MTB Olympian Riley Amos says a lighter bike isn’t always the faster bike

Riley Amos is a Durango mountain biker who finished 7th in XC mountain biking at the 2024 Olympics, which is the best finish for the US men to date.
A male mountain biker in a white and blue racing kit with "USA" printed on it navigates a winding forest trail. He is seen leaning into a turn, focused and determined, while a cheering crowd is visible in the background, waving flags and supporting the racers. The scene captures the excitement of the race in a lush, green setting.
Photo: Zac Williams for USA Cycling

Riley Amos won overall Under 23 World Cup titles in both short track and cross-country this year and finished seventh in the Paris Olympics, the highest an American has ever placed in the event. He is a member of the Trek Factory Racing Team and lives and trains in Durango, Colorado.

  • Going into the 2024 season did you expect to win the overall U23 titles in short track and cross-country?
  • Do you plan to change your race training or strategy when you move up to Elite next year?
  • How much do you focus on nutrition as a part of your training and racing?
  • For the last World Cup XC race of the season you rode the Trek Top Fuel which is a FS bike with 120mm of travel front and rear. What made you choose the bike for that course? Were you running a dropper post? Is bike weight a primary concern when it comes to XC race equipment?
  • I read that you joined the Durango DEVO mountain bike program in second grade. Did you participate in any other sports?
  • Do you think it’s helpful for athletes to specialize in MTB from an early age?
  • As a USA Cycling National Team member, have you done much training in Bentonville? How does the riding there compare to Durango? 
  • Why did you decide to ride the Palisade Plunge as a loop? How did it go? 
  • In addition to the World Cup circuit, are there other races you’re targeting for 2025? Do you have any fun rides planned?

Follow Riley @rj_amos on Instagram.


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Automated transcript

Jeff Barber 0:00
Hey everybody, welcome to the Singletracks podcast. My name is Jeff, and today my guest is Riley Amos. Riley won the overall under 23 World Cup titles in both short track and cross country this year, and finished seventh in the Paris Olympics, which is the highest an American has ever placed in the event. He’s a member of the trick Factory Racing team and lives and trains in Durango, Colorado. Thanks for joining us. Riley,

Riley Amos 0:27
Thanks, Jeff, appreciate you having me on. It’s awesome to be here.

Jeff Barber 0:30
So congrats on winning the overall titles this year going into the season. Did you expect that kind of result? Were you targeting winning one or both. Did was that even something you thought was possible?

Riley Amos 0:46
It’s hard, because looking back, I definitely, I weigh into the season setting some big goals, for sure, with it being my last year as another 23 the chance to go to the Olympics on the table, like, I definitely planned my season. There’s a lot of things I haven’t accomplished in under 23, I never stood on an individual World Championships podium. Never stood on, well, I guess, actually, I did get second at the World Cup overall. But I had in my head, I had a lot of, I guess, unfinished business on the under 23 category. And so I definitely was targeting World Cup wins and really targeting the Olympics. And the biggest thing was to hopefully stand on the top of a world championship, because as the last year under 23 you know, it gets a lot harder after that, and so it’s going to be a big opportunity to take advantage of so I definitely, I definitely looked forward and was a little bit scared of what I wanted to hopefully accomplish, but at the same time, I think that, that definitely motivated me a ton to go chase, chase those big dreams. Yeah,

Jeff Barber 1:57
I guess I hadn’t really looked at the results going back that much. I mean, is it usually, do you usually have a better chance if you are, like, your last year, you’re 22 so you’re older than most of the other competitors. Does that give you an advantage? At what point does being older turn into a disadvantage?

Riley Amos 2:18
It’s definitely an advantage. An 18 to a 22 year old is a huge difference in terms of body physiology, experience racing, you know, all that, all that time to just like develop and learn as a as a racer. It’s a huge difference. So I had some really good results for a couple races, like my first year in the under 23 category, and then last year as well. Towards end the season, had some really good results as well, but I had, like, a lot of, I’d say, learning in the middle, but in terms of age and physiology, it’s super interesting. And I think Cycling is a really special sport because it is such a long career lifeline. If you, if you like, kind of are committed to it. You look at the top of our sport right now, and we have a lot of guys kind of at their peak of their career right now, in their 30s. You know, like Nino is still, I think, planning to raise another world cup season next year at 38 years old, because he thinks he can. He can win one still. And I think he can, which is kind of mean, that’s a bit of an unbelievable outlier. But you look at guys like Matthias fluking gear as well, ton of riders, I think, in mountain biking, are really hitting their peak, from kind of that mid to late 20s all the way through the early 30s. There’s plenty of guys like really at the top of the game. So it just shows like The sport is not just you’re only there for you when you’re young. And I think that year after year time on the bike, building that that endurance and that motor, and that, I guess, that engine, you can say, really leads to that those peak results when you get older. And I think it’s a it’s an experience thing as well. And it’s cool, because our sport is very, very a physical component, but it also has a skill component. And like skills build up year after year, right? And experience and like, I’m only, I’m only getting better. And I think Nino would argue, I think that he’s not getting worse riding a bike as he gets older, in terms of skill levels, like, maybe it hurts a bit more when he falls and takes a bit more time of recovery, but all these things, I think what’s really cool about cycling is you kind of just build on it year after year.

