Dan Hughes/Life Time Grand Prix
Matthew Wilson walked into the Steamboat Springs coffee shop with his right hand wrapped in bandages. He’d been out on a training ride nearby, preparing for the following day’s SBT GRVL. On a section where gravel road turned to pavement, he’d lost traction, fallen, and fractured a metacarpal. The Kiwi’s SBT GRVL was over before it began; his focus turning to recovery ahead of the Leadville Trail 100 in mid-August.
I’d been keen to catch up with the Kiwi racer, intrigued by his commitment to spending long seasons racing far from home.
Wilson joined the North American gravel scene last year, earning a wildcard entry into the Life Time Grand Prix alongside friend and fellow Kiwi competitor Cameron Jones. Both men got their respective starts racing mountain bike World Cups in the U23 ranks, with Wilson cracking a fifth place result in the Nové Město XCO in 2023. That same year, he became New Zealand’s elite XCO champion.
In 2024, while Wilson focused more on road racing, Jones was racing in the US and getting a taste of the gravel scene. Wilson figured he’d give it a go in 2025.
“It looked like a good time, so I thought I’d come over as well, join him, and give gravel a crack,” Wilson told me.
Wilson applied to get into the Life Time Grand Prix but missed selection. He would instead try for a wildcard selection, which he secured with solid rides at Sea Otter and Unbound. At the season closer of Big Sugar, he flatted out of the lead group to finish tied for 13th overall in the series.
That apparently wasn’t good enough for selection into this year’s Grand Prix, but Wilson again raced for a wildcard selection and made it in. Heading into the Leadville Trail 100, he’s currently 12th in the season standings. Grand Prix riders are allowed to drop one of the six-race series with no penalty to their points total, and last year, Wilson skipped Leadville, so 2026 will be his first crack at the race.
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