I'm in Chile!

The last few days in Peru on our Inca Adventure DH trip were memorable ones. We spent the last 2 days in Cusco, the capital of the Inca empire. Stephen Wilde continued to snap some incredible photos, especially of the local children. On our last day of riding, we did some shuttle drops just above town. One of the trails is a local favourite and there were about half a dozen local kids, some with spakny full-suspension bikes and full gear, some with old beaters and no helmets. Funnily enough, the kids on old bikes seemed to go harder than the kids who were all dialed up. Watching Peruvian teenagers throw themselves around on the jumps with no helmets was a little nerve-wracking, to say the least. So I told Russo I would send him some helmets that I have back in Fernie, so that he could distribute them to the local kids. It would suck to have some kid end up in the hospital just because he couldn't afford a helmet.

Derek from Vancouver and Wayo, our Peruvian guide, had fun on the local jump trail. There was a 7-metre step-up jump built out of wood that is among the first North-Shore style jumps in the country. The locals seemed to enjoy watching them throw their meat around and Stephen got some great mag-worthy shots. Check it out.

After getting raked over the coals getting my bike to Santiago ($150 for the excess baggage, plus $132 US for some sort of 'reciprocity' fee to enter Chile), I got to our hotel at 2 am and promptly woke up David and Patrice, my media contingent for this trip (I'm setting up a new trip in Chile for winter 2007/2008). David is a great writer from Victoria, while Patrice is a crazy French photographer from Cranbrook. They didn't seem too keen at 2 am to see me, nor the bright light in their face. I decided to spare waking them up for beers and crawled into a nearby room.

The next day, we met up with my local friend Eduardo, who took us up to a fantastic trail about an hour's climb out of Santiago. It's amazing, but within an hour by bike from downtown Santiago, you can be up in some massive mountains, in total countryside.

We hopped in the van the next day, with another guide Pancho - a dreadlocked mountaineer of 24 who looks like he'd be right at home in BC - and our driver Vicente, in a sweet van loaned to us by Patamac Adventures. About an hour and a half out of the city we started climbing into the mountains. As we ascended the steep mountain road, Mt. Aconcagua, South America's highest peak, came into view. Hard to believe, but there it was, all 6955 metres of it. Almost 7 kilometres of mountain. The climb was challenging but doable, and when we got to the top, we were above a low-lying valley mist that looked simply ethereal. it was one of those 'there must be a God' moments and Patrice did a pretty decent job of getting it on his camera, although I've only managed to wring 4 photos out of him so far. Seems he won't let me have anything until he's properly processed it on his laptop. Fair enough - gotta let the pros do what they do best.

Eduardo and I left the 3 of them (Pancho, David and Patrice) behind and flew down the trail. Within a few minutes, the technical meter ratcheted up steadily. About halfway down, we hit a rock garden that was über-nasty, and threw me around at will. I managed to get through it, but by the time we were out of there, it was getting pretty dark. The last 4 kilometres were fast, smooth sand, but I could barely see the trail, and the stars were already out in full force. We pulled in to a small village in pitch black darkness, where Vicente was waiting with our van. And it was freezing cold. Good thing I forgot a jacket.

We waited an hour for the rest of the guys, and were just about to start riding up looking for them, when they came down. Patrice blew out his tire and they walked the rest of the way down. An epic start to an epic trip.

Tomorrow we're going on an urban ride in Valparaiso, a beautiful seaside town where the poet Pablo Neruda once lived. I can't believe I get to do this for a living.

Calca, Peru

I´m taking a morning off to catch up on e-mails while the rest of the group rides the fantastic Lares trail. I´m in a place called Calca, a friendly little town in the mountains where I appear to be the only tourist.

Yesterday we rode the incredible Megavalanche trail, the site of Peru´s biggest DH race. The course starts at 4300 m - almost 14,000 feet - and winds its way down a spectacular valley. After unloading the van, we split up into 2 groups and I joined Meghan and Derek from Vancouver, along with Wayo, our Peruvian guide. The rest of the group went with Russo from Cusco.

The 4 of us had an incredible first half of the ride, and then we came across the rest of the group, minus Daniel, our videographer. Stephen, our photographer, informed us that he´d aired into a small canyon, mistakenly thinking it was the trail! He dislocated his ankle, and thanks to some good first aid from Russo, he was able to get it back in place. But his riding day was over. Meghan (doctor from Van) suspected it was broken. Luckily, when we got back to Ollantaytambo, and got him to the hospital in Cusco, we found out it was just sprained, albeit badly.

The rest of the trail was epic: technical, rocky sections followed by steeps and smooth, fast sections. Along the way we passed through villages where the locals waved and wished us good luck. This country is so damned friendly it´s incredible.

The Megavalance was so good we did it twice, getting down just before sunset. Probably one of my best rides ever. The day was made even better by pizza from a wood-fired oven and drinks at a reggae bar with a fireman's pole between the 2nd and 1st floors.

