Sacred Rides MTB Holidays

SacredRides · Site Admin Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 37

Welcome everyone! This is the online discussion board for all participants in our Mar.22-30 Singletrack and Surf trip in Chile. Please introduce yourself on the forum, add a photo or two, and tell people what you do when you're not riding (job, hobbies, etc...)

Formal studies have shown that tour participants have 34.8% more fun when they get to know their fellow riding buddies beforehand*

Please note that we will not be checking the forum regularly. If you have a specific question about the trip, please contact our office: ride@sacredrides.com, 1-888-423-7849 (North America), or +1.647.999.7955 (int'l)

*the Institute of Non-Science

SacredRides · Site Admin Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 37

Hello, everyone. It's me, Mike, owner of Sacred Rides. I'll be joining you in Chile.

A bit about myself: I love mountain biking so much that I turned it into a career. I go around the world in search of new, great places to ride. This year I'll be visiting Guatemala and Croatia/Slovenia to put together new trips there, and will also head to New Zealand next January.

I'm trying to work on a community-based model of mountain bike tourism: using local guides, local suppliers and hotels, and incorporating a bit of volunteerism into our tours. I've been traveling all my life, and after meeting so many amazing people in so many communities, it only seems proper that my relative affluence be shared with the people whose lands and communities I'm visiting. It's an extra effort to develop tourism this way, but well worth it.

I recently launched a non-profit organization called Bikes Without Borders, whose mandate is to build capacity in communities through bikes. If any of you are interested in helping out, please visit www.bikeswithoutborders.org. The website is still in progress but should be launched soon.

What else? I'm also a recovering musician (3 years of touring all over North America and Europe took their fantastic toll on me), I'm getting married to an incredible woman, and I'm having my first child in May.

I'm really excited about sharing this Chile experience with you. My partners are good friends, and we are going to do our utmost best to show you a great time. If there's anything specific you want to know or want to share, please post it on the forum.

FELIZ!

swalshe · Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 1

Hello fellow Chile riders.
I am very excited about our upcoming adventure. This will be my third Sacred Ride adventure - so am confident we are in great hands. The weather in Vancouver has not been very cooperative this winter - in fact the first time I can remember not being able to ride my bike year round. I am currently training for a half marathon ... so lets hope this training is transferable! Christie and I are arriving on the 18th and found a place with reasonable accomodations at www.inmoba.cl (at little as $65 per night if booking for 3 nights). We are hoping to do some touring and maybe a little wine sampling to kick off our adventure.
Looking forward to meeting you all.
Sasha

deannek · Joined: 25 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

Hello everyone!

Jason and I are getting very excited to meet, ride, surf and share good food and wine with you all in Chile. We are from Calgary, so it's fair to say we haven't really been outdoors yet on our mountain bikes this season. However, we have been encouraging each other on the trainers in spin class. We're praying our fitness has held up somewhat over the Alberta winter to see us comfortably through this adventure. Smile

I won't say too much about ourselves here (I figure we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other on the trip) other than that we both love mountain biking and we both love travelling and meeting new people. We're very much looking forward to sharing this adventure with you.

See you in less than two week!
Deanne