(wind)
(intense music)
- [Henry] The landscape here is beautiful, yet brutal.
It entices explorers, yet punishes the unprepared.
You'd be mad to put a bike race through here, surely.
Well, if you were so inclined,
you would want a medical team rich in expertise
because when it does go wrong here,
the stakes are as high as the mountain tops.
- [Biker] (mumbles in pain)
- [Henry] We have been kindly allowed
to follow Nico Thumm and his team
of enduro emergency experts
to find out how they provide the vital,
yet often overlooked, medical safety net
to these intrepid racers.
(upbeat music)
Also, Neil says I have to buy Nico a beer on his behalf?
He said he owed him a favor.
I can only assume he jump started his car or something.
(tires scraping)
(cheering)
(radio talk)
Five days of brutal racing.
Each day spanning hours in the saddle
and with an accumulative descent,
stretching into thousands upon thousands of meters.
As a mechanic, I wince out of empathy
for the poor bikes, thinking of all that unadulterated
abuse that they'll be taking.
I can only imagine what kind of imagery it conjures up
for a medical professional.
So, who is in this team?
They're certainly more than just a few volunteers
of the Boy Scouts or the Parent Teacher Association.
They're trained medical professionals
who not only cover races like this
as part of their nine to five
but also work on events,
such as the Paris Dakar Rally.
Now, where is Nico and his team?
The race is tomorrow, and I need to make an introduction
to Neil's favorite doctor.
- [Medic] Okay and when, and every 20 riders--
- So, the medics are just giving their morning briefing
kindly in English for us, although,
got a sneaking suspicion they might be going
over some points in Spanish later.
But they do this every morning just to make sure
on the day's plan.
- (in foreign language)
- So we're here with Nico Thumm
who heads up the medical team
at this Andes Pacifico enduro race.
Now Nico, if you could just give us a very brief outline
of how operationally it works then.
- So, we are five doctors and one rescue man,
and we're going to move after the racers during this stage,
each 20 racers is going to be one doctor follow them
and then to the next 20 riders,
and so on until the end of this stage.
- So, I guess that means that, you know,
no one's going to be left potentially
in a precarious situation for too long.
- Yeah.
- So, we're going to drop in now.
I'm going to follow you down to the first section,
and we'll set up camp there
- Great.
- and see how we go.
(bikers riding)
- [Henry] So, following the team down now.
(laughs) They're already having fun.
So, you can see the tape's here.
When it's yellow, it means there's nothing
to really worry about
in terms of it's going to sneak up on you,
and if it turns red, it means, you know,
be a bit more careful because, well,
it could get a bit more dangerous.
Not only do you have to be a skilled medic,
but also a skilled rider, carrying your own equipment
and being able to get across all of this terrain efficiently
because time isn't always on their side.
So, we've just stopped with Nico,
and this is going to be where we set ourselves
for the first stage of the day.
Now, this is where having mountain biking medics
is really important.
Up there, to a non mountain biker,
it might look like a pretty innocuous,
pretty basic turn, but as a rider,
we know how loose that is.
You know how fast you're coming in.
That knowledge is vital when giving support
on a trail like this.
- Oh!
- Ooh, I want to go slow some riders down.
So as you can see, that pretty innocuous section
we were talking about earlier on
that really didn't look like much,
easy to lose a front wheel.
A rider's gone down really hard,
and maybe within ten seconds, there's a medic there,
a highly trained specialist doctor,
and that's pretty remarkable.
- Is everything okay?
Yeah.
He crashed very hard, but he bumped on his head.
He broke his helmet,
but he hasn't has a loss of consciousness.
(in foreign language)
- I had a huge crash because I have a fast compression,
and I couldn't handle my front wheel.
It was uphill, but it was going quite fast.
- [Henry] Bit of an understatement.
You can see the reduction speed
is like dropping off a cliff.
40 kilometers an hour to a stop in the blink of an eye.
(in foreign language)
- Yeah, we clear most of the bad injuries.
He feel comfortable.
A little bit of pain everywhere, but nothing bad.
So, he's going to keep riding,
and we're going to be down the hill with him.
(in foreign language)
- I have treated a lot of fractures on him.
- Oh.
(laughing)
So you know each other quite well?
- I have some concussions.
(radio noise in foreign language)
- [Henry] In terms of injuries sustained on the course,
how much do you try and treat on site?
- It depends if the rider can keep riding,
we just leave it, make basic things
and do as much as we need to keep him riding.
If it's very bad crash, we have to make some maneuvers
and other stuff.
Like, yeah we stop when the rider can't ride again
and then make the final treatment at the end of the stage
or take him to the hospital or whatever.
- [Henry] The whole Andes Pacifico
has this amazing feeling to it.
It sometimes feels like a celebration of mountain biking
as much as a race,
and that sentiment isn't lost on the medics.
These guys are like a family, and that warmth is extended
to all of the participants.
(laughing)
- [Nico] Riders have a big family.
Yeah, it is a family.
- The last for you, man.
- [Henry] Oh, thanks.
(laughing)
- They'll get you riding out where possible
and guide you to the bottom of the run safely.
And once they've got that rider taken care of,
it's straight to the top of the next stage
to do it all over again.
So, top of stage two on day three, a big climb.
I'm with Palomo now.
- Hello!
- [Henry] He's a really good rider, actually, real fit.
I just did that climb with him.
Super strong guy, he's played rugby.
One of the cool things about these doctors as well
is the amount of languages they speak.
