Red Bull Rampage

[650hucker 0]

As most of you probably didn't notice , I haven't been involved with dirtbikes or dualsports too much lately. I had to give them up to train for Redbull Rampage. I got invited back in July, and as soon as I did, I dropped everything else to train. For those unfamiliar with freeriding, it's the world championships for freeriding. It's held annually (usually) in Zion National Park, in the small town of Virgin, Utah, probably THE best place in the world to ride, dirtbikes and mountainbikes.

I was stoked to recieve an invite, as I have been following the competition since it started in 2001, and I have always dreamed of competing in it. This year I would be the youngest competitor at 16, so I knew I had to train extra hard to ride there...

I started out riding local, training on my hardtail/dirtjump bike, it's smaller, lighter, and just easier to learn stuff on. As I learned and perfected my skills on this bike, I would carry them over to my DH bike. Basically, this is the equivalent of learning tricks on a CR125, and then trying to do them on DR650, not the easiest thing I've done >.<

Some local training pictures-

Next I had to transfer things to the DH bike...This bike (for those unfamilliar with MT) is best described as a dirtbike rolling chasis with pedals...It has 8 inches of travel front and rear, and weighs about 40lbs. My bike is made for one thing and one thing only, going as big as possible, and saving me from my mistakes

You'll notice some moto influences...like most of the tricks, moto whips, nac nacs..

Next came the big gap training...

And then there were the crashes...

But finally I made it to rampage. Everything there was huge, but the pros were super nice and helped me out alot. Once the competition day came, I wasn't really nervouse, just excited to make it down the hill and have some fun along the way...

The venue, We start all the way at the top of the mountains in the background.

Practice:

Rider's Meeting-

Competition-

The "small" start drop

When the dust had finally settled, I finished qualifiers in 12th, just 2 spots off of the top ten who would join the 15 finalist from last year. My chain broke on the last jump in run 2, which knocked me off the top ten. My 2nd run was really bad anyways, since the wind was gusting at 40mph...Impossible to jump in.

Here's a video of my 2nd run

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/164970/

I can't wait til next year!

[KTMrad 514]

Wow, congrats on making it there........awesome pix !

Looks pretty rad !

[Sneeker 29]

Well done Huckster! You’re looking very nearly immortal up there in the air, I like the flying eagle best.

[dirt dame 561]

You must have drank plenty of milk as a kid. Most of those midair dismounts look pretty painful. Great pics (and video) and story.

[dirtdiva 0]

Pretty AWESOME stuff.... I have a downhill bike too - but it don't downhill like that

Your standings were pretty impressive for your first time there - I have a feeling you'll be in the finals next year!

[stomp944 0]

Congrats, hucker! That's cool. Nice to get an insider's perspective on a sport that's like a second cousin to DS.

Thanks for sharing the pics, etc.

Sean

[Crawdaddy 96]

Nice work .......that video was AMAZING.......some crazy skills/thrills....

[bikeslut 1]

I've been following (and making smartass comments on) your facebook page... nice work Wil!

[blind_in_1_ear 0]

welcome home Hucker!!!

glad you came back in one piece!!!

...that was some craziness man, good on ya!!

[paulmbowers 236]

Meh.

I can do that.

Let me fall asleep and while I'm dreaming...

Beautiful, and fantastic images.

[Joliet 0]

Good job for making it there. I find it hard to believe that you don't train with a neck brace and pads at a minimum.

[bikeslut 1]

he's 16... he's unbreakable

[kellymac530 0]

way cool Will...i thought i hadnt seen you much...at 16 you got alot of potential in front of you...keep it up

[Strega 0]

Front page:

[TrophyHunter 15]

Incredible stuff Wil...! Great job!

[mctrails 38]

Great stuff, Wil! Congratulations and many thanks for sharing.

[dsfox 0]

Nice Job Wil, big congrats...Quite an honor and way to go....maybe see you soon

[Zoot 0]

Holy *&^&%^$^%. That is simply amazing.

[Beezzz 6]

Fantastic job and GREAT posting Wil.

THANKS.

NOW please go out and BUY EVERY SAFETY PRODUCT known to man.

You'll be glad you did.

Reading this post is making my body sore!

[650hucker 0]

Thanks everybody! It was so much fun, and definitly a new expierience for me, I have an invite to the next one, so I'm already training!

And yes, I do drink alot of milk

And Joliet, I do wear pads 90% of the time, and at rampage, I was one of 3 wearing a full body armor suit, it's under my t-shirt, you can see it in some of the images. And when I'm on my hardtail, I always have knee and shin pads under the jeans. And yeah, what BS said

As for a neckbrace, I've seen them cause alot of injuries that shouldn't have happened, and your helmet must be fitted perfectly for them to work right, and none of my helmets come close to working with a neckbrace. I'm waiting for the technology to develop more I guess...Once they're perfected I'll buy one for sure.

Thanks again, glad everybody liked the pictures! I will be going back to Virgin over thanksgiving, can't wait!

[pyro 1]

Wow awesome stuff man! You just shattered all my kick ass BMX memories. We never came close to anything like this back in the day. You are doing the types of things we did too, but for us it was only in our dreams. Rock on man and great job!

[piratemonkey 0]

I was going to spend some time writing about how awesome your accomplishment was, but I just pooped my pants watching the video and gotta go clean up now...

[Ste63 0]

Hey Wil,Congratulation on being invited to such an event, those are some awesome pictures. I'm going to use some as my desktop background for a while. In the picture after your start you are dropping of a ledge and you can see the start behind you what is the round white disk(right side) in the picture?

[650hucker 0]

Hey Wil,Congratulation on being invited to such an event, those are some awesome pictures. I'm going to use some as my desktop background for a while. In the picture after your start you are dropping of a ledge and you can see the start behind you what is the round white disk(right side) in the picture?

Thanks! The professionl photog guys there really know how to take a picture!

It is actually, 2,500 vertical feet up in the middle of a desert, a redbull cooler stocked with redbull for us to "drink" before our run.

[Ste63 0]

Wil

I'm talking about the next picture, you are gettin some good air droppin off a ledge and you can see the starting tent up the mountain a bit. The white disk looks to be mounted on the side of the cliff.

When I started racing bicycles in the mid 70's we used to get schwinn bikes and cut the frame to give more ground clearance so we could fit longer cranks from a schwinn 10 speed. Do any of the Old local guys remember racing at the Silverwing track (now Silverwing park) in Chula Vista, how about the track (Rancho) that was where Cuyamaca college is now or the track in National City where the golf course is now ? Brings back fond memories but we NEVER did anything close to what you guys are doing now..