Film - The Salvadorian Way - Online Premiere

Oct 24, 2013 at 6:40
by SheGNARnigans  
Film - The Salvadorian Way

by SheGNARnigans
Views: 46,131    Faves: 195    Comments: 22



bigquotesWe take the bicycle for granted. We have great days, we have not so great days. For a Salvadorian, the bicycle is life. For some, a necessity, for others an escape. Not just for the mind, but for the soul of its user. Through the dreams of a dedicated group of riders, biking is quickly becoming their saviour from the many troubles clouding this beautiful country. This film reveals the real reason they ride. - Mike Gamble


Last April we spent 3 weeks filming in and around San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. Being home to nearly 6.3million people, it's the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. Our plan was to meet up with local riders and discover new & un-documented trails and generally explore a new country with our bikes.

Taking a well needed break from the heat.
  Roberto Melendez (EL Gatto) is the main man developing trails within Eco Parque El Espino.

Have bike will ride. No one is genre specific here. Its all about the spirit.
  No one cares what you ride, as long as you ride with a smile.

Filming the locals Gatto amp Bobby in El Salvador
  Local shredders, El Gatto and Bobby Torres putting in some dedicated time for our cameras.

photo
  The Team (L-R) - Danny 'carlo' Martins, Steve Storey, Michael Sousa, Roberto Melendez, Ben Shaw, Jose Andres Sosa, Justa Jeskova, Javier Playtez and Mike Gamble.

photo
  Meeting Javier on the trails. His trusty steed, a '99 Giant ATX 1 DH Team.

Roadside bike repair shop.
  Reparation de bicicleta - One of many roadside bike repair shops.

Papaya lodge our first accommodation for the trip.
  If you want to avoid baggage charges, be aware you'll spend 5 hours trying to re-build your bike.

photo
  When you're not riding, you're surfing. Steve Storey taking advantage of some down-time.

The jungle has many faces.
  The jungle has many different faces.

Riding a new jungle trail in El Salvador
  Steve Storey picking his line through the jungle.

Sunset at Punta Elephante. The best accommodation amp hosts a group of bikers could ask for.
  One of the many sunsets enjoyed at Punta Elephante. We can't thank Herbert and his family enough. They accommodated and welcomed us like family. Truly a paradise in paradise.


This journey opened up a new chapter in our book. How about you? There are many adventures to be had and more stories to discover.

Follow our adventures here:
SheGNARnigans
Mike Gamble Media
Justa Jeskova Photography

Special thanks to:
Royal Racing
Ride 100%
Innate Gear
North Shore Billet
Punta Elephante Guest House

Music:
Intro - Sam Robert - Bridge to Nowhere
Trail segment - C2C - Down the Road
DH segment - C2C - The Cell

