Live to Ride: Life After Racing with Matt Simmonds

You might be wondering what Matt Simmonds has been up to since he stopped racing. Well, since then he’s been coaching and trail building at Caersws, trying to turn it into something more suitable for a variety of riders.

Hunting out some local gold, Matt travels to find trails suitable for his trail bike, although at times even he admits they are more like downhill tracks.

In recent years Matt has moved further into Mid Wales where he has a new local, Caersws. Over the years the venue has been used for downhill racing.

Now Matt is trying to regenerate the hill, spending the 2020/21 lockdowns working to rebuild the trails. Using inspiration from his old local to try and build a mixture of features for everyone to enjoy. His hope is to be able to use the venue for coaching with his new venture ProLine MTB Coaching.

Matt Simmonds | Privateer 161 Öhlins Build

Matt Simmonds Launches ProLine Coaching

We’ve got the national which is obviously for the downhill guys but we have got some more flowy terrain for beginners and people getting into mountain biking. Everyone knows the last year and bit has been tricky for a lot of people and starting a new business was never going to be easy. I’m excited to get back out there now things are opening up again. We’ve got a few venues we can work from with different levels of riding, it’s quite exciting.
Matt Simmonds

Matt and his Privateer bike.

See what Matt is up to with Caersws downhill park on his website.

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Lauren Jenkins

Not too good about writing about myself, but not so bad at writing about other things. There was a time that I hated bikes, but then they became my life. Wouldn't be the person I am if I hadn't been on this journey. Here's to bikes, drinking tea and everything that comes with life on two wheels. I'm Lauren, I like bikes and writing about them. Always trying my best and up for adventures.

Comments (1)

Kayak23Kayak23 May 28, 2021 at 2:15 pm

Glad he’s doing stuff there. It’s a great venue. I’ve seen him coaching a few times when I’ve been to Hopton so hopefully it’s all going well for him.

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