The greatest Brandon Semenuk moments, according to friends and MTB legends

Brandon Semenuk is much more than one very talented individual. In the two decades-plus that he has been building one of the greatest mountain biking careers ever, he has inspired and worked with countless people, all of whom have their own favorite Brandon Semenuk wins, video edits, and moments to share.

We reached out to some of the people who have followed his career or worked with him closely throughout his time at Trek Bikes. There is no better way to relive one of the greatest careers in mountain biking ever than through the eyes of some of the people who know him best.

Emil Johansson, Trek C3 athlete, three-time Triple Crown of Slopestyle winner — “It is hard to pick just one with such an influential rider. Brandon was at the forefront of the sport together with the big names when I grew up. One of the favorites I have was when he dropped ‘Revel in the Chaos.’ With that short film, he pushed the sport on all different bikes and brought it into a new light. There have been numerous video projects since that have blown peoples’ minds, but at the time it really stood out. Brandon’s vision both in comps and outside through video projects have shaped a whole generation, and the sport would not look the same without him.”

Cam McCaul, Trek C3 athlete, freeride legend, and another member of the 20-year club — “One of my favorite Brandon memories is from one of the first times we rode together. It was a rainy September trip to Whistler, probably around the closing week of the bike park in 2005. Brandon and Alex Prochazka were the quintessential Whistler groms (I think they would have been around 14 years old at the time) and I flew up there to get some riding in with them while the dirt was nice and the Red Bull Elevation jumps were still alive. We ended up going up the hill to check out a new feature that just got built on a new trail called ‘Freight Train.’ It was an on-off box on a shipping container. The landing was fresh, the drop was a friendly size and the three of us decided it was time to learn our first 360 drops. We crashed a couple times (or at least I did) before stomping them but we all eventually got ’er done. Looking back, it’s wild to think about how those 2 groms were little legends in the making, and I got to witness them figuring things out in their tadpole phase. I know tadpoles turn into frogs, but Brandon eventually turned into a G.O.A.T.”

Casey Brown, Trek C3 athlete and “godmother of women’s freeride” — “My favorite moment of Brandon’s career has to be his first Rampage win. It felt like a true coming of age story, and it was my first time watching the event in real life. I was super inspired. I had been following Brandon’s career. I’d met him the year before in Whistler, he was so nice and down to earth, so seeing up on a rampage podium made it seem that much closer to home and that freeride belonged to Canadians.”

Toby Cowley, longtime MTB photographer and Brandon collaborator — “The ‘Lapse’ video is maybe my favorite thing Brandon has ever done. The way that whole video came together, I think is very cool. I love all the weird lifestyle and random bits in it. The riding’s obviously a very high level. There’s so much energy within that video that it’s very easy to watch on repeat.”

Isaac Wallen, filmer, cinematographer, and Brandon collaborator — “I think what really stuck for me was that video ‘Lapse’ that came out a really long time ago. It was one of the very first experimental videos that Brandon did with Rupert [Walker]. And it was so cool. I talk about this sometimes with my filmer buddies, but I kind of miss not being attached to some of the Brandon projects. Like, I miss having the feeling of going to PinkBike and seeing a video get posted and I’ve never seen anything from it, and I just get to get the classic feeling of watching a Brandon video for the very first time. Now I’ve watched it a billion times, and it comes out, everyone’s stoked, and I wish I had that excitement when it hits the internet and I don’t know the magic behind it. I remember so vividly when that video came out. I’d never seen anything like it, and it definitely sparked a feeling of, ‘I want to do this somehow.'”

*Bonus Isaac — “I do also really like that ‘Better Late’ video that we did, and that at the time felt like a total scramble. And I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know if this is even cool.’ You just look at the footage for so long, you’re like, ‘Is this even sick? Is this shot even that cool?’ Because you’ve watched it 300 times. But it’s so unique.”

