The way we race in Colombia!

Aug 10, 2011 at 8:26
by Pablo Mazuera  
LOCAL LIFT
Local Lift

Juan Valdez must be around with Conchita, walking the narrow trails of the Andes where we use to ride bikes, caring for the coffee that you will enjoy some day.

Follow me......I ll show you some lines
Follow me...I'll show you some lines!

This is Colombia, a beautiful country in the tropics, located in the Andes, the world's longest continental mountain range. Its geography is quite diverse, ranging from tropical coastal areas and rainforests to rugged mountainous terrain, and we take advantage of that, we use the same trails that farmers do to transport coffee and many other products they grow. Guys like the "Tacky Bros" or "Chigüiro" (local track builders) arrange these trails building jumps, rock gardens, and doing more stuff. Thanks to them these trails are our race tracks, sometimes more exciting than any others.

We live in a third world country with a constant development, we don't have bike parks with lift access, great race prices, or professional racing teams with decent budgets. We can’t afford expensive bikes, gear, protections…but we do ride a lot, we enjoy it the same way as you do, and maybe even more. We have got great riders like Marcelo Gutierrez, Mauricio Estrada, and a lot of kids you may see around in the future…

Future rider
Future champion

This past weekend we had a Downhill fest with lots of young riders, girls and boys, we had a great time and we want to share it with you. Enjoy the Photos…


YES ITS LAUGHING AT YOU
Yes it's laughing at you!
Tacky build the trails and rides too
Tacky builds the trails and rides too
The coffee land
The coffee land
GIRLS PODIUM
Girl's Podium
PRO PODIUM
PRO #1 Mauricio Estrada, #2 Juan Orrego, #3 Rafael Gutierrez (Marcelos brother)
Mauricio Estrada the fastest rider in Colombia.
Mauricio Estrada, the fastest rider in Colombia.
Another kind of lift
Another kind of lift
Local Rider Oscar Gonzalez
Local Rider, Oscar Gonzalez
This is a local prototype
This is a local prototype
This guy is called the penguin he sells ice creams.
The penguin, he sells delicious ice creams
Hydration
Hydration
Some energy for a long race
Some energy for a long race...
Excuse me
Excuse me...
Local kids
Local kids
Local Press
Local Press

-Pablo Mazuera
Photographer and Journalist
pablomazuera@mezuena.com

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100 Comments

  • 27 2
 That bus/truck thing in the first photo looks awesome.

Also very sad to note that the racing scene in Colombia is better than it is where I live haha
  • 8 1
 it's called a chiva Wink

