Remember the Costa Rica article we ran in Dirt 64 last year? Well if you can’t, I’ll tell you that it was a corker…epic riding, epic scenery.

If you’ve always fancied going on that adventure now is your chance…read on.

Freeride legend Wade Simmons is heading to Costa Rica this winter to guide two shuttle DH holidays and he wants you to come. Escape the cold, grab your big bike and ride with Wade in the tropics.

In Costa Rica plants grow faster than cannabis in a grow op; that fast. For local trail builders this means hell when trying to cut trails down big mountains through dense jungle. Paulo Valle is one such trail builder and a persistent one at that. “After the rainy season I have to go out with my machete and work on all the trails,” he says on the phone from San Jose, “sometimes we can’t even get to them because the roads are washed out and when we do, it’s like god unleashed his wrath on them.” He continues, “When it rains here during the wet season it’s like someone turned on a tap and all the plants have grown so much that trails aren’t even be recognizable.”

Photo: Harookz

For nearly a decade now Valle’s been tirelessly building and maintaining trails and now he’s got a quiver of epics to share with visiting mountain bikers, from multi-day singletrack cross-country adventures to 7000-foot downhills. He’s single handedly put Costa Rica on the map for mountain bikers and not just people like you and me but pros like Ben Boyco, Thomas Vanderham, Dave Watson and Wade Simmons. They flock down to Valle’s trails because they’re good – technical, long and fun. Kind of like the North Shore of Vancouver but minus the man-made stunts.

Photo:Chris Winter

And who wouldn’t want to hit some world-class downhill riding then paddle out to some world-class waves and chill out on the beach afterwards? Paulo is no slouch himself, he’s the former Costa Rican downhill and cross-country champion; the man can ride. He and Vancouver BC-based Big Mountain Bike Adventures have been offering shuttle downhill and all-mountain trips in Costa Rica since 2000.

Photo:Derek Frankowski

You can join Paulo and Wade on the popular eight-night, nine-day Pura Vida DH trip for 1160 GBP per person.

DATES: February 13-21 and February 21-March 1, 2009.
MORE INFO: Big Mountain Bike Adventures

JOIN free rider WADE SIMMONS ON A DH Mountain bike HOLIDAY IN COSTA RICA