Jeff Barber 4:34
Yeah, that’s interesting to think about. If your physical capabilities are kind of diminishing, while at the same time, though, maybe your your handling skills are still improving, or your strategy and like, that’s what overall allows you to keep going. That’s pretty cool. Do you see or anticipate any kind of changes to your strategy for next year now that you’re moving up to elites? Is this? Kind of, like, starting over and you’re like, Okay, I’m, you know, I’m the rookie around here. I gotta, you know, kind of work my way up. Or do you, do you have a more clear path about how you can continue to do well in the results?

Riley Amos 5:15
Um, I think every year, right? You want to, you want to look back and reflect and see what went well, and then what maybe you can improve a little bit. And I don’t think that will ever change, you know, looking back at this year, there’s, I’m so I’m so lucky that there’s so many highs, you know, and I had so much go well, and overall, really, really consistent season. And so I think we need to, like, definitely, take note of what we did in terms of, you know, winter training timing, with some of that, that training at certain times, what led to success on race day, you know, so definitely, carrying that forward into next year and a Pretty similar layout in terms of winter training and early season racing, but there’s definitely, like, some things as well. I learned just from this year that I want to work on next year. And this is the first year I think I’ve raced as much as I did. Think I was close to, like, 30 race days, from small races to World Cups, you know, all the short tracks, xcos, national champs, Olympic Games, World Championships, like I said, early season, UCI races. So that was the most I’ve ever raced, and it went really well. But I think this year is the first year, I guess I kind of found my limit. And I think in the past i i was always just like, super stoked, no matter what, always motivated, always saying yes to everything I could in terms of events, races, helping people out, you know, podcasts, media stuff, making videos, traveling around for other races and like, it’s so Awesome, and I love it, and I never want to say no, but this year was the first time I think I ever found myself just kind of with the increase of the spotlight, just like really learning what it’s like to be a high level professional and and all those little things that come with it. And at the end of the day, those all just like, Chip a little bit at your your energy and your time, and, like, I found myself a bit just from the moment I woke up to, like, getting in bed, like, always something on my mind, trying to get something done, and always kind of behind. And I’m like, okay, really have to look forward to next year and realize that I’m going to race with I’m not. I mean, I was trying to be the best in the world this year, right, obviously, with in the end of 23 category, but next year, it’s like, Hey, we’re just, we’re just trying to build to be one of the best riders in the world over the next couple years, and so really evaluating my team and my commitments, and really making some of those sacrifices in terms of the race calendar and time in certain places to really focus on what’s important, and to me, that’s trying to be the best in the world racing, you know, so just kind of learning from that and trying to remain true to that this next year. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Barber 8:15
As a professional mountain biker, can you at this point, can you even afford to, like, outsource stuff like that, have people take care of a lot of those things? Are you still kind of having to do it on your own, just in terms of budget and resources and everything like that?

Riley Amos 8:34
Yeah, to some degree, I definitely have a lot of help. I have a manager that helps me handle, like negotiations, deals with Team sponsors, communication with that stuff. So he is a big help and just an overall resource to learn about kind of sport and being in positions like this. He his name’s Pat Lemieux. His wife is Gwen Jorgensen, who is gold medal triathlete in Rio in 2016 he just he really knows industry definitely offers me a ton of help. And like, I have coaching staff around me, team staff around me who, especially when I’m with the team, like, make life super easy, like when we’re at the races, race weeks are, like the easiest weeks of the whole year. It’s amazing. We have like, you know, transportation everywhere. We have chefs cooking meals. We have physios with massage and working through any injury stuff. We have so we have mechanics taking care of our bike on the woke up circuit. It’s like, so amazing how much support we have. And those are like the easiest weeks ever. But there’s just, like, other things. I guess part of it too is like, I guess I’m a bit of a perfectionist too, and one thing’s done, I’m not. I would rather not do something at all than to do it. Okay, if that makes sense. And so, yeah, I still, I still, like, definitely. Find myself doing almost everything I can for myself, and I like taking care of myself as much as possible, and like not outsourcing a lot of things as well, because I just, yeah, I like, I like doing things to the best of my ability. And like, think that’s why we’re, we’re in this sport. But even just like learning to balance. I still have to learn a lot about, you know, balancing time with friends I had growing up that I see very often, you know, girlfriend, family, like, there’s definitely a lot of things that I’m working on learning to balance better going forward, for sure. So,

Jeff Barber 10:37
I’m curious about those times when you’re not, you’re not at the race. It’s not a race weekend, and you’re, you’re just in your training, you’re at home. And obviously, there’s a lot to that and and also, considering the fact that you’re, you’re still a young guy, I’m curious. Like, how much do you focus on nutrition as part of your training and racing? Like, is that big part of your day is, like, figuring out what to eat and like, that kind of thing, or are you able to just be like, well, you know, as long as I get my calories, I’ll be all right.

