Exclusive Matt Beers Interview | Lessons Learned On His Global Breakout Season

by | Dec 7, 2023 | Cycling Athlete Profiles, Bike, Featured, Sports

If there is one name in South African marathon cycling that is synonymous with absolute power and domination over the past few years, then that name is Matt Beers.

The 29-year-old mountain biker has been making huge waves in the local racing scene and now globally as well with what could be accurately described as a breakout season in 2023, winning the ABSA Cape Epic for a 2nd time and climbing to 7th in the Life Time Grand Prix series (before being taken out by an unfortunate crash).

Cover Image Credit: Wil Matthews

We have had Matt on our Podcast a couple of times to talk about his entry into the sport and winning his first Absa Cape Epic and now we have an interview with him in written form recapping a hugely successful season racing abroad and all the lessons learned along the way.

We always love catching up with Matt on his racing and training. He is undoubtedly an athlete committed to his craft, never satisfied but always looking for the next gain in performance and willing to sacrifice time and time again to achieve it. Here is the ‘Bees’ on his 2023 racing season at home and abroad.

Cape Epic Results Stage 7
A huge moment for South African Mountain Biking, Matt Beers and Christopher Blevins take the win at the 2023 Cape Epic. (c) Sam Clark / Cape Epic

First off Matt, how is the recovery going from your crash at Big Sugar? What do you find mentally and physically helps you best in the recovery process?

Yeah, it’s been going well. Each injury I’ve learned is quite different, in terms of pain, in terms of complications.  So the main thing is just being patient and not trying to rush the process. Crashing at almost the last race of the year helps in that I don’t have to rush to get back to fitness or riding the bike sooner than I would have hoped to, or sooner than the doctors would have liked.

It was a big bummer, obviously. I’d spent a lot of time, effort and sacrifice to do this series but this is the game and this is how it rolls. Now I’m just letting it heal as much as I can and not rushing to get back on the bike and rather taking off for a few weeks. So yeah I think it’ll be fine.

Matt Beers 2023 Crash
The crash that took Matt out of Big Sugar Classic (C) Big Sugar Classic

It was an AC separation in the shoulder, with a few broken ribs. The ribs are actually the worst part of the whole injury. The shoulder is good, we just have to start the rehab process and make sure it’s all strong and good to go for the 2024 season. And yeah, hopefully I will now be a little more aero with my gimpy shoulders. So, maybe it’s a good thing!”

Looking back at 2023, it has been a phenomenal season for you, taking the win at Cape Epic and climbing up to 7th in the Life Time GP rankings before your unfortunate crash. Have you been doing anything notably different this year?

Seasons like this don’t come often, for sure (winning Epic, and winning almost all the races I started this year with some big ones early on such as Tankwa Trek, Attakwas, National Championships etc). It was a really, really crazy winning five stages of Epic. That doesn’t happen often. You’ve got to take these years and you’ve got to make the most of them because they don’t happen often!

The Lifetime Grand Prix didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I knew it would be a big learning year this year to figure out how to tackle these races, the altitude races especially. Half of the series is at altitude so a lot of the races are at 2000 to 3000 metres.

It was a big adjustment for me to figure that out. We definitely learned a lot and I’m going to change some things for next year. I’m going forward to try and be the best I can at those races and, essentially, not waste time. 

I think the best takeaway I’ve had was the altitude experience and how I responded to that and what to do next year that can be better. I think that I had a big step up in racing at that altitude through the season. So I think it’s positive and definitely wasn’t a waste of a year. 

In terms of what I have to do to get better, I think probably the only thing is a little bit more training volume this year. The races are quite long, they’re about five to six hours long, so getting my endurance good and being really efficient is important. Also eating, you have to be on top of your nutrition and fueling. That’s been a big change for me, for sure.

