On the edge of stardom!

(Archived News)

A 22 year old Bangor University student has demonstrated his wild and thrilling biking skills on the Welsh television programme, Uned 5 on S4C.

The Sport, Health & Exercise Science student, Matt Barlow of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, is a rider with UK's No. 1 Mountain Bike stunt display team, MAD. The team consist of 8 riders that perform demonstrations all over the UK and internationally. Four of these riders, including Matt, came to north Wales to appear on the Welsh TV show in late April.

MAD started 7 years ago with the concept of taking bike skills to the public. MAD have performed their unique Mountain bike stunts shows all over the UK at various events ranging from small local fairs and festivals, to running interactive test areas and competitions at the NEC in Birmingham. The Team have worked for all kinds of clients including - Coke-Cola, PepsiCo, Land Rover and OS maps. MAD are the most covered Mountain bike Team in Europe with TV appearances over the years on BBC, ITV, Channel 5 and Eurosports TV and regular appearances in MBUK Magazine, BTM Magazine, Disney Cycle Smart and even Toxic Mag!

The Uned 5 program showed Matt display numerous stunts on his bike including Track stands, Bunny Hop Track stands, pivoting Endos and Gap Jumps around Bangor and Llyn Ogwen. Matt said,

"The most important elements are balance, concentration, bike and body control as well as physical fitness."

Now in his third year Matt has certainly made his mark in the mountain biking world. He said,

"In my second year at university I entered a competition called Hop Idol run by MAD. I won my qualifying round in Kent and went on to compete at the national bike show in the NEC in Birmingham. It was there in front of three thousand people that I won a year's paid contract to ride with MAD. Recently I have just re-signed for another year."

Matt is pleased that he came to Bangor to study, he said,

"I came to Bangor for the location. The availability of Rock Climbing, Mountain biking, Kayaking, etc is amazing. Bangor has great facilities. Lake Ogwen located six miles from Bangor contains the best natural riding for trials in the UK. The recent emergence of the North Wales Trials Club has also increased the amount of trials competitions and group rides in the area."

Matt has recently returned from Majorca with the team and soon they are due to ride in demonstrations out in Monaco. He said,

"I love to travel and it's great to combine travel and riding. Thankfully my degree teaches me that physical recreation is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle and can actually increases academic ability. Furthermore, trials, climbing etc are very social sports and I have made of lot of great friends at Bangor through them. There is so much more to university life than simply academia and I try to live a life that is reflective of that."

For information, pictures and videos of Matt, visit his website at http://www.slowprogress.co.uk or visit the MAD website at www.m-a-d.co.uk.