Kidney Kids Camp 2008

Hey, I am Dan's brother and I have a Kidney disorder. I am seventeen years old, I got a kidney transplant when I was just two (actually was the youngest in the country to receive this type of transplant). About this time last year my donated kidney decided it had enough and I was forced to get on dialysis. I have been doing this ever since while on the waiting list for another transplant.

An organisation called Kidney Kids New Zealand supports kids and their families throughout the tough times and are always there for us. Something cool they do is an annual camp. I have been on a lot over my life and was really lucky enough again to join the 2008 teenagers camp recently. I thought i would let you know what i got up to on the camp!

I arrived in Auckland…. Late!! After missing my first flight up North, not only missing my flight but also I was missing my bags from the plane. So kidney camp didn’t start off with flying colours but it was sure to get better.

We all jumped into the buses and we were off to Rotarua, after a few stops to fill the hungry kidney tummies and pick up local kidney kids. When arriving in Rotarua we first had a team building exercise and a few rides on the big monster truck. In Rotarua we found our campsite and settled in, most kidney kids were surprised with the flash bedrooms, with brand new beds and new showers in them. Things were starting to look better already.

The next day (day 2) everyone had some free time in town to do/buy what ever they wanted. But the kids that were on dialysis went and did that in the r]Rotarua hospital. Even doing dialysis on kidney camp is still like a holiday, we got to experience different styles or ways of doing dialysis and meet other dialysis patients and nurses. After dialysis we were starving and felt that we needed to for fill some of our adrenaline needs, so of course camp had what we needed which was a good feed off KFC and a trip to the Agrodome were adrenaline needs sure were meet. We had a range of choices of what rides we wanted to do, I chose to do the swoop and the jet boat ride.

The swoop is like bungy jumping but you’re in a sleeping bag like thing, you get taken up really high and then drop/swoop past the ground and fly back into the air, like an extreme swing. The worst thing was you had to pull your own cord to drop/full. After all that we decided to chill and have a hit at mini golf. That night (day 3) was just as fun we headed up the mountain on the gondola and raced down on the luge, some kids took a few spills/crashes. After all the racing and another meal we were back on the bus and heading back to Auckland where we would catch our plane rides back home.

Overall the camp is a great weekend full of exciting activities that everyone enjoys. It’s amazing I get to do all this and forget about being sick and just live life. A big thank you, to all the kidney kids sponsors… especially Freeride NZ!! (Dan you the man), without them none of this would be possible.

Also this year at school Logan Park High School, my media studies class had to make films as part of completing the class. There were a range of films made, me and my friend Zac Wilkinson, decided that we would make an awesome film that meant something to us, rather than just a film that followed the guidelines of NCEA. The type of film we made was a challenging one by its self, a personalized documentary. And the topic was even harder. Its called 'Life's a Game' which shows the comparison between my life on dialysis as a teenager to being sitting benched during a game of basketball.

The film was entered into the Otago film competition where it won first place!! Yeah. I will put my video up on this blog shorty for you all to see.

Henry McMullan

http://www.kidneykids.org.nz/

One Epic Weekend of Racing

Thursday started with finishing work early and a 7 hour drive to Timaru. The weather was not looking good for the Lewis pass so we made the decision to drive down the coast. 7 hours and a lot of corners later we arrived in Timaru. We woke Friday to an overcast day. As we arrived in Dunedin it was on the verge of snowing, I wasn’t really surprised as the four races i have done there have all been wet. We got a motel sorted and headed up Signal hill to where the race was being held to check out the track. It had changed quite a bit since last time with some sick berms at the top going into and extended slightly less savage rock garden. After that it carried on along the old track for a bit then into a new section with 3 nice doubles and then back out onto the ridge. It was then into the old nationals track from 05/06 which started with yet another rock garden and then into some pines. A nice big step-down in the pines halfway thru and then into the new bottom section. This has all been done by a dozer and was super fast with big burms and big jumps, perfect for spectators with the bottom 30 seconds of track visible from the finish line. We had seen enough so we headed back up and got the bikes. 1^st run down was the most fun I’ve had since Whistler mud riding. Every corner was fully sideways and out of control and somehow i got to the bottom without falling off. Nick and Raz weren’t so lucky with a few crashes each. A few runs later and it started raining so we called it quits.

Saturday was race day. We woke up to an overcast day which soon turned to sun with light winds. First few practice runs were pretty chaotic with groms going down left right and center. By race runs the track was perfectly tacky.

My 1^st run started good but soon into it I slid from a low line and came to a stop. The rest of the run was good and i came down with a 304 putting my into 3^rd, Eddie Masters was 259 and Hayden Donny McGregor 258.

2^nd run down was good, making it thru the line i had crashed on 1^st run but my luck ran thin towards the bottom as i was exiting a burm slightly too sideways and hit a tree head on with pretty high speed. I bent my bars so the rest of the track was pretty un co but still managed another 304. Donny showed us all how to ride posting a 253 way ahead of the lot of us! This guy is going to be on form this season and will be definitely be one to watch!

I ended up 3^rd at the end of the day which wasn’t bad considering. Donny in 1^st and Eddie in 2^nd and Tim Mackersey in 4^th a fraction behind me.

After the race there was a top 10 shootout with the top 10 riders from all categories all doing 1 last run with $100 cash up for grabs for the winner.

