The 42-year-old is most often sighted at the front on the peloton, looking for a way to get up the road. It is an aggressive approach which has served him extremely well over the years.
He is a five-time New Zealand elite road cycling champion and also an excellent time trialer.
In addition, he has three New Zealand titles and a Commonwealth Games bronze medal tucked away somewhere.
There have been many other career highlights, including two wins on his favourite tour - the Tour of Southland.
McCauley has a long history at the event. And by long, we mean decades. When the tour gets under way with the prologue in Invercargill on Sunday, it will be the 22nd time McCauley has competed in the race.
All that wind and rain, and he keeps coming back.
''It's just a really hard race,'' McCauley said.
''It is not always decided on who can climb a mountain. The weather plays a big role down there.
''Eight out of ten years, the weather is terrible, and I think I thrive in those positions. I'm good at holding my position when it is windy and I don't mind the cold so much. I just enjoy it.''
They have all been special but this year's race has some extra significance for McCauley. He crashed while competing in a race in Hastings in January and broke both his legs - badly.
His surgeons told him it was unlikely he would ride competitively again. McCauley was not having that. He was back on his bike by March and back competing by September.
''I was told I could get back to an OK level but I'd never be a good elite rider again,'' McCauley said.
''Not with my age and the amount of time it would take to recover.
''I had to believe them but I felt I could still be good and I guess it has just worked out well. I've worked extremely hard and got there.''
McCauley was born in Balclutha and took up cycling as a 14-year-old.
He was inspired by watching New Zealand great Brian Fowler claim a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games road race, and the Ralston family played a major role in encouraging and supporting the then King's High School pupil.
''I lived with the Ralston family. They were like my foster parents, I guess, through my teenage years. They were a family of cyclists and got me into the sport.''
McCauley sponsors Cycling Otago's Ralston Memorial. It is on the Sunday before the Tour of Southland and he claimed time honours in the event this year.
McCauley began his working life as a sewing machine technician with Bernina in Dunedin but now lives in Auckland, where he has run GMC Coaching for the last nine years.
''They say cycling is the new golf. There are more and more people getting into it.
''It is what I do for a job and for my passion. I'm really lucky.''
McCauley has set his sights on winning the tour's silver jersey for the over-40s and ''that means I'll have to be a little bit conservative''.
''But I'd happily throw away the chance of winning that to win a stage. So if a train is leaving the station that I think has the potential to go the distance, obviously I'll try and get in those breaks.''
