about where they are going to make moves to position themselves for the next lap.
“In U-23, if you have a good start, you're in a small group of maybe 10 guys,” Amos said. “With elite men's race, you have 40 guys that are all relatively really similar in skill and speed … When you put that many good people together, it's so easy to use energy and not go anywhere, to be stuck in lap traffic, to be stuck behind a rider, to put a really good, hard effort there. But, then you're a little over your limit, so you're going slower on the next climb, five guys go past you and you've used that last effort for nothing.”
It was a roller coaster of a start for Amos this year. He felt terrible in the first weekend in Brazil and crashed out, casting doubt over his availability going forward. The next weekend in Brazil, Amos bounced back and finished 14th.
The first two weekends are a microcosm for Amos’ season. He has struggled with consistency since Brazil, with three XCC finishes inside the top 20 but none inside the top 20 in XCO races.
Despite the inconsistency, Amos knows he isn’t too far behind, especially when he looks at the success fellow Durangoan Christopher Blevins is having. He spent some time with Blevins and fellow American Brayden Johnson in Andorra.
Although Amos and Blevins were both born and raised in Durango, they never had a close bond and weren’t in the same circle with the four-year age difference and different levels of racing. Amos enjoyed spending time with Blevins off the bike and chatting about life and racing in Andorra.
“It's so unbelievable what he's accomplished,” Amos said. “He's completely, I guess, rewritten our American mountain bike history books, especially with the level of consistency. For him, that's been something I think he's really struggled with and wanted to improve for so long … For him to absolutely come stomping out this year, it’s been super cool to watch.”
Amos has relied on his coach, Jim Miller, and manager, Pat Lemieux, to be sounding boards for him during his first season. He knows he’s lucky to have low expectations put on him since it’s his first year and Amos is thankful to have the support of his team, the staff and he’s excited about the development of his bike for the rest of the year.
Although his team doesn’t have a lot of expectations for Amos for the rest of the year, that doesn’t mean the 23-year-old Olympian doesn’t have them going into the rest of the season.
“In every World Cup from here to the end, I'm looking for some consistent top-15 rides to show that I actually cannot just blow it,” Amos said.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
