Reach For The Sky – The Cam Zink story

November 5th, 2015

By Andrew Dodd in Features

Cam Zink – No such thing as a free ride

Cam Zink ‘Reach for the Sky’ was released digitally this week, so we got a copy and kicked back with a cold beer to find out more about one of mountain biking’s gnarliest characters…

Cam Zink story

Reach for the Sky is captured and produced by longterm friend Ryan Cleek, and it’s a hell of a ride.

There’s been a lot of talk in the MTB media recently about the safety in free ride events, the commitment that the riders give – and how they are supported.

Reach for the Sky looks at the journey Cam Zink has been on, and how his career as a mountain bike free rider brings huge highs and painful, depressing lows. Being able to consistently perform in a game that’s so immensely risky can barely be fathomed from the outside.

This insight to Cam’s mountain biking journey makes those huge risks and the commitment he makes somehow understandable.

Cam Zink story

Reach for the Sky is crammed with archive footage from Cam’s early years, and all the drama and grit from some of the biggest risks taken in mountain biking.

A host of mountain biking’s most popular characters take us through Zink’s life, with Kirt Voreis telling the story of where things went from the days when Zink was transitioning from a racer to a free rider.

It’s amazing to see the focus – even early on – that Cam has, and how un-phased he is about the smaller things. He see’s a goal and he focusses on it totally.

As with any great sporting moment, there is always a lot more going on behind the scenes, and for the run up to Zink’s famous back flip at the 2013 Red Bull rampage, he came in to the event with a serious injury. Even the day before the event he was barely able to ride, and was having his leg drained in hospital.

This film shows all the gritty details, and the emotions that go with it.

There’s a really nice human element to this film. By saying that, we refer to other riders like Brandon Semenuk being almost robotic in his computer game skill level. He doesn’t seem to let the world in to his life much, and just gets on with the job at hand.

Cam Zink though, is a guy comfortable in his own skin – and that makes watching this film easy. He’s a pretty regular guy with normal values – the difference between him and us is his total commitment to wanting to do something, and acting on it.

Cam ZInk

“All of my friends are mountain bikers, and every time they come over they all talk about Cam Zink . He’s got this racer mentality of ‘I know what its going to take to get there’ , but he has the Freestyle mentality of ‘I know where I want to go’ ” Travis Pastrana

Reach for the Sky is one hell of a film and is definitely a film you’ll watch a few times. Download it in time for the weekend, kick back and crack open a few cold beers.

It is available now via iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Playstation and Xbox for £10

The official movie website is right here


 

 

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