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Evie Richards performs at UCI XCO World Cup in Snowshoe, USA on September 19, 2021
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Cycling
Evie Richards shares how she gets into race-ready shape
Reigning cross-country mountain bike world champion, Evie Richards, reveals the steps she's taken in recent years to get to the top of her discipline.
Written by Howard Calvert
8 min readPublished on
What does it take to become the best mountain bikers and cyclocross riders in the world? For Evie Richards, her training location, the Malvern Hills, back home in England has played a big part in her success to the world champion status she achieved in Val di Sole in August 2021.
“I couldn't think of a better pace to train,” she says. “I have to do a lot of training on my own, and the area’s great for me, as it’s so compact. You have to do loads of loops to get a decent riding duration. But I'm a creature of habit, so I don't mind – I don't get bored very easily!”
Richards spent years putting together a close team of expert coaches, including two cycling coaches, a technical coach, a sports psychologist and a nutritionist.
Everything clicked into place for Evie Richards in 2021© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Richards is not one to be fixated on data and stats however – she couldn’t tell you what her FTP [Functional Threshold Power, which measures the average number of watts that a rider can sustain in an hour] is, how many miles she clocks up a week or what her Strava relative effort graph looks like. Instead, she trains to feel, and enjoys nothing more than putting together a playlist to get her through an intense turbo session.
“It sounds like my training is very disorganised. But that’s not the case at all. It’s just that there are so many factors, and so many things we're trying to achieve, that every week is different.”
It clearly paid off in 2021. As well as bagging the World Championship, Richards also put two XCO World Cup wins to her name in what's been the biggest cross-country season of her career so far.
Watch the video below to see how she saw the 2021 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season and then scroll on down to read an insight into how she goes about training for races.
9 minEvie Richards's 2021 season reviewWatch newly crowned XCO world champion Evie Richards as she reviews her 2021 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season.

Can you describe an average day’s training?

Evie Richards: It varies depending on the season and what phase of training I’m in, but normally I train three or four days per week; one day on and one day off. On my day off I might do a gym session, Pilates or go for a run. I’m currently coming into the mountain bike season, and for that I’ll train more on the turbo, too.

What gym sessions do you do?

I usually do two gym sessions a week – things like squats and split squats. I've had knee surgery, so single-leg exercises are really beneficial. When I'm not doing a specific gym session, I'm doing core or Pilates work to keep everything healthy and to prevent injuries.

Richards trains three or four days a week and does active recovery © Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Do you train to power?

I have power metres on my bikes, but I couldn't tell you what’s good power and what’s bad power. Sometimes I see on TrainingPeaks [a fitness app] it says: "You hit a new power record", but it doesn't mean anything to me because I think, 'It's probably calibrated wrong'.

I do everything from heart rate and feel – I don't feel like I need a number to go hard; when I need to go hard, I go hard. In terms of which bike I ride on, I’ll ride whichever one’s not broken! But in winter I do most of my rides on the mountain bike – I feel safer, as I find the roads quite dangerous. Over winter I do around 80 percent of my rides on my mountain bike, and then I'll do the odd road ride or the odd cyclo-cross specific ride as well.

I couldn't tell you how many miles I ride a week. I don't even think it would be the same on any given week, as every week is so random.

How much of your training is on the turbo?

If I can, I do my rides outside because it feels more like racing. But in winter, it can be so grim that I'm going to get really cold in my recovery time, so I’d rather do it on the turbo.

In summer, the trails by me can get really busy too, so the turbo is an amazing tool. It can be really beneficial and you can get a lot of effort done in a short amount of time. I never do specific set sessions – I just put on a good Spotify playlist. I get told off by my neighbours because my garage was apparently like a nightclub.

Richards trains twice a week at the gym to build strength© Patrik Lundin/Red Bull Content Pool
Deadlifts and squats are part of Richards' training plan© Patrik Lundin/Red Bull Content Pool

How do you build endurance?

Many mountain bikers do huge rides to build endurance through winter. But when I’m racing cyclo-cross, if I only did massive endurance rides, I’d be completely out the back and hanging during every race. I have my off-season and then within two weeks I'm back racing cross, so I don't really have time to do that endurance block that everyone else does. I still do a lot of miles or, when I can, I'll go to Girona and get in some sunny longer miles. But I'm on my bike every day and that, combined with intensity, is the way I build my endurance.

You live in the Malvern Hills – does that help in terms of training?

It's naturally hilly but not huge mountains, and that suits me because I know that if I puncture I can call my dad and say, 'dad, I’ve punctured' and he'll be with me in 10 minutes. So that makes me feel safe. The local climbs are like a cross-country race – you don't have 45-minute climbs like in the Alps, so when I'm doing efforts it might be five minutes to the top of the hill, and then single track straight off the back of it, and that's exactly what the mountain bike races are like.

Richards is always fully committed whether its training or racing© Patrik Lundin/Red Bull Content Pool
I don't feel like I need a number to go hard – I do everything from heart rate and feel

How do you build your technical riding skills?

I got into cycling late, so for me the emphasis was always to build fitness, but it gets to the stage where fitness isn't enough. You need to have that technical ability. Last year, I was riding back in England in a forested area near Malvern when I saw Katy Curd [a former British four-cross MTB national and European champion] go off a drop. I just went up and said, "Please teach me how to do that!" and since then she's been my technical coach. I feel more confident descending, and even little things transfer to cyclo-cross – whether it's cornering, carrying speed or riding in ruts.

How do you avoid overtraining?

It’s a battle I've had since I started cycling. I'm one of those people that will always do more than less. I've been speaking to the British Cycling psychologist, Rich Hampson, since 2019, and he’s been teaching me "best effort, not max effort’" and that's a big thing for me. When I first started working with him, 85 percent of my rides were in the red or amber – I'd always do more. Since I've been working with him, 90 percent of my rides are the right effort and I don't overtrain as much.

Has working with Rich helped you in other areas of your training?

Before I met him, I suffered bad race anxiety, which I didn't realise at the time. I’d turn up to mountain bike races and from the gun, I’d be sick throughout the entire race – never for cyclo-cross races, only for mountain bike. I was convinced there was something wrong with me. I had every test and nothing came back. I started working with Rich, and since I’ve come back to the sport after my knee injury, I haven't been sick, which blows my mind because it was all in my head without me even realising. I don't think I'd still be racing if I hadn't met Rich.

Richards works with a psychologist to combat race-day anxiety© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Which training sessions do you find most challenging?

It's not a specific session, it's more if I'm coming on my period, I struggle more mentally. I think, 'You're rubbish Evie, you can't do this.' When it's like that my dad will come out with me on his e-bike. He's like my angel when I'm having those days, like a knight in shining armour that just appears and helps me out. I'm quite lucky, really.

Do you crosstrain with other sports?

I love running. It’s the freedom – I can go out and do whatever I want. Sometimes I do some shorter sprint work to help with cross. I don't run downhill, though – I start at the bottom and run up and then walk down, otherwise I'll get told off by my coach!

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