RaceResultTime GapDisciplineLocation
Attakwas1st0:01MTBRSA
Tanka Trek1st4:16MTBRSA
SA Marathon Champs Paarl1st 2:43MTBRSA
ABSA Cape Epic1st3:49MTBRSA
KAP sani2c1st2:28MTBRSA
Race To The Sun2nd0:01GravelRSA
Unbound Gravel 200 Mile7th31:02GravelUSA
Truckee Tahoe Gravel Festival1st4:49GravelUSA
Crusher in the Tushar3rd8:11GravelUSA
Marathon World Champs20th8:23MTBScotland
SA Gravel Champs1st6:04GravelRSA
Race To The Sea1st12:08GravelRSA
Chequamegon MTB Festival10th0:01GravelUSA
The Rad Dirt Classic10th6:38GravelUSA
Little Sugar MTB2nd0:00MTBUSA
Bug Sugar ClassicCrashed OutnilGravelUSA
Matt’s 2023 race results from RSA and abroad

Going to the line with Keagan Swenson at Little Sugar must be a big highlight of the year, what did that result mean to you?

Yeah, Little Sugar was really cool. I hadn’t done a proper mountain bike race (like a long mountain bike race) in America that wasn’t at ridiculous altitude, like you get at Leadville. I hadn’t done a race that’s, you know, more suited towards what I do; a five to four-and-a-half hour race with a lot of climbing and a lot of single track, so I was excited about it.

I knew I could win that race. I had some mechanical problems throughout the race, but regardless of that, I knew I just had to keep at it and it was a big thing to come to the line with Keegs. I think a lot of people found that exciting and it was kind of the first time I could truly show what I’m capable of.

Matt Beers 2023 Race Season Interview
S0 close to clipping the American Eagle, Keegan Swenson. (c) Kai Caddy

I think it was one of the only races in the U.S. where I didn’t have much bad luck and it was the kind of conditions I was used to on the course and things like that. It was very much like our South African races in terms of course and conditions. So that helped a lot in my favour.

Above that, I got a good reception from the American fans and I think the South African fans were also super stoked. It was cool to have so much support. It gave me a little bit more motivation for next year.”

In your interview on the King of the Ride podcast, you described Gravel racing as a new challenge for you. What has the process of figuring out gravel racing been like for you?

Gravel racing is something I’ve been looking at for a while. There’s a lot of opportunity there. Sponsorship-wise, exposure-wise. I could see it happening in 2019 and then the COVID interrupted things. So it’s been on my radar for a very long time and I knew it was a super expanding space.

I think I was one of the early people to ride on a gravel bike and race a gravel bike and I immediately understood the fun and the different dynamic it gives; such as having to read a road, having to be tactical but also needing to be skilful and then powerful at the same time. There’s no hiding, you really have to be tactically savvy. That’s been a big learning curve for me.

In mountain biking, you can kind of just go off pure Watts and strength, so the tactical element is not super important whereas on the gravel, the tactical component is very important. And saving matches too, not sitting on the front; obviously, the drafts are a lot better because of their high speeds. So that’s been my biggest learning this year, just being patient. I think that’s my biggest weak point, being patient. I’ve learned the hard way quite a few times now.

Matt Beers 2023 Race Season Interview
Matt has taken to Gravel racing like a duck to water. He’s often along out front at local races and we won’t be surprised to see a few victories abroad in 2024. (c) Sam Clark / Race2TheSea

And as I mentioned earlier, the fueling is massive. It’s a high energy expenditure discipline. You’re mostly in that tempo / metabolic zone, so you’re burning through Calories at insane rates and the races are long. The intensity is not crazy high but it is really high so, especially for a big guy like me, I’m burning through calories and carbs like crazy.

Given that, I really have to be on top of it. When you’re racing for five to six (or even eight hours like with Unbound Gravel) fueling is crucial.

How do the North American races (MTB or Gravel) compare to some of your favourites back home in SA? What could we learn from them and vice versa what could they learn from us?

That is a tricky one. Every country is unique. America has pure volumes of people. It’s a massive country, so they just have so many people and so many of them have gravel bikes. I think in South Africa not everyone has a gravel bike yet. I think once that starts happening, it will become a bigger scene locally.

Also, you have a lot of the industry in America, all the big companies are there. They’re coming to these gravel races and doing expos before the race. You know, all the big brands have gazebos and free stuff. It’s kind of like a mini version of the Argus Expo before each of these big gravel races. So it’s a completely different dynamic, I would say.

