Marzocchi Proving Grounds - Rampage Qualifier Under Construction 5

With KJ on the machine, it's sure to be a good scene.

So im going to be a debbie downer and point out that it looks like KJ built a fest series track, thats what he knows, and there is very little I can see of raw roudy natural lines. Rampage has struggled with keeping the original spirit of the comp and this is just further evidence that rampage is just a big slope style comp with a cool backdrop. Rant over

Every year there always seems to be a small segment of the mtb world that starts making claims about Rampage “losing its way” or “too slopestyle” or lost it “original spirit” ........ and I wonder - wtf do these people expect it to be??

And the only answer I can come up with is: they want it to be a glorified Downhill race- with some big drops that are straight aired.

And as I said last year, once that happens (if ever) , Redbull will pull its title sponsorship, people will lose interest and it will be “Rampage- Sponsored by Lipton Ice tea”. It will lose all clout as an extreme sports event.

I held off responding to this, but after T-Dawg spoke up, I had to weigh in.

The Proving Grounds event is being held in Central Oregon, not Virgin Utah. It's a way to make the lead up to the big Rampage more exciting and to create more content for you to enjoy. KJ is doing a very good job, on a pretty gentle slope, to provide the riders with a chance to demonstrate the skills required to successfully compete at Rampage.

Bonus Fact! Did you know that the original "JoyRide." was a free ride contest put on by Red Bull in Australia somewhere that was basically riders navigating an almost unridable slope with teeter totters and such thrown in and some of the biggest contest doubles to date at the bottom? So we've already come full circle and then some.

Yep central OR is not at all like UT. They should have gone somewhere better. As for what i want Rampage to be, i think Brendawg's 2018 run was the epitomy of what rampage should be, but if thts not what sells as many cans of poison, i guess im not the right demographic for rampage anymore.