It’s Rampage time and this weekend the world’s best big mountain riders will be battling in Virgin, Utah. All week long the riders have been preparing for the event by digging their lines and sessioning the hits. From the footage we’ve seen, this is set to be the gnarliest chapter in the events storied history.
One of the biggest man made features on the course is a ~70 ft canyon gap. Last year Kelly McGarry surprised everyone by doing a backflip across the massive expanse, a feat which landed him the silver medal, the People’s Choice award, and countless replays on television stations and Youtube. This year as he was getting acclimated to the big double, he accidentally overshot the landing, shattering both wheels on impact, and getting launched head over heels. Somehow he was able to walk away from the crash and the rumor is he still intends on competing.
If you haven’t seen Kelly’s Rampage line from last year, head past the break right now.
The GoPro footage really doesn’t do the “gnarlyness” of that drop in justice.
One can’t reference Kelly McGarry’s run without giving Cam Zink a mention. To think this run was only good enough for third place!
Kelly’s crash this year also reminded of Zink’s bail a few years ago in practice. Despite how bad it looked, Cam was able to walk away from this crash with only bruised heels.
This year has already claimed it’s fair share of broken wheels. On one of the first days of practice, Norway’s Mads “Makken” Haugen accidentally over cleared the GoPro step-down.
Honestly, Rampage has produced so many memorable moments it’s impossible to curate a “best of” list. Doubly so because footage of some of the early events is difficult to find online. So we’re sorry our round up doesn’t include any Bender, or backflip attempts from Gracia, but this top 5 roundup from Redbull does have Kyle Straight’s 2004 Suicude No Hander!
The year, the event will be broadcast live on the Redbull website starting at 12pm on Sunday, Sept 28th.
