In the ongoing dispute that is the Rampage 2024 judging fiasco (every year there’s a Rampage, there’s a judging fiasco), along comes Niklas Schmidt. The 23-year-old from Germany bought a $500 second-hand trail bike and dropped in on Brendan Fairclough’s Rampage line. And much like Brendog, he made it look easy.
His buddy @sicksebi also dropped the entire line from top to bottom. And also made it look easy.
The amount of traction these two riders have recieved is absolutely bonkers. Did they poach Brendog’s line? Does it matter? Does anyone care? The majority of the comments proclaim that public use land should be used by anyone. “Freeriding should be free,” they read.
Aside from the poaching debate, does the fact that two randoms managed to ride the line justify the judges’ decision to put Brendog way back in 11th place? Well according to Darren Berrecloth the judging is legit. Berrecloth released a video (below) on the weekend defending the judges’ decisions.
The 15-minute video goes on to explain how the judges came to their desisions. There’s obviously no correct answer on such a subjective manner. But here are a few gems from what he had to say.
“These guys threw down this year compared to years past…every detail must be taken into consideration,” he says. “The reality is that’s just where the level is now. Add tricks to 40, 60, 70-foot-plus step-downs and doubles.”
He goes on to explain that he measured every lip to landing and took that into consideration on every trick throughout the day.
“You’ve got to remember, since the beginning, we all wanted to do big tricks on big features,” he reminds us. “When it comes to TV, it doesn’t show you in actuality. You have to stand on those features in person to see and grasp that massive expanse of air.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…