also it's missing pics that show the friendship and how easy going most racers are here, helping new riders to find lines and stuff tup
  • 5 1
 na This is a local prototype yellow hardtail thing looks sick as fuck wouldnt mind have a frame like that with a 1.5 headtube thought
  • 1 1
 +1 that prototype seems great!
  • 5 2
 Is it just me or is the first sentence of the article repeated twice, is it just me or is the first sentence of the article repeated twice?
  • 1 1
 Oh wait, repeated once. . . . .
  • 2 0
 Wow. I would be soo pissed if a donkey cut me off in my race run. Wink Looks like a really fun filled race scene going on. Maybe I'll have to come down and check it out..
  • 12 1
 Good story. It's good hearing about the riding and racing scenes far from the "hotspots" of mountain biking in the US and Canada. It's a good reminder that mountain biking doesn't just happen at world cups and bike parks, and that despite the difficulties they may have (like Columbia does) people still love shredding dirt on bikes. Awesome.
  • 5 1
 Thanks for the comment about our country, just remember one detail: it is called Colombia, not Columbia.
  • 3 1
 My bad Razz
  • 1 0
 No worries, we understand that
  • 11 1
 some of them do have expensive bikes. V10c and M9!! lol props for riding that kind of mountains without almost any kind of lift.
  • 1 1
 and new trek session
  • 4 1
 the pimpest bikes you `ll see in brazil, chile.... ppl here spend a lot of money on bikes cause we just love bikes and ride then! ehehehehehe
  • 10 6
 hahaha or because its some kind of Escobar´s niece Wink
  • 1 2
 heheh Razz
  • 2 1
 no no no, in brazil politician kids... hehehehhe
  • 8 1
 here some people have awesome bikes, but is most common bikes are the hardtail. The people how have really good bikes are profecionals or sponsored bikers. You are welcome to Colombia to have a nice ride and meet meny people who like downhill.
  • 1 1
 thanks man! =]
  • 1 0
 Q paso hermano era una broma, como en todos lados hay de todo aca en españa tambien hay gente que baja con hardtail y pros con sponsors, pero cuando alla se ve una bici del año de dh es como dice djbruno politicos o relacionados...........en la buena
  • 1 0
 eso pasa normalmente en los blogs, a veces es dificil darse cuenta cuando la gente habla seriamente o cuando es en broma....saludos.......
  • 2 0
 Yeah , sorry if i insulted anyone ... my bad Blank Stare
  • 2 0
 dont worry be happy i just tell the true,
  • 3 0
 Man!! Excellent article!! Nice to see our neighbors riding with the TOP guys in the WC scene.. South America has the most amazing landscape for DH.. Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, any country will ROCk your world!! Saludos desd Ecuador!!
  • 3 0
 i think this is a different article about dh racing, isnt about the type of bikes we have, isnt about drugs, potitics or that kind of stuff... this article is about the way we love to ride our mountains... mountanis that every dh racer or biker in generly will love to ride, just imagine to have a downhill trail that take you 10 minuts of full adrenaline and get to the botom of the mountain and drink not redbull, not monster energy... just the best coffe in the wolrd.... this is a nice article different and fun!!! NICE BUDDY!!!!!!!!!!
  • 4 1
 UN EXCELENTE FESTIVAL DE DOWNHILL EN HOMENAJE A JORGE BARAHONA "RUNCHO" EN EL LIBANO TOLIMA( COLOMBIA) CIUDAD DE VARIEDAD CAFETERA Y CAMINOS VEREDALES CONVERTIDOS EN LAS MEJORES PISTAS DE DH.
  • 3 1
 Muy buena nota!! El descenso parece mas avanzado en Colombia que en Argentina, me encantaría ir a andar unos días por allá.

Lo que mas destaco de la nota es como le llama la atención a la gente de otros países, anglosajones por ejemplo, como "existe" el dh en sudamerica. LOS LATINOS AMAMOS ÉSTE DEPORTE COMO NADIE EN EL MUNDO!
  • 4 2
 Read: "We live in a third world country with a constant development"

