Dalai the Llamanaut
Last year we hosted a celebration ride at Locust Shade Park to mark a few milestones within the trail system—most notably the refresh of the Power Jump line and several small realignments along Col du Shade. We dubbed the gathering the Out of This World Jump Fest, and riders converged along the jump line to celebrate the improvements with laps, laughs, and plenty of airtime.
To commemorate the occasion, I created an illustration that had been rattling around in my head for a while and put it on a t-shirt that we handed out to registered riders and sold at the event. The artwork showed an astronaut sailing through the air in an otherworldly landscape. The Out of This World Jump Fest t-shirt was created as a fundraiser for trail work and is still available through MORE.
What few people knew at the time is that, in my head, the rider was always Dalai (the) Llama — get it?
Dalai is a character I’ve been quietly dreaming up ever since my buddy Pete Beers dubbed me his “Llama friend.” That nickname eventually gave rise to my #dangerLlama hashtag, partly as an homage to his own #dangerPanda (and very much not as competition).
By hiding Dalai behind the helmet visor, I bought myself some time. Since then, I’ve been working to refine him into a more polished character, and it felt right to finally introduce him here on Best Rides DC. That original illustration eventually became the first official Dalai t-shirt — a cleaned-up version of the Jump Fest artwork that finally gives Dalai his identity beyond the helmet. If you’re curious, you can see that first shirt here.
Dalai the Llamanaut — the first official illustration.
The timing also felt appropriate as a small nod to the astronauts of the Artemis II mission, who are preparing to blast off on a journey that will take humans back around the Moon.
Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing more of Dalai’s story — from his humble beginnings in the Andes, to becoming a pilot, and ultimately an astronaut for the ASA (Andean Space Agency) — all while weaving in his (and my) enduring love for mountain biking.
Below are the first images in the series: Dalai’s official “ASA” portrait, followed by a glimpse of him during a recent mission where no llama has gone before.
