Full Circle

A story about a daydreams and community

This is a coming of age story tied to a sport I love. It’s also a thread into a larger story of growth, community, and how it looks to come full circle.

The sport—freeride mountain biking—and its main event, Red Bull Rampage.

Red Bull Rampage is the often called “the super bowl of mountain biking”, but I like to think of it as the renaissance of mountain biking. It’s when all the most creative mountain bikers converged on a place, Virgin, Utah, in the early 2000s and realized this sport needed to be born.

Cami Nogueira, dropping her biggest feature, El Presidente in Red Bull Rampage 2025 - Photo by Izzy Lidsky - Source: pinkbike.com

At that time, it was still underground, raw. Rugged. Riders like Josh Bender made these early videos of hucking basically Y-frame bikes off cliffs and seeing if the bikes (or their bodies) exploded. It was actual madness. By the time I graduated high school, Rampage had evolved and became a well organized event.

As a teen, I got a downhill mountain bike and I graduated from the BMX track to the trails. All the time on my bike influenced me work in a bike shop, where I spent my time days watching riders like Cam Zink hitting these massive features and learning everything I could about my gear. Riding bikes, working in bikes, living and breathing the sport inspired me to start riding harder trails with bigger features. To this day, this is still the biggest rush I’ve ever known.

Hitting a gap we dubbed “the wash gap” which was a take off over a dried river bed. You even get to wear a storm trooper costume.

The white line

I tried to jump over the mountains

No MIPS back then, just DOT

Then I moved to a wetter, colder climate, where I found a mecca for the sport. I noticed my riding preference start to change from big hits to big efforts. This environment demanded more from me and I went to work.

Photos by Eric Mickelson, Dave Trumpore, and Christopher Peters

I’m a causal rider these days, not making any Cam Zink comeback stories. Better yet, I spend time working on local trails, helping coach and photograph mountain bike programs, and continue conquering my own personal athletic challenges. It’s my way of passing on what I know so others can enjoy this sport, too. This is what coming full circle looks like. Giving back into a community that values the same things is more special than any drop or jump.

Photos by Katie Sox