Graham Agassiz has been chasing the top step at Red Bull Rampage for years. The steep and loose Utah desert terrain suits Aggy’s big mountain style, and in addition to the FEST series jams, Rampage has been a big focus for him for the past few seasons.
In 2013 Aggy qualified in 1st place and nearly stomped a finals run that would have surely been a contender for first. In 2014 he repeated the qualifying performance, yet again solidifying his position as one of the riders to watch at this event, but a knee injury during practice kept him from the finals. In 2015 he was the top qualifier for the third year in a row and strung together a run that landed him in 3rd place in the finals. Close, but not quite. And so the chase continued.
Aggy's run began with this massive chute.Rampage, as you might gather, is a fickle event. Every athlete who is invited to Rampage is riding a fine line between the run of their life and waiting until next year. After a week of hard labor prepping their line, every single element of a rider’s run is calculated, and those who stand on the top of the box link together a clean top to bottom run with style and amplitude. On those last two, Aggy’s got it.
With his performance in 2015, Aggy would have been pre-qualified for this year’s event, skipping the extra competition runs that he’d been forced to do the past three years. As it turns out, Red Bull changed the structure, and the rider list was invite-only. Of course, Aggy was on that list.
Arguably the most stylish rider at Rampage, and a fan favorite because of it.Last Friday, Graham Agassiz was on the run that very well would have taken him to his first victory at Rampage when he went down hard on a huge 360 stepdown. He was taken to hospital in St. George, Utah, and diagnosed with a broken pelvis and six-to-eight weeks’ recovery. From there he transferred to Kamloops hospital, where we caught up with Aggy for a first-hand account of the crash. Here are his words:
| My run was feeling really good, though I was getting blown once I got to the mid-ridge section of the line and at that point was almost on autopilot just trying to hang on and get down the mountain.
As soon as I initiated the spin, off of the lip it felt like it was going to come around perfect, I remember thinking to myself "I can't believe I'm about to stomp the biggest move of my life!" But, as soon as I got to 270 degrees in my rotation I could see my landing strip and I could tell right away that I was slightly off of my mark. |
The actual drop that took Aggy out. Nobody, not even his fellow competitors, was expecting him to 360 this. | By the time I completed the spin it was too late, I clipped the overhanging rock shelf only two feet to the right of the top of the landing. This then immediately ejected my bike from beneath me, where all I could see was this big boulder protruding from the right side of the landing where all my momentum was being thrown into.
The initial impact was beyond aggressive, as the right side of my torso then slammed and wrapped around this rock, and then I continued to get tossed down the rest of the landing, ragdolling to the bottom. The rush of pain that flooded my body was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I quickly checked to make sure my legs were still working which was a huge relief, but once that wave washed over me I knew it was bad. |
Aggy was thankful for the on-site treatment provided by Red Bull and H5 Events. | The pressure of competition definitely played a role in this incident. Looking back I went against all of my knowledge and experience of what I know can happen in these scenarios with the wind. On any other day, I wouldn't have dropped in. - Aggy |
The anticipation of watching from thousands of miles away, of knowing our rider was capable of laying down a winning run and seeing him go down was gut-wrenching. We wish Aggy a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the bike soon.
All images by Ale di Lullo.
All of the staff at Pinkbike would like to wish Aggy a very speedy recovery!
MENTIONS:
@aggy /
@aledilullophotography /
@konaworld /
#RedBullRampage
#Zink4UnionPresident
The event is already incredibly costly and the crew is already on site. 1 more day means nothing. It will actually bring MORE value if it's 2 day and the broadcast on 2 days because it gives them 2 days worth of people logging into their site. And they don't have to pay ESPN or some other network so it's not costing them anything extra to do it.
Redbull is making shit loads of money off of this event. It's one of their most clicked on events. They get tons of web traffic. Tons of material to use in their advertising for the next year. Etc etc etc. Believe me... they ain't loosing money on this event.
And the fact that clean second runs are much more likely to happen.... adds interest. I for one paid little attention to the second runs because I knew it would either be guys playing it super super safe trying not to get killed... or guys just skipping and saying nope. Which is exactly what happened. I think 2 guys upped their scores from r1 to r2 and they were both low scores to begin with.
