Pro Mountain Biker Christopher Blevins on Racing vs. Playing on the Bike
Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast
Singletracks.com
4.7 • 574 Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we’re re-sharing one of our favorite podcast episodes, and we’ll be back next week with an all-new show.
Last year Christopher Blevins became the first American man to win a World Cup race since 1994, taking first in the final XCO race of the season at Snowshoe, West Virginia. He’s also the 2021 short track world champion, and has notched numerous podium finishes at national and international mountain, cyclocross, and road races. This past weekend Blevins crashed during the short track race (XCC) at Les Gets but still managed a top-20 finish. In the cross country race on Sunday he was not feeling well due to injuries suffered in the XCC race and pulled out of the competition.
In this interview we ask:
- How did the Durango DEVO community-based cycling program shape who you are as a rider?
- What is it about Durango that produces so many talented riders? Is it the elevation, or the terrain, or something else?
- How does being a playful rider translate on the race course?
- How did you get interested in spoken word poetry?
- What did you learn through the process of preparing for and then racing your FKT attempt along the Los Padres route?
- Which do you find more challenging: FKTs or World Cup racing? How are they different or the same?
- As a professional athlete, what do you see as your role in important issues like climate change?
- How can we balance the positives that tourism can bring to an area with the impact that it has in terms of the carbon footprint of travel and the strain on local resources?
- Why did you decide to join the Trinity Racing team?
- Were you thinking about becoming the first US male to win a World Cup race in 27 years at the start of the Snowshoe XC event last year?
- Who are some entrepreneurs you admire? Do you see yourself becoming an entrepreneur in the traditional business sense, or is entrepreneurship applicable to making a career as an athlete?
- What’s next for you?
✏️ A written transcript of this conversation is available to Singletracks Pro supporters: singletracks.com/support
--Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @singletracks
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week we're resharing one of our favorite episodes of the single tracks podcast. |
| 0:04.7 | If you've already heard this one, don't worry because we'll be back next week with an all-new show. |
| 0:09.1 | Something unexpected has arrived in Happy Meal. |
| 0:12.2 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hello Kitty and friends are teaming up for the ultimate collab. |
| 0:17.3 | Joining your little ones on a fun-fueled adventure. |
| 0:20.0 | Some fun, some food, it's all inside this happy meal. |
| 0:25.2 | Until the 2nd of February from 11am includes one pre-selected book or toy whilst it's last. |
| 0:29.1 | Hey everybody, welcome to the single tracks podcast. |
| 0:31.9 | My name is Jeff and today my guest is Christopher Blevins. |
| 0:36.3 | This year Christopher became the first American man to win a World Cup race since 1994, |
| 0:42.5 | taking first in the final cross-country Olympic race at the end of the season in Snowshoe, West Virginia. |
| 0:49.9 | He's also the reigning short track world champion and has notched numerous podium finishes at national and international mountain, cycle cross, and road races. |
| 1:01.1 | This month, he's got a short documentary film titled The Long Traverse that will be premiering online. |
| 1:07.8 | Thanks for joining us, Christopher. |
| 1:09.9 | Thanks for having me, Jeff. Yeah. Well, so I want to start |
| 1:13.3 | talking a little bit about your background. You grew up in Durango and participated in the Durango |
| 1:18.9 | Devo community-based cycling program. How did that program shape who you are as a rider? |
| 1:25.2 | Yeah, man, you know, it has everything to do with the rider I am and the |
| 1:29.1 | person I am truly. You know, growing up in Durango, you can look 360 degrees around you and see |
| 1:34.8 | where a bike can take you. Yeah. You know, like I had neighbors who were Olympians, right, |
| 1:38.3 | net over and lived right at my hill. But I also, you know, you could see a bike can help you coach |
| 1:43.4 | and work in a bike shop as, you know, you could see a bike can help you coach and work in a bike shop as, |
... |
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