Mar 1, 2013
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I once again had the opportunity to leave the cold of Boston's frigid climate in the middle of February and board a plane to Chile for the Red Bull Valparaiso Cerro Abajo. This was my 3rd time attending, and the 11th year for the race, and it get's bigger and more crazy every year. The VCA is hands down my favorite event to go shoot, despite how compacted and crazy the race-day shooting ends up being. Snaking a course through the city streets or literally on top of families doorsteps means the VCA team has to do a lot of ramp prep off-site and can't actually start to put things into place until Saturday afternoon, with many of the workers welding some features late into the night. Come race day, they will have to setup, prep, and fine tune the course & features within hours, which is no easy feat when you have 6000 ft of metal riot fencing to install through busy streets and neighborhoods. Not to mention they completely shut down one of the busiest plazas in Valparaiso for the finish line! With the addition of Red Bull as the title sponsor, I knew that crowds would be even larger, which was great to see, but for shooting it meant squeezing my way through tight openings, herds of people, and scaling the occasional 6' riot fence with 2 cameras and a huge bag...not an easy task.
The heroes of this race are Victor and his amazing team of over 150 workers who work for many days straight getting this race together in time. They have a tough logistical task to make this race run smoothly but they always deliver a great show for the 15k+ fans that show up! Thanks again to everyone in Valpo for once again giving me the opportunity to experience the South American hospitality and the most insane race action.
Special thanks to the following for additional footage:
Filip Polc
Marcelo Gutierrez
Chris Van Dine
The VCA media team
Channel 7 News Perth
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106 Comments
In Urban races you have to deal with different bike setup (stiff suspension, different tire choice, etc), navigating stairsets and pavement that provides not much traction, all while riding in an environment that is totally different than most are used to, where you have telephone poles, animals, tight areas barely wider than bars, and not to mention people to worry about. The consequences of crashing at an Urban race ARE higher IMO, hence why I think a lot of World Cup guys get a bit sketched out doing it for the first time.
How ever most of these urban downhill races are more gnarly than on a world cup track & since all these pro's are hitting these stuff soo fast,you don't whanna crash on these tricky sections like the steep stairs,narrow parts that are not much wider than your handle bars when going 60km/h & the huge gaps that come out of no where.Where have you seen more intense spectators like these at a world cup event? i think for these pro's it must be awesome experience riding for 25,000 spectators that come to watch these riders shred in their city.
nuff said...
ps: viva Chile mierda!!!
jamessmurthwaitedh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/spaces-places-and-urban-downhill-races.html
As to which is more gnarly, I would have to give the nod to Valpo. Yes, Val di Sole and Val di Sere(sp?) are very gnarly tracks, most beginner downhill riders would probably not be able to descend these tracks safely. WC racing is gnarly, and very dangerous. I think one of the most dangerous and skill oriented sports out there. Arguably just as dangerous as motocross and Supercross. People have paralyzed themselves, some have died. You can't compare Valpo and the WC Circuit. The only similarity they share is the fact that they are both DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKE RACES. On that basis alone, comparing the consequences of RACING your DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKE down ANY WC Circuit track, to the consequences of RACING your DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKE down Valpo.... well there is no comparison. The most dangerous things you encounter on a WC Circuit is speed, trees, and/or rocks. At Valpo, you do reach WC speed, and you do see some trees/rocks in addition to enormous amounts of concrete and metal rails. And then you add in no traction, huge blind jumps, animals, fans so close they can touch you, and barely any practice time? Any normal person without a mental disability and vision can plainly see that Valpo is the more dangerous situation.
That's how we roll
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GxwVXp0uEIg
vimeo.com/60499726
VIVA CRT!
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