Andrew Shandro, C3 Project and Trek Factory Racing DH consigliere, MTB legend — “I met him in Whistler. And he was probably 14 or 15. I was taking my son Ethan to the dirt jumps. And then every time I went there, Brandon was there. It was like, ‘Geez man,  this kid is just into it, he’s just dedicated.’ So we went there two or three times in a two-week span. And this one day, Ethan had a little fall — nothing much, just a little tip over, no big deal. Brandon helped him get up. And there was something about his focus on the way he was riding. I could see he was having fun, but I could also see that, ‘Man, this kid looks like he’s really trying to get better.’ I don’t know why I thought that at the time. He just looked like he was really trying to work on his craft. He was different.

“Now he’s not a young guy anymore. I mean, in this world, he’s not a young guy, right? He’s 34, but he still rides at the highest level.”

Evan Young, longtime digger for Brandon, and one half of the team that took home the “Digger Award” at Red Bull Rampage in 2024 — “It’s hard to say which Rampage is my favorite, they all kind of blend together. The last one was a great one with what our end result was. Even the first Rampage, it was just a memorable experience. It was something brand new. I was there with good buddies. I made even more good friends. I met more people in the industry. It was a really standout event. 

“And then as far as projects go — so we’ll step away from Rampage — any of the Raw 100s. The Raw 100s, those are a mission and a half. Our projects are set in a very short time span. Like, Brandon spends months planning everything, but to actually execute them, our build and filming windows are only about two to three weeks. We go in and in two weeks we have every single feature built, and Brandon’s there the entire time. And then he spends maybe 3-4 days to a week longer filming. He starts during the build and then slowly progresses into just filming. It’s just super impressive what he does out there. He is involved with every aspect of everything he does.”

Justin Wyper, longtime digger for Brandon, and the other half of the Digger Award-winning 2024 Rampage crew — “2016 was pretty great, because that was the first win Brandon had with Evan and me. And then I think it was 2019, another year that we won, but we had had that big jump mid-course where he flat spun. That was an instance where we kind of looked at the hillside a little bit differently than everybody else. It was a year that lots of people rode ridges, and we kind of went down through the guts. We had this cool little shark fin step down into a little caddy-style lip, then a step down into this big 50-foot double mid-course. You normally see all these big jumps and features lower down on the hill, and we were able to put this huge jump in the middle. 

“And I think that’s one of those instances where our experience and skill at looking at terrain and seeing things really popped. Because it’s not that typical where you see a double, like a jump, mid course on a mountain that big. It’s pretty hard to find.”

Ryan “R-Dog” Howard, Trek C3 athlete, longtime Brandon friend and collaborator — “I’m gonna say this was Sea Otter 2006 and Trek flew him out to California, and he was on his own at the age of maybe 14 or 15. But Brandon didn’t really have a place to go after the event. And my mom and I were camping in my mom’s motor home at Sea Otter, and he just camped with us for the weekend. He had a hotel, and he had people that he probably could have gotten a ride with or whatever, but he just camped with me at Sea Otter, and that’s when we really connected at quite a young age. We would just cruise around Sea Otter, and hit the fun little dirt jumpy skill zone. I don’t know why he chose me to be friends with. But that’s kind of where our friendship started. 

“Then I want to say it was 2006 or 2007 when he showed up to Aptos, just for a riding trip. And the tricks that he was pulling out — he progressed in a year or two what normal people would do in like 10 years. He was riding very well at Joy Ride. And then he showed up and we’re like, ‘Woah, this dude is on a whole ‘nother level.’ And getting signed with Trek, I think, was a big part of that. This was his chance. He saw an opportunity here. And he knew for a long time that he wanted to be the best in the world.

“I would not be a professional mountain biker still if it wasn’t for him just being a really good influence on myself, whether it’s riding, or communication with sponsors, or just being passionate about something. I learned a lot from him, just putting your head down, doing the work, and being the best athlete that you can be. He really showed that to me. I honestly have to give him all the credit for where I’m at in my career today.”