FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 9 | Page 114

2001’s Inaugural Red Bull Rampage O CTOBER 2015 WILL SEE the tenth edition of the world’s most intense freeride mountain bike event - Red Bull Rampage - go down once again in Utah. We thought this would be the perfect time to take a look back at how this groundbreaking MTB event got rolling some fourteen years ago. Red Bull Rampage first descended upon the hills of Virgin, Utah in October 2001. Unlike the remote location of today’s events, the debut contest was held just outside the town of Virgin, right by the highway. The course was all-natural, with no man-made features or ramps. Riders cleared the worst of the rocks and debris away from the course, but to nowhere near the extent that today’s competitors build and perfect their lines. Everyone pitched in to help make the event happen, including local kids and even the town mayor of 114 | FreestyleXtreme.com We look back at the birth of the contest that paved the way for freeride MTB as we know it: The Red Bull Rampage Virgin, who got stuck in and helped out with the digging! The 2001 event was unlike any mountain bike event in history. Twenty-two riders turned out for their chance to take home a piece of the $8,000 priz RW'6R