“What is crazy is that the women that I race against… were the reason I kept going.” Sarah Sturm said this after struggling to finish—and most certainly not win—one of the toughest races out there, the Leadville 100. This short film, from Rapha, is a bit of a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” story

This video puts a smile on your face that gets wider and wider till you can’t help but laugh at some point. Which is exactly how this little girl reacts. What a great idea Dad had. The video playing in Dad’s virtual reality machine is one of Claudio Caluori’s riotous narrated downhill runs, which are pretty popular on YouTube.

Another good one featuring Danny MacAskill’s otherworldly riding. A fun video that takes you into the imagination of a wee young lad who just so happens to grow up and make everything he imagined real. And as the outtakes at the end show you, for all that otherworldly riding, Danny really is of this world.

OK, this is really just an ad but it’s a pretty clever one. With a David Attenborough impersonator doing the voice-over this short video looks, and sounds, like a BBC documentary on the “apex predator” Ripley. It’s a refreshing change from the tone of many mountain bike videos and it still has just as much

A great overview of how Amsterdam ‘rejected the car’ and became the ‘City of Bikes’. Riding in Amsterdam for the first time is, for most jaded North American urban cyclists, a liberating experience and this film will give you that same heady optimism. From StreetFilms.org, who produce “short films showing how smart transportation design and policy can result

I absolutely love this video. It’s only about a minute long and it’s exquisite. It’s got so many things I like—cargo bikes, winter riding, that slightly unnerving GoPro point-of-view, great music, brevity—so my opinion might be slightly skewed. You might not find it as tiny and perfect, but I can’t imagine anyone begrudging the minute this

Music. Sometimes it’s all that separates an artistic bike video from a vaguely irritating one. Especially if we’re talking BMX and mountain bike videos. I love the way this video mixes big trick BMX riding with very cool, laid-back  music. Lars Veenstra is already in my good books for his Thank You, Bicycle video. His first video about the

“That’s definitely not the only issue we have. We got a lot of issues.” Aaron Chase amps up the group dynamics on this follow-up trip to Peru and the result is a more engaging video. Even if you’re just looking for gnarly riding I think this has more than Lost In Peru did. (It finishes with a

Return to Earth is an Anthill Films production, working with Shimano and Trek so the production values are high. But what really elevates this promo for the segment of the film is the riding of these kids from Squamish/Whistler in B.C. Ranging in age from 10 – 15, these kids have mad riding skills, growing

Danny MacAskill is really having fun in this one. As is Daisy. And as are we, his amazed and amused audience. This is classic Danny MacAskill. Like Imaginate, it gets right inside a kid’s head and features the kind of gob-smacking riding you know Danny dreamed of mastering since he was a kid. He has

This is a sublimely beautiful video of some sublime riders in a sublime setting. As a Canadian, I’ve always thought we and Norwegians were separated at birth, what with our long winters, love of cross country skiing, northern lights, and fjords. But, if we were, Norway is definitely the big brother. With darker winters, deeper

The last time we checked in with Missy Giove was two years ago, when we profiled some of the bad boys and girls of cycling. She lives up to her image in that video, cursing up a storm and tossing back Red Stripe through most of the episode. Two years later, it’s a revelation to

My introduction to Chris Van Dine was GoPro’s 2013 Combing Valparaiso’s Hills, an adrenalin and testosterone-powered tear through the steep streets of the Peruvian mountain town. As I’ve confessed, I absolutely love the video, even if the riding is a bit reckless. And I was intrigued by C.V.D.—he was fluent in Spanish and seemed to have a

This is such a touching story. One of the fundamental tenets of VeloVID is that a great cycling video is really about more than “just” cycling. This video may capture that better than any other on the site.

This is the first instalment of Pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester’s video series, GO! It’s probably the best of the lot, which has since expanded to Los Angeles, Tokyo and Dubai. What makes it the best? It might be what one Youtube commentator said, “This editing is dope.” Maybe. The editing is definitely dope. But the

OK Thomas, you’re forgiven the awful pun in the title of this video* and the fact that your company is called Poopy Cat and that your your motto is “They’re full of it” and that in said video your ride ends at the launch of your “poop-up store”. You’re forgiven all these transgressions because you

I’m Canadian so Alison Jackson is basically a Goddess in our pantheon now after winning Paris-Roubaix in 2023. Here’s the heartwarming ‘Backstory’, delivered with panache as one might expect from Rapha.

This is a pretty clever concept and it’s Canadian so perhaps it’s no surprise it feels like it came out of Hollywood. Lots of clever Canadians there. But this is 100% Canadian and there’s even a ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ video to show you how those clever Canadians did it. Cycling Canada sponsored the video and the idea here is

Wow, this is dreamy! Beautifully filmed and released just in time to really amp up the juices of mountain bikers who have waited patiently all winter long!  

This video is interesting for a couple of reasons. It’s the first 360° video on VeloVID. Using your mouse, you can control the camera angle you see—even turning around 180° to look at racer Cole House as he sprints for the last podium spot at the 2018 Fat Bike Birkie, an annual fat bike race held

With almost 40 million views on YouTube, this is probably the video Danny MacAskill is best known for. Imaginate actually has more YouTube views but The Ridge really went viral when it came out. It made it into a lot of mainstream media because it actually lives up to the hyperbole that usually defines click bait. With Danny’s riding, it’s almost always a case

Never mind Peter Sagan, who’s no slouch at bike tricks on a road bike, Vittorio Brumotti’s got kung-fu even Danny MacAskill would admire. Not surprising given that they are both world-class trials riders, but to see this done on a road bike is shocking nonetheless. He’s probably got 28c tires on that bike but he could

This and “Bike Through Water“? To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, “I’m going man, that’s all there is to it, I’m fuckin’ going!” Except we’re not talking about Amsterdam, as attractive a cycling (and hashish) destination as it is, we’re talking Limburg, Belgium.

OK kids, don’t try this at home. Especially if home is Trollstigen, Norway. And it’s been raining. But as long as someone is crazy enough to try this, I’m glad they got it all on video. The scenery is stark and beautiful. The music works. The riding looks terrifying, even if the rider looks fearless. Not surprisingly,

Mountain bike videos these days are mostly about going big. I like those that go beautiful as well. This is no The Ridge but, from the meditative music to the incredible drone shots, it’s pretty beautiful to watch in its own right. Not to say The Ridgeline isn’t about going big. In some respects this

“If I could take one thing away from this trip, it would be that oxygen is seriously underrated.” I’m sure on a trip as epic as this there were a lot more profound takeaways than that but, given that this trip in May, 2015 took these two riders over the two highest passes in the

In some ways, this is more terrifying than any of Danny MacAskill’s other videos, even if it isn’t credits-to-credits amazing stunt riding. It’s a long, treacherous downhill that Danny treats tactically—and his rush at completing it is as much a release for us as it was for him. In that way, the vibe is more Free

This is the bike video that started it all for me. As I write this, it’s exactly five years to the day since this video went up on YouTube. Since then more than 36 million viewers like me have gaped, open-mouthed, at the astounding, sense-defying riding of Danny MacAskill as he makes his ‘way back home’ from

How can Lachlan Morton not be your favourite cyclist in the world? This video is longer than most on VeloVID, longer even than The Alt Tour, which saw him ride the entire 2021 Tour de France, unsupported, including all the transfers, and still beat the peloton to Paris. That was 5,510 km. The Divide is

I’m writing this on April 20, better known to many as 4-20—so we’ve got a day for that. I wondered if we had a day for bikes. Google informed me that there was indeed a Bicycle Day and it was yesterday—April 19. But its inspiration is more along the lines of 4-20 than you might expect.

