The World's Best Bike Videos #89
Everyone dropped a banger video this week! Too many to count!
Let’s Ride
Some weeks are easier than others to pull this newsletter together. This week is one of those weeks. So many incredible videos dropped at once, the hardest part was deciding which ones to include. Here we go!
Semenuk: Built By Myth
New Semenuk video. No description needed at this point - just stylish and creative shredding, exactly what we need.
Ride To Survive 2
Tomomi Nishikubo’s first edition of “Ride To Survive” was creative and entertaining - and this one takes it more than a few steps further! I loved the ending, and if you know anything about the mountain bike culture in Japan, you recognized more than a few of the other cameos in this video (you should recognize Ayato Kimura if you don’t already).
One Million Feet
Ben Hildred did one million feet of climbing in one hundred days. 10,000 feet a day, every day. To be fair, the way down looks super fun. I know this was crazy hard, but it had to be worth it for all that descending, right? Cool to watch the whole process go down!
Did You See This?
This has got to be the longest nose-wheelie ever done, right?? So much control. Unreal!
Newsworthy
🤘 Here’s the Sleeper Shreddit from Val Di Sole - this crew is getting faster and faster at turning around these edits. For a crew called “Sleeper”, I have a feeling that they aren’t doing much sleeping on race weekend. Lightning fast turnaround again…and as expected, a total banger video.
🎥 Here are the official Val Di Sole World Cup highlights from the downhill: Men’s Elite // Women’s Elite
🏆 While everyone is making highlight reels after every race, but Ben Cathro/PinkBike’s “Story Of The Race” segment is one of my favorites. I love these breakdowns with more context.
🙌 Troy Lee Designs released a new line of riding gear called Skyline, and they launched it with this super chilled out and stylish riding segment. I dig it!
🤕 Sending healing vibes to Amaury Pierron - he crashed during practice at Val di Sole and broke his collarbone. It sounds like he’ll be back later this season, ready to fight for the World Championship…fingers crossed.
I Can’t Stop Thinking About
One of my best riding buddies is still convinced that our weekly rides are going to whip him into shape. I don’t have the heart to tell him that it’s not going to work. But here’s what I do know.
I talk a lot about different skills and drills to practice - which I believe are extremely important for developing confidence and control on the bike. But the one other thing that I almost never talk about is my protocol off the bike, which I think plays an even bigger role in my bike control.
About three years ago, I got serious about my diet, supplements and workouts - and surprisingly (to me, at least) I felt like I had even more control on the bike. The gym workouts opened up a new level of control over my body and bike, which unlocked an unexpected level-up in my riding.
The workouts have evolved over the years, but the main thing was moving beyond just cardio and into lifting heavy things. I found a trainer to help program the lifts (stuff like bench, squat, deadlift, etc) and then over time found even more functional training that helped me push even further.
On the diet and supplement side of things, I got into a better routine of tracking my food (using MyFitnessPal) and adding protein and creatine supplements, which added even more momentum to the process. All of this stuff - lifting, tracking and diet - all contributed substantially to my fitness and control on the bike, much more than riding could have ever done. I feel like no one talks about this, but it has been an absolute game changer for me over the past few years - even more so now that I’m in my mid-forties.
I can’t help you find a local trainer, but I can show you what I have been using for protein and creatine supplements the last few years. My friends at Momentous also gave me a 35% discount to pass along, here’s a link:
Learning To MTB In TWO WEEKS
It’s crazy to think that a year ago, we were driving across the country, teaching my oldest son to ride mountain bikes. We hit all the spots - Bentonville, Durango, Park City - and plenty in between. We got to see our friends and go on some epic rides (not to mention some insanely long stretches of driving in between). Here’s the full video from start to finish. If you haven’t already watched it, have a look!
My Off-The-Bike Secret
I’ve been on the Momentous train for a pretty long time, the flavor of their chocolate whey protein isolate is the best out of any protein mix I’ve tried - and then I toss in this (flavorless) creatine supplement on top of it. Consistency is everything, and their travel packs totally bailed me out on my most recent trip to China. If you want to get some of this for yourself, this is a link for 35% OFF on your first order. Check out the Sleep Pouches, too - that stuff is awesome.
This is an affiliate link, but you get 35% off on your first order with it, so I feel like it’s a pretty fair trade?
Thank You
What a week! Thanks for riding with me, I hope you loved the videos this week as much as I did…everyone made my job easy this week. I hope you get some epic rides in this week!