Riley Amos 11:11
It’s kind of the hot topic for me right now. I think that’s we were talking before, about what I want to like improve work on next year, and I think nutrition is a part of that. For me, I’ve definitely had a lot of like, it’s gone really well with my limited nutrition knowledge so far. I’d say, like, I kind of just focus on, well one first of all, like, I’m a pretty, like, lean, skinny guy to begin with, like, I’m a bigger dude, like, I’m always almost trying to, like, get more muscle mass and keep weight on. I’ve kind of just really been focused on eating as much as I can of good, healthy things, and then really trying to make sure I’m always fueling pre workout, pre ride with, like, everything you need. Definitely never been short on fuel, especially during the ride and after the ride. But like, in terms of specifics, I have not been, I’d say so good at that in the past, and just, kind of just trying to throw, throw macros at it in a way. So right, definitely something I’m working on for next year to try and optimize a bit more of, like, some good quality muscle and weight, because our sport is, like, super explosive, and I think it’s changed so much in the last couple of years. I think the longest, longest climb we have now is, like, one to three minutes. So it’s, it’s a bit more power than just, like, watts per kilo climbing. Now, you know these, these road guys that climb for 20 to 40 minutes on, like, big climbs, right? Their watts per kilo matters a lot more, but for us, like, like, raw power and strength matters almost just as much. And so really trying to work on, I guess, the nutrition aspect, to make sure I create a bit more of a well rounded athlete, and always have that muscle and strength throughout the season. Because I find myself like when I get into the race calendar and I get busy, and maybe we’re traveling week to week, slacking a bit more on the gym workouts, and then, like, dropping a bit of weight, losing a little bit of that repeatable power. Because, I mean, if we’re when we’re climbing in a race, like we’re never, we’re never peddling under 400 watts, and I’m, I’m 145 pounds, you know, so yeah, like, that’s always above threshold on the power. And so like, your body, you have to be super strong overall, in terms of, like, your core, your upper body, to be to, you know, not have any back issues, to be really strong on the downhills, handling your bike, and recover well, and then, like, just a ton of raw power and explosivity for the climb. So that’s a huge part of, I think, what I’m going to work on going forward next year, to just have, like, a bit more one, a bit more power, and a bit more like, well rounded body comp, to just like, be a little bit better suited to my sport and learn a lot more about, I guess, fueling to, like, pre pre Race and during race and directly after race, because this year we had a couple instances of, like a Friday night short track in a Saturday xdo, like the next morning. And so you’re, you’re like absolute all out 20 minute effort on that Friday. And then, yeah, as soon as you finish that race, it’s kind of like recovery mode. And then race the next day. And like you have to be talked up on on fuel. You have to have full glycogen the next day for that xCO, because that’s what, what really matters. And being able to make sure I have the tools to know that I’m going to be 100% on on race day, day after day, is something I want to work. On just because I haven’t necessarily had that knowledge to a high level so far.

Jeff Barber 15:04
One of your sponsors is kinetic, which makes a clean energy drink. So how is that different from kind of, some of the other energy drinks that are out there?

Riley Amos 15:16
Yeah, it’s super interesting. I mean, like all these big name energy drinks, like, you know, monster Red Bull, etc. Like, they’re kind of using a lot of like, sugar and caffeine to give you that, like, lift, you know, yeah, connects, really interesting. I think ketones are a bit of a hot topic in endurance sport and cycling right now, because they’re pretty they’re one a natural source of energy. When your body’s in a low glucose state and you’re utilizing fats, but your body basically, like, takes the fat and breaks it down into a ketone and uses that as a source of fuel. It’s a super, super efficient source of fuel at like, lower intensities, like ultra endurance stuff like the keto diet, when people describe like, just feeling super good every day, like, that’s essentially wise, because their bodies utilizing ketones. So like with these, with these ketone energy drinks you see out there. One, it’s adding an extra source of fuel when your body’s in a super depleted state. Two, it’s, it’s a huge, like, brain and in energy boost, like, getting that same, like kick, almost as like caffeine, just like that, that pick me up, that lift. It’s, yeah, it’s literally just a, really, your brain prefers ketones over glucose, over any other form of energy. And so it’s, like, it’s, it’s a super awesome natural pick me up. If I go out and train four hours and come back and you just want to sit on the couch all afternoon because you just feel super tired. But yeah, like, I’m supposed to get a gym workout, I feel, I find, like, having a kinetic I like, like, okay, I can kind of get up and conquer the rest of the day a bit like, when you’re in that depleted state. So it’s a super interesting tool that we’re we’re still learning a lot about overall, in terms of the science behind how we can use it in cycling recovery perspective. But yeah, it’s a super mean. It’s an all natural source of energy. These connects figured out how to make it taste great. No sugars, bunch of no artificial stuff. It’s just a clean energy source. And it actually originally came from the US government trying to find a super efficient fuel source for soldiers in the field who are just like out there for days to run their bodies off of stuff. It’s pretty cool. Lot of potential there. Yeah,

Jeff Barber 17:38
Interesting. So another one of your sponsors is trek, and I think I saw for the last World Cup cross country race of the season, you rode the top fuel, which is a full suspension bike, and you were running it with 120 millimeters of travel front and rear. What made you choose that bike for that course, and did you use it for a lot of the other ones. Or, like, how do you make that, that call?