What a delightful sip of the North Shore this video is. Wouldn’t you know they make a growler cage for fat bikes? Just the thing for making a beer run to Deep Cove Brewery on B.C.’s North Shore, riding some of the area’s iconic gnarly trails in the process. You might need to let that growler

This video really gives me the warm and fuzzies. Maybe it’s because it was my son who sent me the link, but you don’t have to be a Dad to appreciate the glee in four-year-old Malcolm’s voice when he shouts “I’m doing it! I did it Dad! I loved it!” while clearing the first ramp

When I dream of the future, it looks something like this. (Unless I’m in a rowdy mood, and then it looks something like this. Either way, I guess I have a thing for e-trikes.) Really, what’s not to like about the ELF? A “a solar charged and pedal powered, electric assist tricycle with zero emissions”

Creative Rebellion. It feels like it’s at the heart of a lot of cycling disciplines—but perhaps none more so than that of the tall bike. They’re truly Hors Catégorie.

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

It may not be Bruce Cockburn’s most brilliant song—there are plenty of those—but this one has bikes. And, to paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, having bikes goes a long way.

“Help make our world a safer place to ride.” It’s easy, when taking on a topic like how vulnerable cyclists are on the open road, to take a hard line against one or the other. There’s Rob Ford (un)”apologetically” blaming cyclists for their own demise. And then there’s former pro Phil Gaiman blaming it all

I favour shorter videos on VeloVID. In fact, I’ve already posted a short video about the ELF that nicely captures what a charming ride it is. This is the long story. I found myself so fascinated by this e-trike that this 20+ minute mini-documentary didn’t tax my patience at all. Even if it is not as

Gravel events are real good community builders—much like mountain biking. And much like mountain biking (all cycling really), there’s a diversity problem. Nehemiah Brown knows you can’t be part of a community you can’t afford to join. Kudos to him for “creating a scholarship program so people who look like me can get access to

“What’s the old saying? The reason old cyclists don’t ride fast anymore is because they don’t ride fast anymore.” Chapeau M. Deane!

“From grey to green”. THAT’S how you sell bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly streets.

The idea of riderless bikes is unsettling in a zombie-apocalypse kind of way. It’s reassuring to know it’s only CGI. This ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ video explains how Hop On was made. Part whodunnit, part howdunnit, this is one for the software geeks.      

Bicycles, is there anything they can’t do? Like I suspect you do, I subscribe to the idea that the list of what a bicycle cannot do is a very short one indeed, but this is a revelation nonetheless. Seeing Parkinson’s patients who can barely walk get on a bicycle and pedal off without a wobble is

This story is from my home. It’s made by local filmmaker LA Alfonso and narrated by Tegan Moss, executive director at B!KE, the community bike shop in Peterborough. It tells a story I didn’t know, even as a B!KE volunteer—the story of how a mural came to be painted on the brick wall in the

I want to like Volle Band, I really do. The idea of motion-generated audio performed by riding bicycles is an awesome one in my eyes. But—I don’t know about you, but I’ve never much been a fan of ambient noise music and I can’t think of any other genre to describe Volle Band. The highlight

Sadly, most of the world knows about the now deceased Rob Ford, crack-smoking mayor of Toronto. But not everyone knows how vehemently anti-bicycle he was, nor how anti-bicycle his former-hashish-dealer brother Doug currently is. Trouble is Doug has gone from being a city councillor in Toronto to now premier of the entire province of Ontario—and

More on the bicycle ambulance. If you’re a cycling advocate and want to help the poorest in the world, there’s little better you can do than donate to this project.  

I’ve reviewed Volle Band before and I’m not a fan. I love the concept but not the execution I guess. It’s the droning, irritating music that bothers me. This video is pretty trippy and though the video editing contributes a lot to Clutching Voices as a work of art, there are several harsh cuts that

Music. Sometimes it’s all that separates an artistic bike video from a vaguely irritating one. Especially if we’re talking BMX and mountain bike videos. I love the way this video mixes big trick BMX riding with very cool, laid-back  music. Lars Veenstra is already in my good books for his Thank You, Bicycle video. His first video about the

This is the first instalment of Pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester’s video series, GO! It’s probably the best of the lot, which has since expanded to Los Angeles, Tokyo and Dubai. What makes it the best? It might be what one Youtube commentator said, “This editing is dope.” Maybe. The editing is definitely dope. But the

This is a pretty clever concept and it’s Canadian so perhaps it’s no surprise it feels like it came out of Hollywood. Lots of clever Canadians there. But this is 100% Canadian and there’s even a ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ video to show you how those clever Canadians did it. Cycling Canada sponsored the video and the idea here is

Well yes, people are kind of awesome, especially when they’re on bikes. This is a compilation video of some zany bike footage culled from the internet by the folks at People Are Awesome. You might say it’s VeloVID for people in a hurry and you may even see some clips you’ll recognize from VeloVID, but I’d

Critical Mass-style wheelie riding is a thing in a lot of big cities and this is certainly big city riding with a big city soundtrack. On big wheels. And say what you might about scaring innocent bystanders, this kid can ride the wheelie. There are moments in this short video that look and feel as

Kriss Kyle is a Red Bull-sponsored young Scot with mad riding skills, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised how much his new video feels like a BMX version of Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate. Lots of bright colours and black backgrounds. (Admittedly, this video’s healthy dose of OK Go-style optical illusions adds a lot to that mix.) It even finishes with a montage

Man, I wish there were push bikes when I was a kid. These things make so much sense as a kid’s first bike. Maybe not only as a first bike—can you imagine an adult-sized one? I’m sure it would be a blast. Just like the adult-sized Jolly Jumper I think someone should invent. This is a sweet

If you want a demonstration of the transformative power of BMX, look no further. BMX has steered many people in a better direction, whether they were suburban and privileged, or sub-urban and decidedly not privileged. Like Starboy, KK Money and S-King in Lagos, Nigeria. Instead of “…going to clubs, getting drunk, causing trouble and doing all

I made the mistake of calling these push bikes in my review of the fun video Pump Track Time. They’re ‘striders’ and there are kids out there, barely past being toddlers, who take them very seriously. These kids are four years old and, as fast as they all are, watch till the end—one of them

A fun little video featuring 5 year old New Zealand twins Jake and Theo Riddle. Too cute.

Simone Barraco is a bit of a bad boy. I guess the premise here is that the cyber cops are after him as he darts through the narrow streets and piazzas of Barcelona. But he’s too slippery for them, isn’t he? OK, it’s not much of a premise but the riding is pretty fine, even

The idea of riderless bikes is unsettling in a zombie-apocalypse kind of way. It’s reassuring to know it’s only CGI. This ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ video explains how Hop On was made. Part whodunnit, part howdunnit, this is one for the software geeks.      

“I feel like I’m lucky that I always have my wheelchair with me because I can just jump whenever I want.” That quote from Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, about how he feels he has “an unfair advantage” over the BMXers and skateboarders at his local skatepark, tells you all you need to know about this remarkable

Another odd 1980s commercial from Aussie bike company Malvern Star. This time the target of the parody isn’t modern staged photographic art, it’s television. This 30 second spot could be the opening for any number of formulaic teen TV series of the era. And probably it sold a ton of those plastic wheeled BMX bikes…  

If you’re chosen as the Best Cycling City in The Netherlands*, it’s a pretty safe bet you’re also the best cycling city in the world. That’s the case in Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands, population 180,000 and proud as all get out about their transition to a cycling/pedestrian paradise over the last 40 years.

