THOMAS VANDERHAM
 | What is happening now is totally crazy. |
Thomas is a quiet and humble soul, the type of guy who makes you feel like you are yelling because he is so soft spoken. He is also the only rider to have placed in the top ten in every Rampage, but who is counting? He certainly isn’t. This will be his eighth Rampage, he will be running plate number eight and you will never guess what his lucky number is. The stars are aligning for Thomas this year. With practice cancelled, I found him doing nearly nothing on a rainy day in Utah.
| I am a bit of a purest so I prefer the more raw version. |
Self-described as a big mountain rider, Thomas is not necessarily a fan of the changing Rampage courses. In the first year there were essentially two ridgelines that the riders could choose, the lines were raw and un-manicured. What is happening at Rampage now, he describes as ‘a whole different animal’ with pre-built stunts and wooden manufactured lips. The direction, however, is understandable and he feels that this evolving Rampage format is certainly pushing the sport. He compares it to the transition that skiing went through when athletes had dialed in their tricks in the terrain parks and started transferring those skills to the backcountry. As accepting as he is of the changes, Thomas admits to having enjoyed the first Rampage events a bit more.
| I would definitely want a new site. I think it would be great to get something new going on. |
In the last three years of Rampage they have introduced the ability to pre-qualify, if you place in the top twelve results from the previous year. Unfortunately, with the course closure due to the rain and the new regulations on the amount of building days allowed, some of the advantage of prequalifying has been lost. Even the riders who need to qualify are now at a disadvantage in that they are qualifying on Saturday and competing on Sunday. They will have to navigate the etiquette that has been set by the community to riding someone else’s line from the top, as qualifying runs start lower on the mountain. Thomas doesn’t anticipate there being much of problem with the overlap as long as the qualifying riders ask before riding someone else’s line. He notes that etiquette is a much bigger issue in the filming world, when finding the lines are half the battle, here there are only so many lines. Even Thomas himself has alternated between building his own lines and using existing features. There is something special and cool, however, about seeing something in the terrain that no one else does and making it yours.
| I hold the Rampage in really high regard in terms of the way it represents mountain biking. |
Rampage has set a standard in our sport and has played an important role in elevating its status. He has an appreciation for contests like Rampage and the role they play with introducing the general public to our sport, this is why he continues to attend. These days it is the only judged event he participates in, and he finds the scheduling and limited time more stressful than filming.
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| Vanderham scopes some new lines for this weekend. |
| I have not fully finalized my line. |
Thomas admits that he’s not a big trick guy and he’s not interested in trying to compete with the kids doing backflips and tail-whips. Last year he feels that he rode a few sections of his line tentatively and he would have liked to have squeezed in one or two more tricks. When we spoke on Thursday afternoon, he had not yet finalized his line, and while the day off added pressure to his timeline, he was looking forward to the how much easier building would be after the rain.
| I grew up loving mountain biking and it has been really good to me over the years and provided me a job I never expected. |
Thomas has a lot of gratitude for what mountain biking has brought to him, and a very level and balanced outlook on our industry that only maturity and experience can bring. He gives back to the sport whenever possible, whether it be through bike camps and working with kids or other opportunities that come along.
| I just try to ride for myself and to my own standards. |
His goal for this rampage is to keep his top ten streak going, but he qualifies that by saying that if he rides his line to his own standards, he will be happy with his results.
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| Vanderham finding his 8th Rampage run. |
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