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I think you are spot on about the misplaced anger. I keep seeing people say that riders are risking their lives for Redbull, but that's ridiculous that anyone would do that or ride for the benefit of a sponsor that isn't paying them. I agree that riders should be fairly compensated and provided adequate insurance but it's the riders individual sponsors that they are riding for and representing out there and who gains the most from what they do. Some of the top competitors like Zink, Aggy, and Sorge are out there wearing the logos of Redbull's main competition. If...

Great writing and well put opinions here. But I'm somewhat shocked nobody here raised the body armour question. Wouldn't a simple back protector had prevented this life-changing injury? Back in the day Bender was doing those crazy jumps nobody else dare to try and crashed an awful lot. He wore 2 motocross chest and back protectors,one over the other. I'm prety sure that's what kept him alive.

One part I don't get here is so this guy spends all year riding and training for events like this with no insurance? Do other events provide insurance? The but that Sal said is someone taken out of context. Sal knows that at Jaws you have a vest on that you inflate on wipeout. There is a ski with a rescue board to grab ASAP. The skiing even Sal admits is with the skiing he would have an airbag to keep you on top of the Avalanche. So the only difference is the level of self preservation of the surfers...

I hope you all read this because it's something of a "fact". I write insurance, some pretty crazy policies too sometimes, and one thing to understand is that THERE IS NO INSURANCE POLICY FOR THIS TYPE OF EVENT!!! Sure, you race a USAC bike race, you get secondary coverage that will pay 70/30 after you use all of your existing policy and that's just a bike race, not an "event" (IF YOUR INSURER DEEMS RAMPAGE IS COVERED). But that coverage is easy, simple and a large pool of risk (100's of thousands of riders). Pretty generic "racing" risk. But even...

First I hope all the injured riders are okay, particularly Paul with regard to his very serious back injury. With regards to your piece Brandon; you have clearly written it in a state of heightened emotion and though understandable your views are biased. All around the world there is imbalance, primarily between the corporations and media, and us mere mortals. People risk their lives every day seeking the ultimate thrill of feeling alive. Some are paid. A lot. Some are not. Some are supported, others go off away from cameras and spectators and do their own thing. I cite a...

It just goes to show that the one thing that nobody can debate is that Remy Metailler put down the faster time.

Sooooo... Basically you had to ride that ridge to be in the top 5...

Zink

Semenuk should've won. What were the judges drinking?

I remember when Tony Hawk used to get judged against himself in vert contests. Despite doing the best run out of everyone (or if anyone else had done his run they would of won) he would loose points in judges eyes if they thought it wasn't the very best he could have done. Semenuk today probably in the same boat. A few other big question marks and discrepancies in scoring and results order, but that's judged events for you. *another thought would be to isolate the judges from each other do the five judge thing where you throw out the...