The Race Across America (RAAM) fascinates and repels at the same time. An epic event launched in 1982, the route currently runs from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland, a distance of roughly 4,800 kms (3,000 miles). The race is not divided into stages but rather it is up to individual racers or team members how far they will ride each day, checking in at 55 stations along the way. It puts extraordinary demands on participants, whether riders or support crew, and this is superbly…

Everyone's favourite dysfunctional team returns to you-are-there video as Season 2 of “The Least Expected Day,” a very intimate portrait of Movistar, the World Tour professional cycling team that just can't seem to get it together, streams worldwide on Netflix.

This newly released film by GCN+ follows two presenters / adventure cyclists / scotch drinkers for a weekend ride around Scotland's Inner Hebrides, where the whisky is as plentiful as the gravel.

The GCN+ streaming service offers interesting documentaries covering cycling history, technology, personalities and two-wheeled travel adventures. The latest GCN+ video is about a three day trip riding along the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland, with stunning vistas of an alien landscape—and bread baked in geothermal steam!

In the modern world we have YouTube and the Global Cycling Network, offering high-quality professionally-made videos, covering all aspects of cycling, from new tech to epic rides. In January 2021 GCN+ was launched and after this first year it is worthwhile to review what GCN hath wrought.

2021 has been another good year for books, but we have also seen the growing availability of short videos, whether of race analysis, travel or even ads from bicycle manufacturers. As to books, with so many out there, it is perhaps not surprising that nutrition has finally gotten its due with numerous cookbooks arriving in the PEZ library.

The British invented the safety bicycle, but racing in the United Kingdom took its own peculiar course as competing en masse on the open road was forbidden, the Brits circumvented the rules with a focus on the individual time trial. While racing has come out into the open, and British success at the highest level of racing is undoubted, there remains a peculiar holdover from days past: hill climb racing.

Jack Thompson grew up following the Tour de France on middle-of-the-night broadcasts in his homeland and dreaming of competing in the race himself. He came to realize that he was not fast enough for the pros but still the dream was there and in July he set out alone to win the 2021 Tour, sort of. It was to be “the Amazing Chase.”

A sea-change in entertainment has given us a brave new world of cycling-related videos that through their subject matter or length or lack of star power would never have appeared in traditional media. Wahoo Fitness has a series featuring off-road riding and the most recent of these adventures was released on January 14.