Weekday Diversions #2: Videos, Art, and Clips for your Wednesday
It’s Wednesday, you’ve (almost) made it! The work week is halfway done, and the prospect of big weekend rides is beckoning. Until then, here’s a roundup of the best bike (and non-bike) content that’s caught our eye this week.
Cy Whitling (Gear Editor)
GoPro: Head to Head! - 1st Place Vali Höll vs 2nd Place Nina Hoffmann - Fort William UCI World Cup
Analyzing the splits and trying to figure out where the race was won is always entertaining, but these side by side GoPro views are also very insightful. It's awesome to see different riding styles and line choices highlighted like this. And kudos to Zander for catching this video and sending it over!
Brage Vestavik’s Sandscape Eternal
We already wrote a whole article about it, but I think this video deserves a second watch. It’s So. Damn. Rowdy. Fast, loose, aggressive, raw. This is one of those edits that deserves all the basic, bro-y superlatives.
Related: Brage Vestavik Drops 18 Minutes of Freeride Fury
Fischer Paints: Jimi Hendrix
Someday both my picks will all be both bike-related and current, but today is not that day. Scott Fischer is by far my favorite youtube artist - that is, an artist who makes videos about art. He’s not really making tutorials, and his videos aren’t super polished or commercial feeling. Instead it just feels like he genuinely wants to share how he paints things, and the decisions he makes along the way.
I’ve adapted and borrowed a lot of Fischer’s techniques in my own illustration work, and I quite appreciate how he combines raw, organic textures and loose techniques with super precise, articulate linework. It’s reminiscent of the contrast of carefully engineered bikes and natural, unpredictable trails. These videos are also super soothing, and are my go-to when I want to turn my bike brain off, relax, and rethink how I communicate both verbally and visually.
Julia Tellman (Gear Contributor)
Cosmo Catalano’s Instagram page @howtheracewaswon is such a fun bite-sized serving of endurance racing content. His breakdowns of the hole shots, line choices, and technical prowess of world-class XC and cyclocross racers are so enjoyable. This account scratches the same itch as Ben Cathro’s World Cup downhill track analyses.
View the original article to see embedded media.
3 Ways National Bike to Work Day Can Miss the Mark
I am just one close call away from becoming a radicalized bike commuter who slams my u-lock on the hoods of vehicles that threaten me. I definitely shake my fist at cars and mean-mug bad drivers at intersections. And I live in one of the bike-friendliest places I’ve ever been, which makes the dangerously subpar infrastructure on some of my routes that much more noticeable.
Even though I get annoyed when my friends are car-brained, I honestly don’t blame people who don’t commute by bike. It’s scary to coexist on bad roads with inattentive or frustrated drivers. Like this article says, “Citizens don't want to see a flier encouraging them to put themselves in a dangerous situation. They want to see real dedication to solving the safety, zoning and infrastructure issues that deprive people of the option to bike year-round.”
Dylan Russell (Social Media Manager)
Billy Meaclem: Payday
With the huge influx of mountain bike video content these days it takes a lot to stand out, Billy Meaclem’s newest project “PAYDAY” does just that. Billy grew up with The Vale, a local jump spot for over 20 years that was sadly demolished for a new housing development. This left a void in the community, so Billy and friends set out to create a new spot of their own from scratch. Two years later a masterpiece is unveiled to our eyes. Both the riding, and trail building are mesmerizing. The love and passion shown through the build is a testament to trailbuilders and riders worldwide.
Travis Rice: Raw Files 4K
Any edit that has Travis Rice in it is a sure hit, his riding style is legendary and he never puts out bland filler. This edit consists of GoPro raw Files in some of the most pristine riding conditions anyone could ask for, all in 4K. He really nailed the trip planning finding the best snow, something that as mountain bikers we often take for granted. You can pretty much go for a bike ride in any weather conditions, making a perfect day on the bike more common than a perfect day on snow.
Zander Lingelbach-Pierce (News Writer)
Your Time is Now: Santa Cruz Bikes, featuring Ben Hildred
Ben Hildred might just be one of the most impressive, and underground mountain bikers in the world. He’s building a legacy around huge vert and big endurance rides, done on his own terms.
Hildred’s sponsor Santa Cruz leaned into his persona and captured his riding style perfectly in a recent video. There is perhaps no one I look up to more as a rider than Ben. While many endurance athletes skip a step and become gravel bikers, Hildred savors the way down
Ben is an endurance god. Over the New Zealand Summer, Hildred completed an Olympus Mons ride, where he pedaled 72,000 vertical feet, the full elevation of Mars’ tallest mountain, in one go. Read more about the effort here.
Will Sternberg Drops In With Style
Southern Utah is one of the rare locations where the lesser known riders consistently go nearly as big as the pros do when Rampage comes to town.
WIll Sternberg put on his best Rampage impression with a caveman into a steep ledge. A caveman is a very impressive trick, especially into tech. Holding on through the rough chunder was no easy task. Huge props to Will for this enormous send.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Nate Spitz Pulls For the Triple
If your instagram algorithm, like mine, is locked into the sea to sky riding scene, you may have noticed a new trail du jour. This trail, located somewhere between Vancouver and Pemberton, starts as a perfectly graded loamy rut track.
Abruptly (but not without warning thanks to a large orange sign) the builders put in a massive jump with two landing options: long and very long. Watch Nate Spitz pull for the triple on his new Canfield Lithium.
It never fails to amaze me how much builders and riders in British Columbia push each other, and the riding scene.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Bonus Clips From Matt Lorelli
Most of the skiers we know mountain bike, and vice versa. So we hit up Matt Lorelli, of Powder Magazine for his highlights of the week. And man, did he deliver! Here are three quick clips from the world of snowy two-planking that stood out.
Noah Gaffney in The Chimney
Apparently it’s still ski season in California. Gaffney delivers a classic line, in great style. It’s tidy, impressive, and so tight.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Colby Stevenson at Kimbo Sessions
Kimbo Sessions is one of those events that always spawns a few excellent clips and videos. The first hit is a mind melter, and the rest of the reel is just as impressive. It’s also wild that clips as good as these just get dropped on social media these days. Remember when edits were a thing, and everybody stacked their shots all season, and then released them all at once? This could be a closer shot for sure!
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Anders Backe World Record Switch Speed
Honestly, I never thought through the logistics of setting a switch speed record on skis. But watching this clip, I guess a huge 180 off a ski jumping setup makes a lot of sense? 82.92 MPH is freakishly fast, headed forward or backward, regardless of how fast your buddy claims to have gone on his latest ski vacation.
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