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Downhill bike race in Chile is insanity at its finest

by Justin Delaney (RSS feed) on Mar 3rd 2011 at 3:30PM

I have seen insanity and it happens on the streets of Valparaiso, Chile. The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Race is a legendary urban bike race and is more extreme than skydiving out of an exploding F-18 piloted by Charlie Sheen - while chugging a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. The rider must brave jumps, stray dogs, and flights of stairs along the steep downhill path. The first person perspective provided by the excellent helmet cam lets us take in every glorious and frightening detail. Do yourself a favor and watch this one in full screen mode.

Also, check out this roundup from the 2011 race, which was won by Filip Polc.

Video - VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)

jim Mar 6th 2011 1:23PM

Frank buddy ,you need to go back down to your parents basement where you live .(its safer there.)

Andres Schoffer Mar 6th 2011 11:33PM

You should stay indoors, -You 'might get hurt' if you step out of your front door, Matter of fact, stay in bed and turn on some hollywood flick, where nobody gets hurt, --But -wait- this guy lives in the home of the brave? they need to move him to some third world country ... where he can learn that life is a lot more when you are not SAFE. But watch out, -you could hurt yourself even if you stay in bed, you will get fat, and your muscles will atrophy, and you wont be able to get up and poop. then you will blow up.--Don't be scared. you have insurance, and police protection. The goose.

Conway Redding Mar 6th 2011 2:48PM

There's a mighty thin line between "awesome" and "bad-ass," on the one hand, and, on the other, "fucking crazy." I'm with Frank on this one, and leave it to all of those who think that needlessly exposing oneself to extreme risk makes one more of a man, to emulate the fool in this bike-race video clip.

Frank Mar 6th 2011 3:08PM

Gee Jim, You're right. Its pretty lame of me not to want to break my neck for no reason. I should be willing to sacrifice everything for the thrill. If I'm lucky, Maybe I could end up like Chris Reeve

joe Mar 6th 2011 9:33PM

you guys better stay home in your padded cells so you don't hurt yourselves. that was awesome!

dano Mar 6th 2011 10:09PM

did anyone else notice that he's wearing a pinstriped suit??????

trusse Mar 8th 2011 8:41PM

Anyone know if this was filmed with a ContourHD helmet cam?

Jenni Ferio Mar 6th 2011 11:30PM

nice race and nice roads.
http://flawlesseffect.net/

Cal Mar 8th 2011 9:51PM

As an ex fighter pilot and mountain biker....this took MY breath away!

Gary H. Mar 9th 2011 6:43PM

...WOW!! And all this time, I thought that suicide was illegal...

MITCHELL Mar 9th 2011 6:15PM

DUDE HOLY CRAP!!! TU TENER GRANDES HUEVOS COMO MI

AW Mar 10th 2011 3:16PM

I dunno, I'm as risk averse and safety conscious as the next guy ... and I'm still going with awesome.

Also, I think that from the perspective of the rider's head, how they take some of those wild looking jumps makes much more sense. Like, there is a sudden drop that took my breath away when I looked down, but if I looked from the jump to the landing, it looks like a jump I think I could make. It's just that the drop if something went wrong is way more severe than something I'm inclined to risk