Rampage seen by Red Bull
The Evolution
Words by Red Bull.
Date: 2008-11-19
The scene is not a common one: poised precariously on three sandstone ridges in the mountainous landscape not far from Zion National Park in Southern Utah are three huge, conspicuous gates, brightly emblazoned in blue, yellow and red. Below them, scattered among the tributary ridges and canyons, stand a contingent of shovel and pick-wielding young athletes, carving paths through the dirt and brush that end abruptly, and for no logical reason, at sheer cliff drops. 
Brandon Semenuk and his crew building his line for the finals. Photo ~ John Gibson
Another group weaves among them with cutting-edge camera gear, documenting their every move. Strewn around the site are complex two-wheeled machines – mountain bikes sporting the latest in suspension technology. Loud music blares from a base camp nearby. A thundering helicopter descends from the heavens and tears through the canyon, its nose-mount camera fixed on a rider hastily navigating a rocky 60-degree slope. This is Red Bull Rampage: The Evolution. This is big mountain riding at its very best. 
The atomsphere at the event was surprisingly low key. Much more so than at the previous Rampage incarnations. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
Conceived in 2001, Red Bull Rampage provided the only contest venue for a rapidly progressing breakaway sect of mountain bikers, those who forged their own path, charging down ridges and cliffs. The event redefined the scene and pushed abilities to their absolute limits, bringing hefty adrenaline surges to even the most jaded action junkies. Red Bull Rampage was held annually in Southern Utah until 2004, when event organizers began the search for a brand-new venue. 
Kurt Sorge impressing the crowd by being the only rider to hit this during the competition. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
As they scoured the globe, the unparalleled characteristics of the landscape surrounding Virgin, Utah became clear. Meanwhile, freeride mountain biking was progressing immensely, from breakneck speeds in downhill to unprecedented tricks in slopestyle and dirt jumping, but big mountain enthusiasts were still aching for the return of their most prized event. Red Bull Rampage: The Evolution answered the call.
Paul Basagoitia styling one out. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
Red Bull Rampage is a completely unique event, held on one-of-a-kind terrain with a format that encourages creative expression and inevitable progression. Rather than rolling up to a manicured slopestyle course at a posh ski resort, Red Bull Rampage competitors are greeted with an arsenal of shovels and picks and dispatched onto the hot, dusty ridges of a harsh mountainside to create their own course – and they love it. 
Garrett Buehler and James Doerfling slogging to the top. Photo ~ John Gibson.
"That's what makes this event really unique," says Thomas Vanderham, now a five-time Red Bull Rampage competitor. "You have all these options. This year we saw some stuff built for us, but this event really shows creativity and the riders' own personal style, and that's cool."
Indeed, for the first time in Red Bull Rampage history, a build crew descended on the site several weeks in advance of the event to install a few major course elements too complex for the riders to build in their traditional two days of course construction and practice. The massive cliff drops were left for the athletes to discover, but a few well-placed kicker ramps and hand-shaped dirt features would up the ante for an event that already moved the sport far forward every time it was held. The first walk-through of the course revealed a steep run-in that shot straight into a jump more akin to freestyle motocross than mountain biking, propelling whoever had the guts to step up to it a hair-raising 60 feet across a rocky canyon 40 feet below. If the rider didn't clear the gap, the consequences would be dire.
Vanderham's first taste of the canyon gap. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
However daunting that feature would be to the average person, to the riders it simply became one more calculated risk to choose from as they drew out the line they would take from the starting gate of their choice to the finish line 1,000 vertical feet below. The path they chose would reflect their own personality, style, and guts. "This is definitely an evolution, not to overuse the phrase," says Scott Hart, editor of Decline magazine and Red Bull Rampage: The Evolution, judge.
"Now the guys have seen what Red Bull Rampage is all about, even the dirt jump guys, so they realize the possibilities. A lot more lines were mined out of this venue than were ever mined out of the other venues in those previous four years."
The NWD crew and the CSI Las Vegas Chopper ready to get a wicked view of the Logan Binggeli's run. Photo ~ John Gibson
The diversity of the 28-rider invite-only field, which ranged in age from 17 to 32 and featured varied backgrounds in all mountain bike disciplines, inspired a mixed bag of approaches. Some went for speed, some for technical difficulty and some simply dove off the edge.
"The downhillers are loving it, the dirt jumpers - every type of rider loves it," says Wade Simmons, 2001 Red Bull Rampage champion and 2008 judge. "It's the kind of event everyone can compete in and no one really has an advantage." 
Brandon Semenuk styling his way down the course. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
Regardless, there were some early standouts. Current World Downhill champ Gee Atherton hustled over from the UK and was putting on speed seminars during practice. He qualified in third place, and since this racer showed no sign of backing away from huge drops as well, he was shaping up to be a solid contender for the win. Canadian Brandon Semenuk, who already had a few slopestyle podiums under his belt this year (including a win at Crankworx Colorado in August), also looked impressive in his Red Bull Rampage debut. The 17-year-old did more than hold his own against the older vets, qualifying in second place.
Cameron McCaul had spent the greater part of practice hacking, shaping and grooming a frightening double drop line, only to get violently tossed off the bike on his first attempt. McCaul survived, but his bike was sent to an early grave. He's not the type to walk away from the challenge, however, and returned for Qualifiers on a fresh steed and stomped a no-hander down the drop, followed by another no-hander into the lower canyon to land in the first-place position.