They also have a lot of gravel roads. They have a ton of gravel roads. We have a lot as well but, you know, a lot of our gravel roads kind of double up as main roads whereas in America they have really small gravel roads that don’t require a lot of traffic control or anything. So, it’s a very different feeling for sure.

I think in learning from each other, maybe our format for the gravel races is a bit better. Whether it’s a separate start for the women (which has been a big issue) and then age categories and batches and things like that. In America, it’s very much everyone going all at once, which can be quite dangerous. I think in South Africa we’ve done pretty well at forming good A,B and C batches and things like that. For gravel races locally, maybe a little bit less as they are not that massive yet, but certainly for the MTB events.   

Overall, there are just a ton of really high-level riders in America. Here in South Africa, we do have a lot of high-level riders but not all of them necessarily have gravel bikes due to, for example, their bike sponsor maybe not having a gravel bike. Then they can’t go and race or they have to buy their own. So that type of thing is tricky but I think it will definitely grow here in SA.”

While Gravel racing has certainly been on the rise, the UCI has been establishing the MTB Marathon World Cup and promoting that discipline on the global stage as well. Do you have plans to race any of the Marathon World Cups and what would it take for that series to become your primary focus?

This is also a tricky question. The Marathon World Cup, it’s great what they’re trying to do there. I want to race one or two of them possibly. It’s kind of a catch-22 because we need to race those races to gain hype and exposure for them but then at the same time, we don’t want to go and race them because there’s currently no real hype and exposure on them if that makes sense? They seem scarcely attended for the most part and there’s not a lot of hype and coverage, but then to make that hype, we need to go race them, haha. So it’s a bit of a tricky one.

I do think it’s great what they’re doing but yeah, marathon has always been a kind of really tricky space for riders. I don’t quite know why, but gravel has now overtaken marathon. There’s XCO and Gravel and then Marathon is kind of sitting there in the middle, it doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing. 

Globally, a lot of people don’t know much about marathon racing. So it’s quite strange. Cape Epic obviously has it wrapped up and that’s the pinnacle of marathon racing but then after that, there’s not a whole lot happening. So it’s interesting. It’ll be cool to see how the World Cups go, maybe now that we know what it was about (this year being their first year), I think next year there will be a little bit more interest for sure.

2023 Absa Cape Epic Stage 3 Results And Race Report
The Cape Epic has take marathon racing to unbelievable heights. (c) Nick Muzik / Cape Epic

Also, it can be beneficial to race them because those races are super high in UCI points like the Cape Epic used to be. If you do two of these Marathon World Cup races and you get top-five finishes you’re starting in the front row at the World Champs, for instance. I think that’s going to be a huge factor for racers and that’s probably the reason they’ve done that, to create an interest for people to go and race them.”

Getting a bit technical, you’re a big man and that can make bike setup quite a tricky problem. Do you feel like you’ve got that figured out?

Bike setup hasn’t actually been a huge issue for me. I must say, having been on Specialized for a very long time, they offer great sizing, especially for the big guys. The geometry of the bike and the stiffness of the bike are accounted for throughout the frame sizes.

For example, their bigger bikes have more carbon in the head tube and certain areas to make it stiffer because you can’t just extend the sizes and then have the same carbon layup. They’ve done a really good job with that and I’ve been on Specialized for a really long time so that’s helped with keeping a consistent fit.

Their extra large mountain bikes fit no problem for me. So I’ve been lucky in that regard.  Also, you can customise quite a lot of things; stems, droppers handlebars, anything you’d want to. I wouldn’t say there’s anything crazy I’ve had to do to get where I want to get to with the bike setup.

Exclusive Matt Beers Interview | Lessons Learned On His Global Breakout Season
Matt Beers delivers insane power on the flats. The big max rides a XL Specialized Epic and it fits him just right. (c) Tankwa Trek / Shift Media Co.

