Crazy Events: The craziest MTB competitions in the world - "Dat gifft dat doch nich!"

In pants or a bra steeply uphill, over slippery rocks steeply downhill, fox hunting on a bike, balancing act over water, endurance martyrdom in an epic landscape, full throttle through the city, full throttle over snow, tricks in the snow, tricks in the city - how crazy is that?

We present the craziest MTB events here. Crazy can mean "weird & colourful", but of course also crazy in the sense of crass, even super-crass like the Red Bull Rampage. The ranking was difficult for us - what do you think - are we right?

1 Red Bull Rampage - Cliff madness in Utah

Okay, we don't need to explain anything here, we don't need to ponder! For us, it's clear that the Red Bull Rampage is the number 1 crazy event - the competition is completely crazy!

Anyone who has seen how the Spaniard Bienvenido Alba flipped over the big canyon gap (2023) will agree with us. Or how Tyler McCaul attempted a monster huck (2024) and fell endlessly downwards. Or, or, or... - the Freeride competition is a collection of superlatives.

Victory or sark - the athletes dare everything and risk everything. Gee Atherton, for example. The fearless Brit dropped 20 metres (!) during training in 2023, fell heavily and had to be flown to intensive care with numerous broken bones. In the same year, Clemens Kaudela overshot the landing of his drop, fell 18 metres and escaped with torn ligaments in his shoulder.

To compete in the Rampage, you don't just have to be one of the world's best freeriders - that's not enough: you also have to be willing to put everything on the line if you want to make it to the top of the rankings. This leads to a staged madness without equal. Since last year, women have also been competing in their own ranking.

2 Red Bull Hardline - Hard, harder, Hardline!

Did Dan Atherton realise what he would start with his idea? The World Cup racer and accomplished trail builder brainstormed with his siblings Gee and Rachel what the ultimate downhill race should look like. The fantasy became reality. Dan built a downhill track that outshone every World Cup downhill in terms of hardness, steepness and difficulty - and the first Red Bull Hardline took place in 2014.

Danny Hart won the Hardline debut and the bike scene cheered the new extreme competition. Over the years, the event has become crazier and the stunts more extreme. Qualifying runs are superfluous here because so many "volunteers" don't even sign up. The only German participants so far: Johannes Fischbach and Erik Irmsch.

In 2024, Red Bull made a mini-series out of it, with the original race in Wales and one in Tasmania. Both were won by the young Irishman Ronan Dunne. Cult presenter Rob Warner comments on the race and heightens the already high drama. Fans are speculating whether the supergap will be included in the 2025 race in Wales this time. Last year, the organisers backed out because the risk of the supergap seemed too high. Only Bernard Kerr, Matt Jones and Jim Monro dared to test their courage in training.

>> Red Bull Hardline Tasmania: Madness in the jungle - we'll tell you who wins in 2025

3 Sky Gate - Fears of hell on the stairway to heaven

"We want to too!", thought Red Bull China and lured professional bikers from the freeride and downhill scene to the Tianmen Mountains with lavish fees, in order to scare them down the terribly steep 999 steps of the "stairway to heaven" (50°) - with built-in jumps.

Some of the participants labelled the course "dangerous". After his first descent, freeride pro KC Deane gasped into his GoPro mic: "OMG - I was scared to death!" and pro racer Johannes Fischbach said: "When I think back to the Red Bull Sky Gate, I immediately get clammy hands and a racing pulse. The event made it into the top 3 fears of my life!"

In 2015, the Sky Gate took place for the first time with a spectacular crash when 97-kilo giant Kelly McGarry's brakes failed and he crashed into the steps at full speed. In 2016, rain made the steps even more treacherous, forcing the organisers to shorten the descent to a fraction.

All participants agreed: "Totally crazy!" The MTB event concept was thus buried and Red Bull China lured wingsuit base jumpers with the picturesque super spot.

