I love riding my friends, I love going fast and
I love the places it takes me All over the
world we get to ride.
The sport of mountain biking continues to grow in the
US Writers Chris Blevins and Riley Amos are hoping to
grow the American footprint around the world.
I grew up in Durango,
Co, which is the site of the first Malibu championships
ever in 1990,
was really lucky to have a good community there and
and and be on a bike from a young age.
Blevins was the only American competitor during the 2020 Summer
Olympic Games in Tokyo.
It was a unique experience,
you know, in a COVID year kind of felt like
a mountain bike summer camp,
but it was, yeah, an honor,
obviously. You know, for any athlete,
it's the biggest thing you could dream of.
Finishing 14th in his first appearance,
he's got his sights set on the podium.
Every athlete's goal is to get a medal first.
I got to get there and then be the best
I can possibly be,
which at the, you know,
furthest edges of that, it takes.
It takes everything. And he's hoping he's not the only
writer wearing the US flag this time around.
It's a pretty cool place because it it kind of
brings mountain bike to the biggest stage of sport,
you know, with some of the bigger sports out there
that.
You know, somebody might not know anything about mountain biking,
but get to watch it on the Olympics.
Amos, like Blevins, grew up in Durango,
Co. My dad first kind of taught me how to
ride a bike when I was probably,
you know, 5-6 years old.
I didn't really get into racing until maybe like 1415
years old.
Less than 10 years later,
he's on the cusp of helping the US make history
first time,
potentially in a long time,
to bring two US riders the Olympics.
So it means a lot to me,
and it means a lot to the country to hopefully
bring two guys to represent our sport.
Two riders two spots. Two goals to make it to
Paris and continue to grow the sport for the younger
generations.
It's for anybody. It's for people trying to go to
the Olympics.
And it's for people just riding for fun on their
local trails.
On the journey to Paris,
I'm Melissa Orange.