If there were a Mount Rushmore of freeride mountain biking (hell, maybe there should be), two-time Rampage champion; Freeride World T our champion; world-record holder; two-time Crankworx Slopestyle Champion, perennial boundary pusher and now MTB Hall of Famer, Cam Zink, would undoubtedly be one of the faces immortalized on the monument.
Today, Zink is in his late 30s and has two young children with his wife, Amanda. Still fresh off of his second Red Bull Rampage victory in 2023, Cam has shown he’s only gotten better with age, yet today his life entails far more than only holding onto handlebars. Let’s take a look at how his riding career evolved and ultimately made him worthy of Mountain Biking’s Hall of Fame.
Born in Lake Tahoe in 1986, Zink grew up in Carson City, NV, and then moved to Reno when he was 18 years old. His most well-known on-bike accolades are for being on the forefront of the freeride movement of the early 2000s, pushing the boundaries of what can be done on two wheels, and persevering through difficult injuries inherent to that type of riding. Yet, lesser-known is that his riding career began as an accomplished, championship-caliber junior downhill and dual-slalom racer. He would then test his racing skillset on the World Cup Downhill and 4-Cross circuits in 2005 as a member of the first Santa Cruz Syndicate team. However, Zink leaned into the burgeoning freeride movement and began to make that segment his focus.
During the early 2000s, freeride wasn’t entirely established as a marketable genre in mountain biking, and sponsorships were typically given for racing, as that discipline had measurable results which brands could use to justify riders’ worth. Therefore, for a few years Zink and his racing and freeride-pioneering counterparts, including Kyle Strait, and Kirt Voreis, juggled both the demanding World Cup race circuit and international freeride events. Soon thereafter, Zink’s focus would shift entirely to the freeride segment of the sport and his efforts for doing so would ultimately elevate him to legend status.
In the world of freeride mountain biking, there are a few marquee events and titles: Whistler’s Slopestyle event during Crankworx; the Red Bull Rampage; and the Freeride World T our overall championship. Before long, Zink would turn heads on the freeride tour with solid contest results and popular riding segments in Freeride Entertainment films. In 2006, he would stake his claim as top freerider by capturing his first Crankworx Slopestyle championship. After persevering through years of recurring injuries and multiple setbacks, in 2010, Cam would take his second Crankworx Slopestyle title, which he’d follow up with a victory in freeride’s most coveted event, the Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah. Taking unprecedented wins in freeride mountain biking’s two highest-profile events in 2010 would earn him the 2010 Freeride World Tour championship.The years in between Zink’s 2010 Rampage title and the aforementioned 2023 Rampage championship, he wasn’t resting on his accolades. Rather, he was stacking up an impressive body of work on and off of the bike.
The Hall of Fame is called that for a reason—a rider has become famous within and around the sport. Conversely, it’s not called the Hall of Statistics; however, sometimes fame can arrive through a rider consistently delivering top results throughout his career. Zink’s freeride titles have been addressed, however easily overlooked is his warchest of Freeride World T our accolades. Such as, finishing in second place the year after his FMB world title; in addition to two Rampage wins, he’s stood on that elite desert podium five other times, plus was a three-time Rampage Best Trick winner and twice won the event’s Toughness award. In 2104, Zink followed in the steps of one of his idols, Evel Knievel, when he broke the world record for the longest dirt-to-dirt backflip on a bike during a one-hour special event that took place live on ESPN’s World of X Games broadcast program. Throw in 10 Crankworx medals in his career, and if there were a MTB Hall of Statistics, Cam would be a shoe-in for that accolade, as well.
Like with many action sports and mountain sports disciplines, freeride mountain biking shines when the athletes perform in front of the camera. Zink’s introduction to the mountain bike video scene came in the early 2000s when he was featured in the Superheros video series created by Neil Sanders. Cam would then become a staple in numerous mountain bike films created by Derek Westerlund of Freeride Entertainment, such as the New World Disorder series, Where the Trail Ends, and North of Nightfall. Additionally, in 2015, Zink starred in feature-length documentary film about his life called, Reach For The Sky, which was made by Ryan Cleek and which gave a one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes look at Zink in both the 2013 and 2014 Red Bull Rampage events, plus his world record-breaking backflip at Mammoth Mountain that aired live on ESPN, all while telling Cam’s life story in between those high-pressure moments.
Cam Zink’s legacy was formed on two wheels, yet his influence will continue once his competitive riding days are behind him. Although his focus remains on staying atop freeride, He’s also equally determined on giving back to the sport that’s provided the life he has today. Obviously known for his on-bike achievements, it’s what Zink has done off of the bike to give back to the sport which fewer people may be aware of.
In 2009, Cam founded Sensus, a brand that makes grips and other mountain bike accessories, and today sponsors many of the sport’s top riders. A spin-off from Sensus grips was Sensus R.A.D. Trails, a 501C3 non-profit trail building program founded in 2018. Intended to put resources into the next generation of riders, the goal of R.A.D. Trails is to build progressive trails and bike parks for local riding communities and encourage rider development.
Cam’s intention to give back to the riding community doesn’t stop with the R.A.D. Trails. His Reno-based freeride Reno compound hosts the annual Cam Zink Invitational Freeride event, and has also become a training ground for riders from around the world seeking to hone their skills on well-made terrain specifically designed to further their growth in freeride.
Lastly, Cam is launching his own bike brand, Zink Bikes, in the fall of 2024. Having ridden for numerous bike brands in his career, plus testing designs from practically every brand in existence, Cam says no brand out there is creating the style of bikes he wants to ride, and he knows he’s not alone in that regard. He says the world doesn’t need more bikes, rather better bikes to fit what riders really are truly looking for.
In the sport of mountain biking, there is no shortage of incredible athletes who’ve had remarkable careers. Few riders in the sport will ever match Cam Zink’s on-bike accolades in a career that is still in full swing over 20 years in the making. Yet, what Zink is giving back to the sport by ways of trail building programs, rider training facilities, and a new bike brand, may just have more of an impact than his head-turning riding achievements and ultimately help develop more future Mountain Bike Hall of Famers.
By Ryan Cleek