Water was the main focus at 8am this morning when builders and athletes arrived on site. Robbie Bourdon and Adam Billinghurst were in high demand as they pumped water into two huge tanks on the back of a side-by-side and ran it up and down the canyon. With the wind up, the dry dislodged earth was whipping up in bursts off the ridges surrounding the venue creating the post-apocalyptic feel we’ve come to expect from Rampage.
 | I like the new site. It's kind of funny how people have always said that history repeats itself and it's like we've gone back to the kind of older style of riding where it's all natural. It's really good because the new generation of Rampagers; the kids, they're figuring out what the old guys had to go through.- Bender |
With the last build day at hand, crews were hard at work to connect the bigger features together on some lines, while packing in landings and sculpting lips on others. With the mix of wind, labour, and the vastness of the canyon, the cheers that signal a rider dropping were sporadic throughout the morning, but became increasingly frequent after lunch as darkness closed the window for practice.
Shutting down the venue once again, the athletes took every opportunity they could to practice, riding until the moon rose over the ridge. As a spectator, the experience feels very much like an evening at the dirt jumps, but on a much greater scale and with much higher consequences. As we all left the hill together, snaking out on the road in the pitch black through the dust and over the bumps – the anticipation for what’s to come tomorrow was palpable. All we know is that these athletes are about to throw down runs that none of us could even contemplate.
Sky Pilot
Robbie Bourdon spritzing the up track.
Construction was still ongoing today.
Brush stroke on canvas: an anonymous line near the bottom of the Rampage course.
Remy Metailler probably didn't get too much sleep this week, but today he nailed every single big bertha on his line, which should allow a quality 40 winks before finals.
T-Mac laying wrongs to right on the monster drop that took out Binggeli.
T-mac attack.
T-Mac boosting down the mountain.
Antoine Bizet blasting through the moto whoops.
Binggeli checking out his drop.
Logan Binggeli let out a shriek right at about now when he realized he wasn't going to make the landing that was heard through the entire venue.
Logan Binggeli stacked and tumbled hard off his big drop. He seems to be alright and will most likely ride tomorrow.
Logan Binggeli took a terrifying fall pioneering the second of the massive drops he shares with T-mac and Bearclaw. He cased the landing fiercely and tomahawked to the bottom, extremely lucky to walk away.
Brett Rheeder sending down the mountain early morning.
Brett Rheeder drifting in a way most people really can only dream of....
...and then casually backflipping the next drop.
Rheeder pausing for thought in the middle of a long day of hard laps under the Utah sun.
Genon and Rheeder share such a large portion of their lines it's going to be a true battle of the big tricks to see who comes out on top.
Brett Rheeder might have just charged harder than anyone else today and will be looking forward to proving everybody who rates him as purely a slopestyler wrong.
Bizet following the trend today: getting upside down.
Fully inverted but there's a LOT of real estate left before the landing. For a reason. This is a double back. Bizet sending it to the next level.
It was nuts out there today for Bizet.
Tommy G has come a long ways since his Crankworx win a few years back. His line is definitely a podium contender.
Tommy G with the flat spin 3.
Tommy G dropping off the end of the fin.
Tommy G had a big day, but surely the real moves are for tomorrow.
As wild as his reputation is, Andreu is one of the most calculated riders on the mountain. Every big feature gets more speed checks than anyone else.
Rheeder going top to bottom.
Storch on the goblin. There is NOTHING like this in Bend, OR, so I've no idea how Storch trains for stuff like this. Shit, I've no idea how anyone trains for stuff like this.
Big air buds, Aggy and Sorge built and rode just about everything on their lines together.
Aggy channeling that line choice.
Aggy blasting.
Aggy blasting down his line off a hip stepdown.
Where's Aggy? Just follow the smoke trail...
Aggy going airborn.
A is for amplitude. And Aggy.
Aggy stomped the upper part of his line and now time to keep working down.
Sorge sending it. Yes, this IS as big as it looks.
Aggy watches on to Kurt Sorge hitting their stepdown.
Last year's winner, Kurt Sorge looking on point and charging hard. Overshot this one on the first round and stomped it the next.
Can Sorge go the distance all over again for the three-peat? His line has the legs for sure, but of course this year, more than ever, it's going to take something extra special thrown into the mix.
Richie Schley deciding if this is still his thing or not.
Lunch break during the heat of the day.
Connor McFarlane checking out his line and debating still riding tomorrow without much practice and in a lot of pain.
Norbs and Rheeder scoping.
