Matt Hunter

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    Enduro

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Enduro

I was born in Kamloops, British Columbia in 1983. Singletrack zigzags through the hills behind my parents' house; bikes were freedom. I explored the hills and trails wherever and whenever I could. I was 12 when I got into XC racing. I was really into it until I was about 15, when I started focusing more on DH riding. Some of my friends who I raced with made the same transition, and we started to learn together. We started building big jumps and aggressive trails. We filmed ourselves riding and I made a short video. I entered the video in an online contest, the "Ultimate Freeride Challenge" and ended up winning. That was the beginning of my sponsored career in 2003. Specialized sponsored me then and I have been with Specialized ever since.

My focus has always been shooting photos and filming video segments, that is what I love to do. I really enjoy finding adventure in the mountains - whether it be challenging moves and airs or maybe it's a multiple day ride.

I like watching big mountain skiers and snowboarders, the way they shred the mountains in the snow inspires me on dirt. Besides riding, I surf, fish, and backcountry ski as much as I can.

Sponsors: Specialized, Shimano, Clif Bar, Chromag, MRP, IXS, Fox Racing Shox, Dakine, Contour

Amazing ride, still no gnomes

September 4, 2009

We saw the trail from kilometres away. It was just a faint line on a massive mountain of shale, steam vents shooting skyward to accentuate the hints of trail. That was our first day in Iceland. I had been thinking about riding it since I saw it 4 days ago.

I couldn't imagine the trail being any sicker. The little ribbon snaked its way up the ridge and ended way, way up there. For anyone who loves mountain biking, it was exactly what we dream about.

We were told that we were the first bikes on Blue Mountain, but the trail looked like it was built for riding. Andrew, Joe, Sterling, Mitch and I were totally freaking out - the sun was shining, the trail was fast and flowy, and we were in the most beautiful landscape any of us have ever seen. Every roll in the trail, every time we were treated to a different view we stopped to stare. Iceland is pretty damn cool. The climb was long but the temperature was perfect and the views kept everyone from noticing the grind. The trail down was even more ridiculous. It felt like we were the first riders ever to shred on the moon. Totally nuts.

When we got back to the trailhead we were completey out of energy. Crashes, hike a bikes, long days in the saddle had all added up to make us all feel pretty beat.

Luckily for us there just so happened to be a perfect natural hot spring pool - right beside where the trail ended! What a day!

The only thing that would have made it better was seeing a gnome or two. Maybe tomorrow.

Matty

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