Mark Megahan
A handful of suicidally reckless extreme mountain bike enthusiasts gathered at a canyon in the Utah desert for the annual Redbull Rampage. One grasped that exhilarating thrill of victory. Several others experienced the brutally painful agony of defeat. If Slim Pickens was around, he’d be wondering “What in the wide, wide, world of sports is a goin’ on here.”
Redbull Rampage Utah 2023
This year’s Redbull Rampage was held in rough Utah desert terrain, on the ominous date of Friday, October 13.
Sane people wouldn’t risk their life for such extreme biking thrills but there are those insane enough out there to be trained and ready to go, as soon as they sign the waivers. These guys take the Redbull slogan way too seriously.
There’s some GoPro clips from the rampage runs floating around that will make you grab something for support, even if you’re safely settled on the couch.
There weren’t any fatalities reported but there were lots of injuries, some of them serious. British competitor Gee Atherton “crashed in practice and had to be airlifted out.”
It’s just a scratch, he declares from his hospital room. “Injuries are not too bad tho, some fractures to vertebrae and a few skull fractures will mean I’ll have to chill for a few weeks.”
The GoPro of a rampage run with commentary on Reddit was allegedly “captured by Brendan Fairclough.”
A ‘ridiculous’ gap
No matter which version you watch, the rampage run clips are enough to give you the willies. One pundit notes “the video shows something out of an action film, with a large gap to clear in the middle of the path that seems ridiculous for a bike to be able to jump over.”
They timidly speculate “whether death would be the outcome if a rider wasn’t able to make it across.” No doubt about it. Miss that one and you’re toast.
These rampage riders spend more time in the air than on the ground, flipping, dropping and flying. Redbull won’t be making commercials of the ones missing, sliding and crashing. there were “not just one, but two death trap back flips on the tiny path.”
One commentator on social media noted, “anytime I see one of these crazy videos, it’s always sponsored by Redbull.”
Besides the rampage run event, Redbull sponsors every extreme attention grabber they can possibly think of.
They’re the ones who came up with the idea for two pilots to trade planes in mid-air. One made it the other didn’t. Both of them lost their pilot’s licenses for even trying such a stupid stunt
