McGarry’s 2011 Claymore Challenge Update

McGarry gave us the low-down on his 2011 Claymore Challenge experience. Check it!

Yo Brosifs,

I just spent a week in the good ol US of A hitting the Highland Claymore Challenge comp and also visiting my little brother Matty who lives close by. It was good to hang out and we did some fishing after the comp.

As for the comp I blew up… I was having a solid run and loving the course but came in too hot on the red bull wallride and my front wheel missed the wall! I never messed that wall up once in practice and couldnt believe I messed it up im my run!

Next run I exploded on a tuck flip! ….. pissed

That was IT for Mcgazza!

Fellow Kiwi Conner Mac-EF was there too and riding really well. Unfortunatly he had a bad stack on a fronto at the end of a good run and popped the ol shoulder… heal up brah!

The Kiwis didn’t do to well this weekend but we WILL BE BACK!

I did have alot of fun riding the course… it’s one of the better ones out there… props to Smutok and Highland crew for a good job on the cours and thanks to Matt and crew for having me to stay!

- Mcgazza

McGarry, Swiss Freeride Epic

McGazza with an epic freeride day update, check it!

Went on a siiiiick all day Switzerland mega freeride extravagaaaanza tour yesterday… 8am to 10pm of driving/training/bussing/metaling/pushing and riding.

We jumped in my good mate Ramon’s van and assembled a few other members of the Swiss Army
(Manual, Sven ,Joel) and headed toward the mountains. We drove onto a train and went through a mountain on a train (while sitting in the car) which was pretty trippy. We then did a quick shuttle of a walking track which was sick.

Then it was time for some big missions… we caught a bus at the top of Thyon 2000 mountain which was a 45minute bus ride followed by over an hour of flowwy walking track style DH riding, but it also had crazy bits where we literally rode through random peoples backyards, past their washing line and everthing, pretty funny!

We tried to ride a chute we saw from the road but it turned out to have bigger rocks than we thought. I was riding my 4inch slopestyle bike and it was abit of a handfull! Some bigger tyres would have been nice!

It was a super good day and we did some awesome riding that was very uniquely Switzerland. I’m so lucky to have friends who live here and know where to go!

Cheers brahs! – McGazza

Kelly McGarry Tour of Destruction: USA – Europe

McGazza has been BUSY!! He brings us up to speed, check’er out!

After having a bloody awesome time at the US open race at Diablo park in New jersey, I packed up my bikes and jumped on a plane to Switzerland where my good mate Ramon Hunziker picked me up from the airport. (cheers Brah!!)

After sleeping off some jetlag it was straight on the road to FISE competition in Montpellier, FRANCE. We took a detour and headed to some epic French trails… we got a session in when we got there and then stayed the night hoping for the big sesh in the morn… unfortunately the weather gods weren’t having a part of that plan and we awoke to pouring rain… so we slammed a couple of croissants and a coffee or three and cut our losses and headed to Montpellier to check out the course and set up camp.

We arrived in Montpell and I was instantly stoked, catching up with buddies I haven’t seen in a year and the course was pretty legit with a 40ft plus mega ramp type jump, an in out fruit bowl jump and a nice finish line jump to top it off. The best FISE course I have seen yet.

The weather was looking shady for the weekend so the organisers decided to run qualis on Friday which meant not to much practice for us.

My quails went pretty terribly to be honest! I was having a good first run but when I 360d out of the fruit bowl I landed off to the right in the soft dirt and I lost a bunch of speed and couldn’t trick the last jump… pissed!

My second run I had a lot of pressure on myself and I ended up overshooting the mega ramp on a flip! SO pissed!

So that was it… sometimes it doesn’t go to plan!! The rest of the weekend was awesome though! BMX park blew my mind… those guys are super GNAR… Pat Casey ripping the first ever Decade flip which was amazing to watch.

We had a great time with the FISE crew and rapped it up and headed back to the land of SWITZ… except I jumped on a plane and headed for Holland for a few days to ride and visit some friends…

I had a pretty huge crash at the Midden Berm trails and ripped a massive hole in my elbow and had to sample the dutch medical system…. 20 stiches later and a pretty massive medical bill I was back on the street!

So this leg of the trip has had some ups and downs but HEY its all part of the gig. Ya never know where your bike is going to take you…. Sometimes to the podium…. sometimes to the HOSPITAL!

So that’s a bit of what has been up over the last couple weeks. It has been pretty hectic on the road all the time but it’s a hell of a lot of fun riding different spots, meeting cool people and in some cases sampling the healthcare systems.. hahaha
Cheers! – McGazza