RED BULL RAMPAGE
EXTREME MOUNTAIN BIKING
There is mountain biking as you and I know it, and then there is big mountain freeride mountain biking, like on display at Red Bull Rampage. While both involve two tires with knobby tread, the similarities pretty much stop there. The 13th running of Red Bull Rampage showed the world what is truly possibly on a mountain bike.
Twenty-one of the world’s top freeride mountain bikers were selected to compete in this invite-only Red Bull Signature Series event. Riders not only had to ride down insanely steep, loose and rocky terrain, but they had to hand shape their own trail down the mountain.
2018 Rampage Venue
Set on private land on the side of a mountain in the desert, near the west entrance to Zion National Park, the new 2018 Red Bull Rampage event site is like nothing seen before. The new site is insanely steep from top to bottom. The course this year gained 150 feet of vertical over last year’s site, bringing it to about 750 feet of total vertical descent from top to bottom.
No matter what path the competitors chose to create down this new venue, it was sure to be steep, technical and full of big drops. The course was so steep it was a serious challenge just to climb and walk up and down it, no less ride a bike down it.
Hand Cut Trails
Riders were introduced to the new venue less than two weeks before the competition began. They were given a start and end point on the mountain, as well as some general side boundaries, and free reign to create their line.
A two-man dig crew assists each rider. The three-man teams hand cut a route down the mountain using basic tools. No power tools are allowed. Using only shovels, pickaxes, digger bars, rakes, backpack water bladders and sand bags, the crews worked incredibly hard, many times from sun up to sun down, to create rideable but spectacular lines.
In the past, wooden jumps and features were
Big and technical lines, with high consequence and commitment required, scores well at Rampage.
created by the event to add consistently visually impressive and trickable features to the routes down the mountain. At this new site, no features like this were created. The event has gone back to its natural big mountain freeride roots, with all jumps, landings and features created from the natural rocks and dirt found on site.
“THE 13TH RUNNING OF RED BULL RAMPAGE SHOWED THE WORLD WHAT IS TRULY POSSIBLE ON A MOUNTAIN BIKE.”
The new venue was a serious challenge to the teams, and involved an insane amount of manual labor. Hand-cutting a trail down a crazy steep mountain in the hot desert sun is seriously hard work. So much so that many teams had to change their intended lines, as time just ran out on some of the build projects.
Guinea Pigs
Probably the toughest part of the competition is what’s known as ‘guinea pigging’ your line. This means riding a new route for the first time. While all the riders and diggers are experienced riders and trail builders, riding massive new jumps, cliff drops and razor
thin ridgelines is nerve racking.
Riders need to quickly answer some big questions, or risk serious injury. Did the jump get shaped to the right angle and size? What is the right speed to hit the jump or cliff drop, to ensure you don’t under or over shoot the landing? Is there enough room between features, on the loose steep terrain, to slow down or speed up enough before the next feature? The list goes on!
Most of the competitors ride down small sections of their line as they build each feature. This allows them to refine the line as they go. Changing a ramp angle or landing just a few degrees can mean the difference between a spectacularly successful descent and an equally spectacular crash.
Once the entire line down the mountain has been built, riders try to find the time, energy and focus to put down one smooth run from top to bottom before the competition begins. Most of the time riders save their big tricks off the largest features for the competition.
Most riders didn’t get a top to bottom run in before the competition this year, as there were high winds the night before and morning of the competition. High winds and
50-plus-foot drops don’t go well together!
Being the guinea pig off these massive features and down the steep mountain is a high consequence endeavor. Three top competitors didn’t even make it to the start line on competition day this year, as they crashed and injured themselves in practice.
Competition Day
The pressure is on during the competition day. Riders are given two chances to show the judges what they’ve got, with the best run down the mountain counting.
Out of 21 invited riders, only 18 made it to the start gate. Eight competitors crashed out or otherwise couldn’t finish their first attempts. Multiple competitors opted out of their second runs. Two of the top competitors did two runs, but crashed out both times. It was a big, hard and scary course this year!
Glad I Wasn’t a Rampage Judge!
This year’s competition had three competitors throw down absolutely massive runs on their first attempt of the day. There was little anyone could say that would change the podium, but the order could be up for interpretation. Luckily I wasn’t a judge! Canadian Brett Rheeder took home the win this year, with Spaniard Andreu Lacondeguy and local Utah boy Ethan Nell nipping at his heals.
Also, the young Spaniard Adolf Silva threw down a seriously fast and heavy line, but it only netted him an 11th Place finish. He did win a pretty impressive consolation prize however, the People’s Choice Award.
The best trick award went to Tom Van Steenbergen for an absolutely massive flat drop backflip. Steenbergen said on Red Bull TV, “It was like looping out on a manual on a 55-foot drop.” I’d call it pretty jaw dropping, as he
executed this huge technical move perfectly.
Watch Rampage For Yourself
There is no substitute for being at Red Bull Rampage in person. Sure the videos and photos look pretty amazing, but none can properly convey the steep technical terrain and insane rider skills on display. Join the huge enthusiastic crowd for an in-person showing of this iconic event next year. You won’t be disappointed!
If you really can’t make it out for the event in Utah each year, you can watch it live on Red Bull TV. You can also watch highlights and a ton of other content through the
Red Bull TV app. This year the event also debuted a custom augmented reality feature within the app. It puts a 3D map of the Rampage event site in the palm of your hand.
The map is packed with videos, photos and rider’s lines.
01. Sweet, sweet
victory
02. Digging lines is hard manual labor.
03. It’s important to finish your run with an
exclamation point.
04. This feature was nicknamed, ‘Dwayne Johnson,’ as it was the biggest rock on the
mountain.
05. Such flipping
talent!
06. Big drops were
abundant.