After a dominant final season in the men’s U-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup field and a historic showing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Durango’s Riley Amos didn’t slow down in the offseason.
Amos finished the 2024 World Cup season on top, winning nine of the first 10 races before finishing seventh in the Summer Olympics as the top American.
The 23-year-old didn’t stop traveling or riding once the World Cup season ended in October. He spent some time in Durango but also trained in Arizona, Spain, California and even New Zealand.
“I’ve been bouncing around quite a bit, just enjoying the one time of year that we can travel on our own choice,” Amos said. “I didn't want to necessarily add too much more travel after we'll be on the road for 180 days this year. But at the same time, it's nice to do some of those trips that you want to do for yourself, like go to New Zealand, spend time with my girlfriend and her family and enjoy riding some new places in California. It's been a super, super good winter, probably busier than I should have been, but I say that every winter.”
Amos said he likes to move around for the variety of riding and staying in good weather for the winter. The last three months were critical training time for the whole season, with the most hours on the bike and the most consistency. Amos said he’s refreshed by moving around. He likes the cycling community down in Tuscon and his parents are from that area, so he has family down there. He went to Spain for two weeks for the Trek Factory Racing training camp.
Another big project for Amos in the offseason was a 30-minute documentary he put out on YouTube in March. The documentary followed Amos through the entire 2024 World Cup season. He knew 2024 would be a huge year for him with the Olympics and his final year in U-23, so he wanted to document it. It was a 14-month project that Amos’ buddy Issac Dean put together with interviews from Blevins, Todd Wells, Amos’ parents and more.
“Isaac, maybe wasn't so good at expressing his vision so I was a bit worried,” Amos said. “But in the end, he did such a good job and I'm so happy he actually did follow through and work on all those little different interview segments to piece together what he did. Because that is what I look back on for the year and can remember how special it was, a lot more than just the wins. Sometimes you have to rewatch those moments and remember them.”
Before Amos went down to Brazil for the opening round of the UCI Mountain World Cup which started on Saturday, he competed with the best Americans at the U.S. Pro Cup in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Although he lost out to fellow Durangoan Christopher Blevins, Amos said the goal for the U.S. Pro Cup was to continue to level up his fitness for Brazil. He was ok with sacrificing a bit of peak performance at the U.S. Pro Cup to continue building for Brazil.
After Amos’ dominant final season of U-23, Amos didn’t change a lot with his training to prepare for men’s elite. He built on the core principles that worked well last year; he didn’t change anything in his support system or with his coaching. He did stack longer high-endurance rides together almost like a road racer would train.
Amos knows there are some new factors in the men’s elite category. The races are anywhere from 10-30 minutes longer than the U-23 races, which makes a difference in pacing and carrying a certain pace through the race.
“The other main thing that stands out is just the level of depth,” Amos said about the men’s elite. “In those U-23 races, there's maybe five guys that can win on a day and 15 really strong guys. With the elites, there are 10 guys that can win on a day and 40 really strong guys. The points are a lot more cutthroat. Top 40 start the short track and then you're looking for your top three row starts based on the first 24 to finish in the short track, which is a huge difference, starting first, second row versus fourth, fifth and sixth row … One mistake in the short track, finish outside that top 24, suddenly, you're on the fourth row and chasing through 30-plus guys.”
Amos was excited for the season to begin in Brazil. He enjoys the track and said the Brazilian fans are unlike any other on the calendar with their passion for mountain biking. Amos thought it was a great opportunity for him because his European competitors were coming from a harsher winter and had more travel to get there.
After a dominant 2024, Amos has thought more long-term, focusing on a growth mindset for the next few years.
“I'd love to ride consistently in and around the top 10,” Amos said. “That'll be a pretty good level for a first year based on where other first years have been in the past. So I'd like to be consistently around the top 10, but also just trying to take this year as it comes without any sort of real pressure and real goals because that's how you learn the most.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