Riley Amos 18:04
Yeah, it’s super interesting. I think you’ve seen bikes, kind of in cross-country look so different in the last five years. I mean, just five years ago, right? You saw a ton of pro racers. I mean, probably only, I’m trying to think five years ago, probably only, like 30, 40% of the field had jobber posts. You know, you still saw hardtails being raised pretty frequently in the xcos. And I think one our tracks have changed and developed quite a bit over the last couple years, a bit more trying to make our sport mainstream and look good on TV. You’ve seen the tracks change a lot and have more big features, more man made rock gardens kind of be rougher, faster, just trying to get more TV time and showcase what our sport is, which is really cool. And then you’ve also seen a lot of these courses that we’ve raced for a ton of years. Tracks like Noa, mesto valdashi, they’ve been on the circuit for 10 plus years, and we’re racing relatively the same, a lot of the same sections, like there’s just not that much dirt left on sections, and so it’s super exposed, rough rocks, roots, and you’ve seen this, a little bit of this trend, a little bit of this change. For the first time. I think a lot of companies, a lot of racers, are really realizing how much they can they can save energy and increase speed if they really dive into the engineering and the testing behind the equipment. I think for so long, cycling was such a physical sport, and now we’re it’s getting competitive enough and it’s getting close enough that racers, companies, brands, are looking for every little niche they can now to win, which, I mean, that’s. To the pinnacle of high level sport. And so I guess, as things have changed, it changed really, really rapidly. We’ve had kind of, I guess, some questions on what really is the best equipment for what we’re raising and doing quite a bit of testing. We’ve seen the supercal beat an amazing bike on a lot of our tracks. But then on about, I don’t know, 30, 40% of our tracks, where it where it’s really rough, one, especially like when it’s seated pedaling rough, like flatter terrain, where you’re really on, on the pedals, through big holes, roots, rocks, and you’re trying to maintain speed, maintain momentum, while pedaling some of these bigger travel setups actually have been brewing a bit faster, a bit more efficient. So on a track like Lake, Lake Placid, you still saw me go for the super cow, because it is by far the perfect bike for a track like that, a bit smoother, bit higher speed, Not so rough, perfect bike, for sure, and the stiffness and the handling the supercal is so, so good. And then the option we’ve been testing and trying for some of these rougher tracks is the top fuel. Like I said, it’s, it’s built for production. It’s kind of like a 130 light duty down country bike, not necessarily built for racing at all. But we’ve, we’ve done some testing and some tweaks on it to to see if it is a viable option. And I think we’re gonna continue to experiment with that and hopefully race it a bit more this next year. But for a track like Mount St Ann, based on kind of some of the testing we’ve done, we’ve really seen how it it can be one saving more energy faster through the rough sections, which I mean by the end of an hour and a half race really does add up and convert to time savings. And so mount Santa is super rough, a ton of roots, a ton of rock, super like tight, demanding steep. And I was, I was pretty confident it was a, it was a better bike for there, based on just kind of some of the testing and research that we’ve done. So I think as as the sport gets more competitive, you know, as the tracks get or change a little bit, and we’re always pursuing, trying to be the best in the world, you know. And like I said, as I transition into elite and trying to chase those elusive elite, World Cup podiums, you know, we’re going to be trying to do everything we can to to get there.

Jeff Barber 22:33
One of the things that you know a lot of mountain bikers, not racers necessarily, but a lot of mountain bikers, over the last several years have been saying is that, like, weight doesn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t matter as much. Is that even, like, a conversation that you have, or a thought in terms of, like, oh, well, if I, if I have a dropper post on the bike for this race, it’s going to add, you know, let’s say half a pound or whatever. Do you do that math and figure out if it’s worth it, or or you also are racers like you in the same camp of saying weight is not the main focus. What we want to do is figure out, like, how this is going to perform in the race. Yeah,

