Updated: New Start time – How To Watch Red Bull Rampage

GF was checking out the terrain when we were in the area a couple weeks ago but didn’t have her full-face with her 😉

I was keen to watch as it’s a long few months till downhill starts but after the first couple of runs I realised it’s like watching a big fireworks show, after the first bang….whizz….woah it’s actually pretty boring.

Loving the fact some of the riders are wearing microphones this year, it adds so much… Just kidding, it’s a lot of silliness around some very not boring riding.

I think this event would benefit from the highest ranked riders going first rather than last. When you have first-timers testing conditions before more experienced riders it seems impossible for surprise results. Semenuk going first would set a scoring baseline.

Godziak ripping it.. shades of Gee the speed he was carrying. That’s more exciting than the manicured (but amazing) jumps.

Nah, flipping the canyon doesn’t count for much apparently, otherwise McGarry would’ve won first time he did it.

it’s actually pretty boring.

The commentary being so dire doesn’t help.

Yeah they should really get Rob Warner doing the commentary.

Yeah, Salema isn’t the most exciting commentator on the RedBull roster that’s for sure. At least he doesn’t have to do the product placements and nft plugging mid broadcast like he does on the Natural Selection snowboard competition live streams. That’s got to be soul destroying if you’re passionate about the sport.

I’m still laughing at how Jackson Riddle still looks so dorky and disappointed once again how Lacondeguy was underscored.

The minute he’s off the bike, he’s the ungainly kid with the bowl cut 😂
It’s a real pity that the wind picked up, I really wanted to see his second run

I’m amazed Semenuk could sit on his saddle after that drop. That size testicles must surely get in the way!

I’m going off it further each year.

it’s now at the point where you could build these tracks any where so long as you have gradient. The tracks are all manicured and swept and the jumps / berms etc are all man made it appears much more so this year than in years gone by

Yes the skill is amazing but for me now it’s all man made, but I guess that is the general direction of travel with mtb with most people riding completely man made trails

I’d bet that the bulk of each rider’s line – especially the likes of Cam Zink, are far from manicured. Sure – the landing areas are built big and smooth, because they need to be, but there are still gnarly, near natural chutes and linking sections that have seen little shovel work.

I love it but I still don’t understand the scoring.

I think it would definitely benefit from more transparency in the scoring – i.e. publishing the full breakdowns of the scores.

The tracks are all manicured and swept and the jumps / berms etc are all man made it appears much more so this year than in years gone by

Agree with this to a degree, but then I think we’re also spoiled by the standard and progression in slopestyle these days which maybe sets the weight of expectation for Rampage too high (which then requires the more groomed sections to be safe(r)). Maybe everything should be knocked down at the end of each year so that things start more from scratch each time – would also level the playing field for new riders.

How was Andreu Locandeguy’s score so low?

Call me cynical but are they going to let a former Red Bull athlete win Rampage?

How was Andreu Locandeguy’s score so low?

Call me cynical but are they going to let a former Red Bull athlete win Rampage?

I get the feeling his face just doesn’t fit somehow.

Has he rubbed people up the wrong way, as well as not being on RB anymore?

Just on the basis of his riding style, his was the only run I was excited about seeing this year (with Brage off sick), and the score was bafflingly low.

Strait’s practice video is interesting – different perspective on some of the lines, which shows, I think, that a lot of the “boring” side of the Red Bull coverage is down to the camera angles they use. The angle and depth of some of his drops look ridiculous, you also get far more idea of the speed he’s going.

Anyway, (slight spoiler) it doesn’t show the crash, just a POV, which made me whince.

I don’t get the “all man made” comment either.

I thought they were using the natural features more than normal this year, if anything.

Watch the top half of Andreu’s run for example…

Some of the other vids I watched showed massive areas of this.

But that’s because they’ve got to ‘trick’ things… if it were just “ride to the bottom” then they wouldn’t need 90% of the extra bits build… but to do gaps, jumps, drops, tricks, you need certain run-in features.