AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Mountain biking was invented in the U.S., but it spread quickly from California and Colorado around the world. And Americans, well, they have not really dominated mountain bike racing since the early days of this sport, though there have been moments.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: It's Blevins. It's Blevins taking it. Can Boichis come round? Christopher Blevins wins. He takes the double in Lake Placid.
CHANG: Christopher Blevins wins. Last weekend, Christopher Blevins became the first American man to win the overall World Cup of cross-country mountain biking since 1991. In fact, he clinched both the short track and the Olympic distance series by winning both World Cup races last weekend in Lake Placid, New York. And before his race today in Canada, he spoke with us. Hello, hello.
CHRISTOPHER BLEVINS: Hi, Ailsa. Great to be here. Thank you.
CHANG: Oh, it's so great to have you. OK, there were USA chants in the crowd immediately once you crossed that finish line in Lake Placid. Can you just talk about - what was that like?
BLEVINS: Yeah, it was amazing. I felt, I mean, just incredibly fortunate to have that much support and love. And you don't get many fairy-tale moments in sports. You get a lot of hard moments, a lot of harsh reality. But that was definitely a culmination of this season, of the work and really, my whole career. So it was special to experience.
CHANG: Would you say that there's more momentum for mountain bike racing in the U.S. these days compared to at least, like, when you were growing up? Like, I'm told there have been some other prominent successes for Americans in other mountain bike disciplines lately, like downhill or ultra-endurance marathon racing and the like.
BLEVINS: Yeah, absolutely. I think what - we can attribute the growth in mountain bike racing success at the top level is at the bottom, in the grassroots level. NICA is a high school mountain bike race league that has taken off in some states massively. And, you know, I think when the general American thinks about mountain biking, it's seen as a recreational activity, not so much an elite sport. And I think with programs like NICA and just more kids on bikes enjoying it, not just in racing, that's starting to draw more of a connection between what I do and the Olympic level of the sport with the youth development programs.
CHANG: That's so cool. Your dad also raced, right?
BLEVINS: Yeah. My dad is probably training and racing just as seriously as I am, as a 66-year-old retired surgeon.
CHANG: Wow.
BLEVINS: But...
CHANG: Wait, wait.
BLEVINS: ...He loves it. Yeah.
CHANG: Yeah. That's what I heard. You come from a family of pretty prominent Black doctors going back several generations - is that right?
BLEVINS: Yeah, yeah.
CHANG: So can you talk about, like, how bike racing and medicine interact in your family?
BLEVINS: Well, yeah. Cycling, you know, and medicine is really, I think, what the Blevins are known for. And my sister...
CHANG: That's so cool.
BLEVINS: ...Is about to graduate from med school.
CHANG: Wow.
BLEVINS: She stopped racing while she was in Stanford. It got a little too serious for her. So she's really...
CHANG: (Laughter).
BLEVINS: ...The rock star of the family, and she's carrying on the Dr. Blevins lineage and...
CHANG: That's amazing.
BLEVINS: Yeah.
CHANG: You guys are all a bunch of overachievers. I do want to know, though - you know, competitive cycling in general has had few people of color, and mountain biking specifically even less so, right? Like, so have you ever thought about what your race or your family history means in this context?
BLEVINS: Yeah. So my grandpa was one of the first Black physicians in major LA, you know, public hospitals. And, you know, I grew up in a small town - Durango, Colorado - with 20,000 people that is entirely embedded in mountain bike culture and racing. I think that that support and that opportunity has made me realize, like, how many other communities - underprivileged communities could benefit from the bike as a tool for health and wellness and just general well-being of kids.
Close to Durango, in the Navajo Nation, there's a nonprofit called Silver Stallion Bicycles that I'm on the board of. And I've really, like, been just amazed at how this sport I've loved can help underprivileged communities. And I think I - yeah, I do attribute that a bit to my family history and recognizing what my grandpa, you know, went through to become a doctor and carry that forward.
CHANG: I love that. Well, Durango, I understand, is home to the very first Mountain Bike World Championship, right? Like, you weren't even alive yet. But you could have a shot at the recently announced 2030 World Championship, returning to Durango for the first time in 40 years. How does that feel (laughter)...
BLEVINS: Yeah.
CHANG: ...About competing in your hometown?
BLEVINS: Yeah, yeah. No, it's absolutely incredible. Ned Overend was my neighbor, and he won that first World Championship in 1990.
CHANG: Oh, my God, full circle - or it could be a full circle moment.
BLEVINS: Yeah. And he's a family friend. And again, the organic nature of Durango, like, it's just what kids do. They just get on bikes and...
CHANG: Right.
BLEVINS: ...See how far they can go. And it's brought me pretty far. And if Durango 2030 World Championships is my retirement party, it'd be a pretty good one. So we'll see.
CHANG: Oh. Christopher Blevins, the new World Cup winner, thank you so much, and good luck this weekend.
BLEVINS: Thank you. Appreciate it, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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