The TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood hosted an unforgettable evening as Glenn Close, Charlie McDowell, and an impressive lineup of talent came together to celebrate The Summer Book, McDowell’s latest directorial endeavor.
In attendance were the film’s stars Naomi Scott, Kyle Gallner, Dylan Gelula, Miles Gutierrez, and Writer/Director/Producer Parker Finn.
This October, we traveled to Southwest Utah with Red Bull to experience the world’s premiere mountain biking competition, celebrating its 21st year since inception.
Red Bull Rampage is the world’s premier big-mountain freeride competition, this year bringing together 18 of the world’s most skilled mountain bikers to Virgin, Utah to compete in a battle that balances skill and mental preparation that define the extreme sport of freeriding. Athletes carve through slopes and narrow lines of sandstone ridges with the help of their two-person build crews. The broadcasted competition showcases the best jaw-dropping and mind-blowing tricks where athletes complete a run from the top of the mountain demonstrating precision, skill, and balance along the way.
This year for the first time, Red Bull Rampage streamed live on ESPN+. The event replay is available on-demand now on both ESPN+ and Red Bull TV. You can also follow our on-the-scene highlights here.
The free ride movement began as a spinoff of the ski and snowboard scene. The genesis of Red Bull Rampage is the brainchild of Todd Barber, a certified legend in the mountain biking scene, who saw an opportunity to apply the free ride movement of the ski and snowboard scene to the world of mountain biking.
Naturally, teaming up with Red Bull in the early days with limited infrastructure and production proved to be challenging: there was no audience on TV, and no carved slopes and trails. However, as the slopestyle movement of mountain biking gained traction (with jumps, stunts, and tricks), it transitioned into Rampage which introduced polished takeoffs and landings (like digging up bushes and chipping rocks) for the extreme stunts of today.
Athlete DJ Brandt zips down with his bike at Red Bull Rampage
We embarked into the exhilarating world of Red Bull and the culture surrounding professional mountain biking with an inclusive experience on everything Red Bull Rampage – from adventure in the mountain to meeting the athletes and players who made the competition a reality.
As a bi-coastal cosmopolitan living between the east and west coast, transportation on this journey wasn’t your average Metro ride; arriving at each location utilized a variety of transportation methods, including UTV, helicopter, and hiking.
Descending into St. George, Utah, the porthole view was filled with a horizon of mountain, brush, and sand as we landed into a quaint airport seemingly in the middle of the desert. Greeted by our Red Bull hosts and joined with two other writers, our media team of five were immediately whisked away on the first leg of our adventure for a UTV tour rolling over 50,000 acres of the Red Sand Dunes and Sand Trails of the Sand Hollow Mountains.
Red Bull team preparing to ride into the mountains
The Red Bull group rode through a vista of sand, terrain, and rock for over four hours, and by the end of the ride I was contemplating whether I wanted more or to never do it again. The only comparable experience that reminds me of this is watching Mad Max: Fury Road. Our group departed looking like sand-battered veterans – a great teaser and entry to the mountain culture.
Preparation before the competition
The following day before the main event, we were invited to a preview of the course, by way of a spirited UTV ride into Virgin, Utah where Red Bull set up a Rampage city of tents, preparing for the fandom and excitement, starting from the top of the mountain, leading into the slopes, and trailing down to the finish line.
Carson Storch and team looking out at the Red Bull Rampage course
Guided by members of the Red Bull team and previous Rampage contestants, we discovered the intense and manual preparation of Red Bull Rampage and its origin from an ideation to now a worldwide phenomenon.
Time is of the essence in preparing for Rampage. While we hiked up the course, we saw a digger preparing a line before the competition the day ahead with limited resources: shovels, rakes and water. With diggers working morning until night, it’s not uncommon for their arms to fall asleep every day due to the intense labor.
Beginning on the scouting day, athletes and teams walk through the mountain as a blank canvas and see what they want to do and where they want to go. Teams are given just four days to dig to build their lines, followed by a mandatory rest day on Sunday. During this time, they’re not allowed to touch their bikes or practice. Then the following week, there’s four more days of building and riding from Monday to Thursday leading up the big event on Friday.
Diggers build at Red Bull Rampage
Each team gets 75 pounds of sand to work with. Diggers fill up sandbags, stack them, and then layer dirt on top to shape the slope. If teams want to do a feature, they can combine their sandbags and efforts to work together to make a certain drop. The collaboration could be a complete feature or a trail that joins for one point and then separates.
Competition Day
On site, due to projected wind, we learned that the new start time of Rampage got pushed back to 10:30AM, a delay that would hint the outcome of the competition to follow. Spectators hiked into the mountains early morning, eager to find the best viewpoints to watch the show, while the event began streaming live exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S., and on Red Bull TV in all other countries. Media and photographers followed the course along the mountain and soon enough athletes began flying down from the top of the course accompanied with drones, helicopters, and cameras all focusing on the riders’ lines trailing to the finish line.
