Rampage Wrap-up

Barely three days since returning from Vegas, I was back out there and heading to Utah for the newly reinstated Red Bull Rampage, the freeride event that’s become the epitome of “extreme mountain biking” for many.

Friday’s practice went to plan, with riders building and riding unfeasible lines despite the bone-dry dusty conditions; Saturday, however, was an entirely different situation – the first rain in over 100 days turned the powdery dirt to thick sludge, impassable by both truck and bike, and the organisers were forced to delay qualifying until Sunday.

The desert doing what the desert does best - being hot, sunny and dusty

They don't see much of this in Utah

Despite hassle of switching flights and booking an extra night in a motel room, this was a Good Thing;  for once I had a little extra time to go explore and see the non-bike sights of the area.  The event site of Virgin, Utah just happens to be moments away from Zion National Park, so I took the opportunity to hike around a little, taking in the sights.  Turns out it was well worth it:

The view from Angels Landing is a bit good

Nice as it was to have a bit of time off, it was great to wake up the next day to the usual blue skies and warm sun.  Rampage itself was as insane as I’d imagined it would be – unrideable lines turned rideable, the riders pushing the illusion of control way further than should be allowed, all in all a great event.

I’m not going to go into too much detail, mainly because I’ve already typed enough on the subject to last a lifetime.  Check out Bikemagic.com for my daily reports, plus there’ll be my first feature article in New Zealand Spoke magazine pretty soon.  Here’s some pictures instead.

59ft feet from lip to case pad, this thing scared riders and spectators alike.

Matt Hunter was looking great, right up until he dislocated his shoulder on this hip

Wondering what all the commotion was about.

Never seen a spider this big before in the wild. Crazy.

Tags: Angels Landing, competition, event, freeride, mountain biking, Rampage, Red Bull, red bull rampage, United States, Utah, Zion

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Professional Mountain Bike Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.