The qualified riders owning the podium. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
The Qualifiers had actually been postponed to Sunday after a rare deluge of rain fell on the Virgin area Friday night and all day Saturday. The course had been split beforehand: Qualifiers would be held between the ridges that the second and third gates presided over, and Finals would go down between the first and second ridges. There was talk of running the entire event on Sunday, but riders were first and foremost eager to ride every inch of the event site, so a full-on Final round was planned for Monday.
Monday dawned with beautiful blue skies, and the riders, team managers, friends and girlfriends went to work, attempting to coax the best lines out of different sections of the course. The 15 finalists dispersed to all corners of the canyon, teaming up when their chosen lines crossed to determine the best course of action. It quickly became apparent who the hardcore big mountain enthusiasts were; Darren Berrecloth was just as excited to search out and build a unique line as he was to ride it, whereas racers like Atherton and Cedric Gracia put more time in on their pedals to dial in runs that didn't require as much investigation. 
Team Atherton and Mike Kinrade building the line they both rode. Photo ~ Cam McRae.
Atherton in particular was looking way ahead of the game, working his way down the mountain in deliberate sections, methodically checking off each challenge as cheers went up from the rest of the competitors. At one point, he rolled up on a huge drop with a secondary ledge to clear in the middle. It was full-commitment style, and after a few roll-ups, he got it done. Everyone was still scrambling to assemble their path, but Gee was already taking laps. That's why it came as a huge disappointment when, just minutes before the first finalist rolled through the gate, Atherton went down on the drop, dislocating his shoulder. 
This is where Gee Atherton got into trouble - and he's already clipped out in this photo. Earlier he'd been launching from above - where you see the dust cloud - to the tranny below him. Photo ~ David Ferguson.
It's all part of the big mountain game; the potential for injury is always there, but the rush of cleaning a virgin descent far outweighs the risk. As wild as it looks, these guys aren't riding over their heads; they have the skills and know what's possible. "Most of my nerves happen the night before or the morning of the event," Vanderham points out. "When they count you down and it's time to go, it's on and there are no nerves at all."
Bummed but unfazed by Atherton's crash, Semenuk, Berrecloth, Cameron Zink and Paul Basagoitia all made difficult 360 attempts in their runs. Even the beastly 60-footer crumbled, with Vanderham, McCaul, Mike Hopkins and Kurt Sorge taking flight over it. After everyone's first runs were completed, Sorge, a 19-year-old upstart from British Columbia, owned the high score with Vanderham two points behind. Gracia sat in third, and although he delivered a clean run, he was more than ten points back. Multiple missteps and crashes kept the scores in the rest of the field low, and since their next descent would be their last chance to stake a claim to the Red Bull Rampage crown, it was going to be all or nothing.
Semenuk had crashed on his 360 attempt in run one but wasn't interested in playing it safe on his second visit to the course, blasting out of the gate and tearing down the ridge. He tricked almost every time his wheels left the ground, with two no-handers and a no-foot can, then he rolled up on the final drop and nailed a 360. It seemed as if Semenuk had delivered the run that would put him in the lead, but only the judges knew for sure.
Zink made a big move up the charts by landing his own 360 drop into the canyon at the end of his run, and Mike Kinrade made a huge improvement by landing the drop that had taken Atherton out. It was clear that Vanderham was focused on the win as he stretched a no-hander over the 60-foot canyon gap, but he botched the landing on the following drop and was forced to eject. The same sentiment was surely surging through Sorge's brain; he went for a superman over the canyon but couldn't find his pedals for the landing and decided to cut his run short. 
Cam Zink. Photo ~ John Gibson.
At that point, all eyes fell on McCaul, who most assumed would put on a show over the canyon and finish in the same spot he qualified in. He had missed a gap in his first run and decided to put all his chips on run two. He threaded through the upper part of the ridge, landed the massive drop leading into the canyon gap kicker and threw a quick no-hander while sailing through each of the 60 feet. He was a little over halfway through the line, carrying a lot of momentum, and looking for glory. Unfortunately, he cased the next drop (the same that had just put a stop to Vanderham) and the lights went out. 
Cedric Gracia dropping in. Photo ~ John Gibson
McCaul eventually recovered and joined the throngs headed down the mountain to base camp where the awards would be announced. Semenuk had indeed taken the top spot, pushing Sorge to second and Vanderham to third. The two teenagers, Semenuk and Sorge, were amped, to say the least. "Red Bull Rampage is everything I thought it would be," Semenuk declared. "It's nothing like what you watch on video or see in pictures. In real life, it's just crazy."
Vanderham scored an extra $5,000 from the Utah Sports Commission for delivering the judges' pick for Best Trick, his no-hander over the canyon gap. Semenuk took home half of the $20,000 purse, along with the prestige of winning the most anticipated and celebrated freeride mountain biking event on the calendar. Red Bull Rampage: The Evolution had expanded upon its legacy, fusing technical big mountain lines with modern tricks to once again push the progression of the sport.
Brandon Semenuk putting on his happy face after winning Rampage 2008. Photo ~ Ian Hylands
"This feeling is pure to every form of cycling," Hart points out. "You get a bike and the first thing you do as a little kid is build a jump – 'What can I ride this thing off of?' And Red Bull Rampage is that same sentiment, only amplified. The best riders in the world on the best machinery, coming down the most pliable mountain. It all comes together; that's why this event is as unique as it is."
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