RAW TALENT

One of my favourite anecdotes about Matt is from 2008, when he was dirtbagging around Europe. In those days, 4X was a big deal, contested by the who’s who of the sport due to the intense level of competition. I was at the World Champs in Val di Sole, Italy, watching Elite 4X training, standing on a berm with a bunch of fast Frenchmen around me, including Fabian Barel. The track had a straight with two lines: one with a massive double, the other with a slightly smaller (but still huge) triple. You know it’s a tough feature when there’s a cluster of the world’s best riders gathered before it, psyching up. There