Rajesh Magar lives outside Kathmandu with his parents and sister. His dad is a construction worker and his mom is a housemaid. He keeps a bike under his bed in the room he shares with his sister, and his clothes, almost all of which are cycling-oriented, are stored in a gym-style locker. “Maybe too much dedication,” he laughs.

Or not. Magar, whom everyone calls RJ, first started biking around age 10 or 11, and then become obsessed with riding. But his parents had little money, so he saved and scraped and did odd jobs until he had $25 to buy a bike from a friend. But then he rode some much, hucking air, ripping around, and ditching school, that the neighbors began to talk about how has going to turn out to be good for nothing, so his mom sold the bike for 90 cents to scrap metal collectors.

Oof.

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Undeterred, RJ watched YouTube videos of top downhillers and sussed out how to make his own ride, building a full suspension out of an old hardtail piece by piece from junk metal and old plumbing pipes. And that bike, he learned to be fast. On that bike, he became Nepal’s national champion. By the age of 21, he’d bagged the crown four times. His story is pretty incredible—another life turned around by bicycles, this time conveyed beautifully by AJ senior contributing photographer Joey Schusler, who is currently helping Magar generate funds to race on the Enduro World Series. Still photos by Schusler and Ben Page.