My biggest hob­by and the thing that feeds my soul is moun­tain bik­ing. I got my first bike when I was 3 years old and since then I have enjoyed every moment explor­ing the world on two-wheels. Grow­ing up, I raced in the Slove­nia cup and now, I help run my fam­i­ly-run hotel and prop­er­ty in the hill­sides of Slovenia. 

I am a geeky neu­ro sci­en­tist by day and a pas­sion­ate moun­tain bike advocate…also by day. I’m a rac­er, coach, guide, VP of the local club, trail builder, founder of a female-only week­ly ride, event orga­niz­er, and more! Bikes are fun — Can’t wait to ride with you in British Columbia!

I’m a Kiwi who loves to trav­el the world, always with my moun­tain bike. I have been a adven­ture guide for the last 15 years in New Zealand and Cana­da and I’m look­ing for­ward intro­duc­ing the incred­i­ble trails, scenery and hos­pi­tal­i­ty of New Zealand. 

Born and raised in East­ern Cana­da in Mon­tre­al, Que­bec- I grew up with a close con­nec­tion to nature and It’s beau­ty, through the help of my father who was a pro­fes­sion­al land­scape en plen air artist. This drew me to devel­op a keen pas­sion for nature, the world out­doors and a good adven­ture. At an ear­ly age, I set out trav­el­ling the globe in search of new expe­ri­ences, beau­ti­ful places and inter­est­ing peo­ple.… I was addict­ed from day one, and have nev­er looked back. I’ve lived in a lot of wild places along my jour­ney and then fell in love the with adven­ture par­adise of New Zealand. I’ve been guid­ing small group adven­ture trips — hik­ing and moun­tain bik­ing with­in wilder­ness areas in The South Island for over 11 years. Through­out these years I have devel­oped a deep con­nec­tion to New Zealand’s breath­tak­ing and ever chang­ing moods & landscapes.….I call New Zealand my sec­ond home, while I jug­gle between run­ning a unique wilder­ness adven­ture com­pa­ny in British Colum­bia, Cana­da dur­ing the sum­mer months.

Based in Chi­ang Mai, Dami­an is a com­mit­ted and pas­sion­ate moun­tain bike ambas­sador. Hail­ing from Aus­tralia, he fell in love with North­ern Thai­land and relo­cat­ed two decades ago. After 17 years as a pro­fes­sion­al guide and busi­ness own­er, Dami­an is a well respect­ed leader in the moun­tain bike indus­try in Thai­land. Flu­ent in Thai and an enthu­si­as­tic (and hilar­i­ous) sto­ry-teller, Dami­an is the per­fect guide to show you all the goods Thai­land has to offer. He tru­ly espous­es our belief that life is bet­ter on a moun­tain bike.

A native to Cos­ta Rica, Eduar­do has been guid­ing guests through Cos­ta Rica for 17 years. He is an active adven­tur­er and pas­sion­ate out­doors­man. Though he’ll effort­less­ly take you down pris­tine white­wa­ter or guide you through the incred­i­ble sin­gle­track of Cos­ta Rica, it’s his laid back per­son­al­i­ty and infec­tious sense of humor that’ll make you want to fol­low him down the trail.

I real­ly enjoy tak­ing peo­ple around Ice­land and show­ing them the beau­ty and fun trails our coun­try has to offer. I’m fin­ish­ing my Mas­ters degree in Sta­tis­tics and my inter­ests include ski tour­ing, moun­tain bik­ing and oth­er aspects relat­ed to moun­taineer­ing. I’m real­ly drawn to the nature and love spend­ing as much time as I can out­doors, whether it is for work or just spend­ing time with my wife and our two chil­dren in the outdoors. 