Riley Amos 23:13
I think, well, first off, definitely weight still a big focus, still big concern, because we are going uphill and really steep stuff, and you’re carrying that, especially for you know, lighter riders, the percentage of a pound increase on your bike to body weight is a huge thing. So weight is still very much a concern, but at the end of the day, like, what wins races is the fastest time, right? And so what we’re learning is weight doesn’t always transfer to time, and so we’re not necessarily no race, race really able to test and, like, you know, do the math necessarily, on, like, What’s the best thing? You know, maybe someday down the road, we will, it’ll be an interesting time for a sport, I think. But we’re, at least for me, what I’m trying to weigh is one like what my strengths and weaknesses are, and how that can like, cater or benefit me against my competition, right? So I find myself pretty confident and and good technically. You know, I come from a mountain bike background, I love riding and racing the mountain bike. I didn’t grow up on the road or cross and so like, the actual skills of riding the mountain bike is what I love. I love going on hard rides in the mountains, on on singletrack and on tough features like that, is what I love. And I find I’m usually, I usually don’t struggle so much there. So I like to try and maximize my skill set, versus where my weaknesses are, versus where my competition’s at for short track races that are like smoother, I’ll throw a high post on still even mess with the suspension setup, tire pressure to get that bike kind of. In my mind, as optimized as I can for different courses, certain courses where you’re, like, I was saying like you’re you’re pedaling through really rough stuff, you’re trying to make that suspension as active as you can, to carry momentum. So I’ll mess with volume spacers, air pressure, all that will change a ton versus a course like really smooth, fast, less, big of impacts on the descents. So I’m always kind of trying to do a little bit of testing, course to course, and then also in weigh in, know, what are those feelings that I’m feeling, versus what actually is faster? We’ve done a bit of testing with trek, you know, in this, in this project to see, you know what we’re racing in terms of, like, Top Fuel supercal. And it was really interesting. Hope I can talk about this. I think I can. I might have to send a little, little message over. But we actually found in a lot of instances on certain certain bike setups that we quote, unquote felt slower or not as confident, but we actually went faster around test loops, which is super interesting. And so that’s kind of where these were, this driving this question around, around bike setup, and what we’re what we’re racing on is sometimes, you know, that feedback of the trail or something you’ve been riding for a while, you feel confident, you feel fast on it, but it’s not actually faster on the clock. So it’s super interesting to be able to put a bit more data behind that and and learn a bit more about, you know, energy savings, momentum, how that actually plays into it, instead of just, you know, watts per kilo up the hill. And so there is a balance like weight is still very important. You’re still accelerating and decelerating the bike out of every corner in a short track. And the rolling mass on the wheels, the actual mass of the whole bike that you have to constantly accelerate, that does make a huge difference. And we’re still always trying to have the lightest setup we can but in certain settings, you know, the dropper post is a great example of, hey, the the control you’re able to have on that, and the energy savings you’re able to have based on the position you can ride that bike in on the descents, on the corners, it nine times out of 10 outweighs the the weight penalty you get. So that’s, that’s, that’s the question of, you know that weight versus performance that we’re trying to find.

Jeff Barber 27:31
It sounds like you’re a big dropper post guy. Are you? You part of that 30 to 40% that’s running one most of the time?

Riley Amos 27:39
Well now I think that was, I think that was five years ago. I think now you probably see 90 plus percent of the field on driver posts all the time, door tracks included. Yeah, this year I did, like, for some of the super fast, flat, short tracks where you’re not having to, like, ride anything really steep and get behind the bike. There’s not, like, a ton of corners. I did find myself running a high post at times. Like it will chance when I won the short track, I was on a high post there. So, like I said, I’m trying to just like, weigh pros and cons of where my strengths are, where my weaknesses are, where my competition strengths and weaknesses are, the track I’m on. Like, you can nerd out. There’s, like, always a balance, for sure. Like, okay, what are you really stressing about? Like, is it important? Is it really gonna make that much of a difference? But yeah, we’re chasing, we’re chasing world class performances, and so we’re trying to, just, like, have world class application to the process.

Jeff Barber 28:38
Makes sense. Are you generally, leading up to a race… Let’s say you know, you know the track, you’ve kind of got your strategy and your plan together, and how you you’re going to ride the bike. Do you usually set up your your bike for training similarly? Are you training on the bike you’re going to race for the next race? Or how do you choose, like, which bikes you’re using for your training?

Riley Amos 29:03
Um, yeah, in training, I don’t stress that much to be honest. Like, I definitely test and mess around in training with with different setups, components, stuff occasionally, you know. But I definitely want to be really comfortable on the bike I’m racing on. If you spend a bunch of time on a road bike, and then you go to the cross country race, you’re going to feel pretty foreign on that, on that mountain bike. So I’m always trying to spend a ton of time on the mountain bike, on the type of bike I’m racing, for sure. And like I said, try some things in training, but I’m not like, oh, going out for this ride today. I’m gonna really mess with my suspension and rebound pressure. Is like, No, I’m definitely not doing that at all at home. I’m pretty set and forget, unless I’m really, like, I said, trying to test something new. But I am always trying to think about those tracks I’m racing. Think about, you know what? What I would potentially. Like race there, what that tracks like and and definitely test some of that in training as well. But it’s, it’s, it’s amazing how different the bike can be at home versus when your mechanic puts 10 hours into freshening everything up. And yeah, when you get it out on the track, it’s like a it’s an entirely new bike. It’s, it’s pretty funny how my mechanics always have have jokes when they haven’t seen us riders for a while. When we come back to the the circuit, who’s whose home bike is going to be the worst, Whose bike got taken care of the least? And there’s, like, always a little competition, who, who did the best job maintaining their home bike? Because, you know, the these mechanics are so, so good at what they do, and they have a super high standard of excellence, which is amazing. And when they go through a bike, there’s not one bolt that isn’t checked, there’s not one bearing that isn’t replaced. You know, forks are rebuilt World Cup to World Cup with fresh oil. And it’s pretty unbelievable how much the difference it makes. It’s pretty it’s pretty amazing. When you get on a freshly serviced bike, how good it feels and how fast it feels. It’s pretty cool.

Jeff Barber 31:08
It sounds like you get a little bit of, like, resistance training in too. You know, it’s like, the guy in baseball in the batter’s box, you know, he’s got, like, the weights on the thing, so when he takes the swing with the real bat, like it’s much easier. So, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Kind of Yeah, I read that you joined the Durango Devo mountain bike program when you were in second grade. Seems like you were really into biking from an early age. How’d that happen?

