Matt Fairbrother is an extremely level-headed seventeen-year old Kiwi enduro racer who is currently taking part in the 2022 Enduro World Series (EWS). This is his first ever time outside of New Zealand and he’s made the trip happen through incredible hard work, gaining local and international sponsorships and by bike backing between stages. He’d been staying in a tent a lot but enjoyed a complimentary stay at Hideout during his stay in Morzine.
I’ve kind of been on two wheels my whole life. I think I would’ve been about 11-12 when I first started mountain biking and I got my first full suspensions. My dad started to get back into biking then. He used to be super into it when he was younger. I wanted to start to join him. I started doing jumps in the local park, nothing exciting. After a year or two of that I started to go up into the local hill in Christchurch (New Zealand) and started to enjoy the downhill side a lot more.
Publicity was never the goal with bike packing from Scotland to Slovenia. It was definitely a challenge to myself… I do like a good challenge. But also being seventeen and having to come to the opposite side of the world is not cheap. I’m not old enough to get a licence over here so I couldn’t drive. I dunno it seemed like a good idea! I thought about it for a long time before I told anyone else about it.
That journey took Matthew over 1500km through six countries over the course of six days. The highs and lows of such a feat were plentiful.
One of the biggest highs was when I was leaving the start of the EWS in Slovenia. As I was going out of the pits people were shouting and cheering and that felt really good. I think the lowest low was in Germany when it was wet for multiple days and I just wasn’t having fun. It definitely changes the whole vibe of it when everything is wet.
I loved my stay in Morzine. Morzine is awesome! I’ve never been anywhere where there’s physically that much mountain biking, with chairlifts and bike parks all over the place. That’s something we don’t have in NZ and something I’ve never experienced before, so that was cool. I didn’t have too much time there to ride everything multiple times but Pleney black was really cool.
The coolest part of Hideout Hostel is you’re with lots of people who get enjoyment out of the same things. Even though you might not know anyone else there you’ve already got a connection. The food in the restaurant was awesome too, I was a big fan of the veggie gyozas! There was space to do work too. I still had quite a bit of schoolwork to do! Our school year finishes at the end of the year. I wanna see how far I can take biking but I guess it’s good to have a back up plan.
If you’re looking to get into mountain biking I’d say just give it a go. Our community is so supportive. You’d never be looked at badly for giving something new a go. That’s something I’ve learnt over last couple of months, it’s so supportive.
Sponsorship is another thing I’ve learnt about over the last few months. That intention of gain. If you want to get started I’d say start out at a local level, learn how that works, build on that if you can and then see what other options come up. Last December I had a big article on Pink Bike and I think that got me some good publicity. I heard my name was being mentioned with Deviate so I sent them a message and it went from there. They’ve now paid for my bike pack gear and a tent and my flights from Geneva to Canana, the US and back to Switzerland.
The dream for me is to be able to bike as a job and turn it into a living. I’d love to make it sustainable so I’m able to do it for years. The best advice I’ve received is that there’s always a way to make something work. You can look at that with biking and with life. That’s something which is always in the back of my head. If you wanna do something, make it happen.
I asked Matthew his favourite Disney character…
I don’t watch movies. You’ve put me on the spot here! I’ve never been into movies or TV shows at all. I’ve never kind of sat down and watched a movie.
Matt is currently in Canada for two weeks up until the Whistler EWS. He then flies to the States to compete in two more before flying back to Switzerland where he hopes to drop back into the Morzine or Chamonix area to finish off the season.
Deviate sponsored my flights for that whole loop from and to Geneva. I’ve bought my plane ticket back home though. The plan is to go home after that but we’ll see!
If you would like to help towards Matthew’s goals please visit his GoFundMe page here. You can also follow him on Instagram here. If you would like to be considered for a complimentary stay please contact us here.