YouTubular: 10 of the best cycling videos of 2013

It’s that time of year when we look back on what’s happened during 2013, and we’ve been treated to some terrific cycling-related videos these past 12 months. Here’s our pick of 10 of the best – if you have any personal favourites we’ve left out, let us know and post a link in the comments below!

Apologies in advance if you happen to be at work this New Year’s Eve – you weren’t planning on getting much done anyway though, were you?

Oslo resident ‪Sindre Wiig Nordby has got his impersonations of some of the sport’s top riders – Mark Cavendish, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thomas Voeckler, to name but three – down to a T; here he is running through his repertoire.

Danny MacAskill teased us with his Red Bull-sponsored Imaginate series that followed his preparations for his latest trials film of the same name – but nothing prepared us for the final version. Stunning.

No-one does eccentric quite like the British, and Colin Furze’s Jet Bike – a Raleigh Shopper with a pulse jet strapped to the back – builds on that rich heritage. We imagine he’d have given health & safety short shrift if they’d popped by to see what he was up to.

Our friends across the Channel are much more safety-conscious. Look at those traffic cones that have been carefully laid out before Frenchman François Gissy sets a new world speed record on a rocket-powered bicycle of 263 kilometres an hour. That’s not much slower than the Eurostar.

Red Bull Hill Chasers headed to Edinburgh earlier this year, pitting riders against each other as well as the climb from the Grassmarket in the shadow of the Castle, up the cobbles of Victoria Street, and finishing by the Royal Mile. Just watching this video from Charge Bikes makes our legs hurt.

This week we enjoyed watching Guy Martin having a crack at Dave Le Grys’s motor-paced British speed record on Channel 4; he used a Rourke frame with a crossover drive chainset, but earlier this year, Tom Donhou paid his own tribute to the speed record attempts of yesteryear with a monster 104-tooth chainring Le Grys would be proud of.

Everyone loves a video of a descent on a road bike, yes? Norwegian Eskil Ronningsbakken put a new twist on it by going downhill backwards. As with many of these videos, it’s maybe not one to try at home…

So, going by the title of this video, it seems one man’s street trials is another man’s ‘Bike Parkour,’ if you will; that apart, there’s some cracking riding here, and some equally stunning San Francisco locations.

Another recent one, but it’s worth watching again – three guys take a Boris Bike and see if they can get to Mont Ventoux, ride up it, and get it back on the docking station within 24 hours to avoid getting a fine of £150. Great stuff.

Martyn Ashton’s Road Bike Party was one of the hits of 2012, and despite suffering life-changing spinal injuries in a fall this year, he completed the sequel with a little help from friends Danny MacAskill and Chris Akrigg. Released just 3 weeks ago, it already has more than 7 million views on YouTube.