Red Bull Rampage
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The Red Bull Rampage is a freeride bike festival that is held in Utah, USA. The competition includes top mountain bike riders from around the world, such as Steve Romaniuk, Robbie Bourdon, Josh Bender, Cedric Gracia, Kyle Richie, Etc. refer to list for more. The riders drop off huge cliffs, and then party at night. The event was helped to start by Josh Bender, a pioneer in freeriding who always sets the standards, by taking the biggest drops. The judging is slowly getting more and more complicated, by taking into account speed, size, style, tricks and line difficulty. The riders prepare for the event beforehand, choosing lines and perfecting take-offs and landings. Although they have the freedom to build what they want with shovels, rakes, etc., the rampage was the only large natural-terrain based event.
The first year, 2001, the winner was Wade Simmons, regarded by many as the 'Godfather of Freeride'. However the idea that freeriding is for those who can't race downhill was shattered during that event. Robbie Bourdon, a small, then-unknown freerider from Nelson, British Columbia, landed a gap over a rock that the then Downhill World Champion, Myles Rockwell, broke his wrist attempting.
The second year, the winner was a then-unknown freerider from British Columbia, Tyler "Super T" Klassen, and at the Rampage he essentially cemented his reputation that has followed him through the rest of his career as someone who does big drops. But also at the 2002 Rampage was a new rider: Darren Berrecloth. Heralded by many as the best rider currently in freeride, Darren managed to get permission to ride in the finals, and ended up bringing his strong BMX background to the deserts of Utah, with a superman seat-grab, a highly technical trick, over a jump he built. He crashed on a drop and only placed second, but the event gave him exposure, and almost instantly he was fully sponsored.
The third year, technical tricks started being brought into the event, and despite the immense freeride bias now in the event, Cedric Gracia, a French Downhill and 4X racer, won. His first run was unparalleled, which has yet to be replicated in the Rampage, and he brought his Downhill racing and Skiing experience to the table, with a meandering run that made full use of the course, and backflipping a jump.
The fourth and final year, 2004, began with a massive storm that made the terrain less dusty, and more creative lines were built and used. Certainly the most notable feature of that year was the "Bender Sender", a massive step-down gap that spanned 70 feet from takeoff to landing, and was built and attempted unsuccessfully by Joshua Bender, hence the name. Many riders tried it, including Cameron Zink, who landed it in practice but unsuccessfully during his runs, Steve Romaniuk, who successfully did a one-foot tabletop over it, and Kyle Strait, who unsuccessfully attempted it during qualifying, but the then 18-year-old Kyle Strait, successfully did a suicide no-hander over it. When asked about the event, he replied that the first two years, freeriders won, and the previous year, a racer, Cedric Gracia, won, so he put his racing and freeriding experience into his run. Placing second was British downhill racer Gee Atherton, who did a high-speed run, and landed the massive, roughly 30 foot drop that Tyler Klassen first did two years previous. Placing third was Kelowna, British Columbia freerider Steve Romaniuk, who one-foot table-topped over the "Bender Sender".
The Red Bull Rampage was the first freeride contest, and had a massive influence and legacy. It introduced much of the mountain biking world to the concept of drops and large drops, got large amounts of mainstream media exposure for mountain biking, and made several riders’ careers. The main riders to have benefited so from the contest were Darren Berrecloth, who became sponsored immediately after the event, and has gone on to have a hugely successful career, and Tyler “Super T” Klassen. “Super T” also became sponsored after the event.
[edit] List of Riders
Grant Allen
George "Gee" Atherton
Josh Bender
Robbie "Air" Bourdon
Lance Canfield
Aaron Day
Carlin Dunne
Gareth Dyer
Cedric Gracia
Matt Hunter
Mike Kinrade
Tyler "Super T" Klassen
Jordie Lunn
Shaums March
Michal Marosi
Cameron McCaul
Greg Minnaar
Glyn O'Brien
Steve Peat
Kyle Ritchie
Steve Romaniuk
Richie Schley
Joe Schwartz
Andrew Shandro
Wade Simmons
Greg Smith
"Kayodic" Kyle Strait
Lars Tribus
Guido Tschugg
Thomas Vanderham
David Watson
Cameron Zink
