Matt Hunter In Peru

Matty

Date: 2008-01-01

Living it up in the Off Season
Matt Hunter talks about his 2007 winter adventure
Cam McRae
Click all images to enlarge

 

From the outside it probably seems like the life of a  pro freerider is all free beer and carbon fibre parts. Over the years I’ve learned that during the warm months these guys actually work pretty hard.  Filming can be grueling work – riding the same line over and over again and carrying your 45lb bike back up every time. And then there's the waiting around in airports or in crappy hotels sitting out bad weather.  You’ll find that guys like Wade Simmons, Darren Berrecloth and Thomas Vanderham have back to back engagements for almost the whole summer.  I’m not saying they deserve our sympathy, but they work harder than most people think. 

 

In the off season though many of them live like trustafarians – traveling to warm places to surf, heli-skiing and riding their bikes while Joe Average is trying to make a buck.  Last spring I had a chance to ask Matt Hunter about his off-season and last year he squeezed out more adventures than most.  Matty is one of those people who make you feel better about life just be being around.  He’s amazingly pleasant and positive and he seems to glow with energy. 

Here’s our chat about his travels and his look ahead to the summer of 2007.

 


The Unit.

Cam McRae - We had a pretty snowy winter in B.C. this year. Are you a skier or snowboarder? Get many days in?

 

Matt Hunter - I ski, I have been out a lot this year since I got home. Yesterday I skied Sun Peaks and there was 20cm fresh, it was great.

 

Cam McRae- I heard you had some other adventures in 2007. Weren't you in Central America? How did that come to be? Matt Hunter - Yeah, that's right. One of my bros gave me a sweet van, a 1985 Toyota named "the Unit". My friend Mitch and I drove it to Costa Rica, camping and surfing. It took us two months, going slow and stopping to surf all the good spots, stopping to fix the van. We had a really good time. We had a speargun so we cooked fresh fish, and we just slept in our hammocks. I brought my P.3 but it wasn't really a riding trip, I just rode it to the store to pick up huevos and cervezas.

 


Dakine Cross X gloves - your protection from a world that bites.

CM - And then another opportunity arose while you were there? Where did you head to next and how did that roll out? Matt - OK well what happened was I called my friends back home. I knew they wanted to do a winter trip as well, and I thought they might want to join us in Central America. But they told me they were planning a trip to Peru. They were all stoked, they had just bought new mid travel bikes and they were getting all ready to go. At this point I had been surfing for two months and I was itching to ride my bike. So I bought a plane ticket and called Specialized. I was all in a panic, "send me a bike it's an emergency!" So they sent a Trail SX to Costa Rica, and I took it with me to Peru.

 


How's the break?

CM - And how was the riding there?

 

Matt - Just picture this. It's January. The riding at home is shit. You are in Peru with your three best friends, doing shuttle runs every day. Some of the trails start above 5000 metres! The rides in Peru are undescribable, they are amazing. There were so many days after riding that we were just blown. Blown minds from the mountains we were riding.

 

CM - Was there one trail that was your favourite?

 

Matt - Well it is so hard to pick, because we rode a ton of different trails. But there was one in Ollantaytambo that was unbelievable, and actually an XC trail we did in Puerto Inca that I will never forget. We pedaled up this mountain all day and then it took us like 20 minutes to get down. I have never ridden corners that good.

 

CM - Do you speak Spanish? How did you get along with the locals?

 

Matt - Un poquito. I can speak some Spanish, I am good with the present tense. It's a bit rough but I can communicate. I have been emailing with some of the riders I met in Peru, and the emails keep me learning.

 


So dreamy!  Matt is catch of the day.

CM - What was the food and drink like? Did you down any pisco sours?

 

Matt - The food and drink was good. I downed a few piscos for sure, but they gross. Too much sugar in there. But it seems like they come free with every meal, so you drink them anyways.

 

CM - What advice would you give someone thinking of heading to South America to ride a mountain bike?

