It would be an understatement to say it’s been a big year for Ryan Gilchrist. In his second year racing for Yeti/Shimano EP racing, he not only landed his first E-EDR podium, he also took his first E-EDR win, the overall series, and as an unexpected bonus, took the title of King of Crankworx.
We caught up with Ryan when he touched back down in Australia after racing E-Enduro World Championships in Val di Fassa, Italy.
‘I’m lightly jetlagged,’ he starts, ‘whenever I land and I have a race, I hit the ground and I do everything I need to do to adjust the body clock. When I come home at the end of the season, I’m like “agh I’ll go to sleep whenever I want to” and it affects me for the week. I am still having little naps a week later. But I’m just driving past Albury, so I wouldn’t want to have an hour nap right now.’
While Coffs Harbour is home, we spoke with him en route to Melbourne to catch up with his girlfriend, road cyclist and cross-country racer Elly Nuspan.
Speaking of his epic year, Ryan says, ‘It has been two weeks since I have arrived in Australia and I have had enough time to sit down and think ‘wow that really happened’.
‘It’s my second year racing E-EDR. Going into 2024 I learnt a lot, that’s thanks to the hard work testing with Shimano, a lot of work developing the motor and the whole Yeti-Shimano EP8 160E race weapon.
‘Working with teammate Mick Hannah there was a lot of work from Shimano Japan and Shimano US to dial in the motor’s characteristics and create a race tune that’s capable of winning power stages, individual races and the E-EDR world cup overall.
‘Reflecting back to 2021 when Jared Graves was racing on the unit and not having a lot of success with it, and when I was first signing, people were telling me “you race on a Shimano motor, you don’t stand a chance”. My interpretation of that was “let’s get to work and get on top”. A huge amount of work behind and in front of the scenes with Mick Hannah before I even joined the program. So I jumped on a machine that was already getting close to race-ready to win. And then started putting in the pieces, learned the craft in 2023 and executed in 2024 with a series of wins, podiums and an E-EDR overall win.’
‘When I was first signing, people were telling me “you race on a Shimano motor, you don’t stand a chance”. My interpretation of that was “let’s get to work and get on top”’
Ryan’s year didn’t start with E-EDR, but across the ditch at Crankworx Rotorua.
Opening with the Taniwha Downhill race, Ryan ended up 6th in elite and 8th overall. Ryan says ‘It was a gigantic result; it was almost a career-best result right there. Especially because I was on a Yeti SB160 enduro bike. I won the Otway Odyssey 50km XC race on that bike a few weeks before.’
With a win in the Air DH and Pump Track, Ryan moved into second overall in the King of Crankworx, ‘at this stage I wasn’t incredibly invested in the overall, I knew the Cairns race was going to be a mission to get to, it was sandwiched between two E-EDRs, and the idea of doing a continental circadian-switch with two weeks between three massive races was looking a little bit difficult. But I ended up going to Cairns not out of convenience but out of necessity…my Visa application fell through, so in order for me to stay my 90 days and be a legal human in Europe I had to go back to Australia to take time out, so that ended up becoming mandatory.
‘I was on a phone call with my manager and he was like “well I want you to go to Cairns and once you’re there you’re hitting all four rounds. So in regards to the king of Crankworx overall I want you to acquire it”. So, it quickly became a goal especially after I started seeing myself close to the top of the rankings after the first few events.
‘I did Cairns and got two more wins in the Dual Slalom and Pumptrack and at the end of the week found myself on top of the leaderboard for the king of Crankworx overall.’
With early success at Crankworx this year, it’s easy to forget that Ryan’s primary goal for the 2024 season was E-EDR, which kicked off at the iconic Finale Ligure destination.
‘It looked like it was going to be a great race because of the course, it was very ‘OG Finale’: very pedally, super fast, flowy: right up my alley. A couple of signs that I picked up on that others didn’t was the liaison. I have made it kind-of my business this year to put everything into preparing for these races and making sure I was on top of it as possible, and one of those methods was practicing every liaison and knowing exactly how much time I had between each stage.
‘This is something that is a bit more prevalent in e-bike than regular bike racing, because the liaison is part of a delicate balance between battery consumption, time to the start of the stage and how much of your physical energy you’re draining. So I did the liaisons and was like “wow these things are really really short and are going to burn a lot of battery and in order to have enough battery to finish the loop you’re going to burn a lot of human power” which only advantaged me.
‘The liaison is part of a delicate balance between battery consumption, time to the start of the stage and how much of your physical energy you’re draining’
‘It was also really hot, which was also in my favor. I didn’t think I was going to win because I knew the calibre of the race was really high and last year my best result was sixth. But in the first stage I was third, I was riding well but nothing special. But going into the next few stages and into the tech zone, I was really putting the heat on some of the longer stages. I had a 17-second lead on the entire race, and I put that down to good preparation with my teammate Mick and making sure we really executed well on knowing the course and making it to the stages on time.
