Sammy Mercado Builds His Dream Jump Line in So-Cal - Video

Apr 14, 2017
by Red Bull Bike  


This April, Sammy Mercado, 28-year-old bike-jump aficionado, invited mountain bike professionals, Carson Storch and Darren Berrecloth, to Riverside, CA to joyride through his handmade mountain bike dirt-jumps.

Sammy Mercado

From humble beginnings in Guadalajara, Mexico, Mercado was raised in a broken home losing his father at age 8 and working jobs that inspired him to take initiative and move to America in pursuit of a dream. Upon arrival to California from Mexico, he started mowing lawns regularly in the area. One of his clients was the Diamond Bar Skatepark, a fun well-groomed park with mellow transitions and plenty of street obstacles from big to small. Mercado found himself spending countless hours at Diamond Bar and picked up English from his newfound community led by mentor and local-pro-BMX rider, Mike Saavedra, at the skatepark.

Sammy Mercado

At 18, Mercado had fallen in love with bikes and saved up his mowing money to purchase his first 20” BMX bike. From that moment on, Mercado was never seen without his bike – sometimes biking roughly 40 miles to Diamond Bar from Long Beach just to ride with friends. After learning the art of building dirt jumps and earnestly watching the intricacies of the sport, Mercado discovered his passion for Downhill Mountain biking. Experiencing the freedom of his local hills and striving to become the best rider he could be, Mercado took action to create a private line of his own. Using his own manpower, along with a shovel, pic axe and some water — water he carries into the desert using 5-gallon buckets — Mercado carved a slice of freeride paradise into the hidden hills of Southern California.

Sammy Mercado

Sammy Mercado

To Mercado, learning to build offered a sense of freedom, gave him space for creativity and an opportunity to leave a legacy. “I don’t want to build jumps to ride today,” says Mercado, “I want to build jumps that will last forever.”


Sammy Mercado

At Red Bull Rampage 2016, Mercado was digging and actively participating alongside some of the worlds best jump-builders when he met pro’s Carson Storch, the up-and-comer placing 3rd that year, and Darren Berrecloth, a godfather of MTB. The crew decided to make the trek out to Southern California and get the keys to a day of riding Mercado’s private trail together. “It was humbling to come and ride the trail that Sammy had built and to see how much work he had put in,” Storch says, “It brought me back to when I was young and I’d dig all of the stuff that I wanted to ride. Now that I travel the world riding trails and jumps that other people build, it’s inspiring to see Sammy’s passion and fun to experience the grassroots way of mountain biking again.”


MENTIONS: @redbullbike



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Member since Jun 28, 2012
634 articles

