Race Face UFC - the finals

This is the first round that I wasn't able to predict. McCaul and Szyc really was a crapshoot in my books but I thought Ryan Hayes would take Matt Hunter based on the results from previous rounds. I'm not saying he was more deserving but I thought the huge dirt jumps at the end would sway the vote. When it gets close you can never count out buddies willing to sign up for scores of Hotmail and Yahoo accounts in order to vote for their boy. Hopefully things won't get as sordid and foul as they did in Florida. That seems pretty unlikely though since there are rules governing this ballot.

Nonetheless two charging riders have made it this far. The nice thing about these lads is that they are so young that it's pretty unlikely they have even begun to approach the ceiling of their potential.

Cameron and Matt each come from areas rich in mtb tradition. The sport was born in Marin County, just up the coast from Aptos (near Santa Cruz) where Cameron McCaul hails from. Kamloops, the home of Matt Hunter, gave birth to pioneering freeriders Wade Simmons, Brett Tippie and Richey Schley.

The gloves are off and it's Canada vs. the US for the gold medal yet again. Each rider is representing their home country with their choice of bicycle with McCaul on an American made Ellsworth while Hunter performs on a Rocky Mountain, made right here in B.C.

Age 16 - Aptos California, U.S.A.
The lifestyle videos are a very nice addition. Knowing something about who we are voting for makes the process much more satisfying. With Cameron McCaul we get an idea of what sort of lad he might be. Like any good Californian he's memorized his lines and he looks directly into the camera. I wonder how many takes it took him to nail the speech and the flared backflip. The little shit has only been riding for 3 years? That steams my clams a bit to think he's doing stuff in 3 that I haven't been able to approach in almost 20.

Age 19 - Kamloops B.C., Canada
Matt's extra helping of video isn't about him, it's about the 'freeride lifestyle'. Which it turns out consists of beer, nostril missiles, trail building, pong, riding bros, performance mini trucking and some more beer. I guess that's about right. Unfortunately we don't get to know Matt much better on a personal level from this. I couldn't tell you if he's even in the piece - but I assume we see him pushing his bike uphill right at the beginning and then jumping into the lake. Otherwise it seems like he's holding the camera and we are seeing the world through his eyes which is a pretty cool angle.

We're just about done like dinner as Tiger would say (Williams not Woods). You have the power to influence a rider's destiny with your mouse - wield it wisely. I'll be watching to see if this year's winner can come anywhere near the notoreity enjoyed by Super T after walking away with the cash last year. Those are some big shoes to fill.

Best of luck lads! Hope to see you in Cali.

Race Face UFC videos here.

Cam McRae