Matthew Fairbrother showed up in Scotland for the 2022 EWS season opener, at age 17, having never left New Zealand before, and with no plan for what was going to follow that first race. And in what is one of the wildest mountain bike stories of the year, he wound up bikepacking over 3,400 km between races over the course of the season — and still finished 13th overall in the U21 Men’s category. So we sat down to get the whole story, which somehow just gets even crazier from here.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Planning the tour (2:17)
• Matthew’s gear (7:37)
• Bike setup & weight (10:55)
• Matthew’s approach to sufferfests (13:32)
• Hallucinations and “fluffy animals” (15:20)
• Motivation & the mental game (17:40)
• Sleep, nutrition, and animal attacks (22:20)
• Scotland to Switzerland to Slovenia & diving into races (26:17)
• Making it to North America (32:05)
• Other racer’s reactions (34:27)
• Whistler & over-enthusiasm (35:46)
• Moose encounters & crossing the US border (42:44)
• Burke & Sugarloaf races (46:28)
• Wrapping up the EWS circuit in Europe (48:00)
• Lessons learned (54:11)
• The MTB community (58:07)
• Matthew’s 2023 plans (58:53)

RELATED LINKS:

• Eric Olsen (Ep.126)
• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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