4 URBAN DOWNHILL - High speed in the city centre

The idea of urban downhilling was born in Europe in the early 2000s. The most famous race was the Red Bull Lisbon Downtown, which was won several times by Steve Peat. Later, urban downhill races were organised in South America, surpassing all previous races.

At the Red Bull Cerro Abajo Valpariso, tens of thousands of spectators watch as the city in Chile is engulfed in a festival frenzy while the racers race over a highly dangerous course: it leads over steep steps, house walls, balconies and roofs. Even a small driving error often means emergency admission.

The race gave rise to a high-calibre series that is now returning to Europe from South America. The Red Bull Genoa Cerro Abajo took place last October. This year there will be the grand finale in Genoa again. The only German racer: Johannes "Fischi" Fischbach. The City DH expert wants to compete for victory this year, said the likeable man from the Upper Palatinate with the stylish short haircut.

5 Tour de Gnar - How steep is steep?

"The scariest MTB event in the world" - this is the slogan under which Yoann Barelli's "Tour de Gnar" is circulating on the internet with a flood of hair-raising clips. "Gnar" can be loosely translated as "crass". The participatory competition is a gathering of stunt-enthusiastic freeriders who dare to perform hair-raising steep descents and northshore stunts.

Yoann Barelli (39) is a colourful character in gravity racing, always up for a joke, always on the hunt for thrills and adrenaline. So it's hardly surprising that the former world cup winner, French DH champion and EWS racer invented the "Tour de Gnar". The YouTube clips of the "TdG" caused a stir in the scene, and the event quickly gained the reputation of being the craziest bike competition.

The "TdG" does indeed harbour a high level of risk, as many amateur bikers take part, pushing themselves far beyond their limits in a surge of adrenaline and "Kodak courage" (courage boost, because they are photographed and filmed). Last year, "TdG" founder Yoann Barelli himself had a horror crash when his front wheel smudged on slippery rock at full speed.

6 Darkfest - the biggest jumps in the world

"We have the biggest!" proclaims host Sam Reynolds. In fact, Darkfest boasts the superlative of having the world's biggest jumps. The widest double in Stellenbosch near Cape Town in South Africa measures 110 feet (33.5 metres).

What originally began as an invitational jump session by Sam Reynolds and Matt McDuff under the name "Pure Darkness" in 2013 has blossomed into a professionally organised sporting event over the years. Every year, the trail builders try to incorporate new super jumps. The riders all agree: these are the biggest, but also the safest jumps in the world!

Darkfest is still part of the FEST series, but trumps the other events with its sophisticated self-promotion. Special feature of the FEST events: In contrast to other competitions, there is neither a fixed schedule nor external jury scoring. The participating professionals judge themselves and present awards. Particularly coveted: the "King and Queen of Darkness" award for the best rider of the event. In 2024, the winners were the Austrian Elias Ruso and the Canadian Vaea Verbeek.

7 Mongolia Bike Challenge - Chain right and bite

This race hurts! But it rewards you with experiences that you won't forget for the rest of your life: the Mongolia Bike Challenge. As the name suggests, it takes you across Mongolia, over 700 kilometres and more than 6000 metres of altitude in six stages (10 days).

The Asian steppe has hardly changed since Genghis Khan galloped through here with his hordes of fighters. Storm, snow, pain - if you decide to take part in this race, you have to be able to suffer. We chose the Mongolia Bike Challenge as a representative of all crazy extreme endurance races.

We could also have done the Desert Dash in Namibia. Here you can ride 397 kilometres through the Namib Desert in 24 hours as a solo rider or in a team. Or the crazy winter race Strathpuffer 24 through the Scottish Highlands. Here, participants battle their way through the terrain for 17 hours in complete darkness - crazy!

8 Megavalanche/MoH - over the snowfield at 100 km/h

The scene affectionately calls the original "Mega". Some see the 20-kilometre "Megavalanche" downhill race in Alpe d'Huez as the original enduro race. Why? Because the descent has it all: Rock, scree, roots. The trail is narrow and steep and offers hardly any opportunities for overtaking with treacherous counter-climbs.

