Embedded: 17-Year Old Jaxson Riddle Tries Out for Rampage at Proving Grounds
Marzocchi Proving Grounds, a place where riders can come compete to earn a spot at the biggest freeride mountain bike event of the year—Red Bull Rampage. We followed 17-year old Jaxson Riddle’s journey as battled through crashes and mechanicals in hopes of qualifying for the big show.
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Opposed to the " Just giiiver broooo" attitude..
Also, cant wait to see Jaxson in 5 years!
Lol this kid would casually ride the 2016 site solo. Before he owned a mtb he’d ride film segment jumps on his bmx. The adults who ride rampage currently are the ones who are an ethical quandary.
Who's the girl with the Trek??? She's so badass!!! :O
New forks. Shock rebuilds. Wheel rebuilds. Headsets. Etc.
Marzocchi brought forks for their athletes. At least they tried to help him.
On a separate note, a discussion is where people exchange different opinions on a topic. The fact that they may differ in their opinions doesn't mean they get to launch into baseles personal attacks. They stay on topic and trash it out. Also, fact that someone may or may not have been aware of an event until recently, doesn't preclude them from being knowledgeable or having an opinion. Although I'll agree, in today's day and age, even those with very little knowledge seem to be all too happy to share their opinion. Something you've demonstrated masterfully in your comment.
The less you know about an event, the more baseless your opinions are about that event, as you've clearly demonstrated in your comments by comparing Hardline to Rampage. It seems in today's day and age, people seem all too happy to hate on something they have very little knowledge about. Good job, buddy, I'm sure people will take into account your baseless and massively ill-informed opinion.
Hardline is an awesome event but it's not even remotely close to Rampage. Some of the guys that were at Proving Grounds road Hardline. One of them broke his bike at Proving Grounds. I love Hardline. It's gnarly. But it's still a race. Rampage is not a race. Can you really see Kerr riding Rampage? Dude's gnarly but I really don't think he's interested in Rampage.
Look at it this way.... people complain about people getting left off the Rampage roster every single year. Every year. When it comes down to video parts and judge's knowledge of a rider and their skills there will always be people that fans think should ride over another person. So at least the Rampage crew is looking for a solution. To me... and event like Proving Grounds makes perfect sense. Could the course be more rampage like... sure. But does it need to be, not necessarily. The PG course looked like a video game. There were 3-4 options on every hit for line choice. It was incredibly hard to get speeds right. Landings were way smaller than... well... the landings on the man made Hardline jumps... The big drop for example... was totally blind rolling into it. Totally. And the landing was not wide and was not long. I'm honestly surprised no one took it so deep they blew out. The intro drop in was odd. That little drop angle you see wasn't even a full bike length. SO you had to kind of hop into it. The drop Conor blew out of the backflip on... that catch berm was not super big. That little section was much more challenging than you'd think it was. The canon... first time Rogatkin hit it I thought he was gonna die. He went so damned big. Guys actually had to throttle back on it. Etc etc etc. It was a very mental course. Especially when you toss in winds... usually head winds. Changing dirt conditions every time they were up there and even from the top to the bottom. Totally different dirt top to bottom.
See my point? At the very least Rampage is trying to do something about it. They've worked with Marzocchi and others to create a course that's gnarly, creative, and unique. It gives riders that want a chance at Rampage a chance to prove they can hang. And it gives guys that got left off the invite list a last chance to get it. Reed/DJ.... both Rampage competitors left on off the invite. Both wanted in badly. Juan... dude was out to prove he can hang. Now we'll get to see if he can.... and he can. Dudes rad.
And it gives people like Billy, Jaxson and Emil a chance to gain experience in events and on bigger hits on their big bikes. Now they know where they're at and what they need to do to get where they want to go. And the committee voting on next years invitees will have this event to add into their evaluation next year.
And worst case scenario... you have a new Freeride comp to follow.
To me... win win.
Wow, tough life he has, riding bikes.
Just make sure he gets a participation medal and a hug.
You are out riding in big bike proving ground paradise, you threw down a SICK first run, .....and you PASS!????
C'mon. I would love to session a course like that!!!
Just to ride that course is a privilege!. Take the 2nd run and just leave the Triple Backflip in the bag. Have fun and respect your limits... But don't quit because you had a stessful week.
If you're not "feeling" it you should DEFINITELY stay away from Zion.
He wasn't the only rider at the top to pass. It was windy and dark and they'd been on and off the hill fighting weather for like 10 plus hours. After riding the course dialing lines for a few days and riding Sage. Was a crazy long day. Better to leave healthy than push it and leave broken.
On top of that... he's from St. George. He rides in Virgin all the time. Including the old Rampage sites.
He's got plenty of time. The reason guys were pushing him to do a run is because he had a real shot at qualifying. That alone should tell you something. Should have seen the whip he through in the whip contest at Sage. There was literally no doubt who won. So big. Kids got a big future if he continues to play it smart. Riding with Nell and Boggs and all those guys is only going to help him. Riding events like this is only gonna help him. He'll be at Rampage soon enough.
You guess wrong
And maybe you need a hug too...
I think he is an incredible rider with a huge future, and I wanted him to qualify. I don't need his resume from you to know he is a good rider or any other statistics. His riding does that for him.
I would have given him this advice:. " Take the run today, because you cannot take it tomorrow. Forget about qualifying, and just ride for fun...."
I'm an advocate for safe riding, but you wouldn't have guessed that right either.
@onemanarmy:
You guys are taking this way too serious.
I simply would have taken the run for the experience. If conditions are tough, isn't that a great time to learn? Take a straight run... feel the cross wind, updraft, tail wind, whatever. You are going to encounter that right?. Take the run to feel what the run feels like when you're tired, not because you have to but because of you want to. You don't have to trick everything, just take the run to learn something from that day, because it's not every day you get even ride that specific course That's all. I loved the video, until that point. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jackson will show us in the future.
Side not. He’d been hitting that course tb for days.