Kyle Strait: Red Bull Rampage 2014
© John Gibson/Red Bull Content Pool
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Rampage history, Strait from the horse’s mouth

See the history of Rampage as told by the only rider to compete in every event – and win twice.
Written by Mike Berard and Scott Hart
4 min readPublished on
Kyle Strait: Red Bull Rampage 2010

Kyle Strait: Red Bull Rampage 2010

© John Gibson/Red Bull Content Pool

There is no better authority to recall the history of Red Bull Rampage than Kyle Strait. As the only rider to compete in all nine events, Strait is also the only athlete to win the premier big mountain contest twice – in 2004 and 2013.
I woke up in the morning and was like: ‘Whoa, cliffs everywhere!’
– Kyle Strait
In 2001, Strait competed in the first Rampage as a 14-year-old grom. "My first trip [to Utah] was the very first Rampage," he recalls. "I had no idea what it was going to be like – my pops drove me [to the Rampage site] in the middle of the night and I woke up in the morning and was like: 'Whoa, cliffs everywhere!'
Watch the video below to hear the two-time Rampage champ walk viewers through every year of Rampage leading up to the 10th edition's LIVE finals on Red Bull TV on October 17, 2015:
In 2001, the 22 invited riders confirmed the proof of concept: The world's best mountain bikers could conquer Utah's gnarliest terrain, and live to tell about it. Fittingly, the inaugural event was won by the 'godfather of freeride' Wade Simmons.
At the second Rampage in 2002, the riders were clearly comfortable on the terrain and the riding got bigger than ever before – as highlighted by Tyler 'Super T' Klassen's victorous monster drop.
Rampage the third in 2003 was the year that riders got hyper-technical — with both the intricacy of lines down the mountain as well as the tricks by bringing the backflip into the backcountry. All-round bike handler and UCI World Cup racer Cedric Gracia famously won by pulling his first ever backflip in his final run.
For Rampage's first venue, 2004 was a culmination of the first four events. Strait was only 17-years-old when he won Rampage in 2004 – claiming victory in Utah with an absolutely gargantuan suicide no-hander off a step-down gap that was bigger than any ridden or filmed before. He also wore a plush bear costume on the podium in celebration of Halloween weekend. What a legend.
After Rampage 2004, the event went on hiatus for three years – the freeride community focused on slopestyle – before returning in 2008, bigger than ever.
In 2008, the year of rebirth, Rampage came back​ with a new venue. After the three-year break, the big mountain freeride event quickly took back its position as the biggest, and burliest, contest in mountain biking.
Rampage 2010 was the year of the "360 Heard Around the Universe" – Cam Zink landed the biggest 360 drop in the history of the sport. The move set the stage for many more epic moments to come from Zink at Rampage.
Amid the carnage and chaos of Rampage 2012, Canadian Kurt Sorge pulled an amazing run filled with flips, huge drops and gnarly lines to take mountain biking's most coveted prize.
Rampage 2013 was the year of the first repeat winner. Breaking the 'Curse of Red Bull Rampage,' the only rider to compete in every Red Bull Rampage, Strait becomes the first two-time winner.
The 2013 Rampage would be the final contest held in the event's second venue (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013). The next year, 2014, would usher in all-new terrain with Rampage's third venue.
That year three-time fourth-place Rampage finisher Andreu Lacondeguy finally landed on the top step of the podium with one of the rowdiest Red Bull Rampage runs of all time in venue three's new contest zone.
Will Kyle Strait win his third Rampage this year? Tune in to RedBull TV to witness the action LIVE on October 16, 2015.
Can’t wait to get your gut-wrenching, nail-biting freeride fix? Head over to the official Red Bull Rampage event page to watch highlights of the other competitions, as well as more exclusive videos, photos and stories.
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