Legendary: the mass start at an altitude of 3330 metres over snow-covered ski slopes. Here, up to 2000 participants reach speeds of over 100 km/h. The first Mega took place in 1995. The Swiss René Wildhaber won the race six times, earning him the nickname Mister Megavalache.

The format has hardly changed over the years: Professionals and amateurs alike still compete. The Mega enjoyed cult status for a long time and every self-respecting freerider had to take part at least once.

9 Urban Slopestyle - Tricks in the city centre

Bringing freeride slopestyle to where people live - that was the idea behind the first urban slopestyle. It was conceived by Tarek Rasouli and Cory Moore and realised in 2004 in Meersburg on Lake Constance as the "Ride to the Lake". The winner in Meersburg: Kyle Strait.

This later developed into the Red Bull District Ride, which takes place at irregular intervals in Nuremberg and attracts a mass audience like no other MTB competition. The highlight of urban slopestyling: the Qashqai series (2006-2008).

The concept has been exported to many countries: A prominent example is the Red Bull Roof Ride in Poland. Or even transferred to other sports, such as Red Bull PlayStreets (freeskiing) in Bad Gastein/Austria.

10 Whip-Off/Scrub-Off - Crate horizontal, crate flat

World Cup photographer Sven Martin is credited with the idea for the first Whip-Off competition. It took place as part of the Crankworx festival in Whistler. Sven chose the "Crabapple Hits" park track, a jumptrail in the highest difficulty category "Proline", as the venue.

The event was such a success that it became the "unofficial" Whip-Off World Championships the following year and soon many festivals were organising a Whip-Off or Scrub-Off contest. Once again, the motocrossers served as a role model.

The rules of the competitions are simple: the winner is the one who whips or scrubs the most extreme. A jury judges the riders. Among the men, Kade Edwards, Kaos Seagrave and Jackson Goldstone are among the most extreme whippers, while Casey Brown, Robin Goomes and Vaea Verbeeck, for example, put their bikes across with a particularly high level of steez.

Bernard Kerr, Finn Iles and Bas van Steenbergen are among the most experienced scrubbers. The aim of a scrub is to fly as close to the ground as possible.

"I LOVE SCRUB-OFFS. IT'S NOT SO EASY ON A BIKE BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE WEIGHT AND THE MOTOR OF A MOTOCROSSER." (Bernard Kerr)

11 Red Bull Fox Hunt: Foxhunt - Catch-up manoeuvre XXL

It should be called a hare hunt - that would be more accurate! Because at the Red Bull Fox Hunt, a pack of amateur downhillers start in a mass start and the "foxes" - professional downhillers such as Loic Bruni, Gee Atherton or Brook McDonald - start slightly offset.

The top dogs try to be faster than the pack on the trail over a distance of up to ten kilometres. In concrete terms, this means that alpha dog Loic Bruni pushes past the "victim" downhillers in kamikaze overtaking manoeuvres with his "elbows out".

Bruni is constantly shouting "sorry" but that doesn't change the fact that bikers are crashing left and right into the embankment, crashing into the bushes and rolling down the slope during the catch-up chase by chief fox Bruni (be sure to watch it on YouTube!). Recently there has also been an all-female fox hunt with Rachel Atherton. It's all pretty crazy!

12 Lake Ride - over or splash

The rule couldn't be simpler: Whoever makes it across without falling into the water wins. At the biggest bike festival in the UK, the Malverns Classic south of Birmingham, even the best in the world compete against each other.

The legendary Lake Ride is a hit with the public when celebrities such as Hans Rey and Danny MacAskill roll over the wobbly pontoons. When the superstars hit the muddy water, all those who love to cause damage get their money's worth.

Red Bull turned the idea into a major event in the cycling country of Holland: the Red Bull Steel Ross. Here, the participants balance over the canal in the centre of The Hague - but on self-made tandems.

