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Watch Cam Zink overshoot an 80 ft canyon gap

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150 foot shoot into 80 foot canyon gap. No big deal for a guy as talented as 2010 Redbull Ramage Winner, Cam Zink, until it goes wrong. Hearing him scream as he realizes he’s going to overshoot the jump and is forced to bail is horrifying. Here’s what he had to say:

“So you wanna see something gnarly? I was scared for my life and can’t believe my legs and knees are in tact… With 5 knee surgeries, two broken feet and a having a rod in my tibia prior to this plane crash I guess I’m doin ok if this 80 foot bail to flat only bruised my heels. Shot on my CONTOUR Roam2”

Watch from the spectators perspective after the break….


 

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29 Comments
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Gillis
Gillis
11 years ago

It’s just a matter of time before one of these guys goes and kills himself. I’m surprised there haven’t been more spinal or neck injuries.

Ryan
Ryan
11 years ago

Says a lot for the safety gear these days. While that was a hard landing, that was far from the worst crashes I’ve seen in vids. Still nasty and something this XC racer would never try.

bk
bk
11 years ago

Guy is so lucky to have landed on his GIANT BALLS!

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

Ryan – there were guys competing with out armor.

dale
dale
11 years ago

Heel slams hurt so much and that was a HUGE one..

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
11 years ago

hearing cam say ‘ohmygod’ when he hit the eject button got me queezy. glad he’s good considering that.
he’s gonna want revenge on that gap next year.

BT
BT
11 years ago

I was actually surprised at the lack of safety equipment I saw on many of Rampage riders

Mindless
Mindless
11 years ago

Not even gloves?

dave
dave
11 years ago

would you watch guys playing russian roulette on TV?

that’s basically what this is. I think its disgusting. just because there are guys willing to do this sh!t doesn’t mean its ethical to film.

Willapa
Willapa
11 years ago

Holy crap. In the POV video, that sh!t looks completely insane. Those guys are nuts!

dale
dale
11 years ago

It is dangerous but as insane as it looks these guys have a good grip on the physics of these jumps from experience. There are several other sports on TV that have a higher death/injury rate.

notapro
notapro
11 years ago

@dave – i watch people texting while driving by me on my bike. got some crazy disgusting wright brother footage for ya. bikes tryin to be planes?! wtf?

Dave
11 years ago

What is unethical about filming this? Some of the guys were wearing cervical braces, spine protectors, arm and leg armor. Some wore not much more than a full face helmet and a tank top. It’s not like they were crushing kittens under their tires for the fun of it.

It’s a dangerous sport, but we all take our safety into our OWN hands.

Duder
Duder
11 years ago

The comments on this post (along with any of the other finely crafted ones posted by Saris) should be reason enough to understand that forcing DH/FR content the frequenters of this site is not worth your time anymore. Some folks have a very very narrow worldview of cycle sport. It’s a shame.

dave
dave
11 years ago

maybe ‘unethical’ is too strong, but really this kind of stuff isn’t the sport of cycling to me…its like comparing motogp to that stupid motorcycle jumping at the X-Games.

I don’t think its sporting to have an event where the most suicidal person wins.

fatguyonalittle
fatguyonalittle
11 years ago

Free Will… people think we are crazy here riding our bikes in the woods at OMG 25 miles per hour…

I am serious here… but why bail off the bike? it seems like the 8-12? inches of travel the bikes have it would be a safer bet? I really don’t know so I am asking…

David
David
11 years ago

Not terribly clear to me as a cross country rider- would it have been a lot worse if he tried landing it on his bike? Probably slam into his stem super hard?

…not that he could have landed it by any stretch, but wouldn’t those 12 inches of travel helped soften the landing a little?

Dave
Dave
11 years ago

If you watch it from the exterior camera angles, you can see that the bike was over-rotating, he would have gone in face first if he had hung on. No amount of suspension is gonna save you from that kind of digger.

Dave
Dave
11 years ago

I don’t think it’s fair to call these guys suicidal. They’re all extremely skilled and know the risks inherent in the sport. Nobody likes to crash, but pushing the boundaries of what’s possible is what it takes to win. You can’t really compare this form of cycling to racing; it’s about impressing a panel of judges, not racing for the fastest time. It’s like comparing gymnastics and track & field, they’re both sports that use your feet. There the similarities end.