For the comments that say this would cost more, I believe the bulk of the expenses is in setup and little extras like a helicopter. Keeping the camera and event crews onsite for another day wouldn't add much and it's got to be more cost effective these days to run a commercial drone instead of a keeping piloted aircraft in the air.
They'd be able to control conditions, get better runs & better footage,avoid big gaps of dead air and not miss shots of the action.
@ghotinori this is a good idea. I envision a hybrid between rampage and a Fest event.
As we saw this year, the extra build time helped make the event one of the best yet, but I do worry about the rider's safety dropping in on a windy day. making the broadcast live brings a lot of money to the table, I understand, but I think there are ways we can make the event safer and still maintain that broadcast feel.
If the casters and media were kept in the dark throughout the finals period, and runs were recorded similar to how they are now, then we could still have a "live" broadcast where all media is cut together and commentators view the footage of the week. This would have the added benefit of being able to splice the riders view from GoPro's into the broadcast where it makes sense, or have two views of the run, one from heli / ground cameras and one from rider perspective.
Also, I think that the judging needs to move completely away from conventional score systems and become a rider vote. There is no-one that can say who's run is better than someone else's than the actual riders who are completing the event, if it were a ballot type thing that the riders can judge post event, I think it could be awesome.
FEST seems cool but its a completely different type of event.
Redbull would even be able to build the hype over one day . Like "Semenuk got 84 and is sitting in spot#1, will Bizet be able to oust him tomorrow ?" They could get interviews from the riders between the two runs, how they felt it, how they see the other competitors, if they plan anything different for the next. The analysis of the runs could be much deeper as well: end of the day, lets review the runs of .. and .... side to side etc... Maybe more touchy would be to have the judges talking, or at let Cam decrypting the scores. etc...
Making the finals on two day could make it possible to gather much more material for the medias. And Rampage for sure has the potential to fill two days.
but hey truth be told the rampage viewer experince has not been particularly fun for the past couple years when we add that to rider hazard maybe redbull changing the business model behind rampage is not a bad idea so let them dream maybe somene at redbull sees this and wonders,
I think it's more like riders have a chance of getting the run of their lives and or get the last run of their lives maybe even die. Death is a very real possibility at rampage. Riders should be encouraged by design to sellect the absolute best conditions for their runs. For many of the rampage riders, I suspect that their participation in this even plays a major part in them receiving the sponsorship support and funding essential to their revenue.
Therefore I think the riders are in an unfair position to excercise their collective voice even. I've been a professional mountain guide for 15 years. Today I also help large corporations manage risk. Its of my humble opinion that the mountainbiking industry is still young In relation to risk management. The riders are stepping it up every year. What's possible on a bike is still unknown. The number of hazards are always multiple while riding but at this event their consequences are considerably higher than spectators and maybe even some riders appreciate. It's one thing to risk your season/off season, year or carreer for the ultimate ride. It's another thing to risk your life or your ability to walk, talk and feed yourself for an amount of money most of us **make in a year.
Make the event bigger want it on TV cool. But let the riders pick their mountain, build their line and ride their line when their ready durning a period of several days. Spectators can make their way.. it be like older school extreme skiing event. Ride when ready and have all the drones, helicopters, camera crews, judges and rescue personnel work together and cover the zones in numbers and through the use of technology.
It's more or less fun like any local race with the addition of camera crews and helicopter.
**According to an older pinkbike survey
Also the fact that you're watching it live, having no idea what will happen, wether things will go good or bad, no censorship, etc... That's what makes it so exciting. You don't see soccer fans cheering to only watch the recap either. It just takes all the fun and excitement out of watching.
So the "come on, RedBull has money so they HAVE to spend it" is not a good argument, they are not a social facility.
Anyway, i agree that RedBull could help by moving the finals to another date because of bad conditions. Actually they wanted to this already this year, but the weather forecast for Saturday was even worse.
They are putting an actual number on those intangibles be it publicity brand presence etc.
The day those numbers are below the actual costs of production is goodbye to rampage time.
@jimmythehat correct me if im wrong but didn't the live feed for that thing was one with the highest viewership ever?
Get well soon Aggy!
Rampage is a totally different animal.
Surf comps are the perfect comparison. I'm watching the MEO in Portugal right now. They get tons of exposure. Have you ever been to one?