Author Info:
SheGNARnigans avatar

Member since Oct 25, 2011
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77 Comments
  • 62 1
 thanks for everything!!! so happy to see that you like our little piece of heaven
  • 13 1
 its great to see the sport in places we least expect it . amazing !
  • 5 0
 Exactly what I was thinking. Pretty rad seeing it means so much to people. And dayum, those downhill lines looked gnarly!
  • 7 1
 It was an incredible adventure and you all couldn't have been any kinder to us. We really appreciate the time you spent showing us around. See you next year.
  • 13 0
 we will wait for you guys next year to continue shredding some trails, thanks for taking your time and do such and amazing video about a country that doesn't exist in the mountain biking world and show the entire world that EL SALVADOR is a great place to live, have fun and most important TO RIDE BIKES!!!!!! next year will be great
  • 7 0
 Don't care saying this, the ATX is still sexy!
  • 4 0
 I recently spent a month in El Salvador, unfortunately without my bike. Definitely my favorite country in Central America. I was pleasantly surprised and how different it felt from the other countries in the the region. Next time I come visit, I will definitely bring my bike.
  • 2 0
 Next time you come to El Salvador send my a message to arrange something if you like. So you can expirience how the mountain biking community is here
  • 3 0
 open a trail centre , you would make some serious money !!!
  • 7 0
 Haha sounds good. But we dont ride to make money, we ride simply because we love bikes
  • 2 0
 in all seriousness , if you get some backing , if you made a trail centre this would help the community and open peoples eyes to the opportunities available . it would create a crazy cash flow for the village too Smile
  • 2 0
 yeah i know. the main place where we ride its actually and eco park. and they have gave us permission to build tracks. so its not run by cyclists but we have lots of freedom to make a good bike park there. you can go and do some xc, all mountain, dh or if you like you can also go jog. you can go and do whatever you like there. and the entree fee is just 1 dollar. there are some pretty good natural trails and there are also the trails we build
  • 21 0
 Oh man, a Giant ATX 1! I wanted one of them for so long...still absolutely gorgeous
  • 3 0
 Check out my current build ;-)
www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=239185
  • 3 0
 That's awesome! Love those bikes!
  • 2 0
 @heavyp - that build is great, especially those boxxers; takes me back!
  • 4 0
 Javier is an amazing kid. He has more fun than any of us would on our high end race bikes. We should all aspire to be more like him! Definitely learned a lot from him. He rips too!
  • 1 0
 ever thought of taking one of those frames and putting stupidly high tech components on it ? e.g. hydrolic gearing , avid xo cranks , enve wheels , chris kings ... etc
  • 1 0
 @prenderville It prob would not work I know they had some big riders on the world cup circuit back in the day but the Giant ATX DH One frames snapped all the time even mine is snapped and I sourced a new rear end for it. The wishbone between the 2 chainstays just being the bottom bracket were prone to cracking often, so new stronger components would probably destroy the bike.
  • 18 0
 WHY ARE ALL THE VIDEOS LATELY SO AMAZING
  • 8 0
 Awesome video man , great to see people in all sorts of situations and locations can also get their slice of escapism and buzz.
  • 2 0
 Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
-Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
this quote perfectly describes our sport
  • 8 1
 I have a few older bikes that are still pretty good, Anyone know how I good donate them to some young rippers in El Salvador?
  • 2 0
 I'm from Guatemala (neighbor to El Salvador) and now live in the states, but I did not know the scene was growing as much down there....I am stoked to see Central America being featured as a riding destination....The mountains that run through Central America (Sierra Madre) are full of trails that are ripe for the taking, and the people are amazing, go check it out! Excellent video!
  • 2 0
 Hey George, There is still so much to discover. Our next year trip will focus on riding in Guatemala and other countries in Central America. We had such an amazing time in El Salvador that we decided to go back next year and explore this part of the world a little bit more.
  • 2 0
 Exactly. This is just the beginning for us. We'll be delving a little deeper when we return. An even bigger and better trip back in the not so distant future Wink
  • 5 0
 Really appreciate all the work that went into this video, and really stoked for El Salvador and there growing MTB scene.
  • 3 0
 I loved watching this awesome vid! What a nice place el Salvador is.. dispite their problems, on the search for distraction they end up doing the greatest sports in the world!! Would love to ride there one day...
  • 4 1
 So stoked to see this coming from my birth country. Such a great depiction of the beauty El Salvador has to offer. Dreaming of the day I get to go back and ride there.
  • 4 0
 I road in Nicaragua. It was so killer. I know where my next stop is. Or my future place of residence.
  • 1 0
 Come visit you wont be dissapointed, we can show you around its our pleasure.
  • 3 0
 Props to our Central American friends from El Salvador!!!! awesome video!!! awesome riding!!! awesome trail work!!!!! PURA VIDA!!!!!!
  • 4 0
 Only in El Salvador you can go for a surf sesh and come back to the city and ride in one day.
  • 1 0
 Not true...Costa Rica too hahaha!!!!! Central America rules!!!
  • 1 0
 Actually you can do that in British columbia too , plus you could go skiing or boarding a that night.. Actually once I went did nice class 4 whitewater , went rollerblading around stanley park seawall then up snowboarding that night on Mt cyprus..
  • 1 0
 great story some people with a real dream they will get what they want am sure about that and the footage is fantastic.good luck El Gatto and his team am following this all the way.
  • 1 0
 I work with a crew from El Salvador. They teach me Spanish. They work in Canada to support their families back home. I ask them. What is it like in El Salvador?
I have an idea now. Thanks!
  • 1 0
 I may in the Honduras/El Salvador area in January- Is there any Mountain bike rental options in San Salvador or neighboring areas?
  • 2 0
 Get in touch with - ProBikes El Salvador. They may have some, we found it more suited to take our own as the bike rental business isn't really that big.
  • 3 0
 Great film hope to see more turist on our trail.
  • 3 0
 well done guys!! looks like such a rad time!!! Smile
  • 3 0
 vodSmile
  • 3 0
 That wave.
  • 1 0
 One of the best waves of my life. And this was only the middle section of a nice, long, pointbreak! Pretty lucky to do this in the morning and rip on our bikes the rest of the day.
  • 3 0
 Sounds like a good trip to me. Surf, eat, ride, repeat.
  • 2 0
 asta al viejo filiberto dubon comenoños por un par de sgundos Lmao
  • 2 0
 la proxima vez que vengo a centro america vengo con bici de DH!
  • 1 0
 Nice to see a bit of El Salvador. Pinkbike: when's the Taxco coverage coming!?
  • 2 0
 Props for this -taking my bike next time I go back home
  • 1 0
 Oh really Nice made us realize we complaint a lot these kid make it with 20 years old bike
  • 2 0
 Bien!! Esta increible!! Buenas vibras desde Ecuador!!!
  • 2 0
 VALLALOOOOOO MUY BUENO MIS BROTHERS ROCK AND ROLL
  • 1 0
 Great video and sick editing man! Really sums up why we ride!
  • 1 0
 Anyone knows the song at the end of the video?
  • 1 0
 Cut to Black - Lemaitre Smile
  • 1 0
 how about the song when they first start riding?
  • 2 0
 Great film!!!!
  • 2 1
 Anyone notice the guy had one shin guard
  • 1 0
 he was only using one shin guard because he had a knee injury on the other leg, and those guards that cover shin and knee were too tight and hurt him. so he has to use 2 different knee guards
  • 2 0
 Fair enough
  • 1 0
 great video local super Smile Smile Smile
  • 1 0
 I raced '99 Giant ATX 1 DH Team, this bike stil got it.
  • 1 0
 dude at 8:08 should be featured on "fails for your fridays". Great video!
  • 2 0
 Great job you guys!
  • 2 0
 Song starting at 7:30?
  • 1 0
 Amazing video shows the beauty of our country.
  • 1 0
 awesome i miss my coutry end ride around sonsonate
  • 1 0
 lest go do voncan izalco tha be f***** sick
  • 1 0
 Next on the list! Gonna happen Wink almost happened on this trip
  • 1 0
 surfing and bike, the best combination
  • 1 0
 someone buy these guys a bike pad!!
  • 1 0
 amazing Movie!!!
  • 1 0
 bitchin.....The End
  • 1 0
 That was fantastic!
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