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

I absolutely love this video. It’s only about a minute long and it’s exquisite. It’s got so many things I like—cargo bikes, winter riding, that slightly unnerving GoPro point-of-view, great music, brevity—so my opinion might be slightly skewed. You might not find it as tiny and perfect, but I can’t imagine anyone begrudging the minute this

When I dream of the future, it looks something like this. (Unless I’m in a rowdy mood, and then it looks something like this. Either way, I guess I have a thing for e-trikes.) Really, what’s not to like about the ELF? A “a solar charged and pedal powered, electric assist tricycle with zero emissions”

Danny MacAskill is really having fun in this one. As is Daisy. And as are we, his amazed and amused audience. This is classic Danny MacAskill. Like Imaginate, it gets right inside a kid’s head and features the kind of gob-smacking riding you know Danny dreamed of mastering since he was a kid. He has

A great overview of how Amsterdam ‘rejected the car’ and became the ‘City of Bikes’. Riding in Amsterdam for the first time is, for most jaded North American urban cyclists, a liberating experience and this film will give you that same heady optimism. From StreetFilms.org, who produce “short films showing how smart transportation design and policy can result

More on the bicycle ambulance. If you’re a cycling advocate and want to help the poorest in the world, there’s little better you can do than donate to this project.  

I’m not sure how this escaped my notice for so long, but the bicycle ambulance concept is brilliant. Besides Mozambique, many African countries have embraced the idea. Even London, England, as shown at the beginning of this clip.  

This guy is a winter commuter’s dream come true. Bike lanes are often the last to be cleared and sometimes even get filled by plows clearing car lanes. Nothing like taking matters into your own hands. Snowing or not, I’m impressed that he uses this cargo bike for his appliance repair business too.

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

Most videos about this amazing project out of Rouen, France are in french, and this might be the best of the lot. I’ve also posted an english video which is more illuminating to an english audience, even if most of the passengers in that video are adults, not the charming school kids you see in

I love reggae music almost as much as I love bikes so this video works on a lot of levels for me. If you don’t like reggae, particularly dancehall, you might not be as enthusiastic. But the footage is fun and about half way through it turns into a pretty cool celebration of community bike shops.

I’m not sure I’d want to pull it very far and I’m sure I wouldn’t want to pull it up a hill, but this thing is pretty cool. Can’t go wrong with a Roger Miller soundtrack either. Update: Here’s the latest version of this camper. Update: I found another cool bike camper. Check out Paul Elkins’

I know this is just an ad but, man, what a trike! Butchers & Bicycle’s MK1 could single-handedly make riding a tricycle the most totally bad-ass thing to do. I love the way this thing looks cruising the streets at night. If I had eight thousand extra bucks and room in the garage for a fifth bike, this

Burning Man always attracts creative tinkerers and a lot of imaginative bicycles. So it’s fitting that Paul Elkins, who built this very cool bicycle camper mainly for Burning Man, describes it as “a playful Mad Max rendition of a post-apocalyptic home.” Maybe there’s something inherent in the very idea of a bicycle-drawn camper that inspires

This looks like a lot of fun. Practical for sure, but sliding out that rear end in the snow is what really appeals to me. It might be my new dream urban bike, beating out the MK1. Maybe not surprisingly, both bikes are Scandinavian. One advantage the MK1 has is that Butchers and Bicycles are

Mountain biking has been around long enough now, especially on the North Shore, that its originators are true OGs. Like Betty Birrell, the 73 year old total bad-ass hero of this video, or Todd “Digger” Fiander the famous trail builder. Not young anymore but “never too old to send”.

It’s strange how the 90s are like ancient history in the cycling world. They aren’t that long ago but this video sure looks old and anyone who sees something of themselves in the characters in it may suddenly feel old. This video came out the year after Toronto hosted the 1995 Cycle Messenger World Championships.

This is such a touching story. One of the fundamental tenets of VeloVID is that a great cycling video is really about more than “just” cycling. This video may capture that better than any other on the site.

It’s March 17, 2020 as I write this and Canada is entering a period of social isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thinking of all those isolated folks like myself at home on the internet, I was looking over my backlog list of videos to review and this title, Go Solo – You’ve Got

Half way through this video and I’m reflecting on how refreshing it is to watch a bike messenger video that isn’t wall-to-wall raging testosterone and bad behaviour. This is a thoughtful video about female bike messengers and the challenges they face—including being always asked if the job isn’t too tough for them. Literally at the

“If I could take one thing away from this trip, it would be that oxygen is seriously underrated.” I’m sure on a trip as epic as this there were a lot more profound takeaways than that but, given that this trip in May, 2015 took these two riders over the two highest passes in the

I’m posting this as part of a mini-overview of the bad boys and girls of cycling, starting with Josh Bender representing freeriders and Lucas Brunelle representing bike messengers and other urban cowboys (and cowgirls) but Missy Giove is probably the baddest of them all. How else do you characterize someone who raced with a dead

5 days is a nice bike tour. 50 days would be a decent bike adventure. 50 years is an obsession. But that’s what Heinz Stücke did. He is The Man Who Wanted to See It All. And he wanted to see it from a bicycle. Even if it took 50 years. An astounding accomplishment.

OK, I may be a bit of a Tom Pidcock fan boy, especially for his descending. It’s pretty hard to top the Fish run he did with SAFA Brian but this video is a bit more sophisticated, and not just because it’s in Europe rather than Cali. It’s really nicely filmed, as most Red Bull

This is produced by Blackburn Media so you might be expecting an 18 minute long commercial for Blackburn racks but this video is simply a loving look at bicycle touring. Jim Blackburn gets a brief mention in the excellent historical overview but more attention is paid to other pioneers, like touring bike builder Bruce Gordon

I’m writing this on April 20, better known to many as 4-20—so we’ve got a day for that. I wondered if we had a day for bikes. Google informed me that there was indeed a Bicycle Day and it was yesterday—April 19. But its inspiration is more along the lines of 4-20 than you might expect.

Gravel events are real good community builders—much like mountain biking. And much like mountain biking (all cycling really), there’s a diversity problem. Nehemiah Brown knows you can’t be part of a community you can’t afford to join. Kudos to him for “creating a scholarship program so people who look like me can get access to

Not what you think of when you think of a bike gang. The Chilangos Lowbike Club is made of former gang members who are using their love of lowrider as an escape from gang life. They “promote designing bikes, riding and just plain having fun.” Who can disagree with that?—not that I’d pick a fight

My introduction to Chris Van Dine was GoPro’s 2013 Combing Valparaiso’s Hills, an adrenalin and testosterone-powered tear through the steep streets of the Peruvian mountain town. As I’ve confessed, I absolutely love the video, even if the riding is a bit reckless. And I was intrigued by C.V.D.—he was fluent in Spanish and seemed to have a

I’ve reviewed Volle Band before and I’m not a fan. I love the concept but not the execution I guess. It’s the droning, irritating music that bothers me. This video is pretty trippy and though the video editing contributes a lot to Clutching Voices as a work of art, there are several harsh cuts that

It’s an embarrassment of riches. Nijmegen is already the Best Cycling City in the Netherlands and there already is an existing bike route between the it and Arnhem. According to Streetfilms.org, this film’s producer, the route is perfectly safe and usable. But it does have many junctions where you need to stop for lights or other road

I can’t help but feeling everything these talented Rocky Mountain riders do on their fat bikes would probably be more fun on skis, but the riding is still a hoot, the scenery’s great and the music has a nice retro vibe.  

