Kelly McGarry has been doing it a bit tough at the Red Bull Rampage so far. You probably saw his massive crash the other day when he overshot a huge gap, but he told us he’s ready to go big again in the finals despite being a bit sore. We asked him a few questions and he also sent over some of his GoPro shots.
What were your first impressions arriving on the Rampage site and looking at the new zone?
The new zone is pretty rad , I actually thought it wasn’t going to work that well when I saw it for the pre-build course check, but the guys have done a great job, and riders and diggers have made some insane lines down the hill.
How many people are on the build crew and just how hard do they work?
You’re allowed four extra people on each team: one team manager and three diggers. It’s been full on digging a line, doing big days up there to get your line done so you can actually spend some time riding it. I think it’s pretty fair as everyone has the same amount of diggers, it’s just up to the crew how big they want to go with line construction.
Exactly how much building is required? Will you have to build 100% of your line?
You can build your line 100% if you want to but I choose to use a few of the features the RB build team has made as they are big and sick, and it would be tough to make something as rad with just hand tools.
When do you start guinea pigging, tweaking things?
Everyone starts testing about three days after building starts, but there are still people in the finals who haven’t touched their lines two days out from the comp!
And getting political, what are your thoughts on the whole risk vs reward debate? Obviously it worked out for you last year but how much are you prepared to put your body on the line for your chance at cash and another 20 million YouTube views?
Yeah Red Bull Rampage isn’t a golf tournament, you can get smashed, everyone who ride knows that and if you weren’t willing to put it on the line then I guess you just wouldn’t show up, right? It’s a pretty rad comp to be in, it is gnarly but making it down with a sick run makes it all worth it.