I start­ed rid­ing in North Van­cou­ver around the dawn of the mil­len­ni­um. Falling in love with the gnarly shore trails and spend­ing most of my sum­mer days in Whistler and Squamish, I start­ed rac­ing and coach­ing. Trav­el­ling and rid­ing all the best trails British Colum­bia had to offer. Sacred Rides found me in the moun­tains of Ross­land and I moved to Fer­nie and have been with them now for 10 sea­sons. It has been the most incred­i­ble way to spend the major­i­ty of my year! So many places, faces, laugh­ter, trails and tri­umphs have been lived through myself and every­one who joins me on a trip! I have seen com­mu­ni­ties grow, trails get cre­at­ed and trails dis­ap­pear. The cycle of it all. 

Born and raised on the east coast of the Unit­ed States, I learned to ride bikes at a very young age. I’ve been on 2 wheels pret­ty much my whole life. Start­ing with BMX rac­ing and freestyle com­pe­ti­tion which even­tu­al­ly led to moun­tain bikes in the late 80’s. I’ve com­pet­ed in XC, Enduro and Down­hill rac­ing but am tru­ly hap­pi­est when just rip­ping great trails all over the world with good peo­ple who share my pas­sion for moun­tain bikes and the outdoors.

From the Mediter­ranean coast, Jor­gi­to grew up sur­round­ed by wheels either doing motor­cross, down­hill rac­ing or win­ning Span­ish Nation­al Cup races as a junior/under 23 rac­er. Apart from enjoy­ing the trails with us, he is the Tech­ni­cal Del­e­gate for the Down­hill World Cup for the UCI and works as a bike mechan­ic in New Zealand dur­ing the win­ter sea­son. Jor­gi­to is a tech­ni­cal­ly strong and fast rid­er — fol­low his line and you’ll have no trou­bles with the tech­ni­cal Span­ish terrain!

Grow­ing up in Argen­tine Patag­o­nia Julian always had a love for rivers and moun­tains. Rid­ing bikes was the num­ber one pas­time of his child­hood and this even­tu­al­ly pro­gressed into com­pet­i­tive down­hill and cross-coun­try bike com­pe­ti­tions. His short com­pet­i­tive bik­ing career in his teens was suc­cess­ful but was slowed down by a bout with some unwel­come brain tumors! Don’t be bummed read­ing this because he ful­ly recov­ered and turned his sights to white­wa­ter where he com­plet­ed an eco-tourism degree fol­lowed up by becom­ing a white­wa­ter and mul­ti-sport guide on the chal­leng­ing Futaleufú Riv­er in Chile. Since then he has worked as a white­wa­ter and mul­ti-sport guide and as an instruc­tor in Cana­da, the Unit­ed States, Mex­i­co, Cos­ta Rica, Zam­bia, and Argenti­na. Aside from Sacred Rides trips, Julian and his wife own and oper­ate a small adven­ture tourism com­pa­ny called Bike & Pad­dle Patag­o­nia. Julian is known as a tal­ent­ed and patient instruc­tor as well as a skilled bike and raft guide, kayak­er and canoeist. 

Born and raised in Mon­tana, I thought there was­n’t any­thing that could put a smile on my face more than ski­ing powder…then I got a moun­tain bike! I have since spent all my free time in sum­mer rid­ing trails from Mon­tana to New Zealand to Cos­ta Rica. And now, after guid­ing, liv­ing and explor­ing in Cos­ta Rica for more than 12 years, I con­sid­er it my home away from home. Come join me in the land of “Pura Vida” and let’s ride!

Kemp­ton grew up rid­ing and rac­ing any­thing with a motor and two wheels in rur­al Wash­ing­ton. When motocross became too expen­sive for a 19-year-old, he switched to bicy­cles. An avid cyclocross, moun­tain bike rac­er and road bike enthu­si­ast, Kemp­ton has both tak­en — and guid­ed — cycling vaca­tions all over the world, in the U.S., Cana­da, Spain, Moroc­co, France, Mex­i­co, Italy and Thai­land. He says he can’t wait for the list to be “…twice as long!” A stu­dent of bike rac­ing his­to­ry and sta­tis­tics, Kemp­ton can answer any ques­tion you can throw his way.