Why do I feel like I’m watching The Flinstones? I’m not sure who Tater is but he puts a lie to the myth that fat bike riders aren’t serious athletes. He’s going all out on those rollers. But 1:26 of this is about 1:16 too long. I was convinced of its WTF? quality right off the bat.

Scotland has produced some pretty great riders and short cycling films. The key to an engaging cycling video, professional or amateur, is you to start with a love of the bike. This loving tribute to a Surly Pugsly certainly has that, but it also has a great soundtrack and benefits from some great Scottish scenery as

Another amateur fat bike video from TheSuperMotoHooligan, who is no hooligan at all, as near as I can tell from his videos. I like their dreamy quality—his choice of music helps—but his fat bike snow riding videos are not rowdy, that’s for sure. And that’s a good thing. For all the macho posturing that often

What a delightful sip of the North Shore this video is. Wouldn’t you know they make a growler cage for fat bikes? Just the thing for making a beer run to Deep Cove Brewery on B.C.’s North Shore, riding some of the area’s iconic gnarly trails in the process. You might need to let that growler

This video is interesting for a couple of reasons. It’s the first 360° video on VeloVID. Using your mouse, you can control the camera angle you see—even turning around 180° to look at racer Cole House as he sprints for the last podium spot at the 2018 Fat Bike Birkie, an annual fat bike race held

I’m a fan of self-shot amateur videos when they’re done well. This video makes great use of Creative Commons music to weave a meditative winter spell. Rivers make good metaphors in any narrative and a frozen one is no exception. This is from YouTube poster TheSuperMotoHooligan, who also made Winter Mountain Biking. These videos are best watched

Are the Fosters the original bikepacking family?!

This is a funny and brilliant response to the isolation we all feel right now. It’s a fine spoof of typical road racing commentary, complete with helicopter background noise. Which is something we all miss during this, the season of the Spring Classics. I’m writing this on March 23, 2020, the same day Ontario announced

This is an old TV advert from Aussie bike company Malvern Star. This company made some pretty surreal ads that could best be described as pop culture-camp. Like this one for their urban(e) bikes. Or this one for their BMX bikes. Go on. Have a laugh.  

OK Thomas, you’re forgiven the awful pun in the title of this video* and the fact that your company is called Poopy Cat and that your your motto is “They’re full of it” and that in said video your ride ends at the launch of your “poop-up store”. You’re forgiven all these transgressions because you

This video makes me smile. It pokes fun at our stressed-out selves without being too smug or saccharine. Just the right tack to take if you want to get people back on bikes. Well, that and proper separated bike lanes, but don’t get me going. “When people ride bikes, great things happen.” No argument here.  

It’s hard to go wrong with nudity but this celebration of The World Naked Bike Ride is really well done. Clever editing keeps it PG* and the riding is as good as any Race Face video out there. * As the video notes put it: “Warning: This video does include nudity but thanks to masterful

Another odd 1980s commercial from Aussie bike company Malvern Star. This time the target of the parody isn’t modern staged photographic art, it’s television. This 30 second spot could be the opening for any number of formulaic teen TV series of the era. And probably it sold a ton of those plastic wheeled BMX bikes…  

This is funnier if you’re Canadian, but, even then, maybe it’s not that funny to you. I dunno, I can laugh at that last line… Anyway, mercifully, this satire of our famous TV commercial series is short and has lovely relaxing flute music playing in the background.

Danny MacAskill is really having fun in this one. As is Daisy. And as are we, his amazed and amused audience. This is classic Danny MacAskill. Like Imaginate, it gets right inside a kid’s head and features the kind of gob-smacking riding you know Danny dreamed of mastering since he was a kid. He has

The Simpsons writers are clearly all kids at heart and never have forgotten the slings and arrows that go along with childhood, like when all the bullies are riding big boy bikes and you’re still more impressed with imitation motor sounds. Life lesson—don’t ever become a big boy bike rider. Fortunately, like any Simpsons episode,

OK, this is really just an ad but it’s a pretty clever one. With a David Attenborough impersonator doing the voice-over this short video looks, and sounds, like a BBC documentary on the “apex predator” Ripley. It’s a refreshing change from the tone of many mountain bike videos and it still has just as much

This video puts a smile on your face that gets wider and wider till you can’t help but laugh at some point. Which is exactly how this little girl reacts. What a great idea Dad had. The video playing in Dad’s virtual reality machine is one of Claudio Caluori’s riotous narrated downhill runs, which are pretty popular on YouTube.

Well that settles it then. There’s no way to drop a chain on a balance bike so now we know the strongest rider really did win Stage 15 of the Tour in 2010. That drama is old now, and, by bike racing standards, so are Andy and Alberto. Andy’s stomach has definitely settled down. It

Well played Roostafarians. On 4/20, you release this fun video with music featuring young reggae lions Protoje and Chronixx, and you manage to have your nicely edited video come out to exactly 4:20. The sweet riding is a bonus.  

And now for something completely different… Like many men of a certain age I was a boy of a certain age during the heyday of Monty Python’s Flying Circus so, yes, I can recite most of the Dead Parrott sketch or sing “I’m A Lumberjack And I’m OK” from memory. But I was surprised to

Very clever Google Nederland. “Only available on April 1” should be your first clue but this is so well done I’m sure it fooled more than a few. Just like another video here on VeloVID that features bikes without riders, this one has a “How we did it” video you can watch if you want

This one’s personal for me. It might be for you too. If you’ve ever lost someone close. If bikes have ever been a part of your recovery from anything. If not, it’s still a beautifully made video that tells a beautiful, tragic love story.  I think it will resonate with everyone. Salsa Cycles released this

I resisted adding “gravel” as a category for a long time. “If it’s got drop bars, it’s a road bike” was my ‘dogma’, if you will. But there’s no denying it, gravel is a real ‘thing’ There is a lot of common ground between road biking and gravel riding but the gulf is wide between

I find the music a bit annoying but the video is Danny MacAskill-style fun and the story is sweet. After his Grandma Joy died in 2021, Pat Smage and his wife Hannah made this video as a fond tribute to the family farm he grew up on.

It’s March 17, 2020 as I write this and Canada is entering a period of social isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thinking of all those isolated folks like myself at home on the internet, I was looking over my backlog list of videos to review and this title, Go Solo – You’ve Got

How can Lachlan Morton not be your favourite cyclist in the world? This video is longer than most on VeloVID, longer even than The Alt Tour, which saw him ride the entire 2021 Tour de France, unsupported, including all the transfers, and still beat the peloton to Paris. That was 5,510 km. The Divide is

“What is crazy is that the women that I race against… were the reason I kept going.” Sarah Sturm said this after struggling to finish—and most certainly not win—one of the toughest races out there, the Leadville 100. This short film, from Rapha, is a bit of a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” story

Gravel events are real good community builders—much like mountain biking. And much like mountain biking (all cycling really), there’s a diversity problem. Nehemiah Brown knows you can’t be part of a community you can’t afford to join. Kudos to him for “creating a scholarship program so people who look like me can get access to

Kriss Kyle is a Red Bull-sponsored young Scot with mad riding skills, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised how much his new video feels like a BMX version of Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate. Lots of bright colours and black backgrounds. (Admittedly, this video’s healthy dose of OK Go-style optical illusions adds a lot to that mix.) It even finishes with a montage

Return to Earth is an Anthill Films production, working with Shimano and Trek so the production values are high. But what really elevates this promo for the segment of the film is the riding of these kids from Squamish/Whistler in B.C. Ranging in age from 10 – 15, these kids have mad riding skills, growing

Keller is a YouTuber whose raison d’être is posting a video every day. This cute video of the first bike trailer ride of the season with his son is day 2987 and, as of the day I’m posting this, he’s up to day 3282. I’m amazed he has time to get out for a ride!

