Megavalanche 2008 - PERU

Posted: Dec 21, 2007

This is a story of the past Megavalanche Races in Peru and what we are planning to do for the new edition of 2008.

This story starts in 2005 when it was the first year that the Megavalanche Cup came to Peru. That year the downhill scene in Peru changed. It was the first time we raced everybody at the same time. In edition we saw for first time top ranked racers racing in Peru: Cedric Gracia, Fabian Barel, Rene Wildhaber, George Atherton, Franck Parolin and many other top ranked bikers from South America.

It was a mass event where Rene Wildhaber obtained the first place with 23.01 minutes. It was unbelievable to think going down from the mountain pass of Malaga located at 4,350 masl to the Sacred Valley (2,800 masl) in that time. Vehicles takes almost an hour to make that descent on the paved road!

I couldn't race that edition because of the same reason of Steve Peat: my first daughter was born a few day before. But I was kind of angry for loosing that race. Next year will be!

In 2006 I was ready to race. My Intense M1 was ready too. Now I think I had too many expectations on that race and later I will tell you why.

That race in 2006 was unbelievable. The best downhiller on earth was there! Yes, Steve Peat. Also was Brian Lopes, Remi Absalon, Tomas Misser, Walter Belli, Alan Beggin and other local champions.

The first day that Brian saw that course he said the race was going to be very hard. Steve Peat even had some crashes during the training sessions but as a champ he decided to race and he won that race with 23.07 minutes. I had a bad crash at the beginning and after I finished fixing my bike I was the last one by far. I tried to get as close to the top as possible and finished 51.

Then came the party in Cusco! It was awesome looking at the pros in the bar drinking beers and dancing with local ladies.

In 2007 I couldn't race again because I was leading a group in Huaraz and I missed it again. That time people came from Spain, USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, Belgium, Bolivia and Panama. The winner was Joselba Leon from Spain with 27.27 minutes.

Now for 2008 we are on the way to the race. We are planning to start training 10 days before the race going to high altitudes in Lima and then in Cusco. We are making a tour with inkasadventures.com and we are sure it's the best training before the race.

If you are interested in joining us please feel free and send us a mail and we will answer you as soon as possible. We have already people booked from Colorado USA and Whistler CANADA.

See you in the Megavalanche of Peru!