Mackenzie Barrois is a badass girl that came out of nowhere a few years ago, she made her debut at Vans Rebel Jam at the age of 17 where she finished 4th and can casually 540 out of a bank like it’s nothing. Since then, Mack has been off the radar and we’ve been asking, what happened? We reached out to Mack and we’re excited to hear she’s coming back. Find out what happened here.
“The hype that comes from the women’s BMX community is unreal and I cannot wait to sesh with these awesome women again!”
Alright, the short answer to the big question, “Is the return of the Mack 2.0 happening?” Yes! For the longest, I didn’t even know I fell off, I’ve just been letting life do its thing. Towards the end of 2019, I took a bit of a break from BMX to focus on basketball and my personal relationships. Once the pandemic hit, I picked up riding again occasionally, but I still continued to focus on my personal life. At the end of 2021, I relocated to the east coast with my girlfriend. Once we were settled, I eased back into riding. Unfortunately, as soon as I was ready to go full force, I fell severely ill.
“…it has had me hospitalized, left me unable to move for days and I even had to stop working for 3 months…”
Now the longer, more complicated answer; it has to come with time and the physical leniency my own body shows me. Why, you may ask? Because as minor as psoriasis may sound, it has had me hospitalized, left me unable to move for days and I even had to stop working for 3 months. The autoimmune disease also left me with severe psoriatic arthritis but compared to a year ago, my specialist is seeing a lot of improvement. It’s getting easier each day to continue the healthy lifestyle I led before. I hope to keep progressing with few to little minor setbacks.
A lot has happened since 2019 (my first competition) I graduated, moved to the east coast and now I work full-time as a chef. The hardest part was having to stop riding once my condition progressed so vigorously. It has been way too long since I’ve been able to sesh all day and ride with the strength I used to. With time, I do plan on dropping a street edit and hopefully soon, I’ll be ready to compete again. The hype that comes from the women’s BMX community is unreal and I cannot wait to sesh with these awesome women again!