Riley Amos 31:40
My parents moved to Durango before they had me. Both my parents were from Arizona, and they they moved around quite a bit trying to decide now where they wanted to live. My my mom, dad is super into the outdoors. My dad loves hunting and fishing, and actually rode a mountain bike a little bit as a kid, and they just love Durango. And so when they had me, you know, I was super me and my brother, I have a younger brother, they really focused on just kind of keeping us super busy and trying everything we could outdoors sports, like literally everything from soccer, football, basketball, baseball. I went to a break dance class when I was a kid. They just were trying to keep us super busy. And guess, I guess, kind of see where our passions were. And for me, I loved, I loved during odivo, because it wasn’t necessarily like a competitive sport. It was truly just getting kids on bikes and letting them explore the world around them, having a ton of fun and doing things that were just so special that not a lot of kids get the opportunity to do. I think when I was 13 years old, I went with the Divo Explorers program. So the Explorers program we we went on a bike ride, but we also, like, did cool things, like explore a cave or do some rock climbing, and we did a bike packing trip from Durango to Telluride to go see, like a little concert in Telluride. Wow. So I was probably about 80 pounds at a time, and my fat bike, with all my gear on, it was probably about 80 pounds as well. And so we just did so much cool stuff growing up here in Colorado, and with dragonodivo, with the mission being, you know, not building the fastest racers, but, like, developing lifelong cyclists, one ride at a time. So I think that’s that is the reason why, you know, I’m here in the sport is because, because I grew up in Drago, and programs like Drago, Divo, that, yeah, showed me, show me how, how much you can do with with the world around you, with your bike, you know. And for 13 year old kid, you know, the freedom I had, you know, to to get around and to explore these amazing mountains around home in trails, and hang out with friends and socialize like there’s so much that the bike brought me that was so much fun. That was what definitely got me into bikes. And so, like I, like you said, SEC in second grade, I tried. My parents had me tried Django Devo for the first time. I was still playing lacrosse and riding Devo pretty full time through middle school, and then in high school with when I started doing some, some of the Nika program, some high school league racing there. And I was like, I was definitely naturally good. And I was like, a podium contender, always kind of chasing that podium, but I never could quite win anything like my freshman year of Naika, like I was super driven and motivated because I was like, Okay, I really like this. I’m super competitive in this. I love it. I’m good at it, but I’ve really. They want to, like, go for it a bit. And so I stopped playing the cross and kind of, I guess, when I was 16. Then at that point, kind of went full time trying to be the best, the best Junior mountain biker I could be. And I actually started working with, like a coach, to learn a bit more about training. And you know, when you want to ride, you actually want to ride big hours at a low intensity pace in the early season. Like I didn’t know any of this stuff. I didn’t know that there’s all these big races that USA Cycling put on around the country that you earn points and you can go to national championships and have a call up there. So it’s like this whole new realm I was trying to, like, get into and learn when I was 16, and I went to national championships at the end of the year in snowshoe, West Virginia. I’d never been to the East Coast, just me and my mom and I won my first ever national championships there. So that was kind of, I guess, the moment where I was like, Man, this is, this is cool, and there’s like, a chance for me to do this. So the next three years, I rode for their national team, which is like a junior, junior and u 23 development team that’s supported by trek Julia violich runs that team, and it’s kind of a really, really cool opportunity where 17, 1819, year old kids get an opportunity to have some support and help and kind of chase their dream of trying to be a professional cyclist. And so that program was awesome because we just had so much fun. We had some help getting to some big races, some help with equipment. And I, like, I had a really, really awesome Junior UCI time, and raced a lot of big races around the US Canada. Went to my first world championships at 17 in Mount Sinai, Canada, which is just such a legendary track, as we talked about before. And then in 2020, the next year, it was COVID year, and there was no racing anywhere, really in the world. I was at home in Colorado, working in a bike shop and just riding the most massive, awesome dream rides I could dream up with my friends up in the high country. So honestly, COVID year was kind of a dream. Had a ton of fun and trained a bunch, and then at the end of the year, we got news that they’re going to have a world championship still in Leogang, Austria. So me and a couple other bear riders went over to Europe race my first ever Junior World Cup, no master check, which was just such an eye open experience, because we had never ridden or race anything like that before in the US in North America really just super muddy, just crazy roots. 120 juniors, and like we were, me and Bjorn Riley, he was third, and I was fifth, I think. And then the next week at World Championships in Austria, I got four. And so wow, that was kind of, I guess, what transitioned me to chasing that you 23 career for the last couple years.

Jeff Barber 38:05
That’s awesome to hear about your journey. It sounds like up until you were about 16, you weren’t necessarily specializing in, in cycling, even, right? Not at all, yeah, biking, which is interesting, because I feel like, for a lot of parents these days, you know, they think, oh, you know, I gotta get my kid doing this thing, like, from the beginning, you know, I mean, three year olds play soccer and T ball and these sports that, you know, yeah, that you just are like, what are these parents thinking? Do they think that they’re gonna, you know, one day be a professional soccer player or baseball player, but yeah, it sounds like your approach is the more sensible one, where it’s like, you know, you kind of just build that and and try different sports. And I’m sure you you learn a lot that way too, about just what you’re capable of and what you enjoy.

