Chasing Windows and Collecting Titles with Brandon Semenuk

It takes a lot for an athlete to climb to the pinnacle of their sport. It’s nearly unimaginable to think of doing it twice but there’s a reason why Brandon Semenuk is your favorite athlete’s favorite athlete.

As Semenuk accepts his second consecutive American Rally Association (ARA) championship after the Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR) in Marquette, Mich., this weekend, we can reflect on what’s required to excel in both mountain biking and rally racing.

While growing up in Whistler, BC, Canada, Semenuk's journey starts in a hotbed of mountain biking. His drive and natural skill brought him to accomplish enough racing accolades that he needed a fresh outlet before he was even a teenager.

This is when he discovered freestyle mountain biking, an area of extreme sports that would not be the same if Semenuk hadn’t come along.

Five years after that, Semenuk followed another passion and started racing rally cars as a privateer. In the past few years, he’s moved up and earned his place as a factory driver for Subaru. All while balancing freestyle competition, video projects, and his own production company Revel.

“They’re all very time-sensitive, especially with how busy my schedule can be,” Semenuk told Auto Racing Digest during a photo shoot in Canada, “Like today and yesterday we’re chasing these really small windows of light. … It’s a lot of time management and finding how to always be valuable in a situation. It doesn't always go your way, so we have to think ahead.”

“In Rally it’s all on the clock, we have to be in on our minute in every stage and obviously with mechanics, they have a time limit. Rally is very time-sensitive. Preparation for competing is very time sensitive, you build up until that contest moment when you want to lead and feel recovered but also be prepared in whatever you’re trying to do in tricks and features.

"All the situations are a little bit different but everything requires preparation within the time you’re given. How well can you prepare in this window that you know you have.”

Last year, those passions came head to head as Red Bull Rampage, a premier freestyle mountain bike competition, and the LSPR overlapped. Both competitions begin weeks before the actual events, with dig crews invading the terrain of Virgin, Utah two weeks before the Rampage date and a top-tier Rally race usually having nearly a month’s worth of material to study, especially if you’re not getting much seat time.

Semenuk and Red Bull Canada filmed the experience of competing in both events last October winning in Rally and finishing third at Rampage, the final form being a YouTube film titled ‘Balancing Act’ released this August (see video above at top of story).

This year, due to a direct conflict between the LSPR and Rampage on October 14th, there would be no balancing of the two.

Semenuk has won Rampage four times and hasn’t missed the event in 10 years, and while the Virgin, Utah venue is vast there can be some fatigue while trying to create something bigger and better than the year before. It’s also important to note that Semenuk is extremely driven by what he can perfect. A year away from the event gives him the chance to evolve.

While his loyalty to the Subaru factory team and the ARA championship was part of his decision there were a litany of factors to make the decision. By racing in October he cuts down on his off-season and is better prepared when the 2024 season rolls around his former teammate and fellow champion Travis Pastrana comes back to the Subaru factory team.

Auto Racing Digest talked with Pastrana, who has always been a vocal supporter of everything that makes Semenuk special.

“To be the best at any sport, at the top level, takes more than what 99.9% of the world will ever understand as far as the natural talent side of it, but also the work, the discipline, and the mental fortitude to really get and stay on top of your sport," Pastrana told ARD. “If you take a sport like mountain biking that Semenuk got to the top of, it’s very physically demanding, so for Brandon to stay from the age of 15 until now (Semenuk is 32) is pretty much unheard of.

“Then to be racing cars in-between takes a lot of your focus away. With winning the championship last year and riding Rampage at the same time, both are huge battles. That’s a feat that no one else in the world could put into words. In both cases, the amount of work it takes to be on top, I know that I didn’t get any sleep for the month going up to that race, going over Go Pros and notes.

"The week of the rally, you get no sleep and then transition to digging and building jumps. To have other people dig and build jumps for you while checking in between your stages when they’re building something so unique that only you know if you can do it or not. It’s scary at best.”

Pastrana explained that in-between stages last year Semenuk was forced to multitask in a way no other competitor did. That time was not just for rehab, studying, and fan engagement since he also had to be on the phone with his crew making decisions that affected his chance of success and his safety from 1,900 miles away.

“We would literally be in between stages and while he’s going over his notes on his phone from the stages before, he’s trying to sign autographs and, he’s on the phone with his dig crew talking about what lines to do.”

Both Semenuk and Pastrana believe that rally and mountain biking share more attributes than a casual follower might pick up on.

“It’s probably the closest form of motorsports connected to mountain biking,” Semenuk said, “It’s loose surface, there's elevation involved and it’s variable. It’s changing from pass to pass, I can go to a bike park and every lap that trail develops a little bit, just where I go to a rally stage and that road develops a little bit. You’re using a lot of the same intuition, navigating, and reading the grip.”

Added Pastrana, “If you come from pavement racing to rally, the aspect that’s going to help you the most is your actual driving skill set and you can pick up on reading the terrain. Brandon already knew how to read the terrain. Coming from motocross that was something that I related to and was able to make a much quicker transition from motocross to rally car than I did from motocross to pavement, NASCAR, or anything else. …. When you’re on two wheels, you have to be able to read the dirt and how much traction there is. That’s something that even some of the top drivers haven’t picked up to the level that Brandon has.”

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Author's note: I should preface this experience with a little background on me, the author. While I’ve been around car racing most of my life and this last year I've had the opportunity to deep dive into the motocross discipline for the SuperMotocross World Championship inaugural season … bikes, I have innately never understood.

Growing up in Minnesota my family joked that I would forget every winter. In reality, I just could never grasp the gravity and mechanics of it all, and as an adult, trials at riding just ended in frustration for me and the collection of good samaritans who tried to help.

All of this to say, watching Semenuk ride is breathtaking, even if you don’t know what to look for at first. After sitting in on a few sessions in Canada, I could pick up the skills that transfer over from one discipline to another. Just like in snowboarding, the light, the wind, and the shadows define what can be done and when. Since these elements are beyond human control there’s a level of mindfulness that goes into every jump, every shot, every feature. The patience learned on top of the mountain carries into the race car.

The balance needed and the ability to read terrain, changing conditions, and control over a sailing mountain bike is a meticulous skill set. In Rally, success is built on note-taking, spatial awareness, and adaptability.

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As Semenuk goes through his 30s in two sports with high attrition rates, it’s clear that he’s not going anywhere and both disciplines are the better for it and having him.