MB
MB
11 years ago

I agree with some of the posters here on letting these guys do what they do. This is much safer than F1, NASCAR, big wave surfing, blah blah blah.

Also, my fav part? “Hey Bros” at :30 before he drops into the final run-in. Reminds of Cam McCaul (?) who had conversations with camera crews while back flipping.

Alan Stevens
11 years ago

How many riders have died from crashing during the Redbull rampage? How about the Tour de France? Just sayin’….

Mr Bojangles
Mr Bojangles
11 years ago

these guys are the .00001%. They have skills beyond what dave the spandex roadie could ever dream of accomplishing. So to call them foolish, this event disgusting, or to compare it to suicide, is simply pure ignorance. Any athlete has the right to refuse any event if they deem it unsafe. Is it dangerous? Obviously. But any more dangerous than popular sports like American Football, F1, MotoGP? Absolutely not, as the consequence of death is an actual reality in some sports, but not really freeride.

Kendall
Kendall
11 years ago

Here is the P.O.V. video that seems hard to find:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c51_1349837642
Mad props to Cam Zink!

Bubbrubb
Bubbrubb
11 years ago

based on the comments, it is incredible to me the lack of knowledge some people have — and yet are willing to say *anything* about something they clearly don’t understand.
First “dave” calling it disgusting and comparing it to russian roulette. Really dude? How about the fact that only 19 states require the use of a helmet on all motorcycles, and 29 states have no bicycle helmet laws? That is way more disgusting IMO.
and then to claim that “this isn’t cycling” is total BS. Like comparing one form of art to another and saying oil isn’t art but sidewalk chalk is.
At least these guys don’t dope or shave their legs. They don’t blame the $ or their coach or their team for going astray and doing illegal stuff, then deny deny deny until 12 years later when admitting doping turns out to be quite lucrative since they can’t compete on a bike anymore.

Nope, these dudes just RIDE, they throw all that BS out the window from day one. Like a kid who loves to ride at 5 years old, these guys just continued to love riding. INjuries won’t stop them. One day, if they lose the love, they’ll stop. That’s the cleanest form of Cycling there is.

And to those who wonder why he ditched the bike in mid-air: his bike has roughly 8″ of suspension travel. At that height and speed, landing on flat (he clearly knew just after takeoff that he was going to overshoot the landing transition) would be almost more dangerous. He’d definitely blow through the travel and likely bottom out his crotch on the toptube, his hands would have blown off the bars and maybe taken the stem to the face. Who knows, but the point is having a 40 lb angry piece of sharp metal between your legs when you huck 60 feet to a flat landing is not a good idea.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
11 years ago

bubbrubb is on point. these guys are pure riders & they’ve been evolving way before the cameras ever showed up. i used to go up to bc around the north shore in the mid to late 90s and it was going off then. Rampage is a decade old already.

not having 1/2 of this kind of skill to sack up to ride like this but being a fan and growing up around bmx and moto, it looks like he took the big line and simply got too much speed when he hit the lip. That probably made the bike compress too much which would explain getting bucked as soon as he left it and he instinctively hit the eject button. Cam is a beast. he probably sent that gap 6-7times that day already.

the comments relating to death, ethics, suicidal and landing it are really stupid. when you send anything the point is to know you got it there, right? by land, sea, OR air.

Whason
Whason
11 years ago

Somebody said there were sports on tv more dangerous than this? What sports are those? I did find it odd he wasn’t wearing gloves, but this speaks to the fact that this was probably a routine jump for him. Its kind of like one of us riding our local x country trail that we’ve done a billion times, if i forgot my gloves no big deal, for them, its amazing it takes super confidence and skill to be able to do this. Confidence so unshaken that they aren’t wearing protective equipment.

In fact some of these guys might even think the equipment somehow hinders them or something.

holysmokes
11 years ago

Anyone hating on these guys simply doesn’t have the balls go go anywhere near a DH bike.

off-roadie
off-roadie
11 years ago

I find it funny when pots call kettles black.

Josh
Josh
11 years ago

I personally had 6 friends/acquaintances (people I rode with) die while riding their road bikes. People I know who died while MTBing in any form… 0. I feel much safer flying down a trail in the woods than I do dodging distracted drivers.

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