Matt Montross

Matt Montross

Homebase: Portland, OR

So how’d you get hooked on mountain biking?
When I was 15 I got my first non-department store mountain bike and started exploring the local trails. It didn’t take long before I was hooked and swapped my Specialized Hardrock for a Marin Bobcat, then a Cannondale CAAD3. I pulled many of my high school friends into it along the way.

Who or what inspires your racing and style?
I have to be careful with this one since I’m older than many of the top athletes today. When I first got into racing, Thomas Frischknecht was the man everyone wanted to beat. He was competitive in every discipline. Now mountain bike culture is much less about racing, so even though I fit squarely into the racer geek category I admire riders who bring their A game to big races but also do alternative format events like Downieville.

Whatcha got cookin’ for the future? 

I had a pretty severe concussion from a crash in the fall of 2017, so I have been slowly working my way back into riding since.  A lot of what I am focused on is raising awareness about concussion recovery and more importantly prevention as I slowly work my way back into riding more and getting back on the trail.  So far that has been riding the gravel bike and running, as much as I hate to say it.  It’s been a slow road, in part because I have had other head injuries before that went unrecognized.

Portland has a lot of trails, but most of them you can’t ride on so that’s something I am working to change in keeping with the Vermont model.

Maybe there will be some racing again down the road, and I’m always considering jumping back into cyclocross, but really anything these days is likely to be pretty restrained compared to my previous approach.

Who’s behind the scenes supporting your cycling habit?
Moots has been my bike for the last 8 seasons, and even though I technically fit into the “ambassador” category now I am stoked to have the same top level equipment that I had when I was racing.  Of course finding a helmet sponsor would be great, and still working on tires and nutrition, but the bike is the big thing and that part is awesome.

Matt’s latest media:

DIY and Low Tech Bike Bling

September 29th, 2023

It started as a perfectly good watch. And to be fair, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was one of my regulars, and it is now[...]

Should You Ride a Fat Bike in the “Off Season”?

August 22nd, 2023

Should you ride a fat bike in the “off season”? Most folks, myself included, get a fat bike to extend their riding season [...]

$25 Radness Lesson

November 18th, 2016

Yesterday was a big day. Sure, there was the expectation about what a trail ride would be like on a high end bike demo[...]

The Oregon Trail

September 8th, 2015

I made it to Portland. Of course it seems like it’s taking forever because I changed almost everything in my life in one f[...]

MTBVT Does the Vermont Overland Rally

October 31st, 2014

It didn’t take much convincing. A couple years ago my good friend Dan got a completely decked out and off road w[...]