In this image Nicholi Rogatkin of the USA crashes during the qualification day of the 10th edition of the Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain bike event, Virgin, Utah on October 15th 2015.
Red Bull Rampage is an epic event, with amazingly skilled and large cojones-gifted riders attacking the ridges and bowls that splay out and plunge in multiple directions. You can’t really appreciate the scale of the venue until you are standing amongst it, and as a result a decent range of focal lengths is useful!
I had scrambled to the top of the course and was able to shoot wide angle images as the riders dropped in and then kept track of them, to a certain extent, with a telephoto as they barrelled down the course.
During Nicholi’s run his front wheel washed out and the end result sent him over the cliff for a 15 meter fall. I was fortunate enough that I was watching it happen with a 600mm at my disposal – but not as fortunate as Nicholi. He walked off the crash and, showing incredible resilience, got back on his bike and went on to hit the huge canyon gap and complete his run.