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

Shed The Monster, from PeopleForBikes.org, was one of the first videos posted to VeloVID and it remains one of my favourites. But I hadn’t looked at their video library much beyond that. If I Ride is a lovely, slightly pollyanna-ish love poem to the bicycle from a kid’s point of view. Interestingly, they re-released this

A clever commercial for a bike shop in Crofton, Maryland. A family bike shop actually, so don’t be judging a book by its hipster cover. Definitely watch it to the end.  

This is such a touching story. One of the fundamental tenets of VeloVID is that a great cycling video is really about more than “just” cycling. This video may capture that better than any other on the site.

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

Man, I wish there were push bikes when I was a kid. These things make so much sense as a kid’s first bike. Maybe not only as a first bike—can you imagine an adult-sized one? I’m sure it would be a blast. Just like the adult-sized Jolly Jumper I think someone should invent. This is a sweet

Are the Fosters the original bikepacking family?!

I made the mistake of calling these push bikes in my review of the fun video Pump Track Time. They’re ‘striders’ and there are kids out there, barely past being toddlers, who take them very seriously. These kids are four years old and, as fast as they all are, watch till the end—one of them

Most videos about this amazing project out of Rouen, France are in french, and this might be the best of the lot. I’ve also posted an english video which is more illuminating to an english audience, even if most of the passengers in that video are adults, not the charming school kids you see in

This is such a cool project but little-known outside France. Given that this is the only english video I could track down, language might be the barrier. It’s a shame because most of the passengers in this video are adults, likely along for some kind of promo ride. But there are many french videos out

Another good one featuring Danny MacAskill’s otherworldly riding. A fun video that takes you into the imagination of a wee young lad who just so happens to grow up and make everything he imagined real. And as the outtakes at the end show you, for all that otherworldly riding, Danny really is of this world.

The Simpsons writers are clearly all kids at heart and never have forgotten the slings and arrows that go along with childhood, like when all the bullies are riding big boy bikes and you’re still more impressed with imitation motor sounds. Life lesson—don’t ever become a big boy bike rider. Fortunately, like any Simpsons episode,

Simone Barraco is a bit of a bad boy. I guess the premise here is that the cyber cops are after him as he darts through the narrow streets and piazzas of Barcelona. But he’s too slippery for them, isn’t he? OK, it’s not much of a premise but the riding is pretty fine, even

Chris Van Dine is up to his old tricks in this amazing bit of urban freeriding from 2015, jumping gaps, wall riding and trying and failing, and trying again till he nails a soaring backflip in the narrow streets of Taxco, Mexico. A multitude of GoPro camera angles are edited to capture every moment as

Tom and Ruby go night riding. Ruby is a dog—a Hungarian Vizsla who can run like the wind. She has her own lights, her own camera and the ride she takes us on is a blast. Tom’s the one on the bike and most of what we see of him is from Ruby’s point of view, which

I’m pretty pleased to have gotten 4 of 5 correct here but I’m also reminded of that old saw, “Never mock someone for mis-pronouncing a word—it means they learned it through reading”.  

What a delightful sip of the North Shore this video is. Wouldn’t you know they make a growler cage for fat bikes? Just the thing for making a beer run to Deep Cove Brewery on B.C.’s North Shore, riding some of the area’s iconic gnarly trails in the process. You might need to let that growler

It’s only taken 10 years but we finally have a unicycling video on VeloVID. It’s from close to home for me—shot at the Harold Town Conservation Area, my favourite local mountain bike location, by local filmmaker Wayne Eardley and featuring his talented son, Wes—but it still feels foreign to me. Just like unicycling itself, watching

This is such a touching story. One of the fundamental tenets of VeloVID is that a great cycling video is really about more than “just” cycling. This video may capture that better than any other on the site.

This one’s personal for me. It might be for you too. If you’ve ever lost someone close. If bikes have ever been a part of your recovery from anything. If not, it’s still a beautifully made video that tells a beautiful, tragic love story.  I think it will resonate with everyone. Salsa Cycles released this

It’s easy to see why the locals in Peru thought these guys were crazy. Taking on this isolated mountain range with its 16,000 foot passes, self-supported, in the rainy season, is a bit loco. Dangerous even, as it turned out. As riders and filmmakers, there’s a youthful earnestness about this team that’s pretty admirable. They tell an

OK, this is really just an ad but it’s a pretty clever one. With a David Attenborough impersonator doing the voice-over this short video looks, and sounds, like a BBC documentary on the “apex predator” Ripley. It’s a refreshing change from the tone of many mountain bike videos and it still has just as much

It won me over with the H.G. Wells quote right off the top. Great camera work, some crazy-good riders and beautiful B.C. scenery. It’s not as aggressive as some freeride videos and the music works for me, though it might not for everyone. A nicely put together promo for Anthill Film’s Strength In Numbers.  

This video puts a smile on your face that gets wider and wider till you can’t help but laugh at some point. Which is exactly how this little girl reacts. What a great idea Dad had. The video playing in Dad’s virtual reality machine is one of Claudio Caluori’s riotous narrated downhill runs, which are pretty popular on YouTube.

Well played Roostafarians. On 4/20, you release this fun video with music featuring young reggae lions Protoje and Chronixx, and you manage to have your nicely edited video come out to exactly 4:20. The sweet riding is a bonus.  

There’s something rotten at the core of VeloVID corporate headquarters. Rampant favouritism. This is one of my own videos and it’s no gem. So what’s it doing on VeloVID? Well, there’s that rampant favouritism I mentioned but it’s also an interesting time capsule in the sea of high-end GoPro videos that proliferates today. Shot in

How can Lachlan Morton not be your favourite cyclist in the world? This video is longer than most on VeloVID, longer even than The Alt Tour, which saw him ride the entire 2021 Tour de France, unsupported, including all the transfers, and still beat the peloton to Paris. That was 5,510 km. The Divide is

This one has a whole bunch of WTF elements in one video. First of all, he’s on a recumbent mountain bike, surely one of the weirder beasts in the cycling menagerie. Then there’s the fact that he’s winter trail riding with studded tires, putting him even more squarely in the 0.5 percentile. To really seal

The 2017 edition of the Red Bull Rampage just wrapped up. Predictably, it featured a massive drop that winner, Canadian Kurt Sorge, launched a full back-flip off of. Every year it seems the drops get bigger and the riders get more daring at Rampage. This is mainly a function of improving bike technology, course preparation and

“What’s the old saying? The reason old cyclists don’t ride fast anymore is because they don’t ride fast anymore.” Chapeau M. Deane!

This is a funny and brilliant response to the isolation we all feel right now. It’s a fine spoof of typical road racing commentary, complete with helicopter background noise. Which is something we all miss during this, the season of the Spring Classics. I’m writing this on March 23, 2020, the same day Ontario announced

The idea of riderless bikes is unsettling in a zombie-apocalypse kind of way. It’s reassuring to know it’s only CGI. This ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ video explains how Hop On was made. Part whodunnit, part howdunnit, this is one for the software geeks.      

Wow, how did I not know about Beryl Burton? I’m tempted to say it’s because she was only ever an amateur cyclist, world records notwithstanding—but maybe she was only ever an amateur because she was a woman. A woman who took a moment to hand a liquorice all-sort to men’s British Best All-Rounder cyclist Mike

Not much danger of burning your toast this way. Jeez, this guy is huge and he barely gets it to the golden brown setting. I guess LED Christmas lights use a lot less energy.  

