Fresh from four weekends of back to back racing, our Mechanic and Team Rider, Matt has unpacked his Megatower, dusted off the Mediterranean roost, given it a quick bolt check and made a cuppa ready to tell us all how it went…

Photo: Unsponsored Media @unsponsoreduk

After placing 5th at 'Ard Moors and then an astonishing 3rd at the British Champs at Tweedlove on the domestic scene, the following weekend Matt grabbed his bike, passport and two multipacks of penguins to go racing at Round 8 of the EWS at Loudenvielle and The EWS Trophy of Nations in Finale Ligure.

 

Rd8 EWS Loudenvielle, 24th Sept – 23rd U21

Arriving at Loudenvielle and seeing the rain fall Matt was quietly confident and looking forward to racing in conditions similar to the trails of home. Having had a summer of sending dusty turns on the Moor, his brain was quite calibrated for ‘Matt Speed’ on the wet roots into the start of Stage 1, which saw him have a stack hard enough to turn his bars. Reaching for the multitool and correcting the bars mid stage, meant a finish of 52nd - not an ideal start!

After getting too excited on Stage 1, Matt reigned it in and in his words ‘just cruised the following stages and kept it at a steady speed as I was that far back’. Well… he wasn’t exactly cruising finishing 7th on Stage 2 and then 10th on Stage 3, clawing back time for that early mistake.

Despite saddle time of 8hrs 25min, 2500m+ of descent and 30 miles in his legs, Matt stayed strong with rapid times on Stage 4, 5, and 6 to bring it home in 23rd in the U21s.

Matt ran the exact same set up at Loudenvielle to that he would run at home, same pressures and tyre choice keeping the bike familiar in familiar conditions. However he did mention one thing he would change…”next time I’ll be sure not to leave my shorty at home”… we’re assuming he’s still talking about his tyre choice?

So, then it was off to the Trophy of Nations. Recovery was key here, making sure he was fighting fit for the next appearance the following weekend on the EWS stage again. So an alternating fuelling strategy of pasta, pizza, pasta, pizza, pasta was employed to keep energy stores brim ready for another weekend of big mountain racing, luckily he was racing in Italy!

Photo: JWDT Photography @jwdtphotography

EWS Trophy of Nations Finale Ligure, 2nd October – 5th

Matt received an invitation to represent GBR in the EWS Trophy of Nations alongside fellow countrymen Jack Piercy and Dom Platt after accruing an impressive amount of UCI qualifying points throughout his 2022 campaign. Finale couldn’t have been more different in terms of conditions to Loudenvielle, with thick dust covering the rocky tracks into the town.

Knowing that Team France were the chasing team on each stage meant Team GB had to keep it lit from the top to the valley floor. So from the start Matt knew this was going to be a physical day. Especially when the Race Organisers email you the night before to cancel SS4 fearing the race would be ‘too tough’.

Stage 1 set the tone for the day, starting in the fog high above the town and finishing in the sunshine at Finale, Team GBR would be racing at full chat all the way to the bottom for 15 mins!!! A brutal start to the race which Matt said: ‘was like riding through 7 differing microclimates’. A solid start to the day, Matt crossed the line in 12th. Stage 2 was another 15min lung-buster taking in the Rollercoaster trail, dancing though the trees before finishing in a super fast technical rock garden. Team GBR had another clean run on a stage which saw mechanicals across the field.

Stage 3 was a shorter stage and one Matt enjoyed the most: “We could run Stage 3 super close to each other as it wasn’t as dusty. The feeling of racing at that speed in a train of the best riders in the UK was incredible”. Matt finished this stage in 11th.

After the cancellation of Stage 4 it was on to Stage 5, the infamous DH Men’s track, or as Matt called it ‘Uphill Men’s track’. A fatiguing climb from the gun into a rock fest plummet into the town for the finish line. Matt commented:

“The atmosphere on Stage 5 was unreal and the Megatower was awesome on the rougher more demanding stage, it felt super planted and allowed me to get away with some questionable line choices as I started to tire toward the end of the day, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from a bike!”