Conor Macfarlane
“during practice I got comfy on everything bar the biggest feature, then tried to tick that last one off – that’s when it all came unstuck”
It’s pretty special being selected for Rampage, knowing that they chose you over multiple other deserving riders! Preparing properly can be hard – you can’t ride the big stuff all year or it’ll catch up with you and crashes will happen. I try to spend as much time as I can on my downhill bike, riding a bit of everything – big jumps, downhill and some steep, loose terrain. A bit of time on trick jumps is always good as well.
Physically, the biggest thing that helps is being ‘dig fit’, so the dig days don’t wear you out as much and you feel fresher when it comes to time to ride. I like to get the biggest build done as soon as I can, to take some pressure off. I generally go pretty hard digging for the first four days, then, when we’re allowed to ride, I button off a bit.
My approach was to use a similar line to last year, to save on build time, but make it a lot more chilled. Scoping a line needs to be done right because it impacts your score massively. Due to spending so much time building the line, you know it pretty well by the end, so when it comes to testing it you’re normally pretty confident it’ll work, which helps with pre-event nerves.
During practice I got comfy on everything bar the biggest feature on my line, then tried to tick that last one off – that’s when it all came unstuck and I knocked my head. Having really enjoyed riding my line before the crash, it was hard to pull the pin, but your head isn’t worth playing around with, so I had to pull out of the finals.
I wish I’d gone faster into my drop! Had I done, I’d most likely have been able to walk away from the event feeling satisfied I’d put down a good run. Crashing is all part of the sport, though. This year’s finals were some of the best riding I’ve ever seen at Rampage and the weather was amazing, which plays a huge part. Overall, it was an amazing event and I’m stoked I was able to be a part of it!