Bike
With a full house of builders, the Rampage build machine is wide open and pinned to the rev limiter.
Early morning starts for the Red Bull Rampage build crew see tools, lumber and supplies being loaded and strapped down in the back of Tomcars, pickups, trailers, motorcycles and backpacks for the drive into the event site. It’s a four-mile rally mission down a dirt road that is not maintained or recognized as an official thoroughfare by the state of Utah…
We head to the crossroads of rustic and primitive. Half-frozen jugs of water are stashed into packs along with whatever other essentials are needed to survive consecutive 12-hour days in the desert, building features for the biggest freeride course known to the discipline.
Each set of extra hands enables the group to accomplish bigger, more complex and challenging tasks. Chaingangs are assembled to pass lumber from one to the other to make wood delivery on a cliffside that much more efficient.
When a machine becomes limited -- due to the challenging terrain -- we’ll use a skid-steer (operated by Steve St. Arnold) to push Jeremy Witek in the boom-lift closer to the top of a massive landing in order to get a little extra reach for a wood drop-off or to dump dirt higher (see photo above).
With the recent rains and the arrival of OG Rampage builder Randy Spangler and dirt wizard Adam Billinghurst, machine and handwork on dirt features has been a priority -- the parched desert dirt is quickly absorbing nature’s delivery of liquid goodness.
While dirt is being slung, stacked, and placed, the pop of the nail gun and buzz of the chainsaw can be heard cutting and tacking together wood features courtesy of Ryan Corrigan and myself, Dave Reuss.
Generators, chainsaws, diesel, gas, fuel pumps, nail guns, impact drivers, rock crushing pic-axes, wheelbarrows, heavy machinery and light machinery including all tools and essentials that bring this build to life -- all these things require skill, energy and all-day attentiveness from the builders.
This is the biggest freeride event in the world and the tasks we builders take on day-to-day complement the magnitude of what Red Bull Rampage has grown into.
Bookmark the Red Bull Rampage site to experience all of the content leading up to, during, and after the October 11-13 event days. Watch the live webcast of the finals on October 13, follow the Road to Rampage video series, and mark your calendar for the December 21 Red Bull Signature Series highlights broadcast on NBC.