I would go as far as comparing it directly to Mavericks. Mavericks is invite only like they did Rampage this year. You get invited you know how to ride... you deserve to be there... you score. The Mavericks window is extreme... this year it's from November to March. 22 competitiors. 8 alternates and 8 wild cards. Sounding familiar yet?
You get a call... you show up in 48 hours. If you don't... an alternate takes your spot. If you can't... an alternate takes your spot.
Does that event have a hard time getting exposure? Nope. It's one of the most widely watched comps out there. So many people show up to watch it that you can't even get on site anymore unless you're press or rider with permissions. Or you pay for a slot on a boat. You show up to a parking lot and they set up a "live" feed big screen.
Rampage can use this as a model but obviously can not get away with being that extreme as guys need to build stuff. With Mavericks... well... it's already built... or it's not.
But it's a major media event. Live feed coverage. Replays. iTunes special releases. Award ceremonies. Etc.
When an event is this gnarly and the riders are this specialized... well.. it can work in any fashion that brings the most out of the event and the riders.
These guys are the big wave surfers of the mtb community.
Then I looked at the injuries I see in the race circuit and it's carnage. Or even what happens in your average skate park, snow park, local trail, or bike park and people all over the place are getting smashed up doing what they love.
I don't feel it's just the fact it's broadcast live that pushes the riders to take excess risk, as it's been roughly the same format since before the event was broadcast live. They've always waited at the top for the wind, and typically it always picks up by the second runs. It's a dessert, as it heats up convection kicks in and the wind blows.
As long as it's by riders for riders and not just by Sponsors for viewers/marketing I'm happy. I can see how the thought of a load of marketing execs rubbing their hands together to coin in on some riders potentially career ending run rubs people (myself included) up the wrong way. But, at the end of the day it's up to the riders. If they choose the mountain, their line, whether they ride or not and they feel compelled to do it, why should anyone try and stop them?
We were all confident you would kill it at Rampage this time. Your talent is off the f*n charts! Your run had us glued to our seats and we were so gutted when you crashed but we know you'll be back...
Stronger...
Better...
Ready to kill it again...
Healing vibes for now!
Beat regards,
All mountain bikers
Jessy is such a good dude, A model professional athlete . Every kid that rides a dirt bike in north county San Luis Obispo looks up to him.
#f*ckrampage
I don't disagree, but the competitors keep coming, they are not forced to be there. It is crazy what they do...
Stop blaming everyone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And BTW its shocking to me how upset the biking community is over this when some have been seriously injured racing DH (omg when will they slow down!? enough of this progressing/pushing the sport BS) or just sessioning dirt jumps (omg why can't these damned kids keep their wheels on the ground, isn't riding the bike on dirt enough!?)
Ever hear of the Freeride World Tour? Its big mountain skiing and riding, highly revered. Many riders have died over the years competing in this event and guess what? No mass calls for protests or ending it because everyone in the game is mature enough to realize its what they want to do, its their choice and its not up to anyone else including those with too weak of a stomach to watch them make their choices or ride at the level they do. In short, its not your jam, I get it, but shut the hell up.
This would not exist without sponsor which in turn wouldn't sponsor this if not for viewers.
All I'm saying is this is extremely dangerous. These athletes are literally risking their lives with every run and as spectators (and by implication sponsors) we can't simply wash our hands of the consequences when they occur.
However, we have to be trusting in everyone's ability to take decisions for themselves AND in the organisers allowing athletes to take those decisions without redress.
I could have died 4 months ago in an accident on my bike, but guess what I am already doing again (only with more respect for the consequences)?
Everyone at Rampage is there because they want to be there. Everyone is both Sam Reynolds and Aggy.
Let's let the athletes do what they want to do and not force anyone to do anything they don't.
Good luck to anyone and everyone who wants to drop in; not me though!!
@stacykohut - you should be a motivational speaker. Reading it was like being a teenager again and watching Russel Crow speaking in Gladiator. I swear I heard Lisa Gerard singing.
Anol shalom
Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um...
