Several months ago fellow trials rider Will Haden suggested that I interview Mexican trials rider David Garcia. I thought this was a great suggestion since I’m trying to cover riders across North America and hadn’t yet interviewed any riders from Mexico. Fortunately, David agreed to do it! David has done quite a bit to promote trials. In addition to competing, he helped get a trials park built, has done trials stunt shows, broke a couple world records, and more. He is also an entrepreneur, public speaker, and mountain biking coach.
Tell us a little about yourself
I’m David García, born and raised in Querétaro, México. It’s a beautiful city 2.5 hours north from Mexico City. I’ve been riding bikes my whole life, since elementary school. I love outdoors and animals. I studied industrial design, but nowadays I’m specialized in Brand Strategy and content creation (mainly for doctors). I have a branding & digital advertisement agency, so I’ve always been passionate about design, branding and marketing.
I also created a coaching program for MTB, beginner and intermediate level. I really enjoy teaching other people, sharing my knowledge and helping others enjoy bikes as much as I do.
Another thing I’m pretty proud of is that I broke 2 Guinness World Records climbing buildings with my bike. That really pushed my limits, physically and mentally. The first building I climbed was Hotel RIU in Guadalajara in 2014. That wasn’t a GWR, but that gave me the idea to challenge myself and go for the GWR, so in 2016 I climbed Juriquilla Towers Building, 3339 steps in 2 hours 8 min. The second GWR was in BBVA (the biggest bank in México) 2019, there I climbed 3988 steps in 2 hours 50 mins
How long have you been riding bike trials? What is your riding level?
I’ve been riding trials for about 23 years, I consider myself expert, maybe intermediate since I’m not riding as hard as I used to because of lack of time and all the MTB coaching I’m doing.
How did you discover bike trials and how did you get started? What age were you when you started?
I discovered bike trials when I was about 13, maybe 14. At that age, I was coaching kids at a MTB school. The thing is that I always hated when we have to pedal for long hours, what I really enjoyed was the technical aspect, roots, rocks and that kind of stuff. So when I saw a guy doing a trials demo at the bike school I knew that was for me, pure technical riding, without the need to pedal long distances. I think it’s quite funny to say that I’m a cyclist, but man I hate to pedal for long distances…
How would you define/describe “bike trials” in your own words to someone who never heard of it?
When somebody asks me about trials I always tell them that it’s like parkour, guys jumping around walls and, stairs, cars, benches… that same thing but with a bike. It’s all about precision and explosiveness.
What type of bike trials riding do you prefer and where do you like to ride?
I really like riding natural trials, mainly rocks. I think it’s quite demanding, and it gives you plenty of things to do without getting bored, it keeps me well challenged all the time. Nowadays I’m doing solo rides maybe once a month. All the riders I started with have retired, so my only option is solo ride. The spot I love to ride is about 45 mins drive, a place full of volcanic rocks next to the road. I also like to ride on pallets, you can be creative but I only do when I’m doing shows.
Why do you ride bike trials and what keeps you motivated to keep riding?
What keeps me motivated is the satisfaction I get when I’m done, honestly, nothing else gives me that feeling. Every time I go for a ride I tell myself “I should definitely do this more often.” I enjoy the mental challenge that trials represents, is quite hard to explain, but having to focus on what you have to do in order to climb an obstacle or do a big jump, analyze what you did good, what you have to change and improve and then go again and again until you get over the obstacle or you land a gap. It feels like going from 0 mph to 100 mph in one second because of all what’s happening in your mind. It’s just something beautiful.
What other styles of cycling do you do? How has trials helped you improve your skills in those other biking disciplines (and vice versa)?
So besides trials I do enduro/trail riding. I do not compete but I enjoy riding the big bike. Trials has helped me having an insane control on steep and technical trails, knowing how to move the body in different situations. All my friends are quite jealous when they see me doing some crazy tight switch bikes, I just tell them “Well.. that’s trials mate haha”. Also riding enduro has helped me to be more fluent when riding trials, I now let the bike roll a little bit more, I don’t know if that makes sense.
You offer core skills MTB training to small groups as well as 1-1 MTB coaching. How do you incorporate bike trials skills into your training programs, and how does that improve riders’ MTB skills?
When it comes to MTB coaching, I’ve noticed that as trials riders, we’re especially aware of how even the smallest body movements affect the bike. That’s why the first thing I focus on is balance – not in the sense of staying still, but in developing body awareness. I help riders feel what their body is doing, no matter how subtle the movement. I also put a lot of emphasis on range of motion. Many mountain bikers ride in a constantly crouched position, while trials riders need to be explosive and fully extend their body to jump higher or farther. Improving that range of movement is something I always work on with them, and it’s usually a completely new concept for them.