I crashed yet again. Eddie was 2^nd to last down the hill and took the top spot. With only Donny left we all thought he had it in the bag but about 10 seconds from the bottom he had a huge over the bars and lost it. Better luck next time mate!

We then headed to prize giving at a burger bar in town which was great with a lot of spot prizes.

Thanks to Donny, Eddie, Sheryl, Ant and everyone else for making this race happen and run so smoothly and bring on south island cup in Feb!

We then drove to Timaru to stay the night there.

6:30am Sunday morning we were on the road to race number two in chch.

We arrived about 830 and i was straight off to the shop to get my bike sorted from the previous day’s mishaps.

I didn’t get that sorted until 10:30 so only two practice runs on a track I had never ridden before.

The track started just below the airstrip on the port hills and ran through the gum trees for half and then into the open. It was very fast and flowy with some huge burms and some pretty cool jumps.

My 1^st race run was going well until about hallways down I hit a high line over a rock a bit fast and out of control and landed off the track. I was going through the long grass about 40kph trying to slow down and hit a rock. I sailed through the air doing various flips and then rag dolled down a bank onto the 4x4 road about 20 meters below the track. I got up pretty dam sore with a folded front when and blown tyre so it was a long ride out for me.

2^nd run didn’t go much better with another crash in the top half of the track. After that I pushed it a bit hard trying to make up time and just kept making more and more mistakes. I finished about 9^th at the end of the day. Not to fussed as i had a awesome weekend with some wicked riding on new tracks which is always good.

Cheers to bike HQ yet again for the use of the van and the race organizes who it wouldn’t be possible without.

Until next week.

Reuben Miller

www.bikehq.co.nz

Red Bull Rampage With Kelley McGazza

On Tuesday night we arrived in virgin Utah, after driving from Las vegas for a couple of hours. I was expecting really high temperatures as we were in the desert but we lucked out with fairly moderate weather. The landscape was amazing with huge sandstone cliffs towering above us on either side of us as we drove into Spring dale where we were staying.

The next morn I headed up to the site of the red bull rampage and was very impressed with the gnarly course and new man made features added to the event. For the next two days I practiced the course and dug lines to ride. Line selection was tricky ,I wasn’t sure ether to go for a safe line and risk getting scored low for amplitude or go for a burly line and risk crashing. I started to feel comfortable on ridge 3 so I opted to take that in my qualifying run.

We woke on the morning of qualifying to pouring rain and qualifying was postponed to Sunday . When I showed up Sunday morn we were told that we would only have one run of qualifying ,i was gutted about that because it puts a lot of pressure on you . I was happy with how I was riding in practice and excited about the comp. The pressure at the start gate was pretty intense I was nervous about crashing . I knew I had to throw some tricks on the features as a lot of people were riding my line. I rode the top of the ridge pretty good but when i did an x up on the big triple step down I got a bit blown by the wind and went down hard. My visor was smashed and I was shook up. I was super disappointed but I got back on and decided to i didn’t have much to lose so i floated a mammoth backflip over the last table, the crowd went siiiick and I was so stoked to stomp it and help make up for my crash .

I didn’t make the finals but it was cool to sit back and watch the insanity go down . Over all it was a great contest in an amazing part of the world and I hope i get a chance to ride it again.

Check me out www.kellymcgazza.blogspot.com

Freeride NZ in Napier

After spending the summer in Whistler, Canada it was time to head back home and begin operations in New Zealand. While on my journey back to Wanaka I stopped by Napier to see the other half of the Freeride NZ team, Hilton Taylor and Glenn Richards. Here is what we got up to….!

Head multi day guide for Freeride NZ Glenn was born and bred in the Hawkes Bay region along with Freeride NZ’s North Operations Manager Hilton so it was great to be in the hands of real locals!

Hilton Taylor

        Glenn Richards

We started my two day tour at the Eskdale Mountain Bike Park in the Pan Pac Tangoio Forrest, situated 15 minutes North of Napier. The riding is endless with enough variety in trails to keep any rider grinning for the day! We rode the down hill tracks but there are also over 50 kilometers of lush single track found throughout the forest! It’s a really popular spot for locals as well as out of town riders. After signing up for a pass to access the forest you then have your own play ground to play in! These passes can be purchased at any local bike shop or online at www.hawkesbaymtb.co.nz

Glenn & Dan riding in the Eskdale MTB Park

It was then off for a quick play in Glenno’s own back yard pump track before heading out to Waipatiki beach. We spent the evening at the same batch (holiday house for the overseas readers!) as where we stay for our multi day tours through the area. The batch is in the heart of native bush and alongside an amazing surf beach where you can see the Napier in the distance.

Sneak preview at Glenn's pump track

I didn’t have my cross country bike so I was lucky enough to get a new test bike from the generous boys at Avanti plus bike shop in Hastings. It was a four inch XC bike that was perfect for the trails we were about to encounter. Just up the road from our batch was the Waipatiki beach Trail which was a flowing single track trail that made its way through native palms,ferns, flaxes, vines and trees. It’s only an hour or so loop but is well worth the grind to the top!

At the beach side batch

Napier would make the perfect weekend to get on the bike for anyone in the North Island and for us Southerners a pretty good excuse to get a road trip happening and checking out what s on offer in the sunny Hawkes bay!

For any info on the trails in Napier contact either Freeride NZ or Hawkes Bay Mountain Bike Club.

Again a big thanks to Avanti plus bike shop in Hastings.

Cheers,

Dan