Text by Tess Weaver Strokes
Images by Katie Lozancich and Tamara Susa
In the spring of 2021, 27-year-old Camila Nogueira traveled from Aspen to join a small group of mountain bikers in the Mars-like landscape of the Utah desert. They were there for the second annual Red Bull Formation, a women’s-only event dedicated to freeride mountain biking, a growing discipline in which riders build and ride trails that include challenging features such as jumps and drops. While cross-country and downhill mountain bike racing award speed, freeride focuses on amplitude, tricks, and style.
During the week-long progression session in Virgin, Utah, Nogueira and her fellow riders—eight of the world’s best female freeriders—built their own lines: shoveling, watering, and packing the desert’s red dirt into technically difficult trail features. They also practiced riding each other’s lines, including everything from hip jumps to gap jumps over canyons to exposed, steep chutes. On the final day, riders combined everything they’d been practicing by attempting top-to-bottom runs. Nogueira, the event’s first Latin American participant, was one of two who succeeded.
“She’s uniquely talented at the mental side of the sport,” says Washington-based pro freeride mountain biker Hannah Bergemann, the only other rider to complete her line from top to bottom. “She’s good at getting in the right head space to try something scary. She can push through nerves and pressure to take on a task or challenge while at the same time lifting others up and offering a sense of encouragement.”
Though Nogueira was far from her native Argentina, Red Bull Formation’s stark desert setting was a familiar sight. In the rugged mountains of Patagonia, she fell in love with biking at the age of five. As a teenager in San Martín de los Andes, a town nestled at the foot of the Andes mountains, Nogueira and the boys she rode bikes with would venture to new mountains, hike and explore the terrain, and find places to ride. Nogueira was often the first one to try a jump or trail. “They thought I was a little crazy,” she says. “I’ve always felt comfortable in the air and with speed, and I’ve always had confidence on my bike. If I can visualize it, I know I can do it.” (Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nogueira has broken her collarbone four times, broken her back, both wrists, and big toes, and suffered a couple of concussions.)
When Nogueira’s father first took her to watch a mountain bike race, she knew she wanted to test her skills. At 15, she started racing cross-country, then downhill—first locally, then nationally, eventually becoming a national champion and earning the title of Pan-American downhill champion in 2016 and 2019. She moved to Europe to start her professional career in downhill racing, placing fourth in the European Downhill Cup and ranking in the top 20 for four consecutive years of UCI Mountain Bike World Cup racing.
When it was time to find a new home base in 2017, Nogueira moved to Aspen, where her boyfriend lives and works as a ski instructor. When the pandemic hit and races were cancelled, she took to exploring the Roaring Fork Valley’s diverse trail network, including Government Trail between Snowmass and Buttermilk, Sky Mountain Park’s Deadline Trail, and the classic technical trail Sunnyside. She hones her skills at Snowmass Bike Park, where she rides a couple of days a week, and at Crown Mountain Bike Park in Basalt, where she coaches a women’s clinic and trains on the dirt jumps and pump track at least three times a week.
According to Crown Mountain Bike Park’s director, Nate Grinzinger, Nogueira’s transition from downhill racing to freeride mountain biking is unheard of. “She made history in a field that she’s only been competing in for a couple years,” Grinzinger says. “What she’s accomplished in that short amount of time is shocking. We’re all wondering what her ceiling is.”
Camila Nogueira’s Rules of the Ride
Rise at 7:30 a.m., but only after enough ZZZs.
“I love sleeping—I sleep 10 to 11 hours a night. My mornings start with a breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and avocado.”
Work out regularly.
“I try to go to the gym at Snowmass Recreation Center four times a week. I follow a strength-training program from a trainer that’s similar to CrossFit, with lots of core work. I also do Iyengar yoga at a studio at my boyfriend’s sister’s house.”
Get your lift laps in.
“If I go to the bike park, I go for the whole day. My favorite trails are Animal Crackers and Gonzo. If it’s hot, I go at sunset.”
Stay active year round.
“I got a dirt bike last summer. I ride near home and in Rifle and Grand Junction. It’s good training for mountain biking. In winter, I teach skiing.”
Fill your cup off the trails, too.
“In the evenings, I hang out with my boyfriend and his family. We love to cook—a lot of meat and vegetables on the grill—and we love to host dinner parties. When I go out, I like El Korita and Mezzaluna in Basalt. I also spend a lot of time with friends. We have a big Argentinian community in Aspen.”