Peru has my vote for best country in the world (after Canada, of course.)

Mike

Ollantaytambo, Peru

Some time in the 16th century as the Spanish were closing in, the Inca emperor Pachacutec retreated to this fortress town in the Sacred Valley, where he and his men managed to bravely hold off the Spanish before succumbing. Now, this village of 2000 is a quaint little town that hosts invaders of a different sort, bearing cameras instead of armour and speaking languages from around the planet. Last night, after dinner, we piled into our van and headed down a narrow dirt road to our hotel. Within minutes, we encountered a large bus reversing down the road straight at us. Our driver Edgar honked his horn. A man jumped out of the bus to aid the driver. Edgar put our van into reverse and floored it. Still the bus bore down on us. More honking, then... crunch. The sound of metal on metal as the giant behemoth of a bus slammed into our front end.

Edgar jumped out of the van, yelling and screaming profanities in Spanish. The driver of the giant bus jumped out screaming his own profanities. Soon people started filtering out of the large red bus, prompting our group to follow suit. Stephen, our intrepid photojournalist, started snapping flash pictures right in people´s faces. Havoc followed suit, followed by cervesas from the back of our van. This calmed things down enough to allow the police time to come.
Eventually the situation was somewhat sorted (and sordid) and we got back to our hotel, a beautiful collection of bungalows in the mountains.

Yesterday we had a fantastic day of riding in the Sacred Valley, visiting Maras, the Inca site of Moray and the Inca salt mines. I got a flat halfway down the trail - my 6th so far, definitely a sign that it´s time for new tires - and had to walk out in the dark, which would have been a drag were it not for the billion stars and 20,000 foot mountains all around me.

Peru is so unbelievably beautiful, I may have to move here someday.

Mike

Riding in Peru!

11:19 pm, Lima, Peru

The 10 of us just got back to our hotel in Lima after an epic day of riding. We drove 3 hours to the town of San Pedro de Casta, a beautiful hilltop town in the Andes, at 11,000 ft. The locals welcomed us with drinks and a parade!

We dropped of 4 bikes from Bikes Without Borders at the local school, and from the looks of the local kids, these bikes are going to be well used. The mayor came out to greet us and say thanks for the donation. Pretty cool that some families in Canada donated their old bikes and now they're being ridding by kids in a remote town in Peru.

After setting up our bikes, our horses arrived. This was the first horse shuttle any of us had done. These sturdy caballos were up to the task - 2 hours of steep climbing to Marcahuasi, the Stone Forest. Local kids took turns pushing our bikes up the steep slopes.

When we finally reached the end, we were at well over 12,000 feet above sea level, with a 6,500 foot downhill ahead of us. The first part of the downhill was muy tecnico - really technical - with stone steps and lots of loose rock and tight lines. This soon opened up to smooth, fast sections that we all screamed down at top speed.

More technical sections followed, and we were definitely pushed to our limits, but when we finally reached the end over 3 hours later, grins were the order of the day. What a ride, and what a great re-introduction to Peru.

Glad to be back in this amazing country.

Mike

en route to Lima

As I write this, I am in a waiting area at Miami International Airport, awaiting my connecting flight to Lima for the start of our Inca Adventure DH tour. I'm about to meet up with 5 clients, 2 local guides, 1 driver, and photographer Stephen Wilde, with whom I'm doing a daily blog for the website nsmb.com.

I'm also taking the first shipment of bicycles for Bikes Without Borders, our non-profit organization. Its mandate is to collect used bicycles and distribute them to communities, families and individuals in need. Our first shipment is modest - just 2 adult bikes and 2 kids' bikes - but it's a first step, and we have another 7 bikes waiting in Toronto, with offers from across the country already.

If you have a bike you want to donate, or wish to make a financial donation to Bikes Without Borders, please e-mail executive director Tanya Smith. We will also be launching our new website in the coming weeks at www.bikeswithoutborders.org - look for it soon!

Yours,

Mike Brcic, president

Welcome!

Hello fellow MTBers and passionate riders:

Welcome to the offical Sacred Rides blog. Here you'll get updates from me - company president Mike Brcic - as I travel the globe, guiding trips, scouting out exciting new locations, and entertaining our clients, one dirt-encrusted grin at a time.

If you don't know about Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Holidays, we are a small but successful mountain bike tour company based in Canada, with a loyal clientele. We cater to passionate mountain bikers, offering singletrack-based holidays in British Columbia, Peru, and Chile with more destinations to come. We have a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and have won numerous awards for our tours.

For more information on us, please visit www.sacredrides.com. While you're there, make sure you subscribe to our online newsletter, and we'll tell you all about our new destinations, special trips and contests, and last-minute discounts.

We hope to ride with you one day!

Yours,

Mike Brcic, president