Wednesday video roundup: icy racing, Dutch filmmaking, and a dirty bike commute

Welcome to this week’s roundup! We’re starting with a trailer (above) for “Cheetah”, a documentary about Nelson Vails, who was a pro cyclist in the 1980s- and is black. That was rare and pioneering for that generation (see also: Major Taylor from an earlier generation), so he is an inspirational figure to many.

This “Xylocycle” belongs in Portland. There’s also a pianobike, which is a tallbike with a piano. How cool is that? I would have liked more details, but it’s a promotional video for a component, so they don’t really focus on the instruments and bikes.

REI published a video about Lael Wilcox competing on the Arizona Trail bikepacking race. The drone footage is beautiful. Actually, all of the footage is beautiful.

This is great. It’s a bike race on hockey rinks. The first part is the oddest, some of the towed rigs remind me of the Ben Hurt chariot wars. Crazy northerners!

This video is a must-watch. Mount Washington is the east coast’s most popular mountain climb (4600ft, average 11% grade). Cyclists are only allowed on one day for the Mt. Washington Hillclimb. Hillclimb racer (and winner) Tim Johnson rode up it in the winter using a fatbike with studded tires.

Here’s video from our own Jonathan Maus showing a city employee trying to grind through one of the new bike parking racks. I wonder if we could take turns at it- I have some ideas.

It seems Australia is not a great place for cyclists and is getting worse. This on-bike footage shows a terrible bike lane- it is in the door zone, it goes into a parking area, cars are parked in it. It gets more intersting, though, when a police officer chews them out for not staying in the bike lane (skip ahead to the 45 second mark). This is a perfect example of how on-bike (and on-police) footage is useful in legal situations.

This bike commute appears normal, but it seems strange the rider is on a mountain bike with suspension. Keep watching and it’ll make sense. The terrain looks very familiar- I don’t know where this is, but it’s the same muddy forest trails we have.

What happens when Dutch videographers need to get some shots in Santa Monica? They ride their bikes, of course. Note the Dutch aren’t cyclists as we define them, they just use bikes as appropriate, even in Los Angeles.

This week’s honorable mentions: Bradley Wiggins GCN interview, trail riding in Tasmania, interview with classics legend Johan Museeuw, Mike Cotty, Col Collective, Lac de Cap-de-Long, BikeRadar: Five pros to follow on Strava, dreamy video showing cycling near Berlin, and the chaos of pedestrians, cycles, scooters, and work vehicles in a shared space (yet everyone manages).

Inclusion criteria: If I’ve missed something, post it in the comments! I prefer videos published in the last week or so. Note if there’s a specific point in a long video that is worth highlighting. Also note if there is colorful language. I will delay videos containing pro racing spoilers by 7 days.

– Ted Timmons, @tedder42