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rampage, dammit

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
Bah. There's nothing that's happened at rampage that hasn't happened in a dh race (a format within which people really have died)
Good point.
But that guy doing the front flip. Zink slamming his head falling out of the sky.
Those guys could clock out quick.....
 

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
^Because you're dead inside with no spark of life or adventure left within your soul?
That could be entirely possible. I'm a fuddy duddy.

I dunno, I guess I am not a huge fan of sports that require judges, I prefer sports where it's clear who won/lost. Everyone's run looks the same to me at the end of the day anyway.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Good point.
But that guy doing the front flip. Zink slamming his head falling out of the sky.
Those guys could clock out quick.....
It's just out in the open wide spaces and if you've never really done stuff like that I guess I could see it being foreign. But the big open spaces are also part of what makes it safer. I mean jesus look at cam cole's crash at valnord years ago. All kinds of nasty crap in the woods to put through your eye or lung. You have room to lose your shit out there. As long as you don't really fuck something up, drop and roll has lots of space to do its magic.

Tom van steezburer's front flip honestly didn't look that bad to me. It sucked but it looked like a 100 other dh crashes.

The thought of zink over rotating a back flip really did have me shitting bricks. But then again so does watching remi therion on a rager.

There's just so much that can go wrong so quickly banging through the woods. It can happen in soft dirt on the sides of buttes too but you're not pinballing off trees.
 
I'm pumped, it gets better every year. You can bemoan the Oakley 100' skull drop monster truck Sony action cam burliest knack knack highlights or whatever, but as a trend it gets faster, cleaner, bigger, and techy-er at the same time.

I loved Fairclough's run last year, I'm not as interested in no handies and flipz as much as steep difficult lines, and the winning run was fast and huge so no complaints here.
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
So could any of us.

The possibility of someone dying seems like an odd reason to not like Rampage, but to each his own.
It seems like those guys doing it for the audience and desperately trying to get paid, its become their biggest platform.

The head slamming, is sickening at times IMO.
 

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
Contest and winners and losers aside, you don't think it's fun to watch someone put together an awesome run there?


Yup. dead inside ;)

FWIW, I think the judging is a little whacked too but that's not why I dig it.
Yes, and No.

Judging aside makes it better. I'm honestly more of a speed demon than a tricks guy, which is ironic because I grew up wakeboarding, snowboarding and barefoot waterskiing competitively. All clearly sports that require being judged.

So, yes, i guess I do enjoy the awesome runs, but for whatever reason I still enjoy racing more.
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
23,928
14,450
where the trails are
this kinda sorta reminds me of a thread on emptybeer right after the 1st Rampage, where people discussed for pages and pages if "this is even mountain biking?".


only totally different.


carry on.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,037
7,555
Sweet drop to nose wheelie, eh? Taking tips from our BMX colleagues, I see. :D
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
23,928
14,450
where the trails are
^haha........find me that thread!
I wish but my search-fu isn't that strong. This is going back waaaaaay old times.
But, to hear folks argue about Tyler Klassen being a stuntman vs mountain biker was memorable.

Has anyone here aside from 'woo actually ridden down at the Rampage site? I mean, I couldn't ride it, but just wondering. Every time I travel through southern Utarh I get mesmerized by the landscape. Utah would be so much more awesome if not for all the ... Utahians.
 

ritche

Monkey
Dec 3, 2011
311
19
Claudio will do a course preview? haha.

death at XC and DH races and the latest at enduro.

same here waiting for someone to die at rampage.

participating athletes should be insured or at least get paid by redbull
 
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norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Claudio is going to a course preview. He said he's getting a little nervous about it...
He always seems a little nervous ;)

Still rooting for our local guy Godziek. Remember when he was just a dirt jumper and would only ride groomed trails like Pilgrim. Hell he even took a hardtail to white style (against our advice) for some insane reason while all the top guys rode fullys (still did get a 5th or 4th) and now it's his 2nd rampage. My GF is going to kill me for all the people in our flat at 3AM...
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,777
4,700
Champery, Switzerland
This is the first year Vink will have people digging for him too. Gaetan and Vinny T are gonna dig for him.
Check out the bike we did for Nico.
 
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Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
Never gave much thought to the rampage as well. I feel the same way about this as I do watching football - Traumatic brain injury in action. It's also due to experiences like visiting a group home in NH with dudez who all had TBI due to motorcycle accidents. There was a whole lot inbetween 'Live Free or Die" in that place.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I separated the meninges from my skull when I was 16 hanging up on a vert ramp on a skateboard and missile braining the flat bottom. I was blind for two days and couldn't stand up for a week without puking from the vertigo.

Pinning it down spines and hauling ass off big drops is still badass.

Some of you guys drive 70mph 6 feet away from other cars on every side for hours each day, relying on the good judgment of others and think nothing of it. I know what scares me more.
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
I like watching it, but it almost feels like watching a different sport as it's so far removed from how I ride or how I even imagine riding. It wasn't always like that, I identified with it a lot more when it was riding gnar lines and hucking, once it basically became slopestyle it didn't resonate with me as much. Still cool, just doesn't inspire me like it did.
 

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
I separated the meninges from my skull when I was 16 hanging up on a vert ramp on a skateboard and missile braining the flat bottom. I was blind for two days and couldn't stand up for a week without puking from the vertigo.

Pinning it down spines and hauling ass off big drops is still badass.

Some of you guys drive 70mph 6 feet away from other cars on every side for hours each day, relying on the good judgment of others and think nothing of it. I know what scares me more.
While I know I can die in a car, I still have myself buckled in, wrapped in a steal cage that is filled with air bags and other devices. Not that someone dying is the reason I wont want rampage, because I will watch, and if someone dies I can accept that. But, that's not the best comparison really.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Sure it is. 10 thousand pounds coming together at 70mph isn't the same thing as eating shit along a transition into dirt with a 210lb system between bike and rider. And airbags etc. still haven't eliminated traffic deaths.

There's not a lot of control you have over what your body does in a car crash. There is to some degree in a bike crash.

It's like I'm the only one that's good at eating shit over here :rofl:


Plus helmets and stuff. Without other drivers and stuff. It's not like Brendan fairclough is going to get suddenly taken out mid run by a drunk andreau lacondeguy. Okay bad example but still!
 
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