TALKING WITH BJORN RILEY AND EMILLY JOHNSTON

Emily Johnston (left) and Bjorn Riley (right) will both be racing for Scott-SRAM in 2025 and for the foreseeable future.

Earlier today, SCOTT-SRAM revealed that American Bjorn Riley and Canadian Emilly Johnston are the newest members of the SCOTT-SRAM mountain bike team. (https://mbaction.com/emilly-johnston-and-bjorn-riley-will-race-their-first-elite-year-in-scott-sram-colors/)

SCOTT-SRAM shared the following interviews with the riders to introduce them to the world. Bjorn Riley

Q&A with Bjorn Riley

2025 will be your first year in the elite category coming from the U23. What are you goals for the first elite season?

The main goal is just getting comfortable in the elite field. And getting the respect of the older riders. I’m excited to prove myself and show them I’m capable of some podiums. And I think I am. This first year is going to be the chance to kind of earn my spot in the elites as a respected rider. So they know I’m a good wheel to follow, and then we can all work cohesively together. And then I can hopefully beat them.

Which World Cup track is your favorite, and why?

Les Gets because the track suits me the best based off the consistent grade of the climbs. It’s the place I’ve done always the best at. And it suits me super well.

If Les Gets is going to be on the schedule this season, I want to really go crazy fast there. I would like to podium, that would be the big stretch goal. Obviously, I think a top ten is the main goal for me there. But I know if I’m on a really, really good day, I’m capable of a lot. 

What do you do to maintain your ride-life balance? What hobbies do you have outside of the sport to help maintain this balance?

What I do to maintain my mental state in my ride-life balance is through my art. I ride in the morning and I do art in the afternoon and it keeps my mind at ease. When I’m doing art, I’m thinking about biking.

When I’m biking, I’m thinking about art. So they really work well together. 

Now that you’re part of an elite team with established riders, what do you think you can learn from them? And what does it mean to you to be alongside some of the biggest stars of the sport?

I think having Andri, Nino, and Filippo all on the same team, there’s so many things I can learn that are unique to each person. I think Andri, it’s interesting to think he’s one of the older guys on the team and he’s always looking to give me a helping hand on anything on and off the bike. So I feel like I’m really, really excited just to learn the super random, eclectic things Andri knows.

And obviously for Nino, I mean he’s the greatest rider to ever be, I guess you could say, in the realm of World Cup XC racing. So I just want to learn how I could be one of those people, or not one of those but be one of the greats too. And then from Filippo, I just want to learn how he’s so mentally strong. He’s been through so many hardships, but he always still comes out on top.

I just want to feed off their energy and go bar to bar with all three of them. Just race hard, train hard together, and hopefully we can build into the best riders we can be.

What would you say is your greatest strength as an athlete?

I’d say probably on the bike, I think my creativity. I feel like because I create a lot of stuff outside of cycling, that actually translates or I guess influences the way I ride my bike. I’m always looking for small little side hits on the side of the road or random trails that probably are horrible.

But I think the idea that I could connect this puzzle piece to another big puzzle I’ve already kind of connected is super, super cool. So, I’d say my main strength is my creativity on the bike. 

Do you have any pre-race rituals that help you focus?

I just listen to what I call German techno music. And I just absolutely go ham with that stuff, take 200mg of caffeine and lock in for the race.

I guess, if anything, I just think about how fortunate I am to race my bike for my living. I just think about it, it doesn’t matter what place I come in, but it matters if I can push as hard as I could. That always kind of sets me into this, there’s no pressure on myself.

After that I’m always pretty relaxed. 

What are your words to live by / Personal mantra ?     

My new one is, I’ll keep pedalling until I die. Because I was thinking about it, when I’m really cracked after a super hard, I’m at the end of a block. And I have one more set of intervals to do, and I don’t think I can do it. I just think in my head, I’ll either die trying, or I’m going to finish them. 

But really, my mantra is, “there’s no light without the dark”.

What does “No Shortcuts” mean to you   ?  

If you go hard in training, the race isn’t even going to be the hard part of it. 

You’ve already done the hardest thing. You go out and train for six hours almost every day. The race, that’s going to be easy.

 

What are three things you always pack?  

My sketchbook, my iPad, and my AirPods. 

 

How do you like to relax?       

Drawing.

 

What’s your favorite place to ride?

Crested Butte…or Girona. 

Bjorn and Emily will both be racing in the Elite ranks in 2025. 

Emily Johnston

Q&A with Emilly Johnston

2025 will be your first year in the elite category coming from the U23. What are you goals for the first elite season?

I want to get stuck in with the best in the elite field. I’d love to be racing consistently in the top 20 and achieve some top 15 and top 10 finishes. 

Mainly, though, my goal is to be consistent and improve throughout the whole year while learning as much as I can from the team, I’m so lucky to be surrounded by the best athletes and staff in the world! 

Which World Cup track is your favorite, and why?

I love to race in Araxa and MSA [Mont-Sainte-Anne]. In Brazil, the course with all the jumps and fans is just too good, it always gets me so stoked. MSA is just so technical with great climbs, and racing in Canada for me is always super special. 

What do you do to maintain your ride-life balance? What hobbies do you have outside of the sport to help maintain this balance?

I love fly fishing, baking, reading, and knitting and ski touring when I get the chance! I think just having a variety of things I like to do outside of riding really helps me keep grounded and excited to ride! 

Now that you’re part of an elite team with established riders, what do you think you can learn from them? And what does it mean to you to be alongside some of the biggest stars of the sport?

Really it’s a dream come true, this whole year, opportunity, just everything. I think joining SCOTT is something I never even really believed would be an option, so to spend my first year as an elite in this team surrounded by the best in the sport is truly mind-blowing for me. There is so much that I can learn from everyone on the team and I’m just beyond excited for everything. The way races are approached, tactics, just really everything around training and racing and life! I feel there is space for me to learn and grow in so many aspects and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to learn it alongside the best in the world! 

What would you say is your greatest strength as an athlete?

I think that I really love to suffer on the bike. I want to see how far I can push myself and I love that feeling of giving it your all. I also think technical stuff and trying to send the downs a bit would be a strength of mine! 

Do you have any pre-race rituals that help you focus?

The night before I will always have drawn a colour-coded map of the course highlighting key sections and my race plan. But right before the race I always take 5 minutes of still-point (meditation) to focus on my breathing and get to my race state. 

What are your words to live by / Personal mantra ?     

Smile and enjoy the battle! 

 

What does “No Shortcuts” mean to you   ?  

Not skipping out on the little details! Doing your best and doing it right and to the fullest. 

 

What are three things you always pack?  

A book, my favourite pen, and my bike, haha. But maybe nail polish or something fun like that for the races to give you something chilled to take your mind off the event. 

 

How do you like to relax?       

I love to bake and read! When I’m home and get the chance, I love to go out fishing. Basically most of my hobbies outside of cycling just help me chill and relax. I also love to go to cafes or farm markets or chuck on a vinyl and relax. 

 

What’s your favorite place to ride?

Home! I love riding in BC, I think we truly have the best riding in the world. I know I’m partial as it is home but I love it. 

In general though, everywhere we get to see is mind-blowing, to experience and travel the world on my bike is the best way I could imagine living. I’m just so grateful to get to see so many incredible places and meet such amazing people.