Kyle Norbraten getting the enormous drop-in out of the way ahead of the big show. What you don't see here is the exposure, miss the catch berm and you are toast, no bones about it.
Rheeder on the shark fin.
Norbs dropping the shark fin.
Norbs on his way home, high above the surprisingly green fields of Utah.
Brett Rheeder dropping in hot off the ridge that he spent nearly half the afternoon with a few others mining rocks off of.
Brett Rheeder and Kyle Norbraten celebrating after both working on riding the first part of their lines today.
PEF diving into some of the ragged vert on his lower line.
Pierre Edouard Ferry did everyone a big favor today and went up to guinea-pig all the unridden gnar on the upper riders right ridges.
Zink's first go... It was a slight case, but he rode it out well.
Zink dropping the massive step down above the road.
Zink dropping in to slay some demons on his canyon gap line.
Cam Zink 1 footy off the top ridge and dropping right into this big sender. After a massive canyon gap bail yesterday, Zink is back and ready to conquer.
Cam Zink testing the run-in to his main drop just one more time.
Thomas Genon style for miles and silently looking liking one of the top contenders on the mountain.
Semenuk bounces off his lily-pad and down perhaps another 6 meters... One of the most sickening features on the hill no question.
Brandon Semenuk dropping in hot off the ridge from a small drop that leads into this mega huck straight down the mountain.
Justin Wyper celebrating after a successful build for Brandon Semenuk and all the digging finally over.
Brandon Semenuk all smiles after stomping his big drop off the ridge.
Tom van Steenbergen heading up to test out his seriously large roll in.
A great day on the hill for Brandon Semenuk, putting the laps in sessioning the lower slopes and taking a trip to the top to tick off a couple of monsters.
Brett Rheeder scrubbing into the final hoorah.
Tyler McCaul flipping off the ridge.
Antoine Bizet is looking good and ready for redemption on his run last year.
Carson Storch with a dirt exhaust tail soaring off the ridge.
From afar, it seems so tiny. A small peak dwarfed by the immensity of Gooseberry Mesa. But up close, this crag is anything but tiny.
Tomorrow it's on.
The long and winding (and bumpy) commute to the venue.
They call him 'The Claw'... Why? Because he's a freakin' bad-ass.
Bizet and his sleeves, chock-full of tricks for your viewing pleasure.
Bizet and Genon plan the French revolution ahead of the big day.
7 or 8-speed checks at sunset for Bizet on this sender and you start to wonder if all these 'crazy riders' might just be 'exceptionally talented athletes'.
Movie set views for days...
Graham Agassiz sending in the last light off the big stepdown at the bottom of his run.
Some people always save the best till last... We can't wait to find out what some folks have in store for tomorrow.
One last dig for Rampage gold... Ladies and gentlemen, finals are upon us.
Just after sundown and Tom van Steenbergen sent his insane line next to Semenuk's... Do you think he nailed it?
Stoke is high this year.... even by Rampage standards.
MENTIONS: @dbaker / @parisgore / @redbullbike / @natedh9 / @meagerdude
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Looks crazy and proper people judging this should be a sick even!
Still super impressed (besides all the gnarly riders we are getting used to) that Remy went from park rat to two time Rampage participant with, what looks like, massive drops as well,huge respect!
www.pinkbike.com/photo/14046276 I mean look at this catch berm, to me it looks ready to collapse with those two huge cracks right the way across...
Hope nothing goes wrong but some it looks real shady to me.
All natural ? I don't think so, ok there is maybe less artificial features than past years nevertheless they spent all the week to shape so they can't say after that it's all natural.
I have nothing against shaping even more I think it's important for the safety and the show but just don't sell it like it's all natural.
You expect these guys to flip and spin these jumps and step downs on to a pile of rocks? Of course the lips and landings are buffed.
Same in 2014, Andreu won with a very similar run only hitting one wood jump on the bottom. Zink did not hit any wooden features and got 2nd because he took a ridiculous steep line right down the middle then landed a 360 off a huge 'natural' drop, and Semunek got third with a run where similar to many other guys he only hit the one wooden jump at the bottom.
The results just don't support your theory that they had to hit these features to score big. Most guys did hit the one large wood jump near the bottom but that's because it was a flat area and there was no opportunity to build anything big down there themselves. You are also forgetting that in the past, when the field was larger, there were alot of riders who didn't have the resources to bring a huge build team and would not have had the opportunity to go as big without the help of the pre-built features.
Looks like Coast Gravity park on that hill right now, hardly worrying about their impact on the place.