Riley Amos 38:59
At the end of the day, I think it’s a huge lesson, right? It’s like, the parents can’t play their sport, their kids sport for them, right? So, right? Like, you can always expose your kid to a ton of different things, but they have to, like, want to do it. And so that’s kind of what happened with me, is played a ton of different sports. I was just a super active kid stayed stayed super busy, kept me fit, helped me, kept me from being bored. And yeah, the bike, just like, kind of blossom where my love, my love for the bike, I guess, kind of blossomed over time. And like I said, I didn’t know anything about racing and high level cycling until I was 16 years old, basically.

Jeff Barber 39:41
There’s a lot of people talk about the fact that you and Christopher Blevins and Savilia Blunk [live in Durango.] I’m curious, in Durango, like at your high school, is like the mountain bike team like the team to be on? Or is. It’s still like a pretty normal place where, like, you know, the the popular kids play football and basketball and, you know, just so happens that there’s also a lot of mountain bikers.

Riley Amos 40:11
It’s definitely still a normal place, I’d say. But I think Durango is one of these special communities where you’re not weird if you’re on a mountain bike, right? Like, it’s super normal and social, like we really embrace mountain biking as like, a core aspect of our community. And there’s way more kids now than when I was a kid, even growing up and just riding around with their friends after school. And that’s it’s just a much more ingrained part of our community than a lot of other places. And just like being outside, being active on your bike in the community, is huge. It’s it’s what we what we strive to be known for. And I think it just provides another outlet and opportunity for kids you know, who, who you know don’t love those traditional sports maybe as much. The biggest thing for me when I was 16, 1718, really learning the sport, is that I had so many amazing professional mentors in my community, from my first coach, Todd wells, who’s a three time us mountain bike Olympian, to local like underground group rides, where we’d go on. And I learned about drafting and riding in the pack, and from guys like Howard grotz, you know, paces and COVID net over it like they would just show up on these local rides. And so it was so casual, but we were doing something super high level at the same time without even realizing it. And I think that’s a huge part of what taught me so much is that I was exposed and learning from such a high level in such a like casual environment, that it was just second nature, you know. And I think that’s what’s special about this community for sure.

Jeff Barber 42:01
Well, another community I wanted to ask you about is Bentonville, because I know the USA Cycling national team is based there, and you probably have done some training there, I’m curious. Like, yeah, how does the writing there compared to Durango? Like, are there things in Bentonville, you’re able to work on that you can’t do in Durango. Or is it more about, like, access to coaching and resources? Or, like, what do you think about Bentonville?

Riley Amos 42:31
Bentonville is amazing. It’s it’s just so crazy to see, like, the development and transformation of that community in just the last couple years. Their entire community is just invested in creating outdoor space in mountain biking and other sports as well. But It honestly feels like mountain bike Disneyland there, like it’s just, uh, there’s so many all their I think just the main difference is like their trails are so built with purpose. And like, there’s so many awesome features and jumps and berm trails and like art incorporated in them. Like they’re all just like, built with purpose to be a blast for all ages, which is huge. Like, all skill levels, all ages, everybody can find a place to have a ton of fun. And like, the whole community, and businesses and restaurants are all like, ingrained in it. So it’s, it’s such a cool thing to have for cycling and for mountain biking, because it’s just, like, it just puts, puts it super mainstream, and changes, like, a ton of people’s lives and communities with it. And like, it’s crazy because benville, Arkansas wasn’t really on the map for anything besides Walmart in the past, and to see the like, there is almost nobody in that area that isn’t stoked on, on, on what they’ve done mountain bikes. And so it’s impressive how well they’ve done it and incorporated everybody to some degree to where, you know, like, nobody hates all of the growth and the people in flux. When, you know, there a lot of people you you’d say could be, could be just as scared to that change and maybe not embrace as much. So, yeah, it’s, it’s pretty, it’s pretty mind blowing and cool. And they do have a ton of resources for for cycling in everywhere. And I think the biggest thing though, is how everyday mountain bikers from all over the US can get inspired and find a place to go ride in benville, because you don’t find a lot of a lot of places like mountain biking is one, not a super easy sport to begin with, you know, in terms of fear of getting hurt, you know, those, some of those skills and a lot of trails are not just like super beginner friendly in a lot of places. And so, right? It’s a huge, huge thing, what they’ve done there, for sure.

Jeff Barber 44:54
So I recently heard that you rode the Palisade Plunge, which is this new, like, mega trail project that’s in sort of western Colorado. I think a lot of our readers have heard about this, but you wrote it as a loop. So I’m curious, like, why did you do that, and how did it go?