 

Matt - Well if you want to go to Peru, there is only one guy to call. His name is Wayo, he owns inkasadventures.com
He knows all the good trails and he is fast as hell. Without him, we wouldn't have had the trip we did. He showed us all these really remote downhill sections of the Inca trail that we would never have found.

 


Epic.

CM - What's up for you this coming year in terms of filming, contests, travel etc?

 

Matt - I am filming a part in the new Collective film. There are only 8 riders this year so I want to have a sick part. I am really trying to do something different, big mountain style. You''ll see.

As for contests though, I don't really care about them. I don't want to spend all of my time practicing tricks on dirt jumps, I just want to ride. I have told my sponsors this and they are cool with it. If there was another Rampage or something, I would be stoked... but the slopestyles are just trick contests and I am not really into it.

 

CM - Any goals for the season?

 

Matt - Well this year I have been building some really, ummm, "different" lines. I want everything to be like a nasty transfer, or hip, or jumps into and out of berms and stuff. Just the stuff that I daydream about and wonder if it is possible. I want to have a section in the film that really shows that.

 


Which way to the beach?

CM - What bikes will you be riding?

 

Matt - Demo 7 and 8.

 

CM - Any sponsor changes at all? Did the changes at Manitou affect you?

 

Matt - Yeah, I won't be on Manitou this year. The changes with the Hayes takeover was shitty and the whole team was cut. So we will see what happens, I just want to have a really good fork to ride. (Note - this was in early 2007.  Ed.)

 

CM - Anything you are particularly stoked about when you think of the coming year?

 

Matt - Well there is a trail that we built last year and it is top secret. It is insane. I just really want the snow to melt on it so I can shred it with my boys.  Also, I am going riding in South Africa for Helly Hansen. Pretty stoked for that too.

 


Fording the stream Kamloops style.

CM - Is there anything new happening in the Kamloops scene?

 

Matt - The Kamloops scene is growing so fast. It is seriously like Whistler here in the summer. Every pickup has a dakine tailgate pad and a bike in the back. It is a riding heaven. There are even all these hot girls starting to ride. It blows my mind.

 

CM - How is the Kamloops Bike Ranch developing?

 

Matt - The Ranch is sweet. We have all the jumps from New World Disorder filming their entire last movie there. haha, kidding. But they built a bunch of great jumps and we have all of those to ride, and I have a mini excavator to use this weekend so we should get some sweet new lines going.

 


Machu Pichu.

CM - Where do you spend most of your time riding when you are home?

 

Matt - Top Secret.

 

CM - Who are your riding bros?

Matt - We have a tight group. It is called IMH. It stands for a name this old lady called us once because we were *gasp* sitting on the sidewalk in front of her house waiting for a shuttle. We even got some dirt on her sidewalk.

The group is B Foulg, Whiteman, Smoky, Chunk, Alsner, Coop C, Raw Willy, Carlos, the Proz, The Pirate, Raggedy and myself. I have a tough time keeping up with those guys.

I went to Peru with Alsner, Coop C and Raw Willy.

 


Gearing up to get down.

CM - And what goes down when your ass isn't in the saddle?

 

Matt - When I am not riding I pretty much just hang out at the mall and bum smokes, go to movies, you know. It's cool.
No seriously there is lots of good fishing and hunting and dirtbiking and river floating and all sorts of fun stuff to do here. So we try to do it all.

 

CM - Any plans for the off season next year? Back to Peru?

 

Matt - Yeah I have to go back there for sure. Every winter I try to do a surf trip as well. It usually ends up being a few of the IMH who go.  I think we might go to the Phillipines this year.

 


Sailing in a sea of green.

No word on whether Matt is in the Phillipines but I'd say odds are good he's somewhere warm right about now.

 

Want to live like a pro freerider?  Do you think they really work hard in the summer?  Hit us up with your comments about Matty or any of his travel destinations.

 

Cam McRae