Hunting trails: Flow trails, reindeer burgers, and airtime with Matt Hunter
The road ahead of us is hazy, the sun beating down mercilessly onto the dusty hood, streaming in through the cracked windscreen of Matt’s Toyota pickup. We turn into a residential area and make a sudden U-turn. Matt pulls up on the curb. To our left are newly built detached houses with shiny, polished SUVs on their driveways. To our right is the trailhead of one of the greatest trails that’s about to top my list of greatest-ever rides.
I didn’t hesitate for a moment when Matt Hunter invited me to visit him in his hometown. “When you’re in British Columbia, you have to come to Kamloops!” he’d implored when I bumped into him in Italy a few weeks prior to the trip. Now here I am, riding alongside him and his friend and filmmaker Matt Miles on a dry, dusty climbing trail to reach the top of the descent. They both grew up here, but have since travelled the world producing those insanely cool and envy-inducing Trail Hunter videos. I ask them where they’ve found the best trails. “Kamloops,” they reply matter-of-factly. “That’s why you’re here, right?”
I’ve now been in Canada for two weeks, with Whistler, Squamish, and North Vancouver ticked off. Kamloops definitely has its own charm: it’s much hotter here, the landscape is more barren, in fact it’s more like a desert than forested land. There are big grassy hillsides with ribbons of sandy singletrack snaking their way down to the lakes in the valleys. It’s all high-speed here, with much more flow and big booters. To reach here from Vancouver, you’ve faced a four-hour drive in isolation, passing some sparsely populated villages before the landscape turns completely uninhabited. There’s a 150 km section of solitude where you can’t even get radio reception – let alone a mobile phone signal. I was furiously checking the fuel gauge on route; it wasn’t the sort of place I wanted to run empty.
How it all began – the Ultimate Freeride Challenge
Matt’s career began thirteen years ago, back when he was nineteen years old. With the fleeting loan of his sister’s computer, he edited a one-minute clip for a competition entitled the ‘Ultimate Freeride Challenge.’ It was enough: the prize was around $ 8,000 and a sponsorship contract for the following year. He duly quit his job at the local sawmill; the cash was sufficient for living costs and to fuel his thirsty truck. Matt laughs as he recalls how pleased his dad had been; he’d considered the sawmill too dangerous, and rated the risks of freeriding as more stable.
While Matt rapidly gained exposure and acclaim, he didn’t immediately rush into contests or events. Competition obviously wasn’t what drove him; instead of measuring himself against other riders he turned his focus to film projects, taking part in classics like Seasons, Follow Me, Strength in Numbers and From the Inside Out. This gave him the freedom to head out on casual rides with mates when he wanted – much like we were doing today.
Flow before photos
The day’s plan is simple: to avoid the midday heat, we’ll ride in the cooler periods after sunrise and before sunset. In the middle of the day we’ll relax, check out the Wild, Wild, West-esque city and get organized for the evening’s BBQ. We decide to shuttle so that we can get more descents in. The car is deposited at the supermarket carpark on the valley floor, and we shuttle up towards the wealthy SUV-parading residential area above town. Everything’s super chilled-out, but I’m strangely nervous. What am I getting myself into? Am I actually capable of riding with these two cult FEST series figures? How big are these jumps that they’ll expect me to take? I survive the first run, and breathe a massive sigh of relief: the two riders might love airtime under their tires, but they’re also content just shredding for shredding’s sake, weaving down hillsides in a dusty train for fun. And Strava? They’ve never even visited the website. Speed is just a side dish for them; they’re more into fun and flow. They warn me about a photo-taking ban on the weekend’s best trails – not because they’re worried too many riders will flood the trails, but because they don’t want the flow interrupted. At first I’m a bit taken aback, but it doesn’t take long before I understand.
Like being back at school
Can anywhere else really compete with Kamloops when it comes to flow? Compared to the rest of BC, the trails are faster, with more flow and fewer tight corners. They’re all mega high speed, but be prepared to ride in a dusty haze as it flings up in the wake of the ones ahead of you in a train of riders. In classic copy-paste style – like being back in a GCSE maths exam – I blindly imitate what the other two riders are doing. It works (getting me another “high score” in the process). Matt is a brilliant rider to watch: so smooth, and even on the smallest jumps he’s able to generate way more airtime than most riders can ever get on the A-line in Whistler.
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The ultimate riding day is rounded off with a chilled out BBQ on the edge of the Thompson River, where we’re joined by some of Matt’s family – his wife Nikki, his son Robbie, and his dad. There are homemade deer burgers and plenty of chat about the next day’s ride on the menu. Sunday will roll out with a casual breakfast at Matt’s place, where my attention is seized by a giant set of antlers on the wall. Matt explains how he and his then heavily-pregnant wife had spent hours bushwhacking after the elk before coming home with enough meat to fill the freezer. For breakfast we eat some of the best bacon I’ve ever tasted. His secret recipe: maple syrup. (This is Canada, could it be anything else?)
Be yourself!
Before we get back on the bikes, we nip into the garage; Matt’s headset needs greasing. I’m curious to know what’s changed for him in the sport over the last few years. He shrugs, and says not much. He rides dirt jumps, but he’s not a very good dirt jumper. He likes riding downhill, but doesn’t see himself as a downhiller. He’s alright at everything, but not perfect at anything, he explains with a grin. For him, nothing beats following his mates down a dusty train on a flow trail – then retelling the story. Not to bombard you on social media with it, but through his latest video projects. Matt has stayed true to his original breakthrough, doing exactly what he finds fun. Together with his mate Matty Miles, they’re able to travel the world and share it with us through their insanely good videos. And isn’t that the inspiration we all need to get out and ride?
