The History of Red Bull Rampage with Kyle Strait
There is no better authority to recall the history of Red Bull Rampage than Kyle Strait. As the only rider to compete in all nine events, Strait is also the only athlete to win the premier big mountain contest twice, 2004 and 2013. Take a look back at the early days of the contest and the insane progression of mountain biking over the years, as told by the legend himself.
Will Kyle Strait win his third Rampage this year? Tune in to RedBull TV to witness the action LIVE on Oct. 17, 2015.
Tim Kemple's first IQ250 Encounter Phase One
Follow action and sports photographer, Tim Kemple, on his very first day shooting with the new Phase One IQ250 digital back and witness one of the craziest days Tim has had as a photographer.
Try the IQ250: http://www.phaseone.com/demo
Download Capture One: http://www.phaseone.com/download
"My first day shooting with the IQ250 was one of the craziest days I've ever had as a photographer.
On paper the idea was pretty simple: Mount the camera to a helicopter and capture pictures of mountain biking like people had never seen it before. But even though we planned for days and days, things didn't work out as we expected. I knew from the beginning that it wouldn't be easy but I'm always pushing myself to capture images that are truly unique.
We planned everything great. We had two of the world's best mountain bikers, Kyle Strait and Tyler "T-Mac" McCaul. They showed up early and they were stoked to ride. There is just something about shooting with professional athletes that is hard to describe but it really pushes me as a photographer.
We got off to a fast start and things were looking amazing. I was just getting in the groove but then the worst happened. Tyler went down hard. Everyone was really worried. Do we need to go to the hospital? Should we call an ambulance? You just don't know. Really what T-Mac needed was just a few moments to get his wits about him and he was good to keep on riding.
At that point it was about midday. We had gotten the camera all balanced and ready to fly but that is when the next challenge hit us. On the very first pass the behind the scenes team clipped a branch and crashed the helicopter right into a tree. I'm an optimist but things were not looking good. And to make matters worse, it started to rain hard.
At that point I thought we were done for the day but I looked over and Kyle and T-Mac were psyched. We have come all this way, let's figure out a way to get this done.
So we're in a full on rainstorm right now. The helicopter did not like the wind, it did not like the rain and we have moved on to plan B which is a ladder.
The sun is setting, the rain is pouring down and we are throwing mud all over the place trying to get this ladder dug into the hillside. And then Kyle and T-Mac start throwing
massive tail whips off this jump and they are coming within inches of me.
It's getting dark so I'm having to turn up the ISO on my camera. I'm looking down and I just can't believe how incredible these images are looking. These weren't the images I had pictured in my head at the start of the day but because of the rain and the
weather, they are better.
And that was my crazy wet and wild first day with the IQ250."
Watch action and sports photographer, Tim Kemple, tell about his route to becoming a professional photographer, and how his work has allowed him to travel to the farthest corners of the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlOpsq...