Hannah reveals the careful behind-the-scenes work that brings the wild spectacle of Red Bull Rampage to the masses.

WORDS HANNAH

PHOTOGRAPHY JOE WAKEFIELD AND HANNAH. OPENER CREDIT: CHRISTIAN PONDELLA / RED BULL CONTENT POOL

Tyler McCaul contemplates the BFC gap he shared with Tom lsted

=ff: OIC.C.W = {,0Y-WO\ME:N "'-3 OIC.C.W=Z.lt fY-\ME:N "'-.l. OtC,C,W=3{, z.Lt -t--3{,=ro

TOM ISTED'S 'WILO 10S' REEL: 43.1UM VIEWS, 1.8M LIKES, 6,016 COMMENTS, 62.34 SHARES

Contrary to every normal human instinct, you stand at the edge of the 40ft ledge and picture throwing yourself off it. Arcing through the air, arms moving through the compression on take-off, you get ready to spot the landing 40ft below. Impact, compression, stick the landing, go with the rebound, look to the next feature. All of this needs to happen in about 2.5 seconds, and you made it1Except, that was just in your head and believing you can do it is just one step along the way to actually doing it. And when you actually do it, there's every chance you won't Just' make the drop -you'll probably backflip it, or throw both arms out wide in a no hander. This is Red Bull Rampage -where your heart is in your mouth, but your head has to be firmly in the game

Even if you're not a mountain biker, there's every chance that clips of Red Bull Rampage will make it through to your social media feed. It's such a spectacle that it jumps the algorithm fence of other two-wheeled content and plays itself out in front of millions of viewers. 2024's biggest social media sensation was Tom lsted's "wildest 10 seconds of my life" which saw his second effort at clearing his 'BFC' - the 74ft 'Big F*cking Canyon' gap that's been played out to 43.1 million pairs of eyeballs at the time of writing. It's perhaps a little ironic that this version of mountain biking is what makes it tothe attention of non-riders, since Red Bull Rampage is pretty far removed from what most of us get up to on our own 'mountain bikes'. Or at least it is when all you see is the 30-second social media clip, or even the competition day live broadcast. Behind the scenes and in the weeks leading up to that 'high-production values' finale is a whole world of more work. Here in the dust and grit, the ground is prepared so that riders like Tom can unleash their potential.