New Zealander Matthew Fairbrother hurled himself off the highest rideable peak in Europe – the Aiguille de la Grande Sassière in France – and didn’t stop until his bike’s front wheel touched the Mediterranean Sea at Finale Ligure, Italy. A mad, beautiful descent – one measured not only in altitude, but in every emotional high and low along the way.
Riding Europe's biggest vertical descent
Fifteen hours of pure exertion. Fifteen hours of focus, strain, and mental battle. Fifteen hours in which Matthew Fairbrother’s face is first covered in frost, then dust and sweat, and finally split by a wide, satisfied grin that cracks the salt on his cheeks as he dips his front wheel into the Mediterranean. No one before him had ever completed the longest possible downhill in Europe – from the 3,751-meter Aiguille de la Grande Sassière to the Italian coastline.
„Get your head down, just go to work and get things done without excuses!“
Matthew Fairbrother
The 300-kilometer route is less a steady slope than a mental profile—a descent that exists first in the mind. Between the roof of the Alps and the sea lie four grueling passes, downhill sections with zero room for error, and a pitiless stretch of plains hammered by nerve- and leg-shredding headwinds.
At barely 60 kilograms, Fairbrother is a bundle of energy waiting to explode. After a six-month break caused by an injury, it seemed inevitable that the exceptional athlete would return in 2024 with something big. A story worthy of his comeback: the Summit to Sea project.
„It’s a story about connection between landscapes, between extremes, and between who I was and who I am now.“
Matthew Fairbrother
It took a full year from idea to execution – a year of planning, training, and quiet doubt. After so many months off the bike, Fairbrother wasn’t sure he could still push himself to the limit—physically, technically, mentally.
“After six months away, I knew the next project had to be something special,” he says. “I wanted to reconnect – with my roots, my identity as a rider, and with the places and experiences that have shaped me.”
Three hundred kilometers of terrain, endless descents, and nearly 6,000 meters of climbing. But before the ride could even begin, Fairbrother first had to reach the summit of the Grande Sassière – on foot, hauling his bike on his shoulders. “It was the climb back to believing in myself,” he says. One wrong move on this surreal mountainscape of scree, sand, and fractured rock could have delayed his comeback for months.
When he finally reached the summit, the mountain gods offered him a gift – one last quiet evening before a long, freezing night in his bivouac. “I was simply there, above the Alps, watching the world turn gold.” It was that quiet moment of solitude on the Sassière that brought him the peace he needed most. With the first pale streaks of dawn, instinct took over: pack up, grit teeth, and drop in.
„When you think about it, it‘s just simple, all you got to do is getting on the bike and just pedal!“
Matthew Fairbrother
At first glance, Matthew Fairbrother might seem like a daredevil. But for an attempt like this, calculation and precision are everything. Every decision on the bike felt like balancing trust in his skills against calculated risk. Especially the upper sections of the mountain left no margin for error. The pressure was enormous.
„There were lows, moments when exhaustion hit like a truck, when the voice in my head questioned why I was out here at all. Those moments strip you bare. They force you to confront yourself honestly, and in those spaces, I found my … WHY.“
Matthew Fairbrother
Finding rhythm is one thing; holding onto it when the world constantly shifts beneath your tires is another. On his descent toward the sea, Fairbrother rode through two countries, every imaginable light condition, multiple climate zones, and a mosaic of shifting terrain. “The sheer variety was breathtaking. Every section had its own character, its own challenges, its own rhythm,” he recalls. Fairbrother needed a mindset tougher than the mountains around him.
Sidebar: In those fifteen hours, Fairbrother burned between 10,000 and 11,500 kilocalories across the Italian trails and tarmac. A frame bag stuffed with snacks doesn’t cut it. The order of the day: Eat what you can. So, the vegan from New Zealand made an exception mid-ride – for a burger.
„No repeats. No shortcuts. Just one unbroken line from peak to sea.“
Matthew Fairbrother
Exhausted, salt-crusted, eyes hollow, Fairbrother hit his lowest point while crossing the vast plains between the third and fourth pass. The wind lashed his face for hours, relentless.
The supposedly easy section turned into judge and executioner. “It was an ultra-endurance mountain bike mission, balanced on the edge of ambition and collapse,” he said later.
What carried him through such torment? What kept his legs spinning? In the Alps, it was the views—the lakes, the next stretch of downhill trail. In the dead hours of the headwind, only one thought kept him moving: ice cream. He pushed harder, muttering to himself, “Make it before the ice cream parlors close.”
Despite nearly 6,000 meters of climbing and an endless fight against wind and fatigue, Fairbrother entered the final ascent, certain he would finish.
Big numbers don’t impress this moutainbiker. He just rides. He lives to push his limits farther and farther. He’s no philosopher on a bike. Riding simply brings him joy. And with that lighthearted, fearless attitude, he inspires others to expand their own boundaries as far as possible. “We got to go bigger!” he laughs. And knowing Matthew Fairbrother, his next adventure surely will.
Matthew Faibrother finally got his ice cream in Finale Ligure – it tasted phantastic.
Matthew Fairbrother's record-breaking equipment
During a record-breaking challenge like the Summit to Sea project, everything has to run perfectly. That’s why Matthew Fairbrother chose Ergon’s premium saddles, grips, and backpack for the ride.
SMS Comp Men
The SMS Comp Men is the perfect mountain bike saddle for trail, all-mountain and bikepacking riders who want ergonomic comfort, enhanced mobility and high performance. The SMS comp delivers maximum relief for more upright seated positions common with modern MTB-geometries. A deep ergonomic relief channel, with padding tuned especially for mountain biking, effectively reduces pain and numbness in sensitive areas. This means you’ll be sitting in comfort no matter where or how hard you ride. The compact saddle shape allows maximum rider mobility and control while the super-light TiNox SL rails guarantee the best performance.
The GE1 Evo is the evolution of the successful Ergon GE1. It was specifically developed for racing in the Enduro World Series. The first ergonomic, rider-oriented grip for wide rise bars with more comfort, a more precise grip feeling and better performance.
The space miracle for tours and multi-day alpine adventures. The BX4 Evo has a space for everything needed to for your more epic adventures with its volume of 30 liters. Even fully loaded, the pack provides optimal wearing comfort and can be precisely adjusted to the anatomy of every rider.
