Riley Amos burst onto the international scene and made a name for himself in his first trip with USA Cycling. Christopher Blevins continued his ascent as an international star while giving a lesson in perseverance.
Durango’s Amos and Blevins were part of the USA Cycling team for the Pan-American Continental mountain bike championships last weekend in Aguascalientes, Mexico. They medaled in every race they competed in, as Blevins won the under-23 race and both were part of the silver-medal-winning relay team that opened the competition. Amos also claimed silver in the junior men’s race for riders age 17-18, and he returned Sunday in the final race of the week to win the gold medal in the International Cycling Union (UCI) Category 1 junior men’s race. Blevins placed third racing among the elite men in the Category 1 race Sunday. That elite men’s race was won by Keegan Swenson of Park City, Utah.
Blevins was blown away by Amos’ maturity and performance in his USA Cycling debut.
“Riley was phenomenal,” Blevins said. “Not only from a riding and racing standpoint but just carrying himself really well. By no means did he act like a junior there. He handled himself awesome, got along with everyone well. He’s a name to remember, for sure.”
The 17-year-old Amos played a big part in helping the American team claim silver in the team relay. Blevins was the first rider off in the relay and had the Americans in fourth. Amos went second and climbed into second place behind eventual winner Mexico. When Amos was done, the U.S. was roughly 1 minute, 30 seconds behind Mexico. Haley Batten of Park City, Luke Vrouwenvelder of North Carolina and Erin Huck of Boulder eventually closed that gap down to 40 seconds to help the U.S. secure a silver.
Blevins was disappointed with his ride, but it came only four hours after a tumultuous night in Mexico. The U.S. team arrived to the course late the Wednesday night before the team relay. Eager to get a look at the course, the athletes went for a pre-ride. Amos, Blevins and Vrouwenvelder rode together. After one last lap on the course in the dark, Amos and Vrouwenvelder realized Blevins wasn’t behind them. After waiting for roughly five minutes, Blevins eventually rode up to them covered in blood. He had crashed and sliced open his chin on a rock slab, and the cut would require stitches. Getting the wound closed up would be an adventure of its own. Blevins also had cut his hand and shoulder.
“We tried to squeeze in another lap before it got too dark and, yeah, I just went over the bars on the sketchiest rock section of the course,” Blevins said. “My dad (Field Blevins) needed to get me stitches. He ran around for a couple hours looking for a suture kit at a pharmacy with no luck. Then we went to an emergency hospital, and it looked like a prison from outside. It was incredibly difficult to get into. Five hours later, my dad basically took the needle and suture kit from the doctor and put the stitches in himself. It was so nice having my dad there.”
Blevins didn’t get back to the team until 2:30 a.m. and had four hours of rest before the race. Amos was blown away to see his fellow Durangoan compete.
“He was bloody all over and had those stitches in his chin and rode hours later,” Amos said. “He was not 100 percent or fully on form, but he got it around to me and we were super stoked on silver. It was pretty impressive to see his resilience. You go all the way to Mexico and you’re here to race. For him to grind and suck it up a bit to race, it was pretty impressive.”
A day after the team relay silver, Amos rode to the silver medal in his junior race behind Mexico’s Adair Zabdiel Gutierrez Prieto.
“The Mexico guy who won, I raced with him in California the first couple races this season,” Amos said. “I knew he’d be quick. The support from USA Cycling was so amazing, and that allowed me to line up and do my best. I felt pretty good going into the race. Being my first international trip, nobody was expecting anything from me, so I luckily didn’t feel many nerves.”
Two days later, Amos got the better of Gutierrez Prieto and rode solo to a gold medal in the junior Category 1 race to earn big UCI points.
“I was riding with the Mexico kid the first lap and passed people we were lapping on the climb together. I descended quick to get a gap on him,” Amos said. “The next lap, I kept looking back to see if he was there and never saw him. I came through the pit zone the next lap and he was standing in the pit zone with his bike and kind of bloody. He had crashed, and I rode the last lap solo for a good finish. I felt super good, and to be able to take that win, I was super stoked on that.”
Blevins wasn’t done with the adversity he would face in Mexico. The night before his under-23 race, he came down with a stomach bug. Amos said he saw his teammate make a bathroom trip every few minutes, but Blevins was able to overcome the bug and win the Pan-American under-23 championship in convincing fashion with a time of 1:29:09, 47 seconds ahead of Chile’s Martin Vidaurre and 1:20 ahead of third-place Fernando Contreras of Argentina.
“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to race,” Blevins said. “I felt better in the morning. I was exhausted, but once I got on the bike, I felt good. It set up as a group of three pretty early with the Chilean and a Brazilian. Then the Brazilian bought it. The Chilean and I were together, but I broke away a little over halfway through and I got away the rest of it.”
Blevins raced with the elite men Sunday and showed his dominant form as a 21-year-old with the third-place finish. The race was a bit hectic, as the elite men went first, followed by under-23 men and the junior men. Behind the junior men, the elite women followed along with the under-23 women and junior women. With every rider sharing the course, it provided an interesting race dynamic.
“It was total chaos,” Blevins said. “I felt bad for all the junior riders and women. We were passing people already on the first lap, and I think I passed 30 riders or so. But it worked out pretty well for me, and it was kind of fun planning passing spots. It made it exciting, but it was chaos, for sure. I had a bad start on the first lap, but I got it together.”
Both riders credited the USA Cycling crew and fellow riders for a strong trip. That included San Juan Cycles’ own Tom Neb, who was a mechanic on the trip. Neb has worked eight of the last nine Pan-American mountain bike championships for USA Cycling and has been key in getting the team’s bikes dialed before every race no matter the conditions.
It was a big weekend for American mountain biking even with Durango’s Howard Grotts, the four-time defending national champion and 2016 Olympian, unable to make the trip despite his team selection.
Reigning world champion Kate Courtney won both the elite women’s race and the Category 1 race, going first and second with Huck in both events. Batten also won the under-23 women’s race. The wins provided key UCI points for the Americans as they build toward the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The top-two teams in the UCI point standings will receive three riders, while the third- through seventh-place teams will receive two spots. Blevins and Grotts will continue to push in hopes of getting two American men into the Olympics, and they hope to fill those two seats.
The next big race on the calendar began Thursday with the Sea Otter Classic in California. Blevins immediately made the voyage back to California, while Amos will take a few weeks off to prepare for the Solider Hollow ProXCT May 2-5 in Utah, the next big race with UCI juniors points at stake. Amos does plan to race the local Squawker Classic road race events hosted by Fort Lewis College cycling April 20-21 in Durango.
His first international trip is one he won’t soon forget.
“It was so much fun to spend time with the best people in the country,” Amos said. “You learn a lot seeing their methods and how they prepare for races and all the little things they do that makes them the best. Hopefully, I can pick up on some tips and tricks.
“You see all these people on social media and worship them almost and look up to them. Then, all of a sudden, you’re in the room with them and they’re normal people. To feel included and part of that group, I came away with some new friends, so it was awesome.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