The “Fish” is Tuna, one of the Los Angeles area’s craziest road descents. The rider filming this is SAFA Brian, a bike messenger turned filmmaker who has made a name for himself filming these kind of descents and Tom Pidcock probably needs no introduction but, if you haven’t hear of him, it’s safe to say

Bless their souls, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), out of the U.K., produces a ton of videos but most of them fall into the geeky watt-counting category I don’t find particularly interesting. Col Collective is my choice for good roadie videos. But this one is actually a lot of fun—funny even! I think the appeal

Giuseppe Marinoni is a national treasure that both Canada and Italy would like to claim. Add in the French he speaks quite fluently in this trailer and he’s more of an international treasure—and a seemingly ageless one at that. This trailer for the film Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame hints at how charming Mr. Marinoni

To my mind, these Global Cycling Network videos are for the fans only.  If you’re not a fan, this video might win you over—or at least help you understand why these real time videos appeal to true aficionados. This is like an immersive video game that tracks your rider down the Col D’Izoard, part of the 2014

If you don’t have a bit of the weight weenie in you, don’t bother with this video, or this bike. But if you can appreciate this kind of stuff… This bike weighs less than 4kg! That includes the weight of the air in the tires—seriously, this bike weighs 3.986kg, including the 14g of air in

I’m posting this right after the winter solstice feeding frenzy called Christmas so I feel NRK reporter Nicolay Ramm’s pain. He makes a heroic effort to consume the daily caloric intake of a Tour de France rider, with predictable consequences. I know, the argument is they ride at their lactic threshold for 5 or 6 hours

The Simpsons writers are clearly all kids at heart and never have forgotten the slings and arrows that go along with childhood, like when all the bullies are riding big boy bikes and you’re still more impressed with imitation motor sounds. Life lesson—don’t ever become a big boy bike rider. Fortunately, like any Simpsons episode,

Jamie Christian-Johal is a pretty good sport because the answer to the question “Can A 290lb Bodybuilder Survive A Killer Climb?” is, at best, “barely”. The poor man is a fit and powerful giant who probably excels in most athletics but gravity is merciless and he will never be an angel of the mountains. Another

The GoPro world view captures the pro peloton particularly well. Its fisheye lens suits the schooling fish movements and group mind mentality. The last few pro bike seasons have seen a lot of these bike-mounted videos and this is one of the most palatable. There’s a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” vibe going on in this video and the

Never mind Peter Sagan, who’s no slouch at bike tricks on a road bike, Vittorio Brumotti’s got kung-fu even Danny MacAskill would admire. Not surprising given that they are both world-class trials riders, but to see this done on a road bike is shocking nonetheless. He’s probably got 28c tires on that bike but he could

Phil Gaimon doesn’t mince words here. And why should he? The level of carnage cyclists, and pedestrians, face in North America wouldn’t be tolerated in Europe. Refusing to be an apologist for the automobile doesn’t make you anti-car, just pro-human life and limb.  

Maybe the most starkly beautiful of Dave Sowerby’s Danny MacAskill videos, this might be a case of filmmaking that actually overwhelms the riding of perhaps the world’s most inventive trials rider. The setting is dramatic—”the forgotten town of Epecuén in Argentina, a location that has been submerged for the majority of the past 25 years.”

Kriss Kyle is a Red Bull-sponsored young Scot with mad riding skills, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised how much his new video feels like a BMX version of Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate. Lots of bright colours and black backgrounds. (Admittedly, this video’s healthy dose of OK Go-style optical illusions adds a lot to that mix.) It even finishes with a montage

Danny MacAskill is really having fun in this one. As is Daisy. And as are we, his amazed and amused audience. This is classic Danny MacAskill. Like Imaginate, it gets right inside a kid’s head and features the kind of gob-smacking riding you know Danny dreamed of mastering since he was a kid. He has

Well yes, people are kind of awesome, especially when they’re on bikes. This is a compilation video of some zany bike footage culled from the internet by the folks at People Are Awesome. You might say it’s VeloVID for people in a hurry and you may even see some clips you’ll recognize from VeloVID, but I’d

Vittorio Brumotti continues the tradition begun by Martyn Ashton of trials riders trying their skillset on road bikes. Proving once again the old adage that it’s not the bike, it’s the rider. Like his other videos, he pulls this off with Italian panache and a sense of humour—not to mention the kind of mad skills

Never mind Peter Sagan, who’s no slouch at bike tricks on a road bike, Vittorio Brumotti’s got kung-fu even Danny MacAskill would admire. Not surprising given that they are both world-class trials riders, but to see this done on a road bike is shocking nonetheless. He’s probably got 28c tires on that bike but he could

Simone Barraco is a bit of a bad boy. I guess the premise here is that the cyber cops are after him as he darts through the narrow streets and piazzas of Barcelona. But he’s too slippery for them, isn’t he? OK, it’s not much of a premise but the riding is pretty fine, even

In some ways, this is more terrifying than any of Danny MacAskill’s other videos, even if it isn’t credits-to-credits amazing stunt riding. It’s a long, treacherous downhill that Danny treats tactically—and his rush at completing it is as much a release for us as it was for him. In that way, the vibe is more Free

After discovering Danny MacAskill through his phenomenally popular 2010 short film, Way Back Home, I went searching for more. Industrial Revolutions came out in 2011 and, though it’s Stu Thompson, not Dave Sowerby and Channel Four, not Red Bull, this video is also a cut above the rest. The abandoned iron works is a striking

If you want a demonstration of the transformative power of BMX, look no further. BMX has steered many people in a better direction, whether they were suburban and privileged, or sub-urban and decidedly not privileged. Like Starboy, KK Money and S-King in Lagos, Nigeria. Instead of “…going to clubs, getting drunk, causing trouble and doing all

I find the music a bit annoying but the video is Danny MacAskill-style fun and the story is sweet. After his Grandma Joy died in 2021, Pat Smage and his wife Hannah made this video as a fond tribute to the family farm he grew up on.

This is the bike video that started it all for me. As I write this, it’s exactly five years to the day since this video went up on YouTube. Since then more than 36 million viewers like me have gaped, open-mouthed, at the astounding, sense-defying riding of Danny MacAskill as he makes his ‘way back home’ from

Now this is more like it. Just days after the release of This Is Drop And Roll, Danny MacAskill is back on form riding the amazing streets and rooftops of Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands off northwestern Africa. His riding is every bit as eye-popping and colourful as those exotic streets and, unlike This Is Drop And

Critical Mass-style wheelie riding is a thing in a lot of big cities and this is certainly big city riding with a big city soundtrack. On big wheels. And say what you might about scaring innocent bystanders, this kid can ride the wheelie. There are moments in this short video that look and feel as

It’s only taken 10 years but we finally have a unicycling video on VeloVID. It’s from close to home for me—shot at the Harold Town Conservation Area, my favourite local mountain bike location, by local filmmaker Wayne Eardley and featuring his talented son, Wes—but it still feels foreign to me. Just like unicycling itself, watching

Another good one featuring Danny MacAskill’s otherworldly riding. A fun video that takes you into the imagination of a wee young lad who just so happens to grow up and make everything he imagined real. And as the outtakes at the end show you, for all that otherworldly riding, Danny really is of this world.