Has the growth of MTB in Mexico in recent years had any impact in building interest in bike trials as well?
The growth of MTB in Mexico hasn’t necessarily translated into more interest in trials riding. However, one positive effect of social media is that more people are now aware of trials, and many have come to respect it because of the high level of skill it requires.
How often do you ride trials? What sort of routine do you have for practice versus riding for fun versus making edits, etc. – how much time is dedicated to each?
I think I was riding maybe once a month just for fun, but now I’m trying to go out a bit more. Every time I go out I try to spend at least 30 mins doing video clips. I know social media is very important nowadays and that 30mins are just not enough, but I want to ride for fun, so I just try to have some clips to get them out of my to do list and then just ride for fun. But in a different scenario, like if I was looking for sponsors, I would definitely put more hours doing great edits on the trials bike.
I would like to add this for your riders, is that the thing that matters the most in social media is the way you tell a story, you don’t have to be the best rider, you just need to be good telling stories. If you want to compete, then you also need to be a very good rider.
What’s the bike trials scene like near you? How many other riders are there? Do you have regular group rides? Comps?
Well the trials scene in México is pretty much gone… we had some good years but nobody is riding anymore… so the closest scene near me is the US, maybe Colombia or Chile. We are only 3 guys left in trials.
How do you manage fear when doing new/bigger moves or lines?
Fear literally keeps us alive, so every time we feel fear is because we are doing something that can harm us. The way I manage fear when I’m doing a new line goes as follows: I know is something that can be done, then I know that is something that I can do, then I must feel confident about what I’m about to do. We all have good days and bad days. One day you can do one move, maybe the next you can’t. You must acknowledge when you are good to go, and commit to it, but also when you should leave it for another day.
What are your personal goals with respect to trials (near-term and long-term)?
As of now my personal goals with trials is to ride more often and have a good time, doing more videos trials specific is something I would like do again. Also I would travel so I can hang out with more trials people, US, or Spain.
Who are your bike trials ‘heroes’ and/or influences? Favorite trials video(s)?
Oh boy, bike trials heroes… I have a bunch of them, but a personal hero of mine is Dany Comas. I’m also proud that I consider him a friend of mine. Kenny Belaey is another legend, I think he is the biggest promoter of our sport. For sure Danny Macaskill, that guy really pushed the boundaries of what can be done with a bike. I have a few videos that I always enjoy watching, the one that I like the most is April 2009 from Danny Macaskill, even though there are a lot of new and massive videos, that one was a turning point, it changed social media, content creation and inspired thousands of people.
What are your perspectives on the trials biking scene in general and in North America in particular?
I think more people are getting to get familiar with the bike trials, but it is still quite hard to get new people to join into it. Bentonville Bike Fest is doing a great job making it happen by showing the sport to other cyclists. We still have a long way to go comparing to Europe, but I think we are on the right track.
I was wondering if you could share some of your experiences in setting up grassroots trials competitions in Mexico as well as trying to grow the trials scene in a country with limited resources (money, bike and parts availability, general interest in cycling, etc.).
In the beginning we were a bunch of guys enjoying bike trials. In Querétaro we were about 6 guys and in Mexico City they were another 6. Talking about only the ones who were consistent, Bernardo and I thought that if we wanted this to grow, we needed to make it look more organized, so we decided to start doing competitions. With this we as riders had a goal, become more skilled for the competitions, and that pushed us all.
Organizing each competition was quite hard every time, because all of the logistics as organizers but also for the riders. Some lived too far, some didn’t even want to join, some felt it was expensive, but we kept the championship going for 6 years until all the riders stopped riding.
I feel there are 2 main obstacles for trials in México and all over the world. It’s very hard to learn. It is just a hard sport, and you don’t move much around like you do in MTB, where you have scenic views and you get to explore different places, so it becomes quite frustrating at the beginning, because you are in one single spot, trying one move over and over again.
The other thing that makes it hard is getting bikes and parts. Getting bikes into México gets expensive because of shipping and taxes. I think is similar to the US, but the main difference is the purchasing power, even though people spend thousands on dollars on enduro bikes, they are not willing to pay a good amount of money for a bike they don’t even know how to use. Let’s face it, trial bikes are hard to ride and the culture is not as big as it is in MTB.
A few years ago I imported Koxx bikes. It was hard to sell the bikes and parts, even when half of the shipment was made with a presale order. A few years later me and Bernardo tried again but now with Neon Bikes, the cost was very low and that was good, but the amount of parts they ask you to place an order is quite high for the amount of people riding trials in México. It took us more than a year to sell just one shipment. It’s just not worth the money investment.