Do I worry for riders getting hurt for good? Yea. I am sick with this self perpetuating must-stoke machine, in the very same way as with Olympic games or TDF. I simply do not find perverse pleasure of a guy just running away with it, leading to even more perverse pleasure of showing compassion to a fallen or paralyzed rider. The truth is, some people, even though they don't realize it, they love it, they salivate at the thought that they get touched by a tragedy, (oh I feel sad cuz he died, I am such a moral human being) that they can be a part of mourning. Yes recreational compassion and recreational mourning exist.
@theclaw - my comment had nothing to do with bitchin on riders. I have some level of understanding why you do it. But you must admit that the media side of it, sponsor loyalty, pushes some of you to do more than you are comfortable with, and would normally do. Are you in full control of your motivations here? Maybe, if you are a total manac of the likes of Senna or Armstrong, then I believe you. They were so few though..
As for calling out professional cyclists and people who have done so much for mountain biking - in all aspects of the sport - well done you. Bravo sir. You are in no way a perpetual annoyance on this website. Please continue.
Hope you have a speedy recovery Aggy.
For myself and most of the other athletes we roll into rampage with a dream of stomping the best line of your life but the truth is that even without red bull or the event I would still have this dream and persevere to the ends of the earth to achieve it.
I am putting together a film with my brother called "reverence" its going to be a doc style film on fear.
Stay tuned for that!
Someone mentioned other simplier sports being risky too. Yes a girl died on XC race, but that's considered an anomaly. On Rampage it is an anomaly that nobody dies.
Some people have no issues with it, fine. Just like some enjoy watching war footage or road accidents.
Whatever, who gives a sht anyways.
In other sports people have died during live events and it never backfired, it only brought on an honest reflection of the sport and what could be done to prevent a further tragedy from happening. To be blunt, you don't get it so your opinion on the event is irrelevant. Instead of bitching about it, just don't watch it next year. Its pretty simple.
But hey thanks for also confirming that you're trying too hard to validate your useless thoughts because he took a minute to respond to your opinion while at the same time promoting a project we will all be stoked on... I mean that's not pathetic for you to do.... yup.
Ok, I'm off, an a-hole deserves to have his last word
Stop giving yourself so much credit. You don't mean much outside of a way to kill a few minutes at work.
Please support Paul Basagoitia with his ongoing recovery; quarter of a million dollars raised thus far by US, the true fans/riders (not greedy bags RedBull)
road2recovery.com/cause-view/irideforpaul
~Thanks!
#iride4Paul
"On any other day, I wouldn't have dropped in" is something any of us might say after it goes pear-shaped, but the key is we say it after, not before.
There were like 4-5 seriously brutal crashes and there was not even one single report. What about Elliot Jackson? Is he going to be 'back again' again?
Best healing vibes to aggy, though!
Just have to say you have an incredible attitude and a large seed bag. You dropped into the wild knowing that you might pull it off as we know the skills you have shown us over and ever again.....this time knowing the high consequences of the run with the wild wind. You took an awful impact, I felt it to my bones......then you held up the OK sign with the bull horns on the stretcher..I'm not sure how you did that but I want to express from all of us who SUPPORT the event and every rider that we got your back like we all did for Paul B.
Keep well and yes I'm sending healing vibes....you got this and much more to come and victories in your future.
Massive Maximum Respect.
On the other note, RBR should be all natural terrain, not digged out slope style course on mega steroids!
When they had some inserts of Bender droping in the red pow which was untouched, that was real freeride riding! He was getting and still is getting lots of critics, but his stuff was natural! Underrated.
SO make RBR all natural, remove some rocks from your line and major stuff, but leave the pow and the dirt natural!
That will show who has true freeride skills and that would suit the real Freeriders like Doerfling.
I don't care much for circus tricks in pijamas ( all props - amazing), but I love the simple dirt pow riding on steep hills, wallrides, carving and some drops...do a 360 into an untouched red pow, that requires serious skill.
Make this and it will be beautiful, much safer and everyone will enjoy. That would be unique and natural!
Imagine Doerfling, Aggy, Bourdo riding natural steep lines at RBR...so beautiful...so fun! Maybe the older guys can ride too...Simmons, Tippie...
MAKE THIS HAPPEN RB!
Heal up, Aggy.
But he basically looses his way of making a living for a few months. Sucks.
Legally none of these companies had any responsibility to do what they did... but they did.
I'm just happy to see that dude walking.... and riding.
