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

Top of the South DH Series, round one, Blenhiem, NZ

Sunday the 12^th of October started with clear skies and no wind, the perfect day for a race.

I woke up, picked up Kieran, Rasmus and Nick O’rouke and we were on our way.

Practise was a little late to start as usual over that side of the hill but once it got started it ran smoothly with most people getting in 5 or 6 practise runs.

It was my first time back on the bike since being in whistler 3 weeks ago so I was itching to ride.

Track conditions were mint as with it tacky up the top and dry and dusty in the trees. Having ridden various track combos on this hill before this was by far the best. Starting next to the road and rolling down through some nice turns and a few small jumps before crossing the road and into a nice 30 footer which you can hit fully tapped. It then goes down a fairly steep fire road with some berms and a few sick flat/off camber turns in the pines on the side. One high speed turn later and you’re out onto a skid site for a 30second sprint just for shits and giggles. After the skid it was into the pines starting off with a nice steep chute with a hard right hander at the bottom. The rest of the track was full of berms and long off camber sections which were out of control.

In my first race run i had a mint run until I clipped a pedal and got thrown over the bars but was straight back up and down to the finish, second race run was sick as and out of control thru the off camber i got to the bottom pretty happy with my run and amped as after the off camber.

In the end I finished up behind recently signed Kieran Bennett in 1^st and local fast guy and fellow pro elite Sam Reed in 2^nd who put in the hard yards getting the track sorted for the race.

As usual thanks to the organisers for a really well run event and Bike HQ for their support.

Untill the next race...

Reuben Miller.

1/10/08

BLACK BIRCH TRAIL
KAWEKA RANGES

HAWKES BAY

NEW ZEALAND

The beauty of living in New Zealand is that if you wish to ride mountain bike trails they are usually no more than an hours drive away from you... sometimes there are trails that nobody even knows about, like the Black birch trail that we re-discovered.

Thanks to Hilton with his advanced knowledge of the surrounding ranges to Hawkes bay, He scoped out the maps, turned the cogs in his head & located an “old tramping trail” that he was certain it is rideable. At 1000mtr elevation the trail was definitely going to have some great views over the bay, a 300mtr decent over 1km at the end of the trail was telling me there’s going to be some steep technical riding! Yeeeesssssss!
Hilton soon gave word to the boys, and Sunday was the day to go!

Paul,Brent,Eddy,Hilton & I loaded up BIG RED & headed for the hills, with full anticipation of shredding through NZ native bush. Within an hour BIG RED got us to the start of the trail. Obvious signs of pruning indicated that DOC had been in an cleared the trail early for summer, straight into an undulating uphill along a ridge line for approx 8km saw fantastic views of the Kaweka mountain range, rolling green hills, and the hawkes bay coastline in the distance.

The trail consisted of shale type rocks, lush native bush with openings to dry windy smooth rutted paths with plenty of optional airtime off the humps along the trail,
Suddenly the ridgeline drops away very steeply and you can make out way down below, BIG RED waiting for our arrival. For the next 15 minutes , full concentration was required to negotiate a very steep & technical downhill. To accomplish this section without crashing was challenging. Arm pump, the smell of hot brakes & huge grins was what the trail finished with!
All in all with a few thrills n spills it was an epic adventure that will not be forgotten.
I love Sunday adventures!

Glenn Richards
FREERIDENZ

NZer Kelly McGazza at REDBULL RAMPAGE

Check out the latest from REDBULL RAMPAGE in Utah, USA at http://www.freecaster.tv/

Our own Kelly McGazza is the first Southern hampshire rider ever to compete in the notorious REDBULL event. You can see what Kelly gets up to via http://www.kellymcgazza.blogspot.com/

Inter Bike

Some highlights from inter bike 08:
- NWD9 premier!
- Sam Hills possible bike on show!
- Lance Armstrong back in the action!
- A lahr bike that looked very similar to the NZ lahar!

For those of you that aren't familiar with Inter bike, its a massive bike show held in Los Vegas, USA each year. Its a place for companies in the biking industry to do product launches, tests, but basically my interpretation of it was it seemed like the perfect excuse for everyone to get out of the office and play in Vegas!

From billion dollar sky scrapers to the outside escalator's to the poor old dude behind a slot machine gambling away dollar after dollar...My trip to Vegas was a trip to remember!

New World Disorder 9 premiered on Wednesday night. Once again the riding was incredible. NWD are the best in captioning the riding level being raised/pushed further than ever before! Oh yeah and Robbie lands his 360!So is it Sam's Demo? The rumour has been out for a while that Sam Hill could be riding for Specialize next season. There was plenty of talk about whether Specialized would come up with a new assault weapon for him or stick with what they know. Here is a Specialized Demo with world championship stripes. hint hint.Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong announced his return to professional road racing. However it may not just be road cycling Lance has in mind. Treks new Top Fuel bike isn’t even finished yet and Lance has already won a race on it...

Dan

Helmet Cam of Dan riding in Whistler Bike Park