Every year the top five finishers of Rampage are automatically invited to the next year’s competition, then a panel of judges vote for the rest of the riders. This year, Red Bull Rampage invited 18 riders from around the world to compete for the grand prize.
The athlete to watch was Brandon Semenuk, a four-time Red Bull Rampage champion and Rally racer, who made the last-minute decision the past weekend to compete in Rampage and Rally this year, exemplifying quite an athletic and mental feat. Semenuk prepared both for races this month, flew between Utah and Michigan, took home the championship for the Rally on Saturday, and had eyes to win again for Rampage within the same week.
Brandon Semenuk wows the crowd at Red Bull Rampage
Athletes are judged not only on insane tricks but also the embodiment of the sport spirit, characterized by the early slopestyle movements with steep, extreme stunts. For example, hitting the Canyon Gap, a legendary feature made 74-feet from takeoff to landing, would score significant points. Canada’s Brett Rheeder did just that with his balance of complex tricks and steep jumps, earning him first place with a score of 90.66 and taking the most coveted title in mountain bike freeriding, and now a three-time champion of the Rampage games.
“I was pretty unsure what was going to happen this year. I had a lot of changes I went through as a person, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get back to this level of riding. So, I didn’t come out to win, to be honest. I just want to make sure whatever I do is for me. Only for me. Not for any sponsors, not for my competitors, not for any ego. I want to make sure it’s for guiding the sport in the right direction and having a good time while doing it,” said Rheeder
Brett Rheeder performing his winning run with complex steep drops, spins, and tricks during the first half of the competition
We were also looking forward to Reed Boggs, who we spoke to just days earlier on his quest for the prize. Boggs almost secured his place in third until Brandon Semenuk took the last run down a knife-edge ridgeline, completing a 15-feet-deep jump right from start line along with a tail whip, back flip, and 360 spin knack garnering him the Best Trick award, rocketing him into third place.
Watch Reed Bogg’s insane POV as he nails his run (sound on!):
After the first run, several riders opted to go in for a second attempt to boost their scores, however, the wind proved to be too strong to continue another successful run cementing the first run as the final scores. Following the announcement of the results, crowds rushed to the finish line to celebrate the winners of the 2022 Red Bull Rampage with champagne and trophies.
Winners Szymon Godziek, Brett Rheeder, Brandon Semenuk
Find all things Red Bull Rampage here and lookout for tickets to attend the event next year in-person.
Red Bull Rampage, the world’s premiere freeride mountain biking competition returns to Southwest Utah to showcase the world’s top riders as they carve through rugged ridgelines and steep jumps of desert landscape. 18 of the best international mountain bike athletes will compete on Friday, October 21st streaming live at 10:30AM MDT exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S., and on Red Bull TV in all other countries. The complete event will be available on-demand on both ESPN+ and Red Bull TV following the competition. Viewers can also tune-in to a condensed 2.5-hour replay that will air on ESPN on October 30th.
Follow @RedBullBike to stay updated on all things Red Bull Rampage.
We had the opportunity to catch up with last year’s third place winner, Reed Boggs, before the competition this week. Reed Boggs hails from Cleveland, OH and currently lives in Hurricane, Utah. Reed started as a digger at Red Bull Rampage, supporting Nicholi Rogatkin at the 2015 event. He qualified for Red Bull Rampage in 2017 but injury forced him out of the event before start. Boggs finished in third at Rampage last year, his best finish at the event, but is aiming to take the next step and compete for the title this year.
How are you feeling about Red Bull Rampage coming up?
Reed Boggs: I’m very excited for the competition, this will be my fourth or fifth time competing and it’s the highlight of my year. It’s a lot of work that goes into it and a lot of reward at the end if you complete your line, so very exciting!
What preparation have you done for this course?
I’ve been traveling a lot to different competitions all summer, but towards August and September it’s just Red Bull Rampage time in my head, so a lot of yoga, lots of gym visits, lots of breathing and meditation to try to get the mind right for Rampage is the biggest thing for me.
It’s so different from every other competition because there’s two runs, you spend 10 days out here building with the team making sure your line is perfect for that one-to-two-minute run. Everything comes down to that, so you have to make sure your mind is right and physically, you have to be in top shape. Breathing is huge part for me because I get super scared up there and the fear can sometimes overtake you so getting the headspace right is the most important thing for me.
Reed Boggs seen at Red Bull Rampage in Hurricane, Utah, USA on 14 October, 2022 // Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210150183 // Usage for editorial use only //
What kind of bike are you riding?
I have a Yeti SB165. It’s a trail bike/downhill bike, a hybrid I’d like to say. It doesn’t have the most suspension, but I have enough and with the way we build things out here, it’s very steep with very steep landings, entries, and jumps so you don’t need the most amount of suspension, but you need it really stiff and very progressive.
Reed Boggs builds at Red Bull Rampage in Hurricane, Utah, USA on 13 October, 2022
What makes Red Bull Rampage unique and exciting for you?
