Braxton is the crazy one. Ian is the wild card. Patrick is refined, yet rugged. Lorenzo is calculated but with a splash of humor no one sees coming. The group is the first Montana State University trail crew to be sent to Red Bull’s Rampage, an extreme downhill mountain biking competition in Virgin, Utah.

The Montana crew was hand-selected to help put on the 10th annual event. Though they are not the only collegiate group attending the event, they are the farthest away.

“The trails in Bozeman are fantastic,” said Lorenzo, a junior in the film program and a first-year student in mechanical engineering at MSU. “Watching Rampage these past couple years, I’m just excited to be out there…be close to the riders than most people, which will be awesome.”

Lorenzo grew up in Denver, CO, and began mountain biking at 10 years old with his uncle.

“My uncle used to be a huge mountain biker and actually competed in some big races in Colorado…He ended up teaching me the trade,” he said.

Red Bull reached out to the Bozeman area because of its niche for outdoor enthusiasts and the caliber of students that attend Montana State University.

Lorenzo has an affinity for helping fellow mountain bikers. "I ended up piking up a job at Roundhouse sports, continuing with my enthusiasm with mountain biking, and selling mountain bikes to people, getting people outside," he said.

As far as a trail crew’s responsibilities go, Lorenzo and the rest of the group will help out with the entirety of the trail. “The way I picture it, we’ll probably be throwing dirt for 14 hours,” Lorenzo said.

The crew will also bring bikes to the top and work closely with the pro riders. This offers a unique opportunity to MSU mountain bikers where “the only trail building opportunity, at least around Bozeman, would be working up at Big Sky,” Lorenzo said.

For Lorenzo, though, it's mostly about the mountain biking experience. "I ended up piking up a job at Roundhouse sports, continuing with my enthusiasm with mountain biking, and selling mountain bikes to people, getting people outside," he said.

"Definitely more rock out here than anything," he said. "But I've been enjoying the trails."

However, this trip and the experience that comes with it could pay dividends to the Bozeman community.

“An immediate impact that we can make on the community is [during] National Trail Day every year where groups go out and they help to rebuild trails,” he said. “We can definitely take the knowledge we gained at Rampage and go out…and help people see the trails in a new way.”

 

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