‘A lot of people that were caught off guard about how short and tight the liaisons were and also feeling very fit for that first race of the season with the preparation with Jared Graves. I don’t feel like I was going anything special I was just riding my bike and having fun, and I entered the final stage with a 30-second lead, so it was a victory lap to celebrate my first pro World Cup level victory in the E-EDR category’
Not to be a one-trick pony, Ryan followed this up with a third in the second round in Poland. Proving his ride was no fluke, and cementing his name as one to watch this season.
‘I actually had a really, really hard race battling mechanicals and flat tyres, and managed to scrap my way to third and hold onto the leader’s jersey. That meant two from two wins on Shimano motor and Yeti frames so that was amazing. Especially as Yeti had never previously won an E-EDR event before going back-to-back in 2024. It was absolutely massive.’
From here, it wasn’t smooth sailing to the overall, in Leogang he crashed on the first descending stage of the day, ‘it was really wet and slippery and the first descending stage I essentially fell off the side it was on a very steep long traversing section I slipped on a rock and had to kind of rock climb my way back onto the track. Long story short I was 2.5 minutes back one stage into the race and that’s a pretty difficult time to make back up.
‘Conditions were hard, the track was difficult, and after taking a blow like that, I struggled to claw back time, so that race was definitely a low point of my season. A massive low point.’
Not to be perturbed by one rough day, Ryan doubled down, ‘I had a couple of demons with wet racing because like…slippery wet roots, I wasn’t really enjoying it at that time. But then the next race in Haute-Savoie, Combloux in France was set to be exactly the same, if not worse. It was the wet, slippery conditions of Leogang all over again and I was having some battles to overcome.
‘But I started the race in a top ten position and held back a couple of positions maybe into the mid 10s to 20’s and I was like “alright I’ve gotta really pull it out here” and I got some encouraging messages from my team and my friend Luke (Meier-Smith) who had raced the previous day and done really really well (Luke was second behind Ritchie Rude) and basically just needed to focus on the moment and not worry about the past or think about the future and just ride my bike. I proceeded to bring back time every single stage, I got two stage wins on the day, a couple of top fives and managed to bring back a third place in round four.’
That gave him enough points to regain the leader’s jersey, but the success was more than material, ‘coming from the low point of Leogang and having the fears of wet races and just overcoming them thanks to the confidence of my team and my friends, it was really special to get on that podium in France.’
Taking those good vibes across to the altitude of Valais, Switzerland, he says ‘after doing the practice day, I was very excited because the stages were super physical because obviously at high altitude (minimum altitude for this race was 1500m), stages exceeding 10 min, lots of pump sections, pedals sections and really brutal power stages. I did my practice and was like, “this is going to be a good race”. I was in the leader’s jersey and I was feeling fit and strong. Similar to Finale I kept on riding my bike and having fun and I was putting time in places where I didn’t expect to be dominant.
‘Similar to Finale, I was dropping into the last stage with a 30-second lead. It’s a special feeling dropping into the last stage, and you’re half a minute up from everyone in the leader’s jersey.’
From here, many athletes called a mid-season break before the final round at Loudenvielle, France and into E-Enduro World Champs at Val di Fassa, Italy. But with him extending his lead in the King of Crankworx overall at Innsbruck after the Leogang round, Ryan’s mid-season break instead focussed on the iconic Crankworx Whistler.
‘So at that point, I was a hundred and something points in the lead, and Whistler had seven races, so a potential 700 points up for grabs, so I was far from home and hosed. It was really nice to go to Canada because I’m half Canadian and I have family there. I was enjoying some maple syrup and diet soda.’
With a 23rd in the Canadian Open DH, Ryan would have to pull out something special to retain the title of King.
The next race was the Garbanzo DH, ‘I made the controversial decision to race my enduro bike, and Ritchie followed suit, and we went 1-2 on the Garbo DH, a very famous track.’
With a few more points in the bag, he felt pretty good going onto the Air DH, ‘I had won the only other Air DH race that year in Rotorua, winning the A-line Air DH…probably the most famous track in the world. I felt fit. I felt strong, and on practice laps with Richie I felt my speed was good. He was on the hot seat for like half an hour and then Jackson (Frew) dropped in, put him into second, then I dropped and put another 5 seconds into Jackson.
‘That was a really really big win for me. Time-wise, on a 4-minute track, I have no idea where I managed to find 5 seconds; that was crazy.
‘At that point I had a pretty good hold on the king of Crankworx and it was into survival mode for the next few races. After the speed and style I managed to lock up the king of Crankworx overall.’
Of the overall win Ryan says ‘It wasn’t even a goal of mine because I didn’t think it was even possible, but it all came to fruition this year. I had been watching my idol, Sam Blekinsopp’s win it…Tuhoto Ariki…and now to be able to put my name on the top and win the King of Crankworx is super special.’
It sounded exhausting, seven races that included course practice, qualifying and finals, and it could make it easy to limp to the end of the season… ‘Yeah, very easy!’ says Ryan. ‘That’s the first time I had made it to that point in the season without getting sick! There was a lot of sickness going around; people were dropping like flies, and you could tell the season was getting on.
