For greater than 20 years, the premier freeride mountain bike competitors, Pink Bull Rampage, has featured the world’s greatest athletes within the iconic red-rock deserts of southwest Utah. And for the primary time, eight of the world’s greatest feminine freeride athletes joined the ranks of freeride’s best to compete within the inaugural Pink Bull Rampage girls’s competitors. It was a day to be remembered in mountain biking historical past.
All the eye was on the finals, held on October 10, when riders flashed down their traces in lower than two minutes per run. It was a historic second, years within the making, and whatever the outcomes, nobody was happier to see it than Casey Brown. The Canadian girls’s freeride pioneer has constructed her profession round proving girls belong at Rampage. In 2019, Brown even competed within the qualifying competitors, Proving Grounds, hoping to earn a spot within the males’s competitors. “Being right here this yr felt surreal,” says Brown. “The entire ten days [building lines at Rampage]. Waking up each morning going, ‘OK I’m going to go dig for my very own line at Rampage,’ which is a dream come true. All of us needed this, and we obtained such an superior zone to construct our traces.”
Brown was referring to one of many issues that makes Pink Bull Rampage so particular: Rivals trip their very own custom-built traces. It might appear to be a one-day occasion to spectators, however the actual competitors began greater than every week earlier, when athletes and their dig crews spent lengthy days scouting and molding their traces. After making a line that includes a number of vertical drops, step-downs, and jumps, Brown completed third—an incredible consequence by itself—and likewise earned the coveted McGazza Spirit Award, introduced to the athlete who greatest exemplifies the spirit of freeride via camaraderie, sportsmanship, and fervour for freeride. “I’m so honored to take the award residence,” says Brown.
In a contest this tight, with so many elite riders, each a part of the preparation course of makes a distinction, and Brown says utilizing Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 was key to her success. Constructing a line requires a high-quality steadiness of calculated threat versus reward, discovering that razor’s edge between what’s doable—and what’s not. “It’s actually spectacular to see the builds taking place and seeing what [the riders] create with the terrain that we’ve been given,” Brown says. “There may be a number of visible scoping and taking pictures to get the lay of the land. Utilizing the Z Flip6 has been superior. You’ll be able to stand it up by itself. You’re not struggling to discover a place to set it while you’re making an attempt to take a selfie from a distance with the crew. And all you must do is present your hand to get it to start out the timer, which is admittedly cool. Additionally, I actually just like the camcorder-style filming. It feels much more pure. I really like the FlexWindow. And the telephone can slot in my pocket and hooks on so you possibly can type of have it hanging out if you wish to movie one thing in your bike. You will get much more content material that approach.”
Brown additionally relied closely on Galaxy Ring to make sure she stayed in peak bodily situation within the leadup to competitors day. Because of Vitality Rating—a day by day studying primarily based on yesterday’s sleep, exercise, and coronary heart charge—she may be certain that she optimized restoration and stayed hydrated even after probably the most grueling days of digging and training traces.
“Samsung’s Galaxy Ring has actually helped me map my sleep and gauge my vitality for the day and be capable to modify,” Brown says. “It’s undoubtedly full-on out right here, and any little software you possibly can have that will get you somewhat bit forward is a large assist. I additionally like which you can test your stats simply with Z Flip6’s FlexWindow—you don’t even must open your telephone. It’s additionally cool which you can gesture for a photograph with Galaxy Ring by merely pinching your fingers collectively.”
One other feminine athlete, Argentinian Camila Nogueira, additionally used Galaxy Z Flip6 to refine her line, leveraging FlexCam with Galaxy AI to seize and analyze her run.
“Galaxy Z Flip6 is admittedly fairly sick,” she says. “I can flip it to 90 levels, and it’s actually cool as a result of I can put it anyplace on my course and simply movie from there. Additionally supercool: Galaxy AI lets me rewatch movies in slow-mo, and I can see precisely the place I must go slower and sooner. It has so many AI instruments that really assist to do [Rampage],” Nogueira provides. “The expertise helps as a result of first I can see my velocity. If I need to try one thing with extra particulars, I can contact the display after which slow-mo.” Utilizing Prompt Gradual-Mo with Galaxy AI allowed Nogueira to fine-tune her velocity and braking factors.*
Due to the issue in designing and constructing a top-to-bottom run in lower than every week, athletes typically workforce as much as make the most of the terrain’s most difficult options. Brown and Nogueira linked as much as create probably the most death-defying options of the ladies’s occasion, a rock roll nicknamed the Laundry Chute that required harnessing the dig workforce into ropes to entry the terrain. Utilizing Galaxy AI on their Z Flip6 telephones, Brown and Nogueira may reimagine what was doable and assess terrain with precision.
Within the aftermath of this historic occasion, one factor is evident: The way forward for freeride mountain biking is being reimagined—by not solely the athletes but additionally the expertise empowering their ambitions. Whether or not you’re knowledgeable rider sending it over canyon gaps within the Utah desert or a neighborhood hero seeking to share your newest trip with buddies, Samsung Galaxy gadgets are serving to athletes take their using to the following degree.
*Nonetheless, like all of the riders, Nogueira is at all times pushing what’s doable within the sport—she suffered a crash in coaching that left her unable to compete within the finals.