For the last 20 years, Magne has been explor­ing the back coun­try of Ice­land to find the best moun­tain bike trails and ter­rain. As a trail builder, moun­tain bike guide and proud Ice­lander, he knows the most incred­i­ble off-the-beat­en path trails and beau­ti­ful land­scapes, many of which are high­light­ed in our Fire and Ice ride. 

Born and raised in Kath­man­du, I love rid­ing bikes and trav­el­ling. Sev­er­al years ago I quit my job in a PR firm and decid­ed to ride bikes for a liv­ing. It’s the best deci­sion I’ve ever made!

Our fear­less leader and Ride direc­tor in La belle province, Marc-André has been guid­ing adven­tures in far-flung cor­ners of the world for well over 20 years. From the Ever­est Base­camp to the Grand Canyon to Hawaii’s vol­ca­noes, he may have seen it all, but he finds him­self lucky to call his native Québec home again. After all, the only thing that gets him more excit­ed than a moun­tain bike ride is being able to show star­ry-eyed vis­i­tors just how good the trails in his own back­yard are. Plus, he knows how to make a mighty fine date square (but good luck get­ting his recipe!). To say that you’re in expert hands with Marc-André at the helm of our Rides would be an understatement.

After being intro­duced to moun­tain bik­ing in my mid-twen­ties, I was hooked. I start­ed rid­ing “with the boys” on Mont-Saint-Anne’s burly trails and with­in a year, I was sport­ing gog­gles, a full face hel­met and race plates. I rose to the nation­al rac­ing stage, before div­ing into enduro rac­ing. All the pas­sion, inten­si­ty and dis­ci­pline I brought to rac­ing even­tu­al­ly applied to all oth­er areas of her life, from moth­er­hood to my pro­fes­sion­al career and in start­ing my own side busi­ness. As a Juliana ambas­sador and instruc­tor, I can be found on the moun­tain coach­ing rid­ers of all ages and skill levels.

Marko is a moun­tain bike guide with more than 20 years of expe­ri­ence as an instruc­tor and trail builder. “Moun­tain bik­ing is not just a sport to me but it’s a way of life. I like to ride all bikes but most of all I enjoy expe­ri­enc­ing the nat­ur­al world on two wheels, rid­ing with like-mind­ed peo­ple and shar­ing my favourite trails. Slove­nia is the per­fect place to do this — it’s pure, colour­ful, dif­fer­ent and friend­ly. You will love rid­ing in Slovenia.”

From the foothills of North Car­oli­na, Matt moved to Antigua, Guatemala as a way to escape the cubi­cles of his pre­vi­ous US work life. He’s been rid­ing his bike on awe­some Guatemalan sin­gle­track since 1998 and hasn’t looked back since.

I was born in Patag­o­nia in the Welsh set­tle­ment town of Trev­elin, sur­round­ed by the Andes moun­tains and rivers. Ever since I was a child, my par­ents gave me a sense of adven­ture by tak­ing me on dif­fer­ent expe­di­tions, from climb­ing moun­tains to mul­ti-day kayak­ing trips. As I grew up, I start­ed search­ing for my own adven­tures — rid­ing my bike through the woods and explor­ing the trails around our vil­lage. By the time I was a teenag­er, adven­ture was a big part of my life. Even­tu­al­ly, some friends intro­duced me to the world of white­wa­ter pad­dling and that led me into a whole new way of liv­ing. From that point in my life, I start­ed trav­el­ling with my white­wa­ter kayak, search­ing for new rivers and beau­ti­ful places and get­ting to know tons of awe­some peo­ple. Being able to work doing the things I love is the best part of it all. Now, I work as a full-time out­door adven­ture guide, trip lead­ing and doing logis­tics for mul­ti-day adven­tures includ­ing trekking, white­wa­ter kayak­ing, moun­taineer­ing, sea-kayak­ing and moun­tain bik­ing. Life is good!

One of our newest weapons in the arse­nal, this young buck can do it all, and do it faster than about any­one else out there! Whether on the rock or on the trail he’ll show you how to get it done. Try to catch him on the trail… I dare ya!