13 Racing underground - deep in the earth

The former Sondershausen salt mine is cosy and warm even in the middle of winter. At 25 degrees Celsius, the earth is rumbling at a depth of 700 metres. Clever people came up with the idea of holding bike races underground: marathons, downhills and dual races were organised and staged in the tunnels.

This also fitted in well with the programme of the Austrian soda bottler; the Red Bull Race Down was born. Gravity stars such as Cedric Gracia, Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Brian Lopes and the German Guido Tschugg competed in Sondershausen in the early 2000s. The dry air was hard on the athletes, as was the slippery surface - stone dust acted like soft soap.

14 Speed Wheelie Contest - fast on the rear wheel

We love wheelies. And even more: manuals. If you ride fast on the rear wheel, even boring tarmac roads become a flowing surf session. That's why we didn't have to think twice when looking for fun events for our FREERIDE festival in Saalbach-Hinterglemm (2010-2012).

At first, we wanted to recognise the longest ride on the rear wheel down the steep mountain road as the winning run. But unfortunately that didn't work out in practice. Too bad. So we decided that the fastest ride on the rear wheel should win.

We set up a police speed trap for the event. Both amateur and professional freeriders were allowed to take part in the competition. The most famous winner: His Serene Highness, the wheelie king Bobby Root himself.

15 White Style - Tricks in the snow

It was the heyday of freeriding when Tarek Rasouli organised a slopestyle competition on snow together with Leogang: the White Style. From 2007, the event was one of the top dates in the gravity calendar.

The competition attracted the superstars among the tricksters to Austria, to Leogang's local mountain Schantei, where only skiers were travelling at this time of year. The White Style was held for the first time in 2007 and for the last time in 2018.

A really cool event - "too cool" for some participants, as the athletes suffered from the sub-zero temperatures and had to warm up in the heated tent again and again. We say: crazy!

16 No Foot Race - the feet stay up

This race was born out of a crazy idea. Every time we BIKE test riders rode back to Torbole on Lake Garda from testing on the Altissimo, we chose the steep, winding "Marmitte dei Giganti" trail down from Nago. A competition ensued among the test riders: who could make it through the trail without putting their feet down? If you managed it, it was the coveted "zero".

When a new competition format was sought for the BIKE Festival that also appealed to gravity bikers, we turned "our" race into an official one. The joke: Criterion no. 1: foot contact. Criterion no. 2: speed. But 2 never beats 1, in other words: even if you ride the fastest time but have to put your foot down once, you lose out to the slowest rider if they manage a "zero".

That gave the race a special flavour, because suddenly you could win as a hobby pilot against the crème de la crème. And they took part in the race. For example, Nico Vouilloz, Brian Lopes, Wade Simmons, Darren Bearclaw, Matt Hunter, René Wildhaber & Co. Unfortunately, the format was watered down by the organisers and eventually became just another race of many.

17 Singlespeed World Championship - Tattooed medal

Only one gear on a bike? The oldies among us roll their eyes at this, because that's what they usually had in their youth, and that's why they cheered the mountain bikes that "spilled over" from California to Germany in the mid-1980s. Single-speed riders are exotic. But single-speed racers are freaks!

Since 1995 there has been a world championship for 1-speed riders, no longer a freak event. From 1995, it became a serious race. Back then, 260 participants pushed their bikes to the starting line.

Special feature: The winner gets the medal either branded or tattooed - how weird is that? Hence the credo of the crazy event: "Do not win, if you don't want the tattoo!" Last year, the Singlespeed World Championships took place in Spessart.

18 EBM Seiffen - in pants & bra

It's just called EBM and everyone knows about it: the Erzgebirge Bike Marathon in eastern Germany, where the Ore Mountains arch into the sky on the Czech border. Günter Dietze and his son Albrecht have been organising the event since 1993, and the marathon now enjoys cult status in the scene - not least because of its original, sometimes quirky side events.

For example: the legendary Underpant Ride, which is particularly popular with the public and typically "ossi" - the Wessis would probably be far too uptight for such a knickers ride. In short: the Underpant Ride stands for all crazy events in the sense of weird & colourful.