Related to that, tell us about the experiences you had obtaining permission, space, and materials to build a trials park in Querétaro, Mexico. What were some of the biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? What was the most rewarding aspect of creating the trials park?
Having permission to get a space where we could practice was mere luck. I tried many years to talk and convince the local sport authorities but they didn’t show any interest. It was something new, not many people practicing it. It was until a friend of mine started working in the INDEREQ (which translation is Queretato’s Sports and Recreation Institute), that we were able to get a training spot. He convinced the head manager of a state public park to lend us a small area. So it wasn’t because the authorities wanted to support us, it was only because of a friend of mine had the will to help us out.
So we now have the space, but we didn’t have any obstacles for training… so we started buying a few pallets, we started to look for wood reels, in construction sites, we were all spreading the word to people who might have a company or worked inside one so we could have some donations, mainly pallets and wood reels.
That was the beginning of the trials park, but it wasn’t enough, so we came up with the idea to organize a trials competition. That way we could have funds to buy more material, build some stuff and get noticed by local media.
I think the most rewarding aspect was that we were able to build something out of nowhere, no money, not that much support, we were just kids trying to have a decent place where we could train. Building that small community was something nice. It only lasted about 4 years. The park where the trials park was located was redesigned. They built new areas, tennis courts, functional training areas, so that was the end of it… they had to prioritize sports with more people practicing it.
You’ve broken the world record for climbing stairs in tall buildings – the tallest being nearly 4,000 steps. That looks like a brutal workout! What inspired you to tackle these challenges? How did you get the idea? How did you train and prepare for these feats? What did you learn from these efforts?
So about the Guinness records, it all started around 2003, when I was literally watching TV while I was eating, and I saw in the news that Javier Zapata, from Colombia, came to México to break a GWR in Mexico City. He climbed about 1,300 steps in Torre Mayor, that’s when I was just starting trials, and climbing stairs was kind of the only skill I had at the moment, because… well trials is hard to learn, even more on a MTB, so I thought, “I think I could do that.” That simple thought was inside of my head for years, the main challenge was that I didn’t have a clue about how to do it, how to get permission from a building.
It was in 2013 that was invited to climb a building in Guadalajara, to promote a Bike Expo. In 2014 the same Bike Expo wanted to do something different, so they decided to do a vertical race. Those races are quite common with runners, but this time it was with bikes. We were 12 guys invited. We had the skill to climb steps, we were all trials riders, even a girl from Colombia came this time, Mónica Muñoz. From the 12 athletes, only 5 were able to get to the top. Climbing a building is not only about the skill, you also need a strong mindset to endure.
That was the first time I climbed a building. I was the fastest, even faster than Javier, who climbed a year before. That’s when it hit me, “Ok, how many steps could I climb? I just did 980 and I’m ok, I haven’t reached my full potential yet.”
So a new challenge emerged, in 2016 I broke my very first GWR. It was way harder than I expected, but it was kind of the beauty of it. I mean physically and mentally was challenging, but organizing the whole record, looking for sponsors, training, permits, media, all the logistics were draining me out. I only wanted to train, but training was only one part of the whole thing. I only was able to set this new record because of all the help I had.
The whole process took me about a year. At first it was meant to be done in 6 months, but the building was still in construction. I got injured a couple of times, I didn’t have sponsors, so I had to move the date a few times. The most stressing part was getting the funds. I got one big sponsor just a month before the date of the attempts, so all the previous time was extremely stressful.
While I was training my mind was set on how amazing would be everything after breaking the record, how great I would feel when finishing the climb. The truth is that I didn’t feel anything, nothing changed… it took me a few months to realize that the most important thing I did was overcoming all of the challenges, the person I was becoming every single day. I had to look back to recognize myself for everything me and my team did. About 35 people were involved in some way to achieve this goal.
Since I wasn’t satisfied with how I felt the first time and I knew I could have pushed myself a bit more, I wanted to do it again, so the whole process was starting again. This time I thought it would be easier. The reality is that it was way harder. This time, the record took place on Torre BBVA, which is the headquarters of the biggest bank in Mexico. So you can imagine how hard that was… again, I only wanted to train, but the logistics were my main focus… those were the real challenge.
This time I did enjoy the whole process, even when it was way harder I look back and I’m just proud of myself, pushing myself through this is something amazing, both mentally and physically. I have to say, all of this was done because of the right mindset, it all starts with your thoughts and convictions.
