The Weekly Rider - Matthew Keenan
Matthew Keenan is La Velocita's Weekly Rider! We are seriously excited to have one of the top cycling commentators talk with us about why he loves to ride.
Part of the next generation of exciting commentators, he's quickly becoming one of the best known 'voices' in the cycling world. What Matt does not know about the pro peloton and racing is not worth knowing.
Name - Matthew Keenan
Lives - Melbourne
Dream bike - I don't have one, I don't get too excited about equipment plus the standard of bikes in the $5,000 plus range is so high you can't go wrong.
Favourite local ride - Diamond Creek, Nuttfield, Arthurs Creek, Panton Hill, Kangaroo Ground, Eltham, Lower Plenty, quiet roads, a few hills and it feels like you're in the country yet you're only 30 odd kilometres from the CBD.
My current cycling goal is - to do one of my favourite rides to Kinglake and back on my 60th birthday, which is a long way off but it's a nice long term goal.
When I am on the bike I - feel like a junior again.
How did your love for bikes come about - a family friend of my parents, Jim Fawcett, was a cyclist and his daughter was my high school girlfriend. Plus the Wide World of Sports coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s.
Share a cycling memory - the 1996 road nationals. I made it into the front group but cracked in the last 5km and finished sixth. This was also the year that the U23 category was introduced to the world championships and I was the first U23 at the nationals that year but it wasn't an official title.
I love to ride because - it gives me a sense of freedom. Plus it's how I discovered my neighbourhood as a kid and it now allows me to discover some wonderful parts of the world.
