Christopher Blevins — moments

“I have won, at this point, some big races — World Championships, some World Cups and different disciplines — and you know, at the end of the day, those medals and those trophies, they kind of just fade. You know they're there, as a memory, but when I fly home from a trip, and I'm in a different setting all of a sudden, it sort of feels like it was all a daydream that's kind of slipping away. And I think that's just part of it — you're never defined by your last win or loss. No matter what, you always just carry on.”



Assumptions that arise from success — that a taste of glory will lead to an endless feast — can nurture complacency. It's the enemy of purpose. For Christopher Blevins the hunger to be a better mountain biker comes from a heightened recognition of the sensations that can be experienced from staying in the moment. Having a deep awareness that a point in time won't happen again brings clarity and fulfillment to competition that can't be matched by a physical medal.


“You’ve got to realize — and I have to remind myself this all the time — like, we're just human, and those things happen. You can't be perfect. You can't plug things into a computer and have it be spit out exactly how you think it's going to."

“The post-race process is just the same whether you won or not. And yeah, it's like, you win a race, you gotta get back on your bike a day later. You lose and you have to do it as well. So, that does kind of even things out a bit."

“You know, I've lived my whole life in competition and because of that sometimes I don't recognize it as competition, you know. And it's sort of because I do mirror it back on myself a lot. Seeing competition as really inspiration for being your best self, rather than something you have to do to one-up the people around you."

“I have some moments where I stop and kind of look back and realize how far I've come, and yeah, it is important to do that every once in a while."


Words by Ross Lovell, Film by Oliver Greena, Stills by Johan Fredriksson & George Harper