I’m kind of in that sweet spot of not being too tall that it creates a problem. I don’t look super awkward on a bike considering how tall I am. I’m fairly in proportion, I would say. I do think the dropper seatpost has been the best thing for me in terms of bike setup; making it easier for me to ride and handle the technical stuff because I struggled with the long seatposts putting my centre of mass so high up. So that’s been a massive advantage, having good droppers now. Overall, I’m really happy how the bikes have been designed and tailored to fit tall guys like me.”

Strava MetricValue
Activities336
Distance23 203 km
Elevation Gain391 518 m
Time846 h
Matt’s 2023 Overall Strava Stats to date. Unfathomable numbers..

Looking ahead to your 2024 season, what are the aspects of training, racing strategy, recovery and psychology that you feel you can benefit from developing the most and how do you plan to develop those further?

I think racing less is a big thing that we are probably going to implement and then my tactics need to be a bit better. I also really need to dial in bike setup and tire choices. The races are becoming tighter and tighter, everyone’s lifting the game. Nutrition-wise, recovery-wise, and bike setup especially.

Many small changes in bike setup can have a huge impact. So being dialled in and knowing your equipment, trying things and testing things to just have that tiny little per cent better than your competitors, can be game-changing.

Racing less will also be important, as I said. Everyone is at a high level and the racing is really hard now, so the effort is massive and you have to be ready to empty everything you have. Back in the day, you raced hard, but not everyone was on the same level, a few guys were strong, and some guys were not strong. Now everyone’s really strong and you have to be fresh and ready mentally as well.

I want to focus on becoming really efficient. Fueling is a massive thing, even training your gut when you’re not racing so that you can absorb 120+ grams of carbs per hour. Getting that right is huge, especially for a big guy like me. I have to be able to absorb a lot of calories, otherwise, I’m not going to make it. You can’t just decide to fuel while you’re racing, you have to figure out all this stuff while you’re training.

There’s a lot of thought and there’s a lot of planning going on before racing now whereas it used to just be about winging it and getting it done. There’s a lot more attention to detail regarding everything now.”

Finally, where do you see yourself in your career? What are you looking forward to the most about the coming years and what are some of the big goals that you wish to achieve beyond the remarkable ones you have already accomplished?

It’s an interesting question. Obviously, I’m getting old now (30 in January 2024) and that’s quite a hectic realisation. Life moves very fast when you are racing and travelling a lot; I wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m extremely blessed and privileged and lucky to be able to do this!

Every year seems to get faster and faster with more travelling and more commitments, months and weeks turn into days. I want to do more racing abroad, just trying to capitalise on that while I can and while I’m still competitive. That’s a big goal for me. 

I think I’ve achieved a lot in South Africa and would like to focus a little bit more on trying to achieve some good results overseas in America and Europe while still doing some racing here in South Africa. I’d like to win some of these big gravel races in the U.S. Those are my big goals; Unbound and all the other gravel races out there. Big Sugar, Little Sugar, all the races in the Lifetime Grand Prix. Just trying to win these big races that have a lot of attention on them and enjoying the new and different challenges.

I still love stage racing and I still want to win more Epics. It will be extremely difficult to win another one, that’s not a secret. Having the right partner is really important and then still a lot, or everything, can and will go wrong. Or, everything will go right and you could just win it again! But yeah, it’s a crazy race and I just think basing my whole career on winning Epics is very risky. So looking at these other ventures to establish a name for myself and a good following has kind of been my idea. That’s pretty much it. I’ll still race Epic and race as much as I can to make the most of these last few years.  

That’s pretty much the plan. I don’t look too heavily into it because a lot can happen at any time. You kind of just have to read the lay of the land and figure out what’s going to be best for your career for the next couple of years.”

What a year it had been for the big man. He’s shown the world what he’s got and is now determined to take the lessons learned and go back for more! We wish Matt all the best for the upcoming racing season and will keep you updated on his successes as they come.

You can follow Matt here @mattbeers55 to witness the wattage and keep up with his training and adventures. Matt is also known for his public Strava profile which you can check out here for some inspiration on your next weekend ride! Scroll through his 41 pages of KOMs and see if there might be one you get snake off of him and frame on your wall, maybe.

You can find more interviews, podcasts, and articles about Matt here.

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