Look at the bikes and gear they have. It doesn't make sense... But it's awesome they choose riding above more vital stuff.
  • 2 1
 I also thought that, there is a v-10 carbon, a v-10 not carbon a trek 88 and a lot more. those bikes are just a dream for me.
  • 2 1
 Too much generalization here. Don't be so first world! Smile Your country has people who ride good bike and not so good bikes, our country has people who ride good bikes and not so good bikes. Not does it matter. A ride's a ride.
  • 4 1
 Nice story, Colombia is a great country, I raced a Panamerican Championship in Manizales and the friendship there is very nice.
  • 1 0
 Actually, Colombia isn't into the Cocaine business anymore, ate leat not as much as it used to be. Venezuela is the big one right now, just caught a military airplane with 200kg of cocaine coming out of a military air base in Caracas. Yup...this is Chávez... But anyways back onto the bikes.
I really liked the article but didn't like that most the pics are not racing pics but stills
  • 1 0
 It´s really nice to see more articles of riding and mtb in Colombia, last year I was there and traveling around but stayed in medellin to do some riding, There i rode in a bike-park called Mahalo, it was ok, not like whistler but nice. Besides the park I discovered lots of nice people that took me along for some riding. It´s also very cheap to travel around in Colombia, food and drinks are cheap and it´s always warm for a scandinavian guy like me.
I hope that I have the chance to visit Colombia once again because it truly is a beautiful country in many ways!
Cheers.
  • 5 1
 the proto is sick.......................
  • 2 1
 This is sick, I've always wanted to move to a Latin American country but did want to lose what I like doing most. This really gives me hope. Hopefully see you on the trails Pablo.
  • 1 0
 very welcome.....
  • 3 1
 Excellent article.... This is COLOMBIA MY COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I living in USA but missing my city (Bogotá) and my Country!
  • 2 0
 pablomezuena te luciste, genial articulo, solo mira los comentarios, estas son las noticias que realmente deberian salir del Pais!
  • 1 0
 gracias
  • 4 0
 Great story Pablo!
  • 2 0
 thanks man, take care
  • 4 1
 this is COLOMBIA! nicceee chiivaa.
  • 4 1
 Beautiful! So awesome to see pure fun!
  • 4 1
 good vibes all around. Everyone can understand the love of bikes
  • 4 1
 Colombia was awesome. I can't wait to go back!
  • 2 0
 very welcome....
  • 2 0
 q buen articulo!! q bacan se ve!! en q parte de colombia es?? saludos desde ecuador!
  • 3 0
 Gracias, en el departamento del Tolima, un pueblo llamado LIBANO. Saludos.....
  • 1 1
 i was wondering how the DH racing scene is in other countries particularly in asia where i come from. hopefully, it gets featured here someday.
  • 1 1
 Apparently Japan has put a bid for hosting a w/c in 2012 or 13 can't remember which
  • 1 1
 I heard they ride dh down fuji mt. lol
  • 1 1
 Hong Kong has a budding DH scene these days. They have some wicked elevation.
  • 1 1
 2012 China Wall Cup!
  • 1 1
 chirosangaku.blog109.fc2.com - I follow this guy's blog. From time to time he posts reports about local races, where you can see a lot o japanese weaponry, lots of inverted Kowa forks over there.
  • 1 1
 i got a small video about dh racing in china have a check, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV42C6JSlJY&feature=channel_video_title
  • 3 0
 Xtazy55 is a proud new member of the negative prop police so it seems.
  • 3 0
 HaHa what a no-lifer Xtazy55 is , he must be a very angry child , perhaps his mother did not breast feed him as a child.. or maybe his father did ?
  • 1 0
 Or he had babysitter Boris (Little Britain) feeding him milk.
  • 3 1
 So sick to see the little rippers out there.
  • 3 1
 a bit interesting than the wc
  • 2 1
 that prototype one has two front brakes like a motorbike... and no grips!!!!!
  • 1 1
 notice no brake line to the two front brakes also...
  • 3 1
 Wireless brake.
  • 1 1
 brakes just slow you down...when you've got to lay it on the line in a race, just take 'em off and rip it!
  • 2 1
 Can't afford good bikes or gear ? Looks like some pretty nice bikes and gear to me !
  • 2 1
 congratulation very nice town and incredible tracks, super festival dh, in the next time, sorry
  • 3 1
 The environment can produce World cup Racers.. Its just a matter of time.
  • 3 1
 esta es mi tierra carajoooooooooooooooooooooo..........
  • 3 1
 I'll be heading up to Colombia next, after Camino del Choro!
  • 1 0
 welcome man
  • 2 0
 nice..... JUAN VALDES... AND DH RACE... POD
  • 2 0
 you have the best photography
  • 1 1
 thats cool! I hope that someone will expose the downhill race here in Philippines...
  • 1 0
 Do it then...
  • 3 1
 I Love those mountains
  • 2 1
 nice story...it will be nice to ride some colombian trails/tracks
  • 3 1
 so proud¡¡¡¡
  • 1 1
 I don't want to sound racist at all but how can they afford Trek session's and all of that expensive TLD gear etc. ?
  • 1 0
 Every country has its rich people and every mtb scene has its people who will spend all their money on bike stuff before going to the grocery or market
  • 1 0
 That's exactly what I do, it's embarresing how much i owe my mum 'cause of bikes and gear, and i don't have leatt neck braces, £200 TLD helmets...
  • 2 0
 Big up!
  • 2 1
 verry nice
  • 3 5
 the coffee land... right right Smile
  • 4 3
 Thanks a lot for your interes in my article, thats my bike, I´m a professional photograph and audio engineer, I worked a lot in order to get that bike I´m still paying, my friends have nice bikes too as you can see in the picture where my truck is. Cheers from Colombia, come and join us for a nice ride.....
  • 2 3
 First world ignorance for the win! I also ride DH in a developing country and loving it. I also own a nice bike bought with clean money. Amazing!
  • 2 1
 I've been sending money on a regular basis now to Cananda. I just feel so bad for those poor Canuck children....
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