White water kayak­er, back­coun­try ski­er and of course moun­tain bik­er, Pablo has trav­elled to the four cor­ners of the Earth; Nepal, Cana­da, Mex­i­co, Argenti­na, Colom­bia and Africa as a guide and adven­ture seek­er. Always escap­ing with a quiver of toys, but even­tu­al­ly return­ing to the beloved Pyre­nees moun­tains in Spain. Dur­ing his 12-year for­est fire­fight­ing career, Pablo worked with heli­copters and met his busi­ness part­ner Luís. Their friend­ship grew and gave rise to a dream; heli-access bik­ing in their back­yard. Good luck try­ing to wipe the smile off his face.

A Chi­ang Mai local and bike guide for over 10 years, there’s not much Mr. Sert doesn’t know about rid­ing in Thai­land. Super fit, fun­ny, cool and high­ly qual­i­fied, he is a cer­ti­fied nation­al guide and is deeply knowl­edge­able on Thai­land’s deep his­to­ry and cul­ture. Ask him just about any­thing and he’ll have a detailed answer for you. In addi­tion to Thai and Eng­lish, he is flu­ent in the local hill tribe dialects. We chal­lenge you to see him break a sweat or not smiling!

RJ Rip­per is Nepal’s youngest (and reign­ing) Nation­al Down­hill Cham­pi­on. In addi­tion to being an amaz­ing­ly tal­ent­ed bike han­dler, he is prob­a­bly also the fastest punc­ture repair-man north of the Himalayas.

For the last 20 years, I have been pro­fes­sion­al­ly engaged in out­door sports — I love moun­tain bik­ing and ski­ing most. I have cre­at­ed my life around these two! Bik­ing in sum­mer time and ski­ing in win­ter. I grew up in the Nether­lands, where I start­ed rid­ing a bike at a young age. My pas­sion for moun­tain bik­ing start­ed dur­ing the sum­mer of 2003 when I was asked to run an ani­ma­tion project in Veyson­naz, Switzer­land. Moun­tain bik­ing was a very pop­u­lar part of our pro­gram. Since the sum­mer of 2006, I have been guid­ing moun­tain bike tours all over the Alps. I hope we’ll ride togeth­er soon and I can intro­duce you to the incred­i­ble Alps!

Where would the world be with­out out­door sports? I enjoy pret­ty much any out­door activ­i­ty, how­ev­er ski­ing and moun­tain bik­ing make my heart beat faster. In my youth I start­ed with bik­ing and I nev­er stopped. First road bik­ing and for the last ten years I’ve been hooked on moun­tain bik­ing. I love the sense of free­dom and flow that comes with explor­ing sin­gel­track. Besides my pro­fes­sion­al job as a Project Man­ag­er, which is main­ly office work, moun­tain bike guid­ing is per­fect to get me out­side and feed my soul with the adven­ture it needs. I start­ed guid­ing for Sacred Rides years ago in Fer­nie, Cana­da. Now, being back in Europe, I am guid­ing the Alpen Thrills trip in Switzer­land and Italy. I hope to get the chance to take you out for a ride on one of the amaz­ing trails in this region — rich in cul­ture and history. 

Eduar­do “Wayo” Stein is a 13 times Nation­al DH Cham­pi­on in Peru and bronze medal­ist in the UCI Down­hill Cham­pi­onships. He loves and knows his local trails like the back of his hand, with 25 years of explor­ing and scout­ing in the Andes, Wayo will intro­duce you to his incred­i­ble backyard!

My father taught me how to ride a bike when I was 5 years old, in Cus­co, Peru. I used to spend hours rid­ing around my neigh­bour­hood. When I was 22, my old­er broth­er took me to ride the moun­tain bike trails out­side of Cus­co and I fell in love with the moun­tains, nature and my bike. I start­ed to com­pete in local races and had good results. Now, I work as an offi­cial tour guide spe­cial­ized in moun­tain bikes tours, a job that has giv­en me the chance to do many spec­tac­u­lar rides all over the world. It’s a dream job that allows me to share the best trails in Peru and our rich cul­ture with others.