Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25044
Most locals are too concerned about survival to explore the bush, much less on an expensive twO' wheeler. But X-Cellent Adventures owner Rusty Jones, an 18-year island veteran, is changing that: he is start ing a mountain biking tea.m for local youths. Jones has no trouble finding riders. One of oat Trai I On the single track in Jamaica Under a dark canopy of green is a barely visible goat path. Just ahead is the back tire of your guide, who is soon swallowed up by the bushes. The terrain is solid rock and then dirt, loose stones, fallen trees. The downhills are dried-up waterfalls; tree roots are big as telephone poles. Jamaica, land of ganja smoke, Bbb Marley and lazy tourists, doesn't normally connote anything too extreme. But past the'lighthouse in Negril is an alternative to the horizontal experience. Rusty's X-cellent Adventures, Jamaica's only off-road mountain bike touring company, is blazing adventure sport trails on the island. From Negril white-sand beaches sweep up into .rocky cliffs that merge into rain forest-drenched foothills and mountains. It's here that extreme sports have taken on a new dimension-Rusty and gang have made a single track out of goat paths and are con- stantly cutting new trails. Experts will be inspired by the 7,402-foot mountain peaks. That's a lot to climb for a "little" island (it's 4,244 square miles in area and has a population of 2.5 million). Many riders are surprised at how technical rides can get. Dirt roads run through fields that give way to fast double-track riding, which quickly becomes single-track. As Rusty's crew flies by, the shiny, 15-geared, knobby-tired bikes contrast sharply with the thatched houses lining the road. The townsfolk nod and wave; children run alongside. "Stunt it! Ride it!" the kids yell. "Crazy tourists," their parents add. Part of the extreme nature of Jamaica is the contrast between locals and visitors. Europeans and Americans flock to the shores to be pampered, while most Jamaicans live in shanties cut off from the posh coastal resorts by the paved highway circling the island. the team stars is 16-year-old Zerial Hayles. When Bike magazine staff were recently in town, it wasn't hard for Jones to convince them to donate a $1,995 Jamis Dakar bike to the young talent. Jones's dream is to have the team race on the US 'circuit for a year, then go on to the Olympics in Sydney. "It's sort of a Cool Runnings 2 kind of thing," laughs Jones, "except bik- ing and Jamaican culture seem to just go together." -Todd C Roberts _-'liႀ䊉 ... hoto: Gregory Lopez .-hoto: Linda Levy