Soil Searching: Inspired to Dig

What if you dream of riding renowned trails, but you aren’t lucky enough to live in a mountain biking mecca? Caio Suzarte and Eduardo Arruda know — you build your own.

Passion. Caio Suzarte and Eduardo Arruda are absolutely drenched in it. The two trail builders from Brazil are passionate in their conviction that bikes are more than just playthings, and that riding can change your life and the world for the better.

Growing up in different parts of this vast country, both builders were nonetheless connected by a shared conviction that life should amount to more than climbing out of bed each morning and trundling off to work to earn a pay check. Caio and Eduardo wanted to live and breathe consciously, to connect every day to the soul of things. And they both saw trails and mountain bikes as the key to it all.

The two riders would soon help one another carve that dream into reality. But first, it would require learning to build trails, learning how to make mountain bike videos, and inspiring others to ride. When all was said and done, Caio and Eduardo would ultimately create the setting for a cultural shift in Brazil. One that gave new meaning to riding mountain bikes.

For Caio, it all began with a pilgrimage to British Columbia, the birthplace of freeride mountain biking. Riding the seemingly endless world-class trails in B.C. proved the catalyst needed to set the wheels in motion. It was during his last day on his first visit to Whistler, Canada, Caio had an epiphany.

He paints a vivid picture as he recalls the moment everything came into focus for him.

“It was getting dark and I was doing my last run for the day,” say Caio, who remembers thinking, “Tomorrow I’m going home to Rio de Janeiro. But why? Why does this place feel like home? Why doesn’t my own home feel like this?”

Then and there, Caio realized that he had to return to Brazil and follow his dream, not just for himself, but for others who had been waiting for a mountain bike revolution in Brazil.

One of those other riders back in Brazil, who was more than ready for this particular revolution, was Eduardo. Around the same time Caio was having his epiphany in Whistler, Eduardo was immersing himself wholeheartedly in learning the craft of trail building. Eduardo, too, made a pilgrimage to B.C., intent on enrolling in a professional trail building course. By the time Eduardo arrived, however, the course had unexpectedly been cancelled.

Undeterred, Eduardo took stock of his surroundings and managed to hook up with a local trail building crew on a project. That crew showed him the ropes of working with a machine. They helped him develop techniques to envision a trail where none existed, to create flow and, ultimately, they gave him the tools to eventually transform himself into a master trail builder.

“Mountain biking and trail building is in my blood,” says Ed, smiling as he shows us the tattoo on his arm — a trail, snaking down a mountain. The inevitable cliché is impossible to ignore, yet rings true: Eduardo is a man who wears and bares his heart on his sleeve, with unwavering conviction.

With Caio being a magician behind the lens of a camera, Ed being an absolute wizard with a rake, shovel, and a machine, and both riding their bikes with a flair that would rival the finest of Brazilian soccer players, these builders are setting the stage to transform their home into its own kind of mountain bike mecca. It’s only a matter of time.

“People need to escape from the Matrix from time to time, so I’m busy getting the red pills ready,” chuckles Caio, referencing The Matrix movie, in which the red pill represents truth and reality, and the blue pill symbolizes ignorance and bliss.

Only, in this case, Caio and Ed’s red pill takes you into a world of endless mountain bike trails.

We recommend the red pill.