Palomo speaks three languages,
and I think between them,
they've got most eventualities covered.
What they when they have two stages back to back
with a relatively short liaison
is they'll leap frog one team in front of the other.
That's why having such a large team is needed.
- Nice view!
- [Henry] Beautiful, a benefit of the job.
- Yeah.
- Some of these guys will work on other events
like the EWS, Paris Dakar.
It's really, really impressive their skill set
cause, you know, to be a top level football position,
you don't have to be a top level footballer,
but these guys are absolutely pinned
and could also help you get out of spots above this
if you happen that way.
I think it's a sign of how much this sport has grown
that you can get features like this.
You get racers like this with this kind of support.
You know, a couple of years ago, (murmurs) injury,
they'd had nothing like this.
It's pretty incredible that they really just
bridged the gap between racing and adventuring, you know.
Cause don't get me wrong, I mean, look at us.
We are in the middle of nowhere here.
For you to go up one side, you'd hit nothing but fresh air
for quite a long time and look down there.
(upbeat music)
(murmurs) Palomo there, casually operating his radio
while it's descending 100,
(laughs) covering just the rear brake.
Get on him.
(upbeat music)
So, we're here with Cristobal,
but your friends call you Palomo.
- Yep.
- And we've just ridden stage three on day three.
Now, we are (murmurs).
Obviously, we're bike riders.
We all ride a lot, often with friends,
and sometimes we get ourselves, in English,
we would say we get ourselves in a pickle.
- In a pickle?
- Things go wrong.
(tires zooming)
(bike crashing)
- (laughs)
- What would be one sort of trail side medical procedure
that you would say is a must know for a mountain biker?
- Well, there are, obviously there's one main stage
that you have always to take care of
that you cannot put yourself in danger before
because you cannot be another accidented person.
- [Henry] Yeah.
- So, before everything, you have to secure the scene.
You have to be careful with everything.
Maybe, well if you do some rescue,
you have to be careful with rocks or other mountain bikers,
so that's the first thing.
Do not become an accidented guy.
(laughing)
Yeah, the second one is always to go and see the person
and not to move it until, well if the scene is secure,
and control the person and see if he responds.
"Hello, are you okay?"
No, he is not responding, so then you go
and see if he is breathing or if he has severe collision.
Simple as taking the pulse here in the carotid.
That's very simple.
Everybody knows I think.
Or if not, they can learn in that moment.
(soft music)
(bikers riding)
- So, we're sat down here with Juan,
and you actually have a really interesting role
because you're part of, well you're experienced,
a raft and ski guide and all that and lots of other sports.
And you coordinate with the medical team
to give the best coverage I suppose.
And you have your backpack here.
Would you be able to just show us some of the contents here?
- Of course, well sorry for my English,
I don't know the name of this, but this is for
if we have a big problem,
and we don't have a heli, chopper,
and we must carry the guy.
- Oh wow, yes.
- And we open this, okay?
And we use a rope, and we can carry a guy.
- Oh, so you can get people off the mountain.
- Yes, yeah.
My lunch.
- (laughs) Necessary, most important part.
- And this is the rope and the tools.
I have seventy meters of rope, okay?
- Wow.
- And I have all the tools.
I have carabiners.
- Yeah.
- Another rope because if we have a problem
to get the rope for the guy,
this one I throw twenty meters, and we have,
it's a shooter for the rope.
And this is all, it's heavy, but it's necessary.
We have the light gear, never we use it in Andes Pacifico,
but if we have a problem.
- [Henry] If you need it, it's there.
- Yeah, we have everything.
Henry, can you put everything in the bag
and take the bag going down?
- Yeah sure.
- Because I'm really tired.
- What is it, one or two kilos?
- Yeah, one or two, maybe three, okay?
- Three kilos.
We'll see how it goes.
- Thank you man.
- Cheers, buddy.
- I leave you everything here.
- No worries.
- I am going with my friends to drink beer, okay?
- I'll enjoy the sandwich or are you taking that?
(laughs)
See ya.
All right, then.
I guess I'll,
(soft music)
oh my goodness!
Jesus, what you got, I can't even pull that.
Well, I changed my mind.
I'm tired too.
So, dropping a gear with Juan's backpack.
Oh my god.
(laughs) I'm sat so much deep into my suspension.
I wonder if he's got his set up especially for it, this is,
oh my god, how does he do this?
Jesus Christ, it's just so hard
to even do the most basic maneuver.
And this isn't even with water in.
This is empty in that regard.
Wow, that's loose.
Oh my god, my legs are getting so fatigued.
(breathes out) I better sit down.
And you can just feel, I try to turn the bike,
it's just swiveling and shifting underneath you.
So, oh my god, my legs are so tight!
(upbeat music)
So, we made camp for the evening
after what was a spectacular day of riding.
Behind us, stands the Donahue wing.
I don't know why it's name it, must be a coincidence.
It was an early start, and I mean it's nearly ten o'clock,
it's a late finish as well,
but these guys are so determined to provide
just such an excellent level of care
to all the competitors.
I just think it's fantastic.
It's absolutely fascinating,
and I want to just extend my gratitude to Nico and the team
for letting us come on board.
As always guys, don't forget to like and subscribe
and let us know in the comments, what you thought
about the video.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)
- No, no, no.
(laughing)
- Cozy, it's very warm.
- Yeah, you see, you see, now you're taking some sun
and vitamin D for you.
- I think I've been, I think I've had enough sun
for one day.