Rampage is so unique because you get to build what you want to ride. We get to build our line top to bottom so if you really want to take it to the next level and build some really scary stuff you can do that. And if you want to keep it chill and ride a ridge and play it safe you can do that as well, but I feel like I’ve been doing that in years past and now I really want to compete with the big boys and compete for the win.
Last year, I got a taste for it and I got third place, I kind of found a formula that works for a good score so now I’m just trying to incorporate everything in my run and have some scary stuff, have some technical jumps, and some fast flowy ridge lines to rip down, so I just want to include everything and do my best and get up there with the big boys.
Reed Boggs rides the course at Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah, USA on 13 October, 2021 // Paris Gore / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202110140012 // Usage for editorial use only //
Do you do other types of sports besides professional mountain biking?
Being a professional mountain biker right now, it takes the majority of the year. But during the off-season, I love riding my dirt bike, pit bikes, side by sides, and just being out with two wheels. I love the adrenaline. Other than that I’m pretty terrible at basketball or football, terrible at the “normal” sports, but I’m better that the extreme sports like snowboarding. If you can ask me to throw a football I couldn’t do it haha. My life really revolves around two wheels pretty much.
Reed Boggs performs at Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah USA on October 13, 2021 // Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202110140051 // Usage for editorial use only //
What are you looking forward to after Red Bull Rampage?
I’ve been really working all year for Red Bull Rampage, after this I’m going to take a step back and enjoy my winter and get back to normal life and take a break from normal riding. I think it’s pretty healthy to do that and get a balance rather than just thinking all year about biking, so looking to go to the beach and take time to myself. I spend majority of the year training, biking, and traveling so during the winter when we don’t have any competitions it’s super nice to stay off the bike and regroup and come spring time get back to it.
The Small Axe films, created and directed by Steve McQueen, are a British anthology series telling the stories of West Indians living in London during the 1960s and 70s.
The film “Red, White, and Blue” tells the true story of law enforcement officer Leroy Logan. Logan left behind a promising career in science to pursue one on the force. He set out on a mission to change British law enforcement from within.
John Boyega took on the challenge of portraying Leroy’s life on camera. Viewers will see the real life struggles Leroy experienced while being a part of the Metropolitan Police. Leroy worked on building the bridge, bringing representation and being aware of the inequality within law enforcement. Audiences will see the struggles Leroy experienced racism from his fellow cops and discomfort and at times disappointment by his own community.
Within Leroy Logan’s thirty year career he was able to be a founding member of the Black Police Association and later founded VOYAGE, a social justice charity that seeks to empower Black youth and strengthen youth and community relationships with law enforcement.
For Leroy being able to work with Steve McQueen and to have John Boyega portray him in film was a match made in heaven. The timing of the episode release aligns with the September 17, 2020 release of his autobiography Closing Ranks: My Life as a Cop and the rise of attention to the Black Lives Matter movement which Leroy is a supporter of. Leroy looks at the future of law enforcement for the UK and here in the United States with optimism and with hopes for change.
The Small Axe series will show the diverse and rich lives of West Indians in the United Kingdom while also highlighting British Black history. The series builds the diasporic bridge between the United States and the United Kingdom showing that our realities are more alike than we think.
The Small Axe films, created and directed by Steve McQueen, are a British anthology series telling the stories of West Indians living in London during the 1960s and 70s.
The film “Red, White, and Blue” tells the true story of law enforcement officer Leroy Logan. Logan left behind a promising career in science to pursue one on the force. He set out on a mission to change British law enforcement from within.
John Boyega took on the challenge of portraying Leroy’s life on camera. Viewers will see the real life struggles Leroy experienced while being a part of the Metropolitan Police. Leroy worked on building the bridge, bringing representation and being aware of the inequality within law enforcement. Audiences will see the struggles Leroy experienced racism from his fellow cops and discomfort and at times disappointment by his own community.
Within Leroy Logan’s thirty year career he was able to be a founding member of the Black Police Association and later founded VOYAGE, a social justice charity that seeks to empower Black youth and strengthen youth and community relationships with law enforcement.
For Leroy being able to work with Steve McQueen and to have John Boyega portray him in film was a match made in heaven. The timing of the episode release aligns with the September 17, 2020 release of his autobiography Closing Ranks: My Life as a Cop and the rise of attention to the Black Lives Matter movement which Leroy is a supporter of. Leroy looks at the future of law enforcement for the UK and here in the United States with optimism and with hopes for change.
The Small Axe series will show the diverse and rich lives of West Indians in the United Kingdom while also highlighting British Black history. The series builds the diasporic bridge between the United States and the United Kingdom showing that our realities are more alike than we think.
Check out the new documentary, “The Last Mile” on the AIDS epidemic, the impact of “Philadelphia” and the progress we’ve made today!
We dropped into the Annual Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection 2017 show presented by Macy’s in NYC, hosted by Katie Holmes. Check out the scene!