Aggy, I hope and pray that your recovery is quick and eventless. God bless! You rock!
Protect the riders and benefit the viewers so we dont have to watch 3 hours of flags waving on a mountain
There is no question what is in store for these guys when they sign up for Red Bull Rampage. It's billed as, and is, the most extreme sporting event in the world. These are big boys making decisions with all the knowledge of what they're getting into. They are there scouting it all week, building it, checking weather. Some bailed on run 2, some bailed on run 1 even. They make the call they're comfortable with knowing all the risks, but also the rewards.
Aggy wrecked himself. Well, have you seen some of his videos? This guy is gonna do enough gnarly stuff to have that same level accident or worse whether Red Bull is involved or not. There's countless crazy built trails and jump areas that guys are riding daily for fun, no glory other than personal and a few buddies. They're doing this anyways. 40 foot drops? Ok fine, not that on the daily for most, but it's extreme and fast enough to cause as bad an injury or worse. It's no different than other extreme sports.
As for Red Bull. They are making money yes, for sure. They are also providing medical staff that was at Aggie's side within a moment, and he was in a chopper in minutes. That doesn't happen in the woods. I crashed in a highly populated area and I wasn't in an ambulance for 15 minutes. The medics were talking about guys who crash in the middle of the woods and it turns into rescue efforts walking the guy out on stretchers. So, for that, Red Bull is at least making sure the right assets are there.
As for accelerating the sport, well these riders are. Rampage is giving them that platform. Do most guys even know about Rampage? I don't know, but the bikes these sponsored riders are riding, and the shocks and gear they use, it's almost a test lab like any other racing sport. What is learned and offered by them trickles into what we ride. Look at a mid travel or enduro bike today, that itself is more than what they had in Rampage 1.
As for Rampage - I could do without... . I know it's the pinnacle of the sport and I know free riding is all about pushing the limits. But the pressure of the competition is just too dangerous. The terrain is too exposed to wind. Time for serious rethinking- new place, simply dump it all together, or maybe parachutes?!?!
Anyways, keep your heads up Paul and Aggy!
ofcourse you can think that freeride and rampage and fest are pervert dangerous. especially when you look at Aggy, Andreu or Romanuk. Or Zink. but when you stres that fact, it reveals your ignorance! you have no panorama on extreme sports in general! in FMX any trick done is like Zink's Sender Backflip! they just massacre themselves! IT'S STILL SLOW! and it's a good thing! for me the problems described exist in FMX: please no more this! i can not look at that!
Is he saying the wind blew him 2 feet right and that's why he wrecked or is he saying he was lucky he even got to that point in his run despite the wind being dangerous?
Since this thing is getting more dialed in, my first thought was that they all need a spray can or a bag of chalk to mark their exit line off these blind take offs. If Aggy had a marker to aim for, one less thing to worry about. Or maybe survey flags on the lip so he knows where not to go.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and markers on take offs wouldn't really give any advantage so long as all riders are allowed to use them. They do it in boardercross on snow and at bike parks for blind lips.
These guys who ride this are among the best athletes in the world in any sport. I don't think a single rider at rampage would hesitate to put on a football uniform and team up against an NFL team. They'd get trounced of course but they wouldn't back down. Any NFL players want to drop in at rampage?? No way, those guys would piss their pants on the first step down and it would likely take two weeks for their balls to drop back down into place.
So, given the courage it takes to ride these lines even under ideal conditions Red Bull should do all it can to guarantee the safety and fairness of the event. If that can't be done within the live broadcast format than so be it. I'd rather wait a day to see an edited 2-3 hour broadcast and know that every rider got a fair shot at stomping it. Than see another rider end up like Paul Bas or Aggy.
Long live this sport of Mtb. The greatest of all sports.
Peace out.
Tim
In any way you are #1 at heart and soul of riding, and you are in our hearts and minds!
We love you man. Get well!
"Sometimes you just gotta say fk it an roll the dice man"
I'm sorry but i refuse to have much sympathy for these riders when shit goes wrong. (I don't wish any of these riders get seriously injured) but some broken bones is just part of the show. This is completely a different nature of MTB than the majority would even consider doing . Ride On
A bit of Red Bull carnage for your enjoyment: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWmaoftJzYs