A Day In The Life: Mark Matthews

Mark Matthews is a freerider, adventurer and trail builder from Vancouver, BC that likes to keep his days absolutely packed. Time to see how a typical day in the life of Mark Matthews goes down.

  • Name: Mark Matthews
  • Age: 36
  • Follow Mark Matthews:
  • Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
Laptop with cat sleeping

7AM Mushrooms and Zoom

I typically wake up at 7AM and the start of my day usually looks like this.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I love mushroom “not coffee” to start the day. The adaptogen guarana that contains caffeine is a really nice way to wake up.

I like to tackle emails and video edits right away when I wake up. Usually, I try to polish off and schedule any content I have been working on the night before.

Some days I'll start the morning off with an early ride, it really depends on the way and the weather. In the summer months, this routine is typically more common in just the evenings.

Later in the morning I typically organize Zoom calls, phone or in-person meetings. Scott Bell and Jarrett Lindal are local guys who are part of my media team. We touch base daily to plan future content or discuss what we are currently working on. It feels like there’s a never-ending list of tasks to complete and new ideas to work on.

Mark Matthews with spade in front of dirt jump

11AM Rip The Highway, Dig The Trail

With the admin done, it's time to get ready for the day. At around 11AM I get myself packed for the day and ready to head out.

I usually have to prepare lunch the night before because the days are too full, as well as organize all the gear in my garage so I can easily grab and go for a day of building and riding.

I'll arrive at the trail approximately 45 minutes after leaving my house by the time I rip down the highway, drive up the logging roads, and hike into the zone. I document almost all of my building for YouTube and the majority of the time I am on my own. The only time I won’t document it is when I am just doing basic maintenance like resurfacing a jump.

I’ll set up a Bluetooth speaker, a GoPro or two on tripods for time-lapsing the builds, and during the colder winter months, I will have a fire going where I work. By July I usually shift my focus more to traveling around BC and less around building new lines.

Plate of food and campfire in the forest

1:30PM Power Hour Then Chill Zone

I go into power mode for the first hour and a half of building. This gives me about 15 seconds of really good trail-building time-lapse footage. At this point, I’m pretty hungry and need a 30-minute rest to reset and have lunch.

The day is usually pretty jam-packed leading up to this point so it’s nice to get some chill time. I’ll also take this time to respond to as many comments and messages as I can on social media, but it feels impossible to ever keep up.

After lunch, I'll get back into trail building and usually go at a pretty quick pace for three more hours.

2 images - one of Mark Matthews jumping MTB and one of Mark Matthews and another rider on a berm in forest

4:30PM School's Out, Bikes Out

Most of my friends are getting off work at this point.

I build in the same zone as a pretty popular trail network so there are always riders around. I invite people out to do laps with me and session some of my lines. If no one can make it out to ride with me I'll drive down to the main parking area and do some solo laps, but there’s always someone to run into!

On those longer building days, I’m pretty tired and that's when the Marin Alpine Trail E eBike comes out. It’s pretty epic being able to smash out five or more quick laps after a full day of work.

Mark Matthews with cat on his back

7PM Cats On The Beach

I'll get home around this time for dinner and to walk around the neighborhood.

There’s a nice trail two blocks from our street that goes down to the beach and my girlfriend Chelsea and I will hike down there. Sometimes our cats join us. Chelsea has them trained... haha!

I’m usually pretty tired at this point and this is a great way to wind down.

Mark Matthews nose dive 360 on dirt jump

8PM Or Maybe More Dirt

When Chelsea's and my schedules don’t mesh, or if I have a bigger day of riding planned, I'll ride the dirt jumps until dark.

Flowing dirt jumps is one of the best feelings ever... I can’t get enough of it! Our local jump park has some pretty epic sessions in the summer months.

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