Discovering MTB in Puerto Rico

For the past 12 winters, my wife Tarah and I head down to her hometown in Puerto Rico for the holidays. We visit family and friends. We surf.

We keep it simple. Typically, it's a much welcomed break from of her busy season of professional dirt bike racing and my bike and Nitro Circus shenanigans.

So in all of my 12 years visiting this magical island, I've never bothered trying to ride bikes there. Not that I haven't thought about it though...

The terrain and urban features of the island have always had me mind riding and wondering if a video part was possible.

This year as we were gathering our bags at 3:30 am to catch our first flight out of Bend, Oregon, I decided to throw a helmet, pads, shoes and some pants and shorts into a duffle bag.

Juuust in case there was some wild chance I could figure out a way to ride while I was there. Once we landed I was already sorting out options. I started searching online for riding spots.

Was there even decent riding here? I've seen plenty of lycra wearing xc enthusiasts around the island. It seems quite popular. But DH? Enduro? Freeride? I had heard of a place called Salinas Gravity Park. From what I knew about it, it was an upstart devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Made a resurgence and then crippled again by the extended restrictions of the Pandemic in '20/'21. I wasn't sure it was even operating.

Nevertheless, I was determined to find out. Finally, I reached out to Transition bikes to see if there was chance they could source me any kind of bike to just sniff around the island. Get a sense of the options and make my plan for a future project. They graciously agreed. Holy smokes! It's happening!

But in typical fashion, I threw another Hail Mary. The second getting a bike was an option, I hit up my friend Blain Leblanc. Professional camera man for Travis Pastrana's Channel 199 YouTube and former Nitro Circus in house videographer. I asked him what his winter looked like. He replied, "TP is getting surgery. I've got a few weeks free." I asked if he was interested in a little surf vacation and bike adventure video. He didn't hesitate. With literally no other plan than to surf, and look for bike riding, I bought him a ticket for a couple days later.

This video is result of a couple silly ideas and some enthusiastic co-conspirators in fun. Join us for the ride as we discover what MTB on the Isla De Encanto has to offer.

-Dusty