LIBERTAD! A mountain bike documentary by Trippool Media + Hilary Lex Treks

January 2023, Guatemala, and an entire lifetime of building the creative and professional momentum to finally cross a few items off the bucket list: complete a film, get paid to travel, collaborate with big brands, visit a part of the world I’ve never been.

After three weeks of filming with our main character, Christa Castillo, traveling from Antigua to Lake Atitlan, hiking an active volcano, and eating some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life, we ended the trip on a bike ride through several smaller towns in Guatemala. The climbing was intense, especially for someone brand new to mountain biking (hi, I’m talking about myself…) but I learned for absolutely certain something that I was only able to suspect before going on such an adventure: I am a bike packer. For sure. There’s just no better way to see a place (the world) than on two wheels with likeminded and determined people. If I could bottle that experience and share it I would just so you could feel inspired and enchanted the way I was. And this was all just the added perks of having the coolest job in the entire world – documentary filmmaking, a profession that will have you traveling to places you’ve never been, experiencing things you’d never imagined doing, meeting people you could only hope for, tasting things you’ll dream about for the rest of your life, and, ultimately, getting to tell really cool, important stories with people who love them.

The Mission:

After years of freelancing, learning how to use a camera through YouTube university and getting our feet wet through social media, my friend Hilary and I got approached to shoot an actual documentary for a friend we met in the mountain bike industry (a natural fit for two filmmakers in Bentonville, Arkansas). Documentary storytelling is an important element for businesses and non-profits to share their mission with the world, and Julie was very interested in making sure her passion was being taken care of.

It’s not easy to run a non-profit, especially when your team is incredibly small. Most non-profits exist off sponsorships, grants, and donations, so creating a portal for emotional connection is vital. Why? The more connected people feel to a mission, the quicker, happier, and bigger they are to provide the very financial aid these organizations live and die on. That’s obvious. What’s less obvious is often how to do that.

Oof. Just look at that girl ⇧

For Julie, this came in the form of sharing the life changing impact her efforts are having on women from less fortunate parts of the world in the world of mountain biking, a sport that tends to cater to more elite crowds. The barriers to entry for mountain biking are pretty steep – first of all, bikes are not cheap. Just getting your hands on one can be nearly impossible if you’re not well off. For Julie, getting bikes to women who would benefit from them the most is incredibly important. That’s why she created World Ride, whose sole purpose is to empower women globally through mountain biking. Christa was just that woman, and that’s why we were tasked with sharing her story through this documentary.

The Story

Our story started before we actually arrived in Guatemala. We had met Julie at a bike event in Bentonville Arkansas, where she was introduced to us through a mutual friend. We chatted a lot about her mission, successes, and struggles making World Ride happen. We talked a lot about Christa, a mysterious powerhouse of a woman in Guatemala who had just taken up mountain biking during the pandemic. She sounded fascinating to both Hilary and me. We were in. This is exactly the kind of story and experience we had both been dreaming about when we first incorporated Trippool.

Not long after saying “yes” we set up a zoom call to meet our character. I was obsessed with her immediately. I couldn’t wait to fly down there with my camera gear and put her face on my little screen. Hilary felt the same. Everything was perfect, everything was working out. And then we got the news…

Just a few weeks before we were set to film with Christa Julie let us know that Christa had been in an accident. At the time no one knew how serious the injury was, and we weren’t sure if she was even going to be able to get on a bike for us. In fact, we actually didn’t find out how serious the injury was until we actually got down to Guatemala and Christa was able to get a scan letting her know she had in fact torn her ACL.

How are we going to make a documentary about mountain biking when our lead subject can’t even ride a mountain bike? Is it worth it to even go?

These were questions we had to ask ourselves in the weeks between the phone call and our filming schedule. As brand new filmmakers (at least to this scale) we had a fair amount of anxiety and insecurity about our ability to make lemonade out of this lemon. There were a lot of conversations between the three of us (myself, Hilary and Julie) about how to handle the situation. Ultimately we decided that this was just a part of what happens when you are shooting real stories in real time. Things happen…and if you’re going to be a good filmmaker you have to learn to navigate the unknown and pivot with the uncontrollable. I’m super happy we decided to go for it regardless of the circumstances. We were able to meet an incredibly special person (actually, a lot of very special people), test our skills, create relationships with amazing brands (our film sponsors were Osprey and Shredly) and finally shoot an actual film. What a dream come true in so many ways. This experience taught me so much, which is a blog for another time, and created an opportunity that would end up changing my entire professional life in a way I could have literally never predicted (but that’s also a story for another time…)

So what’s next? Botswana, 2024!