57 Comments
  • 75 1
 After a tight session they can all head for brews at the supermerclawdo
  • 5 1
 You should be getting way more upvotes for 'supermerclawdo'. That was awesome. I wonder if anybody slammed and hit the tacoria.
  • 48 12
 I Love this Story! This guy is an artist, Sammy don't ever get married your soul will melt and the dream will die like the last embar in the fire then the rest of your life is boring and all you wait for is that 2 hours on the weekend you can ride, but it's not even that fun because you have to rush home afterwards, you chugged down the after ride cerveza without fully enjoying it.. To come home to a unhappy spouse and some screaming kids..... Stay golden Pony Boy!!! LOL!, it's not that bad, but seriously don't do it!! Ha .... Love your Work !!
  • 24 1
 Sounds like you made a mistake or two...or are the mistake or two...Or both happened.
  • 8 0
 Get the fam riding!!!
  • 30 0
 Or just choose the marry the right person and have a beautiful family that all rides together.
  • 4 0
 Better than sex.
  • 2 0
 Haha, u just described my weekend
  • 1 2
 I'm about to do just that but it gets better when the kids get older and chug a few after.
  • 2 0
 You're scaring us bud!
  • 2 5
 Agreed, though I wouldn't say don't get married--just don't have kids. Find a spouse who has a passion like yours, not one you want to fornicate with. Always avoid the fornication, it eats your soul. Also, we can't afford to have any more kids on this planet because there's already 7 billion of us and mother nature is receding to nothing as the concrete slowly creeps
  • 8 0
 @Coldspringer: Being a dad of a 22 month old, that already loves her bike even though it is too big, there is far more joy and satisfaction in teaching her and watching her absorb all of the information from the world around her than riding a bike could ever provide. They are close, but if I had to choose between the two, hands down, being a father would win.
  • 1 0
 @meesterover: Yeah sorry to be so extreme, I'm a bit of nutter I understand. I just mean we really have to be careful about the number of children we have, as human population rise is causing a global crisis today. It's not the most comfortable topic I know, just an important thing to remember I think.
  • 1 0
 @Coldspringer: We have decided to have just one and focus on giving her a quality life, over the idea of quantity by having more, but that is for our personal situation. Nature will take care of the over population if we do not. It really is that simple.
  • 27 0
 Wow those are some absolutely beautiful jumps
  • 23 0
 Those jumps are a sight to behold. Perfectly sculpted. Damn nice job man.
  • 16 0
 Dang, from one builder to another, I can say.. it's one thing to build good jumps, and it's an entirely other thing to build beautiful jumps-- a sight to behold. Excellent work man.
  • 16 1
 If trump builds a wall, Sammy will just backflip over it. So stoked you got to share your art with some pros and the rest of us joes, ride on brother!
  • 14 0
 Pretty cool, my man.
  • 6 0
 Clincher for me: "Using his own manpower, along with a shovel, pic axe and some water — water he carries into the desert using 5-gallon buckets " Volume of earth moved is very impressive.!
  • 2 10
flag JohanG (Apr 15, 2017 at 19:06) (Below Threshold)
 He could have bought a 4 wheeler for cheap or rented a skid steer for a day for a few hundred bucks and moved all that dirt in an afternoon.
  • 8 0
 If you build it they will come.
  • 6 1
 I haven't came yet. Just standing full and erect looking at those babies!
  • 6 0
 So awesome!!!! Rad story Sammy!!!! And for him to be tied in now with the Pros.... he might hopefully have a chance at Rampage sometime done the road!!!!! Wink
  • 10 3
 Mexicans making Mountain biking great again ????
  • 3 0
 Mexicans can make MTB great too!
  • 4 19
flag o2a6k (Apr 14, 2017 at 21:55) (Below Threshold)
 Dat gardening ability. NO RACIST.
  • 5 0
 Amazing work, i can barely cut and make a decent berm and to see what he has done with that dirt..awesome!
  • 5 0
 Sammy is cool as shit, full of stoke, tons of fun to ride with at summit and fontucky
  • 3 0
 The jumps are packed in proper. Nice work. Love the sides and backs, very square.
  • 2 0
 Loved this. Stoked local wizard with some pros dropping in. This is what riding is about. Hope to see more of Sammy and his trails.
  • 1 0
 It should be mentioned that Sammy's riding is equally, if not more, impressive than his jump building skills. Amazing style on the bike and all around good guy.
  • 2 0
 Nice Sammy! Props to the local guy.
  • 1 0
 Dude, my dream jumpline is going to have 3 jumps, and just kill this video. Watch out.
  • 2 0
 so cool. great looking spot Sammy!
  • 2 0
 So impressed that one guy was able to build those jumps! Awesome!
  • 2 0
 those jumps look siiiiiiiick
  • 2 0
 beautiful dirt work Sammy!
  • 2 0
 awesome article. good times and good people
  • 1 0
 Some of the nicest jumps that I have ever seen. Beautiful and talented work my good man!
  • 1 0
 Props for taking on that project by yourself! it's so much work, keep it up!!!
  • 1 0
 Minnnnnnt!!

Any spot nearby that I could build something that I could hit myself?? lolz? Down to help give me a shout.
  • 2 0
 Keep it up Sammy !!
  • 2 0
 Much respect my friend!
  • 1 0
 Those jumps looks like machine built, way to go Samuel!
  • 1 0
 Jay Hoots or Velosolutions need a man in SoCal?
  • 2 0
 Perfect jumps, man.
  • 2 0
 Nice, what a rad story!
  • 2 0
 RAD!!!!
  • 2 0
 Nice work, Sammy!
  • 1 0
 Wowzas...private land?
  • 2 4
 Talk less, ride more.
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