My name is Beto and today I want to tell you the story of a really good friend of mine that passed away recently.
His name is William Canizalez, but was better known as Bimbo, and he was responsible for introducing downhill in El Salvador and other central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras. He also created a link between these countries in order for the sport to grow in this part of the world, he dedicated 13 years of his life to this sport, and this is his story.
Story inside,
*Editor's note: Beto does not speak English as a first language, so some grammatical errors are to be expected in the telling of this story*Bimbo first started to practice MTB in the year of 1998. MTB was a sport that was just starting in El Salvador at his time, but his early beginning he had and idea of changing the sport into something more than just the regular XC, trying to follow this desire he first created "Rin-Tin" that was the first official bike team of El Salvador, the group of friends went out every saturday afternoon to ride in the local trails. But Bimbo was in the constant search for trails that were every time faster and steeper. What this caused Rin-tin to divide into two main groups, the XC guys and the DH guys.
At this time the sport was trying to find it self as it grew more into the free-ride scene as each time Bimbo and his group where searching the biggest drop, or the fastest trail, but this where not overall technical they were most flat out speed. of course the bikes that were used in this time were not close to a DH bike, most of them were hard-tails, and if had a 100mm fork you were lucky.
As time move on each time more and more people were attracted to this new sport, but the problem was that the bike shops had no interest in buying DH bikes due the market was still too small, so if you wanted to have a DH bike you will have to buy it from the US, this caused the sport to have a slow progression. 5 years after the start of Bimbo into MTB he had the first DH bike in El Salvador, this was a Kona Stinky and in this time it just blew people minds when seeing the long travel bike.
Each time Bimbo was trying to make an effort so more people could get into the sport, as El Salvador had a really reduced number of people that were riding DH, he focused on Guatemala, as the sport was a little but stronger in this place, some races were made, and more and more tracks came up each time , of course this catch the attention of more people and slowly the sports started to gain strength in El Salvador. Around 2004-2005 the first DH bikes were sold by a bike store in El Salvador, and this was the Giant DH One. Bimbo keep insisting to the bike stores in bringing more DH bikes and all his effort payed off, Bicimania a local Bike shop started bringing DH bike to El Salvador.
As bikes came people started to but them and suddenly a small group of friends dedicated to ride DH, the big drops were left behind and each time more difficult trails were discovered, this trails started to be more technical. over two years the sport grew and each time more young people were attracted by it. In 2007 Bimbo introduced the former DHES (Downhill El Salvador) and some races started to be organized. Always Bimbo having the lead the Kona was replaced by an Azonic Eliminator, with Manitou Dorado fork, and simply was the best of the best. 2007 was an important year for DH in El Salvador there was an important race witch attracted riders from Guatemala and Honduras, Bimbo staying up in the nights manage to organized an really good event.
In 2008, 3 different races were organized by Bimbo and the first official track was made in a local Eco-park this proper DH course consisted of 2 Km of trails, each trails was technical and also the course consisted of 2 main jumps, and 3 smaller jumps, the level achieved by the riders was exceptional and the course was even taken into consideration for an Central American Race. of course all this wouldn't have been possible without all the hard work of Bimbo
All of Bimbo hard work was paying off and the sport had chosen its own direction, regardless Bimbo each time kept on pushing the limit of what could been made on a bike, the sport moved from being only of 10 members to having almost 200 in 2008. Bimbo fighted to have more sponsorship for the events and he manage to have Redbull, all the local bike shops, Tigo, Gatorade, and even some local hotels. At this point as the sport grew, Bimbo changed the Azonic for a Santa cruz V-10, and as normall he had the best bike in the country.
2009 was the best year an event was organized that was the best bike event that Central America have seen till this point. over 250 riders races form countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. the event was a total success and Bimbo was as happy as never, the DH was an official spot in El Salvador, with the attention of the media and more. Also Bimbo encouraged DHES riders to go and race in Guatemala and Honduras and Salvadorian rides races 5 different events in this countries. DHES was put high and was a DH group that was no longer taken as a joke.
In 2010 6 Salvadorian riders want and represented there country, ( 3 Elite, 2 Juniors, 1 Girl) the sport was huge now and Bimbo was really proud of it, sadly he could not longer see the Pam-Am he was already sick, as he was discovered Cancer, trying to fight against it , he could no longer resist and he was taken away from us this past week. He might no be with us now, but his legacy still remains, all the work he did for this sport will stay and it growing at a rate that it can not be stopped, we now have kids that are into the sport since they are 6 years and all this could not be possible without Bimbo dedication to the sport that he loved, He lived for DH and he will live in our rides for life
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thank you for being such a good teacher
for being such a good friend..
El Salvador thanked you for giving us this beautiful sport
will live forever in our hearts ... my friend thanks for everything
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R.I.P. Bimbo,
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