If you’ve been watching the Whoop UCI World Series cross country races this year, you may have noticed that there’s been quite the changing of the guard at the head of the racing, with a bunch of young guns taking the reins of control in fine style.
In with this, you may have also noticed a new style of close-cut, dramatic and flair-filled riding – especially in terms of bike handling skills and on-track entertainment, with some riders pulling moves that wouldn’t look out of place on a jump track.
The rider who, arguably, is the most skilful with this trail craft and the manoeuvres is SCOTT-SRAM’s 24-year-old American racer Bjorn Riley, who has made a huge step up in performance and results this year and currently stands in third over in the XCO and fourth in the XCC series standings.
Watching Bjorn in action is pure art and entertainment – and it’s just as well, because he’s also a keen artist, even adding his own artwork to his US champion edition Scott Spark last year, and publishing the highly stylised ‘Bjorn’s Sketchbook’ video series on YouTube. It’s an intriguing and unusual melange for a pro bike racer, but also rather fitting.
Following the now traditional series mid-season break, when he returned home to Colorado to successfully defend his National XCC title, pull a few moves on the dirt jumps, and tricks on his BMX (as well as escape with his paint brushes), we spoke with Bjorn to learn more – especially about his rapid rise to the top this year.
off.road.cc: It seems as though there has been quite a shift in XC World Cup racing this year, and a change of guard. As well as you, Charlie Aldridge and some of the other guys are also getting more creative with their riding, have you noticed a big shift this year in the demographic and style of the racing?
Bjorn Riley: From my perspective, it’s cool that the new generation are doing so well at the World Cup. What’s really cool is that this new generation is also kind of fighting the norm of what people think XC riders are.
Charlie (Aldridge) is a perfect example; that dude can absolutely shred. He goes on his e-Bike with Luca (Martin) and Cole (Punchard), and they do trials riding and stuff, and it’s a good thing to see. With future generations too, we already see the dudes who are 15 and 16; they absolutely shred now, but they also rip the watts.
I think there’s this whole new generation that’s shifting; they want to be super focused in the sport, but they also want to have their own personality, not just be one big group of people that wear Spandex and hit watts; they want to wear Spandex, push all the watts and hit jumps – and I think that’s so cool.
Shifting up a gear
ORCC: You’ve really stepped up this year in performance terms. What do you put this down to?
BR: I’m very fortunate, so take this with a grain of salt; last year I had probably the worst year of my life. I’ve never really had anything go wrong in my career, even though it’s been very short so far. It just felt like everything I did just wouldn’t work. I had a perfect winter block and was absolutely hooking, and then I went to South Africa. After that, I was just f##@d for the whole season.
It was really hard for me because first off, I wanted to prove myself to the team, because I know that the people who don’t really know me that well may think I’m super nonchalant and just go ride my bike and have fun. But when you really get to know me – I’m like that off the bike, but when I really get on the bike, I strive for perfection in every single pedal stroke. Not being able to show that to these new people (team), whose trust I wanted to gain, was really hard for me.
This year, I’ve had no issues so far. I started putting more effort into my training – or just more hours. I incorporated heat training in my routine. I knew heat training worked for me, but I’d only ever done it for three weeks, and now I’ve done it for four months, three times a week – and I think that’s really it. I adjusted my position on the bike a little bit, and it’s gone from there.
Short circuit passion
ORCC: You won your first XCC short track World Cup round recently in Andorra. Would it be fair to say you have a flair for the event?
BR: Yeah, I love short track. I think it’s because the first series I did was a local Boulder series called the CU Short Track Series. Every Wednesday the CU (university) would host a short track series, where all the local kids and everyone else could come and race in age groups. I went from the youngest group each year and hyped up to racing the men’s A races when I was 14. There were elite riders in it, and even World Cup racer Chris Baddick would ride, and I finally beat him in one of the short tracks aged 15.
I fell in love with racing through short tracks. I realised it was like a whole chess game that you’re playing. As much as XC is cool, I feel there are so many tactics in XCC, and because so many more people have the opportunity to win, you really have to play your cards right and to be calm and collected, but then also be ready to open up when the time is right.
I also love the aggression. I really enjoy flowing through different riders, and when you’re racing you really figure out where the different racers are putting down the power, and then you figure out in your head whether you follow that, or is there a way you make time or save energy by doing something else. When I’m in the XCC races, my head is just firing on all levels; I just love it.
Top step barriers
ORCC: With winning that first World Cup round in Andorra, has it changed your perspective, broken any confidence barriers, or made you reassess the season and World Championship aims?
BR: After my first podium this year, I told myself that I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, because I feel that if I start expecting really good results, at some point that could maybe turn into a negative. Coming away from that race, I know where I could be at worlds, but I don’t want to focus on that; I just want to focus on my training. If I can podium or win, that would be crazy.
I would say that it’s changed my confidence level. The confidence to get a top three or chase for a podium is so different to the confidence needed to try and win. I think I’m like my dad in a sense; where I’m always really smart with my decisions, and don’t want to overstep or try something I know I can’t do. When you’re at the top level of mountain biking, that almost turns into your kryptonite. When I know I have the opportunity to attack, I always weigh out everything that could happen, and by the time I’ve done that, the opportunity might have gone. I will say that before that race I was telling everyone that I couldn’t quite get my head around fighting for the win – the podium I can, but the win is a whole different thing, and I struggled with it in U23 too.
But I was really happy when I noticed Boichis wasn’t snapping. I didn’t even question if I should attack; I just attacked. For me, that was a really good sign that I knew I believed in myself, and knew that I could do it. Before that, I always stayed between fourth and fifth place and waited for someone to attack, as I didn’t want to be the first one to attack – because I didn’t want to fail.
A game of two halves
ORCC: With the way the World Cup has played out over the last few years, there doesn’t seem to be a rider who is consistent and dominant year-round; Nino was perhaps the last one. As you go back into the second half of the year, the state of play could be very different. How is this for you?
BR: Yeah, it’s always scary because there’s this big block in the middle of the season where you can train. When you go into the first race, it’s almost like going into a new season. You don’t know (the state of play), because a lot can change in those weeks. You could overdo it; like today – I was supposed to do six hours, but was so smashed after yesterday that I had to take a rest day. You can be so determined to be faster that you cook yourself too much, and so go into the second half of the season not on the same level (as before); it’s always changing.
That’s what I think is really cool about the sport now. For viewers, it’s not like only one or two people who can win; there are so many riders now who could win.
It’s well worth checking out Bjorn’s YouTube channel and Instagram feed. There are some great insights into his life, his passion for art, and skills on and off the bike.
