Episode 239 : Christopher Blevins on Winning the First XC World Cup of the Year, The Olympic Qualifying Process & More

The Pinkbike Podcast

Pinkbike

Sports, News

4.8 • 718 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2024

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sarah chatted with Christopher Blevins right after he got back from his whirlwind of a trip to Brazil where he won the first Olympic cross-country race of the season. The 26-year-old American former Short Track World Champion last won a World Cup XCO back in 2021 in Snowshoe, but he came out with all cylinders firing in Brazil with the goal of qualifying for the Paris Olympics and getting as many points for the United States to secure two spots for the men's team. From getting stung by the most poisonous caterpillar in the world, to recovering on downhills, dealing with cramps, life on Specialized Factory Racing, to what he thought of the cross-country race courses in Brazil, this was a really interesting conversation. We also got into why he switched to mountain biking from BMX, his creative pursuits outside of cycling, and being a mountain biker right now in the US.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Pink Bike podcast. This week I'm joined by Sarah before we get into an
0:16.6	interview she conducted with the, what do you say, XE racing sensation? Would that be too much, Sarah?
0:22.2	I like it. Yeah, let's go with that. I mean, yeah, yeah, he is pretty much a sensation.
0:27.3	You can't win a World Cup without being a World Cup, a cross-country mountain bike sensation, right?
0:33.4	The XE sensation, Christopher Levins. But before we do, we thought we'd have a quick run down through the news.
0:40.0	Now, I feel like the first World Cup of the year, everyone's really excited.
0:43.9	Sorry, the first downhill World Cup of the year.
0:45.9	I was going to say, yeah.
0:49.0	For all our cross-country friends, it's a very exciting time.
0:52.2	It's definitely on my brain. I'm actually in the UK
0:56.0	at the moment on the world's slowest broadband and getting ready for the full event at Fort William
1:01.9	this weekend. A bit of a blast from the past though, but sort of, you know, relevant timing,
1:06.8	Sam Hill saying he's not quite ready to completely wave goodbye to racing. I mean, it's quite a
1:14.9	remarkable thing. I mean, you know, these riders are across all sports getting longer at their
1:18.9	careers, but it feels like World Cup downhill has fundamentally changed in the time he's been
1:24.9	away, enjoying obviously some very high success at enduro.
1:29.2	What was your take reading that, Sarah? And how hard is it, do you think, for an individual?
1:34.0	I mean, you know, to walk away from racing and say, actually, I'm going on to a different chapter.
1:37.7	I think it's hard because I think as a racer, you want to kind of leave on your terms and leave ideally after a season that you're
1:47.6	proud with was when I talked with Greg Minar that was kind of like what he he's just like I have
1:52.3	unfinished business like I you know Fort William World Champs didn't go the way I wanted to and I
1:57.9	have unfinished business and I feel like reading through Sam Hill's thing his posts on Instagram that he shared this week it's like I have unfinished business. And I feel like reading through Sam Hill's thing, his post on Instagram that he shared this week,
	...

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