If you want a demonstration of the transformative power of BMX, look no further. BMX has steered many people in a better direction, whether they were suburban and privileged, or sub-urban and decidedly not privileged. Like Starboy, KK Money and S-King in Lagos, Nigeria. Instead of “…going to clubs, getting drunk, causing trouble and doing all

Although he finally passed in his 110th year, Robert Marchand was a dedicated, record setting cyclist till at least 107. Some of the records he set, like the hour record for cyclists over 100 and then over 105, were created for him—that’s how unique his accomplishments were.

My introduction to Chris Van Dine was GoPro’s 2013 Combing Valparaiso’s Hills, an adrenalin and testosterone-powered tear through the steep streets of the Peruvian mountain town. As I’ve confessed, I absolutely love the video, even if the riding is a bit reckless. And I was intrigued by C.V.D.—he was fluent in Spanish and seemed to have a

Maybe the most starkly beautiful of Dave Sowerby’s Danny MacAskill videos, this might be a case of filmmaking that actually overwhelms the riding of perhaps the world’s most inventive trials rider. The setting is dramatic—”the forgotten town of Epecuén in Argentina, a location that has been submerged for the majority of the past 25 years.”

A great overview of how Amsterdam ‘rejected the car’ and became the ‘City of Bikes’. Riding in Amsterdam for the first time is, for most jaded North American urban cyclists, a liberating experience and this film will give you that same heady optimism. From StreetFilms.org, who produce “short films showing how smart transportation design and policy can result

This looks so cool! Worth a trip to Belgium perhaps? (Not that one needs an excuse). UPDATE: OK, are you convinced now?  

The Col Collective is at it again. This time climbing a little know col in Switzerland— the 2,253m high Col du Sanetsch in Valais. With local expert Alain Rumpf, Col Collective host Mike Cotty narrates this 33km ride while the camera cuts from nice shots of the riders to astounding shots of the scenery. Most of

Simone Barraco is a bit of a bad boy. I guess the premise here is that the cyber cops are after him as he darts through the narrow streets and piazzas of Barcelona. But he’s too slippery for them, isn’t he? OK, it’s not much of a premise but the riding is pretty fine, even

I love road riding. I had lamented not finding many good road biking videos till I discovered the Col Collective. They have a pretty extensive library of videos of famous mountains (cols) from around the cycling world. Beautifully shot, most of their videos are climbs but a few are descents. This col, Passo Gavia, in the Italian

Chris Van Dine is up to his old tricks in this amazing bit of urban freeriding from 2015, jumping gaps, wall riding and trying and failing, and trying again till he nails a soaring backflip in the narrow streets of Taxco, Mexico. A multitude of GoPro camera angles are edited to capture every moment as

The GoPro world view captures the pro peloton particularly well. Its fisheye lens suits the schooling fish movements and group mind mentality. The last few pro bike seasons have seen a lot of these bike-mounted videos and this is one of the most palatable. There’s a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” vibe going on in this video and the

This is as much about family as it is about cycling. After so many years the bond of family is strong here—but so too is the joy of cycling. A real sweet video. Is there something about French cycling that encourages longevity?

OK kids, don’t try this at home. Especially if home is Trollstigen, Norway. And it’s been raining. But as long as someone is crazy enough to try this, I’m glad they got it all on video. The scenery is stark and beautiful. The music works. The riding looks terrifying, even if the rider looks fearless. Not surprisingly,

Wow, this is dreamy! Beautifully filmed and released just in time to really amp up the juices of mountain bikers who have waited patiently all winter long!  

Never mind Peter Sagan, who’s no slouch at bike tricks on a road bike, Vittorio Brumotti’s got kung-fu even Danny MacAskill would admire. Not surprising given that they are both world-class trials riders, but to see this done on a road bike is shocking nonetheless. He’s probably got 28c tires on that bike but he could

I’m not sure I’d want to pull it very far and I’m sure I wouldn’t want to pull it up a hill, but this thing is pretty cool. Can’t go wrong with a Roger Miller soundtrack either. Update: Here’s the latest version of this camper. Update: I found another cool bike camper. Check out Paul Elkins’

What a great idea. Whether you’re an office worker commuting or a kid riding to school, this might be the highlight of your day.

This is an old TV advert from Aussie bike company Malvern Star. This company made some pretty surreal ads that could best be described as pop culture-camp. Like this one for their urban(e) bikes. Or this one for their BMX bikes. Go on. Have a laugh.  

This is a funny and brilliant response to the isolation we all feel right now. It’s a fine spoof of typical road racing commentary, complete with helicopter background noise. Which is something we all miss during this, the season of the Spring Classics. I’m writing this on March 23, 2020, the same day Ontario announced

When I first discovered Lucas Brunelle’s videos I was fresh off a stint as a bike messenger in Toronto and was pumped to see someone capturing messenger culture in a wholly unsanitized way. Now, some 30-odd years on, I’m not as impressed—with Brunelle’s videos or the antics they celebrate. I’d like to think of it

Clearly, Lucas Brunelle has had a fascination with risky urban riding since his college days. “Do I have common sense? I’ll leave that up to you”.  

It may not be Bruce Cockburn’s most brilliant song—there are plenty of those—but this one has bikes. And, to paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, having bikes goes a long way.

It’s strange how the 90s are like ancient history in the cycling world. They aren’t that long ago but this video sure looks old and anyone who sees something of themselves in the characters in it may suddenly feel old. This video came out the year after Toronto hosted the 1995 Cycle Messenger World Championships.

Half way through this video and I’m reflecting on how refreshing it is to watch a bike messenger video that isn’t wall-to-wall raging testosterone and bad behaviour. This is a thoughtful video about female bike messengers and the challenges they face—including being always asked if the job isn’t too tough for them. Literally at the

Street Books is a bicycle-powered traveling library that serves homeless people in Portland, Oregon. These cargo bike-riding librarians ride to select locations where people can borrow books without having to show ID or proof of address. Pretty heartwarming and a reminder what a great social equalizer bikes are. On another note, this is from Al

This is the guy I want to go bike-packing with!

This is such a cool project but little-known outside France. Given that this is the only english video I could track down, language might be the barrier. It’s a shame because most of the passengers in this video are adults, likely along for some kind of promo ride. But there are many french videos out

Shed The Monster, from PeopleForBikes.org, was one of the first videos posted to VeloVID and it remains one of my favourites. But I hadn’t looked at their video library much beyond that. If I Ride is a 2019 re-release of a video they produced originally in 2010 and it is a lovely, slightly pollyanna-ish love

Shed The Monster, from PeopleForBikes.org, was one of the first videos posted to VeloVID and it remains one of my favourites. But I hadn’t looked at their video library much beyond that. If I Ride is a lovely, slightly pollyanna-ish love poem to the bicycle from a kid’s point of view. Interestingly, they re-released this

If you’re chosen as the Best Cycling City in The Netherlands*, it’s a pretty safe bet you’re also the best cycling city in the world. That’s the case in Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands, population 180,000 and proud as all get out about their transition to a cycling/pedestrian paradise over the last 40 years.

I love brilliant ideas like this. I love them even more when they’re close to home. This is a proposal for adapting the rail corridors set aside for Ontario’s GO trains to accommodate alternate transit—like cyclists. It could add 108 kilometres of world-class bike lanes to Toronto’s rather meagre supply. But it’s an idea that

This is funnier if you’re Canadian, but, even then, maybe it’s not that funny to you. I dunno, I can laugh at that last line… Anyway, mercifully, this satire of our famous TV commercial series is short and has lovely relaxing flute music playing in the background.

