From Average Joe to Sponsored Pro

This week marked the beginning of the fourth annual Ultimate Freeride Challenge. If you’re not familiar with the series, here’s the basic lowdown: RaceFace, Giant Bicycles and Manitou have created a contest (now in its fourth year) that lets you, the web monkey, decide which one rider (from a pool of 16) will get their first full sponsorship. In essence, this is you chance to pick the next Tyler Klassen, Matt Hunter or Wayne Goss (all three riders were former groms who made it big by becoming UFC champions).

Here’s how it works. Every week during the month of March, Race Face will be posting four rider bios and videos on their website (www.raceface.com/ufc) for you to check out and vote on. To vote, go to the website and register (this just boils down to giving Race Face your email address. No, they won’t sell your info to some telemarketing firm; they just need your email address so they can ensure that people aren’t voting more than once each week).

After watching each of the four videos, you are eligible to vote for the one rider you think deserves to advance to future rounds. The four riders who survive the first four weeks of voting will then be paired off in the semi-finals (April 1st-7th). During the semi-finals, your vote will determine which two riders pair off for the final contest (April 8th-14th).

Last year Wayne Goss took the UFC title--which rider will win this year is up to you.

While the final votes are being tallied, Race Face, Giant and Manitou will fly the two finalists down to the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California and on April 16th, at the BIKE Magazine Video Awards Party, the sponsors will announce the winner and sign them to a sponsorship contract worth over $25,000.

So, log on and vote—it’s easy. In fact, as of Thursday morning, over 6,500 people had voted for their favorite rider. Vote now at www.raceface.com/ufc