I remember that a day before the attempt, I was fired from the gym where I was a coach. They called me on the phone, at first I was angry… but after a few minutes I started laughing. I went through all kinds of obstacles, that getting fired a day before was just something not relevant at all.
In order to set a new GWR I had to climb 3.5 times the building. It took me about 2 hours 50 minutes to climb 3988 steps, and it was just beautiful. During the ascent I was having all kinds of memories through my mind, the high and the lows, this time everything felt different.
It’s very cliche and cheesy to say that is not the destinations but the journey, that phrase doesn’t give any justice to what it feels like when you actually live it.
Funny story, I planned to climb 3700 steps, but a mistake calculating the steps and the floors made me go for almost 4000 steps. When I finished the climb, I heard “3988 steps.” My first thought was, “that’s wrong, I can’t climb that many steps.” Well… that limit was only in my mind because we saw the counter, we saw the video and the sheets where everything was getting checked and counted when I was climbing. So the only way to know your true potential is by challenging what you think you are capable of.
What are some of the ways you have successfully marketed yourself as an athlete? What do you think are typical marketing mistakes that many athletes make?
At first I focused on competing and becoming very good on the bike. While that’s actually important, it is more important to be known AND to connect with people, being charismatic, friendly on social media is more relevant nowadays.
So one way I found out to market yourself is just to talk to people and share what you do and what you want to achieve. You never know who might help you out. Of course social media has a very important role nowadays, but actually talking human to human has a lot of power.
One big mistake I made, and that I often see other riders make, is approaching brands with a mindset of “what can I get?” instead of “how can I provide value?” As athletes, we sometimes put ourselves first, without considering how we can actually help a brand or business grow. But if you’re looking to market yourself or earn sponsorships, you need to start by offering something in return. The brand needs to see a clear win in working with you, otherwise, there’s no reason for them to say yes.
As I mentioned earlier, athletes today need to be good at more than just their sport. First, of course, you have to be skilled at what you do. But second, you need to know how to tell stories, especially through video. And third, you should develop strong public speaking skills. These three things will give you the confidence and tools to attract sponsors more effectively.
Let’s be honest: reaching a Red Bull-level of exposure is extremely difficult. So, if you’re not among the top 0.1%, your ability to create content that actually connects with people becomes your biggest asset. There are tons of videos of trials riders doing insane moves, but the only ones who truly understand or appreciate those clips are other trials riders, who, let’s face it, are not going to sponsor you. That’s why it’s not just about showing what you can do, but about telling a story people can relate to and engage with.
Don’t get me wrong, even today, I still struggle with creating engaging content. Sometimes, I just want to share a video of myself riding and having fun, without thinking about reach or going viral. And that’s totally valid. What’s important is that riders are clear about their purpose when posting on social media. Whether it’s just for fun or to position yourself for sponsorships, knowing why you’re sharing content helps you be more intentional, and ultimately, more effective.
Any interesting / funny / crazy bike trials stories or experiences you can share?
Well… bike trials gave me the chance to meet some incredible people. I met people in Australia, Spain, Colombia, US and Canada all because of trials. One of my favorite trips I’ve ever done was a road trip with my friends (Including Dani Comas and Mauricio Ramos, a good friend who happens to be a Red Bull photographer). We drove from Mexico City to Playa del Carmen (next to Cancún). Every time we saw a cool spot, we stopped so we could take some amazing photos. We even had a chance to get inside a Cenote with our bikes.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start bike trials or has just started?
My advice is always seek for fun. Challenge yourself but enjoy every ride, learn from videos but put what you see in practice, film yourself so you can watch what you are doing, and even though we are a small community feel free to ask anyone anything you need. Whenever it is possible, go to another city or even country.
Anything else about bike trials that you’d like to share?
Bike trials gave me the opportunity to live crazy things that I always cherish. I love this sport, I would like it if more people could experience something like this.
How do people find you online?
You can find me as @AtletaDavidGarcia on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and my website.
Who is the one North American bike trials rider (any skills level) that you think I should interview?
I think Bernardo Rodriguez could give you an interview. He is now living in Canada and he is now just riding moto trials, but he and I did the National Championship in México for several years.
Special thanks: In addition to nominating David for this interview, Will Haden also helped me prepare for the interview. During my research, I found a YouTube video of David riding with a group of other trials riders in Mexico… one of which was Will Haden! When I asked Will about the video, he explained that he had lived in Mexico for a bit. While down there, he had met David and the other riders when he was looking for locals to ride with. They’d since become good friends. While my online research had already identified some ideas to guide the interview questions, I also asked Will what else I should discuss with David – he happily obliged. I wanted to thank Will for nominating David as well as supporting the interview preparations.
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