"I can hardly wait to grow a beard as long as my father's and my brother's." That's what Brage Vestavik said at 18 in the Pinkbike interview, back when he was still a young hopeful in the Downhill World Cup. "I'll start with the moustache," he added. The Norwegian is now 23 and his wish has come true. A reddish-blonde bush lines his broad head. Visually, he has matured into a Viking - according to him, he is actually descended from this Scandinavian seafaring people.

Brage "B-Rage" Vestavik is also doing pretty well in other respects. He became known to a wider public in 2021 with his video contribution for the X Games Real MTB. There he showed how to do freeride mountain biking the Viking way. In the forests of his home country, he shoveled and carved obstacles that most people can't even think of, let alone ride.

No consideration for losses

The jumps are massive, the drops infinitely high and there are wooden elements whose purpose only becomes clear when Brage demonstrates them. The atmosphere is dark, the ground is muddy, between Brage's tricks you can see him building the features with his crew and warming up by the campfire - it's as if a gang of Vikings have swapped their ships for big bikes and are now up to mischief in the forest. And then there's the final drop, about which nothing more needs to be said at this point than this: don't copy it under any circumstances!
At least the jump goes well, unlike another massive drop in training for the Red Bull Rampage. After descending 16 meters, Brage comes up half a meter short, rolls over and smashes his humerus. He had already broken his ankle at the start of 2021. But as soon as the bones have healed, he is riding and flying again through his Viking forest less than an hour from Oslo.

The Downhill World Cup no longer seems to be an issue for Brage Vestavik. At Red Bull Hardline he proved that he still has the speed. Recently, the energy effervescent manufacturer from Salzburg signed him up. And because the Norwegian also has a knack for cool video edits - he edits them himself - he can concentrate fully on the freeride trinity: Build - Ride - Post. If he sticks with it, we'll be seeing a lot more wild Viking stunts.

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