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Meet the First Mexican Rider to Compete at Red Bull Rampage
Johny Salido is ready to make a lot of noise at Red Bull Rampage 2019.
It’s just after 10am the day before Red Bull Rampage and Juan Diego 'Johny' Salido is already stoked. From across the canyon some fans shout out to ask which part of Mexico he is from. He shouts back “Guadalajara” and a huge cheer echos back across the canyon. His dig team stops digging and waves their shovels excitedly. Now everyone is stoked.
It’s hard not to be happy when you’re in Salido’s orbit. The long-haired rider with the tricolor helmet is literally carrying the flag for his nation, but it doesn’t seem to weigh heavily on his shoulders. The day before Rampage can be a pretty tense time for a lot of riders, there’s a lot on the line. Money, fame, glory, health. You could forgive anyone a few crabby snaps as VIPs and media bother them for photographs. But Salido doesn’t care. He comes scrambling up from a landing ramp to oblige when asked for photo after photo. Flashing his blinding smile for cellphones and the huge lenses of the press pool with what seems like very genuine excitement.
Johny Salido at Red Bull Rampage 2019
© James Stout
Behind Salido, also posing from photos, and also very much from Guadalajara are Oscar and Willy, his dig team. They’ve been here three weeks. Willy is young, skinny, and wants to go far in the sport. He swings his shovel like every load of dirt he moves is getting him closer to coming back here to ride drops instead of moving dirt. Oscar is older, bigger, and he’s using every inch of his size to craft the perfect line for the kid who he has known for 13 years, and is visibly proud to be here with him. “We’re all so stoked man, I mean he called me after he got invited and said, ‘Do you want to go to Rampage’ and I said, 'Hell yeah!'"
As the first Mexican rider to compete at Red Bull Rampage, Salido has a lot of support. Oscar and Willy are excited to be representing their country alongside their buddy. But one gets the impression that these are the sort of guys who would be happy to be here if they were the fiftieth team from their nation as well. “I have a wife and two kids,” Oscar told me in between shovelfuls of dirt. “I never thought I would see this, but my wife just said, ‘Go!’ This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Johnny Salido Red Bull Rampage
© Paris Gore / Red Bull Content Pool
Salido and his crew have been making the most of that opportunity for three weeks, riding the local trails on the other side of the mesa, and getting to know the conditions in the unique ecosystem here. Oscar broke his bike, but he doesn’t care. “I was going to look for a new one anyway,” he jokes as he looks at Salido’s custom-painted Transition.
Salido, luckily, hasn’t broken any bikes this trip. His warm up runs look super smooth and every time his helmet comes off it’s to reveal an even bigger smile. He shows me his line up the mountain and I ask him is he’s scared as he points out a sheer drop which is considerably taller than my house. “Nah man, I am stoked! It’s just at night when I get scared, then I’m like a baby,” he says before stepping away to participate in another selfie.
Johny Salido getting help from his dig team, Oscar and Willy
© James Stout
I ask Oscar and Willy how they’d feel if Salido won. Oscar’s strong shoulders shake a little as he leans on his shovel, like he just shivered involuntarily. “Oh man, it’s a dream, it would just be amazing. But even to be here is something else. “ And then, up above, a rider is outlined in the sun sending the huge canyon gap that is one of the hardest features on the course. And for a moment Johny and Oscar and Willy are all just buddies watching Rampage again, they jump in the air, flash shaka signs, and whoop. Then they turn around again, and remember that they’re part of it, not just watching it.
Before I leave, Johny grabs both of his diggers and stands in front of the lip they’re painstakingly crafting for him to ride. “Hey man, take a photo of us together,” he says. I oblige, and say I’ll send it to him later. There are dozens of photographers here and hundreds of fans, but Johny is still stoked to have a photo of him and his buddies, all the way from Guadalajara, soaking up every moment of their Rampage experience.
Johny Salido and his dig team at Red Bull Rampage
© James Stout
