Red Bulling and Free Falling
The Redbull Rampage is happening live now and earlier in the week, Claudio Caluori previewed the course. What he was so scared about, happened when Richoli Rogatkin tried to scrub speed before the biggest drop in his run. The front wheel washed out and he fell off a 75-foot cliff. In Red Bull parlance, that was rad, and then he proceeded to sail over the hugely intimidating canyon gap and followed it up with a backflip at the end of his run.
Richoli’s fall preceded by Claudio’s narrated preview reminded me of that one time at Trestle, when I cleared a rock garden. The self dialogue included,
Why am I doing this, the bike can handle it (I think), I have body armor on!; stupid rocks, I hate this, I can’t believe I haven’t crashed yet; oh wait!, shit, what line do I take here.
And exactly what a roadie returning to the dirt is afraid of! Glad Richoli is ok and the rest of the competitors keep the rubber side down.