This is competitive mountain bike racing, a sport where riders hurl themselves off massive jumps, careen through narrow tree-line trails, and fly downhill at eye-watering speeds.

I started competing when I was 12, 11 years old. I used to ride downhill.

This is Gustavo Ortiz, a competitive mountain biker and the two-time national champion of his native Chile.

I was Pan-American I've been champion, national champion multiple times, and I finished 20th in a World Cup. It was my best result.

But while training in 2017, he had a tragic accident.

I crashed in Whistler and I finished paralyzed from my chest down.

Did you think you would be able to cycle again?

No, it never came to my mind.. Although mountain biking will be an official sport at this year's Olympic Games, it's not yet been made an official sport in the Paralympic Games.

That's partially because the bikes needed to race simply haven't existed. Many traditional hand cycles are built to be ridden on the road and feature wide wheel bases. Occasionally, they even place riders kneeling forward. This position puts their center of gravity higher, something that would make sharp turns difficult on a loose dirt mountain bike trail. But a Canadian company think they've developed a solution.

I broke my back in 1996 snowboarding, and prior to that, I loved mountain biking. I loved snowboarding and climbing. I was like a kid who loved the outdoors in Canada. And very early on in my injury, I to recognize that I was going to be 100% reliant on technology.

So a machinist by trade, Christian began building experimental adaptive mountain bikes at home.

The problem was always that I would tip. I would tip over. Or I would go fast down a hill and corner and tip to the outside of the corner.

For years and years, he tinkered with different designs, but nothing worked. So he focused his energy instead on a custom cross country ski chair that could shift and pivot over undulating snow. It was while skiing that a light bulb went off. If he just flipped the ski set up over, he'd have a system that would allow the wheels to articulate and absorb shocks independently.

The main thing is the articulation. So So with that, you can go through skinny sections, you can crawl into like, rocks, and then if another rock comes, you just move it and it adjusts by itself.

Frame can also absorb big drops, allowing riders to maintain speed through technical sections the same way they would on a standard mountain bike. Aside from its articulating frame, these bikes have a few other unique features that make them especially useful for mountain bikers. Unlike most hand cycles, these bikes operate with two wheels in the front and one in the back. Combined with an upright seating position closer to the ground, riders here can easily shift and pitch their weight to avoid tipping over on sharp turns. The hand cycles also come with pedal assist motors, and there are even fully motorized models as well. Currently, each bike is custom-built for the rider and ranges in price anywhere from $13,000 to $20,000. Baud says their bikes are already in 30 countries, and more bikes in more places could help the sport offer meaningful competition and worldwide reach, two requirements to become an official Paralympic game. Even still, Christian says these bikes are helping bring a newfound acceptance for adaptive mountain bike riders.

We're part of cycling now, which is huge for us internally at Boed, but it's way bigger for our customer. Our acceptance is their acceptance.

While it has helped with his racing, Gustavo says this technology has helped him get back and enjoy riding his bike again.

I feel that I'm discovering another riding because I was so used to just racing, like racing, racing, racing. I'm preparing for racing. But now I'm just enjoying the process of riding and going for long rides and learning how to enjoy being in those places.

While we're certain a bowhead won't be at this year's Paralypics in Paris, they might just be kicking up cloud of dust in Los Angeles in 2028.