[ SPOILER ALERT ! – skip to next reply if you’ve not watched ]

Not sure why, but i’ve never found Rampage to be that thrilling to watch on screen?

I’d guess at a combination of lack of understanding of the technical aspect of what you’re watching being done and often made to look easy by incredible bike riders and just good old desensitisation from watching many mtb freeride films/videos and as you stated, the fact the cameras and watching on screen make everything look smaller. I could happily watch hours and hours of coverage from the line scoping to the digging to the practice to the interviews. Cam McCaul is great to listen to and Redbull show gets better each year but it’s not perfect but it is FREE and you won’t see anything like it any other time of the year so I can’t see me ever not watching. Talking of improvements, my 9ry old daughter asked me earlier why they didn’t film it on drones as it’d look better than the helicopter coverage. I reckon she has a point. Hopefully REDBULL’ll finally agree to all my Email requests for sharks and crocs so you can finally find some enjoyment in it.

Slightly disappointing finale but still great to watch. Would have been so much better if Andreau hadn’t cased and had been score “just” higher than Rheeder forcing him into a better second run and if Semeneuk had taken a second run and Zinc hadn’t pulled his arm out it’s socket. but… but… but…

There’s always next year 😀

meanwhile this feature length TREK ad RB are running to fill dead space is pretty good

I thought Brendog’s run was ace 🙂

I agree kayla1, loved Fairclaws run 🙂

And agreed, slightly disappointing ending but it clearly shows how high the risks are that even the best in the world don’t want to risk a proper run for no reason. The new site certainly tested the riders ability and looked more natural.

Lordy

Andreu’s second run was amazing until he crashed!

Having been apprehensive going in to it (see my other thread) really enjoyed it this year.

Did anyone manage to find or use the augmented reality app? and a shame that only one guy agreed to wear the HR monitor and tracker. Wondering if this was a trial for something we’ll see at World cups next year.

Andreu’s second run was amazing until he crashed!

Agreed. And his first run would have been the winner for me. Bit less spinning and flipping but the “tricky” bit was just astonishing, shout-at-the-TV stuff in a way that Rheeder’s wasn’t.

Was I the only one pleased that so many didn’t do a second run? Made it shorter – and I’m surprised the commentators were acting surprised. Surely they’d understand that there’s nothing to gain if you’ve done your run well and not got the score you hoped for. – you’re not gonna suddenly throw in a double backflip in that kind of terrain.

Mixed views on this.

Brett Rheeder’s run was ballsy with some massive moves, but in some ways it was dull – just massive hits off the big ramps.

Lacondeguy’s run was fast, dynamic with some big moves.

Fairclough’s run was a Fairclough special. Not many people can ride those kinds of lines, but you don’t get points for riding the unrideable. You get points for 30ft vertical flips.

Yeah, Brendan’s run was ridiculous. One of the pics on his insta, is a sequence of him literally riding down a vertical cliff.

I think the judges need to work out whether they want a big mountain “freeride” event, or a slope style competition on a big hill.

Fairclaw’s run was under-scored and you could see he knew it right away, but was it worthy of a podium spot?

I’d say only the winner really matters – it’s so hard to compare and grade this kind of riding maybe you just have to recognise that they’re all incredibly brave and creative in what they’re doing – and treat it more as artistic spectacle than sport.

Silva’s run was the highlight for me as well as Brendog’s. I’m not sure if Silva’s tyres actually touched the ground anywhere on the middle part of the mountain.

Oh yeah, Silva was incredible! So hard to say who was better than who else though.

So was Brendan’s Spirit of McGarry award effectively the unofficial “You were robbed, mate” consolation prize from fellow riders?

Judging’s always going to be a problem with this thing, because just about every viewer wants something different from the runs. But I could watch Fairclough and Lacondeguy’s runs all day, both amazing to watch. Reeder’s wasn’t as entertaining for me but it ticked the judging boxes better, fair enough really.

That cliff ride bit of Fairclough’s run is just jaw-dropping. Much prefer that type of spectacle to the downhill BMX trickery of Semenuk et al (as skilful and ballsy as that is too).

What happened with Semenuk? Only watched bits on catch up

He tried to spin a corked 720 on a jump near the top of the course and had to bail/crash each time.

What happened with Semenuk? Only watched bits on catch up

He had an awkward hip jump fairly early on which he tried to 360 (edit – 720). Under rotated on one, over rotated on the other. Crashed both times so no completed run.

Fairclaw’s run was under-scored and you could see he knew it right away

but the scoring is an arbitrary scale. in previous years the first run from the lowest ranked rider has got like an 80-something, leaving it to basically be a score out of 20, with a bonus 80 tagged on. “oh 92.1 has stomped all over the 91.9 from his first run!” However other people with worse runs (IMO) were scored higher

So was Brendan’s Spirit of McGarry award effectively the unofficial “You were robbed, mate” consolation prize from fellow riders?

Yes. I’m going* to start a petition-

“Slopestyle tricks for slopestyle competitions- make Rampage real again.”

* of course I’m not. He was robbed though #prayforBrendog

Bugger – thanks

but the scoring is an arbitrary scale. in previous years the first run from the lowest ranked rider has got like an 80-something, leaving it to basically be a score out of 20, with a bonus 80 tagged on. “oh 92.1 has stomped all over the 91.9 from his first run!” However other people with worse runs (IMO) were scored higher

Sorry I don’t get your point (in relation to Brendan looking crestfallen when he heard his score).

The judges went too low as he put in the first decent full run IIRC