‘In the previous years I had spent time in Canada and enjoyed my off-season there, but I decided this year to go back to Australia, catch up with my family and spend time with my girlfriend in Melbourne and had a couple of days to breathe, collect myself then go back to work on the Jared Graves training program. That means staying on top of the fitness, back on the road rides, a lot of sprint training and getting bike time. But getting a lot of bike time in the wet was also important; it was quite a wet season. So being able to ride your bike in the wet is really important and quite a hard thing to stay on top of in Australia, so I was riding my bike rain, hail and shine.
‘Being able to ride your bike in the wet is really important and quite a hard thing to stay on top of in Australia’
With the final E-EDR round and World Championships looming, ‘I went over to Loudenvielle a week ahead to acclimatise and get over jet lag. I have kind of had demons there in the past, I have had two shocking results there, and it was likely to tie up the overall there, of all places. The pressure was on and I was really stressed out.
‘It was a two-horse race. It was myself and Canyon rider Manuel Soares Jose Borges. We were the only two that could win it, so I was basically marking him all day. Riding my own race, but also keeping in mind what he was getting up to. The conditions were treacherous, probably some of the worst conditions I have ever ridden a bike …it was giving me a hard race. I made my way through; I stayed upright, which I think was the most important thing. I made it to the middle of the day, equal or maybe slightly in front of Jose, which was really the goal for me, just to mark him.
‘Going into the last few stages, I managed to keep the gap nice and close, and unfortunately, he had a mechanical in the final stage, so I got to do kind of a chill lap on the last stage and kind of soak it all in because barring tragedy I had basically secured the overall there and then. So I got the finish, covered in mud, and secured the overall. It was a really special day. Yeti / Shimano has invested so much in this program and having started this year without having even won a race, let alone winning the overall.
‘It doesn’t get any better than that. Yeti did what they do and dominated.’
So with such a successful year, would Ryan be happy with his fourth in Enduro World champs this year? He says ‘I knew I was in form and I had the ability to win a race. Last year my best race was in Val di Fassa. Unfortunately the conditions kind of had other plans. It snowed maybe a foot and a half, and the tracks were stripped back to the slipperiest, most unrideable conditions you could ever imagine. Three days before the competition myself and Ritchie both came down with a vomit bug, so 24 hours of vomiting definitely didn’t help things.
‘At that point going into the practice day still feeling really spewy and going into the race day not 100% it would have been too easy just to check out. And I was really forcing myself to not just think “wow you’ve won the overall and you have nothing to prove so coast your way to the end of the season” but I wasn’t really capable of doing that I had to give it one last shot and give it everything I had.
‘I managed to be in the top three on every single power stage and win one. And with that strong power stage result, then consolidating the final stage, I finished fourth in the world, one step off the podium. Considering how the week and day started and how the season ended, 4th place is actually a dream come true. Especially in conditions like that where I am typically not competitive. I am amazed and shocked and proud to do it in the Yeti colours and Australian jersey.’
‘Considering how the week and day started and how the season ended, 4th place at World Championships is actually a dream come true.’
Of his year and support Ryan says, ‘It’s a team sport it comes down to the support in my corner, me winning the races is only the icing on the cake. It’s the preparation and execution. Yeti is one of the most dominant teams to ever exist which means we have a huge amount of knowledge in the corner. It’s about existing with open ears and riding with them (Hannah, Graves and Rude), learning from them and picking up on little bits here and there it’s a wealth of knowledge that I need to capitalise on and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be using every ounce of information to my advantage.
‘I think definitely a key to my success this year is attention to detail. That attention to detail has enhanced or maybe inspired by Yeti, Mick and Ritchie because there’s so much ground and time to be gained by total dedication, and that’s kind of what Yeti is enabling me to be a full-time athlete. I am a firm believer that enduro is a sport where riders get better with time, and the more years you compete under pressure and at high intensity, the better you get. The best riders in the sport are 30, not 20.’
Ryan responds to critics saying that e-bike racing is ‘easy’, ‘because you’re on a motorised bike, like yeah you can say that it might be easy to do the same speed, but we are going further, higher and carrying a heavier machine. The numbers don’t lie!
‘One of Jared’s days for me was 6hr moving time on two batteries, so over 4000m climbing, 13 laps of my local hill and 55 minutes of descending. I don’t think that would be very possible on a regular bike.’
Ryan has undoubtedly had a breakout year in 2024. With so many different areas of talent, as well as changes occurring to the EDR World Cup, Ryan assures me his future is on the e-bike ‘I plan on continuing racing for Yeti in the future. The exact details of my calendar are to be confirmed. But I am quite confident it’s going to be done in Turquoise.’
In the meantime, it’s all about resetting after a huge year in 2024. Ryan plans on ‘spending some time at home, spending time with my girlfriend and dog and spending some time in the countryside, listening to the Australian songbirds.’
