Adrián Parro is a 31-year-old engineer from Madrid working in the marketing department of Specialized Spain who spends most of his free time digging and building at Bikepark 3 Cantos. He started riding motocross when he was a kid, but he ended up riding a downhill bike 15 years ago due to some unfortunate injuries.

The mountain bike scene in Madrid is experiencing a complicated time as it is restricted in many areas. Still, Adrián says that the Dirt Jump scene is better than ever, “There are many local spots where you can ride besides Tres Cantos, and the community is growing, but I’d like to see more people digging and helping out.”

Bikepark 3 Cantos has been around for the last 20 years, but it has gone through many ups and downs. “Javi Laetus is the man behind the bikepark. I joined him in 2014, but it wasn’t until after the pandemic that we started working very hard again in our free time. Many people think that that’s our job, but it’s just our contribution to the sport. I want to thank all the people who help us, especially my girlfriend Mar.”

Once they established a more organized riding policy, such as charging a small daily fee of 5€ to ride, things started to change for the better, “We used the money to build new ramps and did a lot of woodwork, and also spent time on the excavator creating new lines and making changes. It’s a lot of hard work, but it pays off when I see everyone having fun, people coming to ride our jumps from other cities, riders doing their first backflips, or kids progressing.”

Adrián sums up digging with one word, “There are a lot of emotions when I am digging, but it can be summed up with one word: happiness. It’s like being a kid building castles in the sand or an artist making his masterpiece. And when you test something you have been working on is the best feeling ever.”

We certainly feel that this is a new era for Madrid’s Dirt Jump scene, and its community should be proud of having someone like Adrián, who is digging by example.