Have you ever been hit up to do
shampoo commercials?
No I haven’t, but I want to look
for some hair care sponsors. Why
not? I think it’d be sick for a brand
like Paul Mitchell to sponsor some
extreme sports guys.
That would be pretty sweet.
OK, so let’s talk about Red Bull
Rampage 2014. What did you
think of the new location?
I think there was definitely a
calling for a new area after four
years on the other side of the
mountain. There’s wasn’t really
much scope for finding new lines
to ride, and that’s a big part of
Rampage. It was cool that the
organisers listened to us riders
and put in a big effort to confirm
the new venue. Terrain-wise, it
was a bit different as it spent its
vertical quite quickly and then
flattened out at the bottom. A lot
of lines didn’t work as well as we
thought they would, but when we
were digging it was insane. There
were so many people all over the
hillside and some of the lines that
got developed were pretty heavy.
Was it easier or harder to start
with a blank canvas for building
lines?
When I got there I went to the
riders’ right line where Andreu
(Lacondeguy) and those guys
were building, but there was a
weird vibe there and I ended up
moving over, so I didn’t stand on
anyone’s toes.
Take us through this year’s
Rampage. Man, it started out
pretty rough for you.
Yeah I had that huge crash in
practice. I was super-psyched
96 | FreestyleXtreme.com
“ It’s choice that
all my mates
around the world
can come and
check out where I
live and our riding
scene ”
- McGazza on Crankworx NZ
p. Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
Obviously we had to do a lot
of digging above the features
that the organisers built. Some
massive operations went down
on the shovels. It was easier in a
sense because there was nothing
there, but at the same time it was
tricky finding lines that worked
well and there was a fair bit of
competition to find the best line
early on.