A great overview of how Amsterdam ‘rejected the car’ and became the ‘City of Bikes’. Riding in Amsterdam for the first time is, for most jaded North American urban cyclists, a liberating experience and this film will give you that same heady optimism. From StreetFilms.org, who produce “short films showing how smart transportation design and policy can result

MOTHERLOAD “is a crowdsourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring parenthood in this digital age of climate change.” I saw the full-length film recently at the ReFrame Film Festival in Peterborough and I was blown away. There’s a kind of magic when a talented filmmaker tackles the subjects they are

The last time we checked in with Missy Giove was two years ago, when we profiled some of the bad boys and girls of cycling. She lives up to her image in that video, cursing up a storm and tossing back Red Stripe through most of the episode. Two years later, it’s a revelation to

When I dream of the future, it looks something like this. (Unless I’m in a rowdy mood, and then it looks something like this. Either way, I guess I have a thing for e-trikes.) Really, what’s not to like about the ELF? A “a solar charged and pedal powered, electric assist tricycle with zero emissions”

It’s March 17, 2020 as I write this and Canada is entering a period of social isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thinking of all those isolated folks like myself at home on the internet, I was looking over my backlog list of videos to review and this title, Go Solo – You’ve Got

I’m posting this as part of a mini-overview of the bad boys and girls of cycling, starting with Josh Bender representing freeriders and Lucas Brunelle representing bike messengers and other urban cowboys (and cowgirls) but Missy Giove is probably the baddest of them all. How else do you characterize someone who raced with a dead

Another in the The Way I Roll series, supporting Pedals 4 Progress, from rack maker Thule that introduces us to the back stories of people in cycling. I’d never heard of Nicole Duke before this video and now I feel I know her somehow. That’s the strength of this series really—it taps into the common collective consciousness all

Yesterday was Aboriginal Solidarity Day here in Canada and Mountain Equipment Coop (our equivalent of America’s R.E.I.) posted this 2015 video telling the story of member Melody Markle’s “healing journey of decolonizing my body”. Because, besides being an MEC member, Melody is also a member of the Long Point (Winneway) First Nation in Quebec. She is

This is such a touching story. One of the fundamental tenets of VeloVID is that a great cycling video is really about more than “just” cycling. This video may capture that better than any other on the site.

Half way through this video and I’m reflecting on how refreshing it is to watch a bike messenger video that isn’t wall-to-wall raging testosterone and bad behaviour. This is a thoughtful video about female bike messengers and the challenges they face—including being always asked if the job isn’t too tough for them. Literally at the

“That’s definitely not the only issue we have. We got a lot of issues.” Aaron Chase amps up the group dynamics on this follow-up trip to Peru and the result is a more engaging video. Even if you’re just looking for gnarly riding I think this has more than Lost In Peru did. (It finishes with a

Professional Scottish mountain biker and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist Lee Craigie left the sport of cycling behind to concentrate on the healing aspects of cycling that drew her to it in the first place. Now, as she says in this video, “A ride these days has to have an element of adventure and exploration to it.”

This one’s personal for me. It might be for you too. If you’ve ever lost someone close. If bikes have ever been a part of your recovery from anything. If not, it’s still a beautifully made video that tells a beautiful, tragic love story.  I think it will resonate with everyone. Salsa Cycles released this

Mountain biking has been around long enough now, especially on the North Shore, that its originators are true OGs. Like Betty Birrell, the 73 year old total bad-ass hero of this video, or Todd “Digger” Fiander the famous trail builder. Not young anymore but “never too old to send”.

I’m Canadian so Alison Jackson is basically a Goddess in our pantheon now after winning Paris-Roubaix in 2023. Here’s the heartwarming ‘Backstory’, delivered with panache as one might expect from Rapha.

“What is crazy is that the women that I race against… were the reason I kept going.” Sarah Sturm said this after struggling to finish—and most certainly not win—one of the toughest races out there, the Leadville 100. This short film, from Rapha, is a bit of a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” story

I’ve reviewed Volle Band before and I’m not a fan. I love the concept but not the execution I guess. It’s the droning, irritating music that bothers me. This video is pretty trippy and though the video editing contributes a lot to Clutching Voices as a work of art, there are several harsh cuts that

Peter Sagan could have his own channel here at VeloVID. Whether it’s mid-race wheelies, charming interviews with cycling commentators of all ages, or full-on tribute videos, the three-time world champion knows how to play to the camera. Maybe that’s why this one is such a treat. He didn’t care about the camera, he just wanted

Clearly, Lucas Brunelle has had a fascination with risky urban riding since his college days. “Do I have common sense? I’ll leave that up to you”.  

Not much danger of burning your toast this way. Jeez, this guy is huge and he barely gets it to the golden brown setting. I guess LED Christmas lights use a lot less energy.  

I’m posting this right after the winter solstice feeding frenzy called Christmas so I feel NRK reporter Nicolay Ramm’s pain. He makes a heroic effort to consume the daily caloric intake of a Tour de France rider, with predictable consequences. I know, the argument is they ride at their lactic threshold for 5 or 6 hours

This is a funny and brilliant response to the isolation we all feel right now. It’s a fine spoof of typical road racing commentary, complete with helicopter background noise. Which is something we all miss during this, the season of the Spring Classics. I’m writing this on March 23, 2020, the same day Ontario announced

Actually that is pretty incredible. Think about how hard it is to get a 16 lb. road bike up a 22% grade. This guy’s pedalling an old beater up a 100% grade without even breaking a sweat. That’s some pretty serious Newtonian physics being sorted out there.

And now for something completely different… Like many men of a certain age I was a boy of a certain age during the heyday of Monty Python’s Flying Circus so, yes, I can recite most of the Dead Parrott sketch or sing “I’m A Lumberjack And I’m OK” from memory. But I was surprised to

Graham Eccles is an anachronistic entrepreneur, if there is such a thing. A penny farthing may not be much good for long-distance mail delivery but it sure works on a local basis. Drop off a letter in the morning and, more likely than not, Graham will have it delivered by the afternoon. Quick! Must be

This isn’t the first video VeloVID has posted that uses bicycles as musical instruments but unlike Frank Zappa’s early appearance on the Steve Allen Show, SPIN, by evalyn parry, is about more than just the novelty of a bike as a musical instrument. It is “a theatrical song cycle… starring the Bicycle as muse, musical instrument,

Danny MacAskill is really having fun in this one. As is Daisy. And as are we, his amazed and amused audience. This is classic Danny MacAskill. Like Imaginate, it gets right inside a kid’s head and features the kind of gob-smacking riding you know Danny dreamed of mastering since he was a kid. He has

Very clever Google Nederland. “Only available on April 1” should be your first clue but this is so well done I’m sure it fooled more than a few. Just like another video here on VeloVID that features bikes without riders, this one has a “How we did it” video you can watch if you want

Burning Man always attracts creative tinkerers and a lot of imaginative bicycles. So it’s fitting that Paul Elkins, who built this very cool bicycle camper mainly for Burning Man, describes it as “a playful Mad Max rendition of a post-apocalyptic home.” Maybe there’s something inherent in the very idea of a bicycle-drawn camper that inspires

Opening credits roll and then: ” …90 minutes of madness and melody with guest stars Mel Torme, log roller Diane Olsen and musical bicyclist Frank Zappa.”??? I don’t know what surprises me more about this clip from the Steve Allen Show of March 4, 1963—that network TV put an unknown Frank Zappa on the Steve Allen show

Another odd 1980s commercial from Aussie bike company Malvern Star. This time the target of the parody isn’t modern staged photographic art, it’s television. This 30 second spot could be the opening for any number of formulaic teen TV series of the era. And probably it sold a ton of those plastic wheeled BMX bikes…  

Bicycles. Is there anything they can’t do?