‘Horrible crosswind’ sends pro mountain biker tumbling into Utah ravine, video shows
A professional freeride mountain bike rider was injured in a nasty fall during the same Utah race he won a year earlier, the athlete said on social media.
Cameron “Cam” Zink, who won the Red Bull Rampage race in 2023, shared that he broke six ribs in the fall at this year’s race in an Oct. 13 post on Instagram.
Red Bull calls it “the world’s toughest big mountain freeride mountain bike competition” on its website’s event page. The race is held in the “rugged terrain of Virgin in Southwest Utah,” about 15 miles southwest of Zion National Park.
Zink has won the race twice, in 2010 and in 2023, ABC4 reported. He was airlifted to a hospital after this year’s fall, the station reported.
“If you wanna play the game, can’t cry when the game plays you,” he wrote in the post on Instagram. “I’ll be ok.”
The first video in his post shows an X-ray of his rib cage as a doctor explains the six rib fractures near his spine. The next video shows Zink talking to his camera from a hospital bed.
“Thanks to everyone for sending all the healing vibes. Truly heartwarming,” he says, adding that he has “six broken ribs, all right next to my spine. That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life when I couldn’t breathe ‘cause of a collapsed lung.”
Zink explains the moment he realized everything went wrong.
“When it went bad, horrible crosswind. Nothing I could have really done I guess other than wait it out but you can’t time a whole run based on wind so I was eager,” he said. “I was feeling it. I was ready to drop, ready to win that thing again.”
The next video shows Zink’s fall and points out the crosswind that pushed him into a shaky landing, sending him tumbling into a ravine.
Red Bull did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for information on Oct. 14. In a statement, a spokesperson said Zink was in stable condition “with his family right now and we wish him well and a speedy recovery,” ABC4 reported.
Virgin is about a 295-mile drive southwest from Salt Lake City.
