Red Bull Rampage: What’s The Motivation?
“Seriously, people do that for fun? They’re not being punished for some heinous crime?”
This was my Aunt’s incredulous response to seeing footage from Red Bull Rampage, and while those of us who ride bikes might be slightly less surprised by what we see, many are still left wondering what motivates someone to ride such huge and intimidating features. While out at the event this year, I asked some riders – both Rampage competitors and aspiring hopefuls for the future – to try and explain to the world what it is that motivates them.
Thomas ‘Tommy G’ Genon was at Red Bull Rampage for his 11th year, so clearly there must be something in it that keeps him coming back?
“I think why has changed over the years for me. I used to be very competitive and like the challenge of it. I’m still kind of competitive but not against people, more like trying to be the best – as good as I can be at least. But also it’s for me very easy here to be stoked because it’s really your own stuff. It’s like it’s whatever you build and whatever you are stoked to do – it cannot be more core than this. You’re just building what you want to ride and then you compete on it. It’s one of a kind event. It’s the only time that you can do that.”
I wonder whether the dig and ride aspect of the event allows riders to show off their riding skills or their imagination when it comes to digging? Tommy likes it best when it’s both: “At best it should be both. But the thing is, I feel like they’re running out of venues, so it’s less and less about creativity and more about your skills….I think that’s the sickest part of it is when you come and there’s nothing.”
Chelsea Kimball was one of the lucky women who got to take part in the inaugural women’s Red Bull Rampage, where the riders had that blank canvas Tommy loves so much. As a Utah local, the terrain is very familiar to her – but of course not everyone that lives and rides in Virgin ends up at Red Bull Rampage. I wonder what is it that makes her get up and go to work in the morning?
“Why do I do this? I say because it’s fun, but it’s not always fun! I mean, what do mountaineers say? People are like, why do you climb a mountain? They say because it’s there. I think it’s the same thing. None of us really know why exactly we want to do it so bad, but we want it, so here we are. I wish I had a better answer!”
As a local, Chelsea can ride much of this terrain whenever she likes, so I wonder what difference does having an event and a TV show make? Does it change her motivation at all, or is it just a facilitator?
“Having a competition is definitely motivation to go bigger, and what that means in the long run, I have no idea. I feel like this is such an experience that we’re in the middle of, and I can’t determine what it means yet… I come out here to ride every year because of the friends, because of the shuttles, because of the jumps and the drops. And having this competition, honestly, I’m a tiny bit bummed that I’m not riding with all my friends at the old site! Because that is the best. But I’m here, and this is part of the reason why they’re here, so it’s pretty cool how it is a circle.”
On Chelsea’s dig team is CJ Selig, a future Rampage hopeful and one of only few female dig team members at this year’s event. Being on a dig team often serves as an apprenticeship to becoming a competing rider – the experience teaches you so much about the terrain. Like Chelsea, CJ has already spent a bunch of time riding the local terrain, and I wonder if she can articulate why she wants to keep pushing herself to ride such huge features?
“Wow, that’s a really difficult one to articulate. I would say there’s a moment after you do it where everything comes together and you just, you can’t replicate that feeling if you don’t put in the work and the stress and the fear. It’s the best feeling when it [comes together]… Sometimes that moment’s right in the air because you know you’ve got it. Sometimes it’s when you’ve ridden out the landing. But there’s a moment that makes everything worth it. And then with an event like Rampage, it’s not just once, right? Chelsea’s already gotten it twice doing the drop feature she hadn’t done yet. She’s going to get it again times ten on finals day. [Each feature] It’s such a win. You have to celebrate every time.
CJ’s response comes closest to explaining to me how it might feel to ride this stuff, and the kind of brain buzz you might get out of it. The idea that something that’s hard to do can be more of a kick than something that’s easy makes sense. The stress before the satisfaction – I can see how the cocktail of brain chemistry works, just as sweet and sour mix in a drink. It also seems like an incredibly positive way to approach anything in life – celebrating every step, as well as the crescendo of the full run buzz.
Another local, Jordy Scott, is only just back carefully walking around and recovering from a broken leg. She’s a regular on the Crankworx circuit, who is also eyeing up Red Bull Rampage for the future.
“I just think it’s so cool to be a part of something like this. Especially the first year for all these girls, it’s like a landmark kind of thing. Just to be able to continue to push the sport to the level that it’s getting to, it is really cool to be a part of. And yeah, I just want to be a part of that.”
A commentary I’ve seen pretty regularly is that riders are under pressure to push their limits for the sake of their sponsors. Jordy discounts that, but thinks the event does give people the opportunity to show the world their skills:
“I think everybody’s out here for the stoke. I’ve only been out here for a few hours, but it really doesn’t feel any different than when all the girls are riding out here, having a session in the desert and just wanting to push themselves to see how far they can go….I think they have been pushing themselves for the last couple of years and now this stuff is stuff that they haven’t done before. So I think either way [organised event or not] they’re going to be doing it and it’s cool for them to have the platform to show everybody else what they’re doing.
Barbara Edwards is a rider who is part of the In The Hills Gang, a sort of freeride collective who have been creating their own platform and building their own scene. A week or so after Rampage, they’ll host the Green River Classic, a grassroots freeride event that’s grown from a casual gathering of a few riding friends, to a huge word-of-mouth festival, to an official event with permits and all the grown up stuff that goes with that. Their video edits are generally hugely fun, reminiscent of the early freeride videos of the Fro Riders and Down Series. It’s a different vibe and a different platform, but Red Bull Rampage is still something Barb would like to be part of one day:
“I started riding Green River. That was motivating just because it was new to me and it’s a different arena. But this is a different type of motivation than Green River, for sure. Green River is like chill, you hang out, you do whatever makes you feel good inside. This is like you want to do what scares the shit out of you. That feels good in a twisted way! I guess that’s my best way to put it: my motivation is fear – feeling fear is such an important part of doing the sport and progressing yourself. And this [Red Bull Rampage] is like the ultimate stage of fear and overcoming that. The women who are riding this year are like these Viking goddesses, right? And you want to strive to be that and just feel badass about your achievements.”
Their scale might be different, their fear-ometers tuned to an alternative spectrum, but the logic of pushing through the fear and feeling the buzz of success makes sense. And, in the landscape of Virgin, Utah, the scale makes sense too – everything is big, and there are trails with squads of men, women, teens and even children hitting the features there. Everything is relative, and progression towards the heights of Red Bull Rampage seems like an arc, not a giant step-up. What has felt like a huge leap forwards (after a very long slog upwards) is adding a women’s Red Bull Rampage to the schedule. For those who hope to one day push through their fear barriers on the Rampage stage, that reality is now a whole lot closer.
Thanks to ABUS for contributing to Hannah’s travel expenses.