Beyond The Trail: Superenduro Bajio Finals @Laguna de Servin

Dust, friendship, scorching sun and lots lots of beer would be the basic ideas that cover the experience of being at the finals of the SuperEnduro bajio.
For the first time in a while I wasn´t being paid to take photos at the race event (which sucks big time) and I wasn´t even planning on going there tbh. 2 days prior to the event a couple of friends asked me to go with them to which I replied YUS! We got up early at 5am in the morning and did a 2 and a half hour road trip from our home town of San Luis Potosí all the way to the race venue in a wonderful new place to me names Laguna de Servin in the countryside of Queretaro at the center of the country.

We enter the mountain range and get ourselves into what appears to be a road, old, murky and ancient. It dwells between ancient trees that resonate with the wind blow. Suddenly we are at the heart of the mountain. One by one the signs of the presence of an Enduro Race appear before our eyes. We start seeing familiar faces, the energy is bursting and we get surrounded by friends we haven´t seen in a while!

The finals are held in the State of Queretaro 2 hours away from Mexico City, that means the presence of riders from the whole country is bigger receiving racers from Oaxaca (home of the sierra norte) Jalisco, San Luis and even from another countries such as Czech Republic, Colombia, USA, Brazil and some more that I didn´t find out!







This was my first time travelling here and the whole mountain range was new to my eyes, the vegetation was made up of a very thicc layer of ground plants and above were huge long trees that made me think of some Lord Of The Rings scene and a couple of Hobbits riding enduro bikes lol. The soil was made up of leaves and dust, that made the already difficult trails even more demanding. After staying some minutes on the first stage I decided to go to the 3rd one, rode down a few miles and got to the end up that stage, race officials told me the stage was 10minutes from starting so I started to climb in order to get some nice photos.

The sound of wind through the leaves made a very profound aura, the feeling was of nature embracing me and reminding me why I adore to be here, why I somehow arrange things to lead me to this place and how grateful I am by witnessing all of this while doing what I love. The insect sounds died suddenly and the voices of the trees were silenced as something aproached very fast towards me. Something was lurking down the trail with the strenght of a demon and the speed of a horse on the loose and that's when I heard it, that sound we all love and get chills from...

...tire knobs carving out the singletrack...



For this race my visit was purely recreational, I wasn't being paid as I usually do (sucks big time) so my duties were none and the stress of having to capture the almost 200 racers was none existing, what happened then you ask? well I guess creativity.

I decided to lay down on a rock, sit calmly and wait for the riders left to blaze down de mountaing and capture them in ways I haven't done so far. I take out my trusty Nikon D3200 and start taking photos afer photos and that's when I start to think "Hmmm, let's do things more artistically" I start to slow down more and more my shutter speed, mess up some photos but the I start to capture the motion and speed in which the riders are passing by and that's when the results started to be amazing. I'm so proud of some of this photos.






Some minutes go away and I decide to climb more to a very interesting section, two ditches make up for a very tricky place to ride and pacing is crucial for a swift smooth ride. And then from far away I recognize a helmet, a Copper Bell enduro full face helmet above a stealth Trek Remedy. It's Mauricio one of my friends and just when he passes in front of me I take what I think is the best photo of the day.



After 2 hours I start to walk down the path, I get passed and take some photos and keep on. Then I reach a very off camber curve in which the riders fall one by one. Either you take the curve and avoid traction loss or you take it careless and fall to your left resulting on loosing precious seconds! I forgot to speed up the shutter and that's why I took this very interesting photo of an overtake.






I'm so happy to see more new faces appearing, the Enduro scene here in México is increasing in size a lot and each year we see more racers migrating from XC or Road into the sport and also kids who ask their parents to get them a bike! That means we as a national scene need more and more support from brands, companies, governments and general visitors. MTB events such as this one atract racers, their families, their teams and that means food, hotels, moving and an infrastructure for logistical movements across the mountain, local places and villages get to receive that money spent by the racers and it becomes a healthy and functional relationship that we see in places up in Canada, USA or some European events!








Next stage in the country is the Campeon de Campeones or Champion of Champions held in the vicinity of Guanajuato State, they will receive the winners of all 5 Superenduro series across the country (superenduro bajio is just one of 5 series) to fight for the overall points and receive recognition from the Mexican scene!!!








I leave Laguna de Servin with new friends, new memories and new vibrant energies for my soul and heart, thank you all who support Trailmex/TMX and remember the best way to support your own local photographers is to actually pay them and hire them!!!

Thanks to my friends Gil, Mauricio and Rodrigo for their guidance and love!!



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Lagunas de Servin mountain biking trails