Have you met Matt?

I am always skeptical when people say "he's the nicest guy" "they are great", you know all that nice crap.  Anytime I hear the name Matt Carnal it is always followed by something flowery and sweet, like he is every one's best friend.  I have always been 6 degrees away from Matt, so I don't know that much about him.  I do know the dark side of Matt, the underlying layer of the onion.  That's right the part that will make you cry, not out of sadness.  Out of Pain.

This is an unofficial view of the person we call Coach, Matt, King of Strava, and other things behind his back -because you would never say it to his face for fear he will rip your legs off and beat you with them.  Actually people that call Matt "Coach" allow him to rip their legs off... willingly.  I know how crazy is that?  I have only had a peripheral friendship with Matt and for what I knew of him he is a stand-up guy.  Never have I heard anyone talk about Matt in any other light.

Most recently I started following Matt on Strava.com and he was involved in the Base Mile Blast.  This was a challenge to see how many miles one could accumulate in a set time (Jan6-31).  Matt put in 3,347mi and his last ride was cancelled due to mechanical issues.  He was only planning on riding the great state of Oklahoma from South to North.  No big deal, Right?  Even without putting in miles that he wanted on the last day, Matt had a lead of 981mi.  Not bad.  Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that Matt is gearing up/training for RAAM.  Now we can officially add "Crazy" to the things we call Matt.

Matt's dark side, let's get to the juicy tabloid stuff...  Matt has been coming by the shop and getting some work done on bikes and what not.  He has invited me to ride, so I decided to meet up with him yesterday for a little ride, I would turn around and he would continue.  I rode to the meeting point and Chad showed up to ride with us.  Chad and I chatted and then Matt showed.  We headed out in the light rain/heavy mist on the trail and then made a slight detour to head West.  In conversation something was mentioned about my wanting to climb 29,000' in a month.  Matt said he would like to do that in a weekend, and he could, and probably will.

The lights started to go dim around mile 62, I'm pretty sure Matt was just getting warmed up.  He rode 100+ the day before, I commuted 10mi.  I did my best "keep calm...", and then I was shelled, literally and figuratively.   Matt and Chad slowed to allow me to catch, and I told them to leave me, "I'm a big boy, I know my way home, don't want to slow you down."  Matt would have nothing of it.  Here is the guy that has been ripping my legs off and turning me inside out for the last 2-3hrs and now he is playing the nice guy routine.  This is the genuine Matt.  This is what makes him such a great coach, he knows how to motivate you all bad guy style and then when you need it most he can be there for you.  Not a crutch, but a gentle push. 

Riding bikes has allowed me to meet all kinds, types of people.  The bike is the vehicle that brings people together.  If you have not met Matt, you should.  He is as exactly as billed.  Don't be fooled by the names people call him.  Beast, Machine, Evil, Crazy, these are how he rides the bike -not who he is. 

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I hope to do a follow up actual interview, a first for sprintingthebelllap