Behind the Edit: Matt MacDuff Talks X Games Real MTB

The X Games Real MTB competition has returned for the first time since 2021, and this year's edits dropped Monday, June 10, on the X Games website. Five riders and five filmmakers have each submitted their “most electrifying” ninety second parts for a chance to win X Games medals and prize money.

Real MTB is part of the larger Real Series hosted by X Games that includes Real Ski, Real Street, Real Snow and Real MTB. The 2021 Real MTB competition featured Brage Vestvik , Cam Zink , Brandon Semenuk , Danny Macaskill , DJ Brandt , and Veronique Sandler , the competition's only female rider so far.

Today, we’re catching up with competitor Matt MacDuff, from Kamloops, BC), whose submission was filmed by Louis Lhomel.

Coming into the contest, what was your goal, what sort of video did you want to make, and where did you draw your inspiration from?

I always wanted to be in Real MTB; as soon as I saw it for the first time, I knew that that was something I could do well at. Coming into the contest, I was actually working, so I wasn’t even riding, and I hadn't been on that hardtail for six-ish months. When I got the call that I was gonna be one of the athletes, I felt very unprepared, but I wanted to win. Really bad. I didn't really think I was that competitive, but I was instantly like, “Okay, I’m going for the kill.”

For my inspiration, I wanted to stay true to my roots. My videographer Louis and I have been working together for over ten years and have developed our own style. I knew that this contest wasn’t gonna be about trying to be someone else, it was really about tapping into who you are as a rider and what makes you unique.

Looking at the other riders, we saw we had an opportunity to fill more of a rock and roll, grimy, East Coast style, so we just dove right into that and it was perfect for us because that’s what we’d always been. We knew that we’d use rock and roll music, and we knew it was gonna be kinda dark and edgy, and we just leaned into that as much as possible during the process.

How did you choose your shoot locations?

We were limited by budget, so we didn’t really have too many options. We had my house, luckily, The Big Air Compound , which is a massive resource - twenty acres where we can do whatever we want.

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Then, I had half the budget to fly one place, and I had to be careful because I couldn’t afford to pay for hotels, so I flew to Montreal where I could stay with Louis, and together we revisited a couple old spots that we always dreamed of going after but never did it till now.

What trick, or clip was the hardest to get?

They were all hard in their own way. For me, I hadn't shot anything in over a year, so I felt very calloused: my body didn’t wanna step outside of my comfort zone, so every move I did kind of shed fear and gave me more confidence. I think that the hardest trick that I did, I didn't actually land, and it didn’t make it in the edit. I thought it would be really easy but every time, I just crashed.

Of the moves that we got, the hardest trick was probably the half cab whip. There was a lot of exposure, on both sides of the drop, there were no railings on the structure, it was pretty skinny, it was at night, it was like -5 degrees celsius, and I think it took me about three hours to do it, just trying it over and over and over again.

Actually, when I first took a run up to the drop, I couldn’t stop because my fingers were so cold and my body was so cold and I fell off of the structure. And I was like “Great today is gonna go just amazing.” But I was there, we only had two weeks to shoot, there were other people invested in the project, so I felt like I owed it to them to go until either my legs were broken or I couldn't go anymore.

Which clip are you the most proud of?

I’m super proud of all the clips. To me there’s not one really that sticks out. To me every clip adds something, a part of me to overcome, and I'm proud of all of them.

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Any stories from production that you want to share?

One night we got two clips - we shot the giant quarter pipe and the upside down wall ride - and were so excited that we played a Mario Kart drinking game after. I won all the games and didn’t have to drink that much and the loser, he was a big talker, ended up sleeping on the floor, so that was probably a highlight of production, just hanging out with the guys.

Anyone you’d like to thank?

Obviously Louis Lhomel and Brody Jones , and Liam Irvine , Jay Fox , and Julien Grimard . And all the builders that helped me, and all the volunteers, becasue everyone who helped me volunteered. And a big thank you to my girlfriend and my family for supporting me. And of course all my wonderful sponsors who help me ride bikes for a living.

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