Whistler Crankworx

WHISTLER CRANKWORX SLOPESTYLE – August 2008

I was pretty stoked riding a smaller bike in Colorado and Turner Bikes helped me out with a sick new frame – the 5-spot, Atomlab hooked up some parts as well as Gravity. The new rig is amazing and perfect for slopestyle.
I was so stoked to get a spot and ride with the big guns. I took even more time off work and rode all day every day, hitting up the park riding A-line over and over, smashing the boneyard and after dark I would head to the foam pit.

I was having a blast and had my line dialled in practice. I guess I cracked under pressure and ended up crashing both my Final runs. It was a super hot day and I had a massive crash 360-ing the road gap which I had stomped in the Air Affair. This was my last practise run before the Finals as I noticed my forks had lost their rebound damping and had to get them fixed asap before my run. The next issue was my tyre popping off the rim, I was frantically pumping my tire with a stupid little hand pump when I was needed on the start ramp and in all the haste I hadn’t pumped it up as much as I should. This sent me all squirrily landing a 360 off the first double and the rest of my run was sketchy.

My second run was not much better, Justin Wyper had a bad crash just before me and broke his leg – I was waiting on the start ramp for about 20 minutes whilst the first aiders scraped my buddy off the ground. It was no surprise that I rolled in too fast for a flip and bent my handlebars and couldn’t finish my run. I came 19th overall and was disappointed to say the least. The rest of the comp was wicked and any of you that followed it know what went down. Thanks to all my mates for the support!

Kelly McGarry

Claymore Challenge and Crankworx Colorado

CLAYMORE CHALLENGE AND CRANKWORX COLORADO – July 2008

After changing my plans several times, I decided to make my bid to keep the airlines in business by flying to the East Coast of USA for the Highland Park Claymore Challenge and Gravity photo shoot and then to Colorado Crankworx. This was a tough call because I had been invited to ride the elusive Adidas Slopestyle event in Saalbach Austria which happened to be the same weekend as Colorado Crankworx.

Highland Park was amazing and is worth a visit for any freerider. The course they built for the Challenge was pretty gnarly, a week of rain beforehand made the conditions pretty soft but the contest went ahead anyway. I rode pretty conservatively with Crankworx Colorado on the back of my mind and not wanting to be injured for my shot at getting a place for Crankworx Whistler. It was a good time, we got some good shots with Harookz for Gravity.
Next stop, Winterpark Colorado. Showed up and hung out with my mates and legendary course builders Tommy and Foz and Kona guru John Cowan. The course they had sculpted was the best course I had ever seen and I was amping to ride it.

I was riding my Turner and 45 minutes before my qualifying run I blew my rear shock and was devastated I couldn’t find a replacement anywhere. I ended up with no choice but to borrow my friend Foz’s bike which he kindly let me ride for the qualifiers – cheers bra. I had to quickly adapt to this smaller travel bike and managed to put together a solid run including 360-ing the final drop. Advancing into the finals with the pre-qualified riders and added pressure of TV camera’s and a huge crowd I knew I had to step it up.

The event was broadcast live on the net and it was cool to have friends around the globe watching. We had two runs in a Semi-Final, my second run was sick and got me into the Final. I didn’t complete my Final run after I over-rotated a 360 flattie but I knew I was sitting pretty as my score from the Semi’s carried over and I placed 7th overall. This also meant I got one of the 3 wild card positions I was after to ride Whistler Crankworx. As Justin Wyper put it, also getting a wild card, I was “jacked up” and got “rowdy” at the after party that night.

Then it was back to Whistler to prepare for the big one.

Pic at Goatstyle - http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2105003/

Crankworx Colorado coverage:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/crankworx-colorado-3-208.html - write up and pic

http://www.superhumanmag.com/content/view/739/92/ - video
http://www.sicklines.com/2008/08/03/event-2008-crankworx-colorado-slopestyle-finals/ - write up and pic

http://www.vorb.org.nz/ftopict-83426.html - pic

http://www.vorb.org.nz/photos-view-32917-152-normal-0.html -link to vid

Thanks for readin, Kelly