Riley Amos 45:18
Yeah, I was, I was down in Grand Junction in that area, because my girlfriend goes to school down there at Colorado Mesa, and I just had a big endurance ride. And so naturally, I wanted to do something fun and cool on my mountain bike. And I had heard of the palisade plunge just being built in the last couple years, but honestly didn’t know that much about it, and just heard it as the stick. What I’d heard is a sick, massive downhill trail from all the way from the top of Grand Mesa down into palisade, Colorado. And so there’s this, like dirt road that goes up the side of the mesa called Lands End Road that I parked at the bottom of, like, climbed almost two hours up the road not quite to the top of the mesa. Like there’s a there’s a connection into the palisade plunge, just like a couple miles from the top. And then it’s, I think it was 18 miles from there, down in palisade. And I think it’s like, at about 9000 feet of elevation, down to, like, down to like, 5000 feet, yeah, but in 18 miles. And I was under the impression there’s like, kind of like porcupine rim and Moab or something where it’s like, you’re just kind of pedaling, but fast and downhill the whole way. There’s definitely not like that at all. It’s super raw and exposed on the edge. You’re doing a ton of, like, slow speed stuff, and still, like climb, it’s like, kind of rolling, climbing and descending most of the whole way, and so took me way longer than I thought. I was almost out of water by the bottom, but it was super cool. It’s just like, it wasn’t what I thought, but it’s still super cool, super fun, and it was definitely more challenging than I expected it to be in terms of some of the features that they have built in. Like, like I said, it’s still pretty primitive. It’s in a ton of, like, sand and exposure on the edge of stuff. So I think as it gets written more, it’ll improve further. There’s just, like, super fun, challenging loop I love, I love days like that, where, you know, four hours can go by in the blink because you’re just out there challenging yourself on awesome sections of trail. So super cool, what they’ve built. And it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you’re I think they run, they run shuttles to the top of the mesa, and I think that’s a huge day, still, for a lot of people. I bet for most people, it’ll be three, three plus hours almost still from the top. Yeah. Just, just wanted to take you, quote, unquote, descending loop, I think, for the bottom of Lance, end to the top, down the plunge, and then riding like farm roads through palisade all the background. It was like, almost four and a half hours. Okay, I don’t know how many miles it was, but I was like, just think it’s 55 miles from bottom of Lance. End up it plunge from where it crosses Lands End palisade all the way around. It’s like 55 miles and wow, it was, like just over 5000 feet climbing.

Jeff Barber 48:10
Wow that’s crazy. Sounds like it was a big day.

Riley Amos 48:12
It was. It was one of those super cool, rewarding days definitely kept you on your toes. I had to stop at a like an orchard Farmers Market on the way back to refuel, had a couple peaches and some apple cider and couple other snacks, which is pretty cool. So, yeah,

Jeff Barber 48:27
It doesn’t sound like that was your intent, but you may have set the first KOM on it, and then we got something established. Is that something you’re interested in, though? I mean, obviously you have a super packed racing schedule, but, you know, is kom chasing a thing that that you find fun?

Riley Amos 48:49
Heck, yeah, I think it’s super fun and exciting. Like, I’m a racer, because I like going fast competition. So that’s a different kind of race, though. Anything you could do to, like, make your training industry, right? Like, if you have four or five hours hard on the bike, like, why not do something cool and make a sweet loop and put a kom up there and give some other people a carrot to chase. Give a carrot for you to chase as well, you know? So, right? Yeah, I love it. I’m famous for Riley adventures, where I get a bunch of my friends to do a big loop with me, and they don’t really know how big or gnarly it’s gonna be. And I just, you know, we get halfway through, and everybody’s starting to feel it, and I’m like, you know, just to the top of the next climb, you know, five more minutes. Like, yeah, for taking people on some of those adventures, for quote, unquote, training.

Jeff Barber 49:42
That’s cool. Well, so yeah, in addition to the World Cup circuit, are there other races you’re targeting for 2025 or any fun rides planned that you’re looking forward to?

Riley Amos 49:53
Yeah, I’m not totally sure yet. To be honest, the World Cup calendar is my priority in 2025 and there’s 10 rounds. Next year. So it is a big calendar. Other than that, I’m actually not really decided on any other racing yet, so I’ll have to kind of see talk to talk to the team, talk to coach, and decide you know what to work best to prepare for those World Cups once again, because those are my job first of all. But I’d love to mix it up with some other events. I love doing smaller events early in the season as training races, where it’s just a great way to get a good workout in a quote, unquote, low pressure environment, way more fun than just doing things by yourself. So I love doing that as always. Love trying to get as many of the UCI xCO races in the States, because we don’t have that many with the US cups. Yeah, we’ll see what else it brings. I’d love to jump in a couple of the other big domestic races, like lifetime. I really want to do Leadville someday, just because it’s kind of like a historic race close to home. But, yeah, it’s just it’s so hard to train for a six hour race at high altitude versus an hour and a half explosive mountain bike race at sea level. Like there’s just the demands of their them are so different. It’s it’s kind of hard for some people to understand when I talk to them about it. But yeah, just the demands are so different, it’s so hard to be optimized for both. And I don’t like going to either of those races, not ready to race, you know, right? As I learned this, you’re kind of doing some end of Season lifetime stuff, and get my butt kicked.

Jeff Barber 51:34
Well, Riley, thanks so much for taking the chance to chat. Yeah, love, love hearing your story and seeing where you’re going next.

Riley Amos 51:45
Thanks for the time. It’s good. It was a good chat. Appreciate it. Have a good one. Yeah,

Jeff Barber 51:51
My pleasure. So you can follow Riley on Instagram at RJ underscore Amos, and we’ll have that link in the show notes. So we’ve got this time, we’ll talk to you again next time.

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