The cool and hip X Games will feature snow bike racing for the first time this year – and Cochranite Cody Matechuk will be front and centre for the action.
“It was actually a big surprise … I never thought that (the X Games) would ever be a thing for me,” said the 22-year-old contender. “It’s crazy.”
The annual X Games draw the coolest and most competitive extreme sport athletes in the world. The 2017 winter weekend takes place in Aspen, Colorado, from Jan. 26 to 29.
Snow biking is a relatively new innovation, which replaces the front wheel of a typical motocross-style bike with a front ski, and switches out the rear wheel for a snowmobile track.
With the popularity of the sport rising steadily in the ranks of the rad, ESPN – who hosts the X Games – decided Snow BikeCross should be part of its upcoming televised event. A handful of riders, including Matechuk, will compete against each other on a closed course of rollers, banked turns and jumps.
Matechuk, 22, is a long-time champion motocross rider and street bike racer who added snow biking to his repertoire last year as a way to improve his overall athletics.
“It teaches you different aspects that you can bring into motocross. You don’t turn as much, you use your feet a lot more,” he said. “It’s cross training … You got to keep your mind and body a little bit surprised. It makes you a better rider.”
In September, he received an invite to participate in the inaugural X Games Snow BikeCross qualifying event in Minnesota on Dec. 19. Although he pulled through to earn a coveted spot in the final competition, he said he was one of the most challenging races of his career.
At the start of his heat, Matechuk said he got tangled up and ended up third at the finish line – pushing him into a last-chance race, where he started off riding dead last.
Halfway through, another rider crashed and officials called for a re-start.
“Now I’m in 14th position out of 17 riders in a re-start. There’s five laps left,” recalled Matechuk. “I worked through the pack, through the snow, and ended up in third place (which was good enough to earn him entry into the X Games). It turned out alright, but I had to really work for that one.”
To get ready for the games, Matechuk is “gathering parts, getting suspensions done, and sneaking in workouts.” He’ll also train in high altitudes in preparation for the race and will travel to Aspen with a small crew, made up of an engine diagnostic guy and a suspension guy – who happens to be his dad.
Matechuk said he’s thrilled to have found snowbiking, as it’s a great complement to his lifelong passion for riding and is “probably the most fun I can have on the bike.”
He added the exposure at the X Games is huge, both for him and the burgeoning sport.
“Getting on the snow bike has absolutely unlocked the mountain. Everything that was always in my mind – imaging things that I could do – I can now do them on a snow bike. It’s just pushed me to be more creative,” he said.
“With everybody seeing the exposure the sport is going to get and how fast it is growing – it never crossed my mind to see where it’s at today. It’s crazy how fast everything’s growing.”
