For the Love of Mud

Danger. Reward. Adrenaline. Freeride mountain biking is synonymous with pushing the known boundaries of the sport. Cam Zink sits atop the Freeride world having won its most coveted titles, the Red Bull Rampage, Crankworx Slopestyle, and the Freeride World Tour, yet those accolades have not come without a physical price. He has transcended cycling media, and his super-human feats have become broadcast television and Internet sensations. "Reach For The Sky" takes a dramatic behind-the-scenes look into Cam Zink's life, with the story bookended by 2013 and 2014 Red Bull Rampage campaigns in Virgin, Utah. Plus, features a one-of-a-kind portrayal of his world-record- breaking 100-foot backflip attempt at Mammoth Mountain-showcasing 100% never-before-seen footage...

GCN's James Lowsley-Williams and GMBN's Blake Samson are trading in their usual bikes for ones with much smaller wheels, as they try their hand at two variations of the incredibly varied sport of bicycle motocross. We'll explore the history of BMX to learn about the rise, fall and rebirth of one of cycling's most explosive forms. From racing on the track to landing tricks in skate bowls, what does it take to make it to the top level of BMX?

Simon Richardson and James Lowsley-Williams head to the Himalayas on a quest to discover Nepal’s mysterious ‘Forbidden Kingdom’, the remote mountaintop city of Lo Manthang. Breath-taking views, lung-busting climbs, and incredible encounters with locals; Si and James are in for an unmissable gravel bike adventure! Their once-in-a-lifetime expedition begins in the chaotic streets of Kathmandu before embarking on a gruelling five-day ride up the ancient trade route that forges a path between Nepal and Tibet. Their epic ride sees them dicing with kamikaze trucks, enduring freezing rainstorms, taking a 228m bungee jump, and even a heroic attempt to beat a Himalayan KOM.

One remembers the snow flurry through which the drivers tried to make their way to the Italian Riviera. The white streets in front of the Turchino Pass and the pictures of half-frozen drivers who got off their bikes into the team buses. The journey into spring was stopped by winter. The race finally continued on the other side of the mountain. It was warmer on the coast, but it was raining heavily. The scenario was an illusion when a driver appeared in the turbulent finale of the race to finally live up to expectations. BESENWAGEN presents the first film with Riviera Phantom. Filmed at the locations of the race and underlaid with original recordings of the TV broadcast, you get an unprecedented insight into the action. From different angles, the film reveals a fantastic story about what happened on a monumental day.

Standing proudly amongst the pantheon of cycling’s most revered mountains, the Stelvio boasts some of the longest and most challenging climbs in bike racing. Relentless switchbacks over impossible gradients beneath extremes of weather. It is on the relentless, technical, and often treacherous slopes of the Stelvio where the most famous and revered battles have decided the fate of the Giro d’Italia’s coveted Maglia Rosa. Jon Shubert explores the history and legends of the Stelvio and the surrounding regions, meeting people whose lives have been shaped by the mountain, and ex-professional Adam Hansen joins him as he makes his own attempt to conquer the coveted mountain.

Ex-pro cyclist, Ted King has a lot of love for his home state of Vermont. With its rolling landscapes, rugged gravel roads and its fantastic craft beer scene, he was never unhappy to return home after his time spent in pelotons around the world. As beer and bike enthusiasts, Ted and elite road and CX racer Regina Legge, are taking their gravel bikes down the road less travelled, touring brewery to brewery and learning what puts Vermont’s craft beer ahead of the bunch. As they head north to south, we'll take in some of Vermont's challenging climbs and learn a thing or two about beer along the way.

The English Channel. The iconic 35 and a half km body of water separating Britain and mainland Europe. It’s the busiest shipping lane in the world; prone to dangerous swells and treacherous weather conditions. You can sail it, fly over it, and even catch a train under it, but only a handful of hardy souls have attempted to pedal across! The Guinness World Record stands at 6 hours and 39 minutes and endurance cyclist Jon Shubert and triathlete Mark Threlfall have it firmly in their sights. Their training schedules are in place and a crack team of engineers at Oxford Brookes University has built them a kayak/tandem craft that they hope could just be a record breaker. Can pedal power conquer The English Channel’s mighty waves?

Santa Barbara triathlete Neil Myers was nearly killed in a horrific training accident on Gibraltar Road in 2018. One week after the accident, he signed up to compete in a triathlon that was a year away, with a goal of simply crossing the finish line. Four months after healing and leaving rehab, Neil began his cycling training. Only one year after the accident, he surpassed the goal he had set while he was in the hospital. He and his team won the 2019 Santa Barbara Triathlon.

It created one of the most memorable days in grand tour history. Riders such as Andy Hampsten and Franco Chioccioli share their extraordinary experience of a day they'll never forget.

1969. July the 15th. Stage 17 of the Tour de France. A brutal stage from Luchon to Mourenx covering four of the toughest mountains in the Pyrenees. On this fateful day, Eddy Merckx catapulted himself into the history books with one of the greatest solo breakaways the sport has ever seen. Fast forward over half a century, and GCN’s Simon Richardson is in the Pyrenees to pay tribute to The Cannibal by recreating his ride. To make the 220km epic even more challenging, Si will do it aboard his 1969 spec Faema team bike and wearing their iconic red and white jersey. Eddy Merckx made this ride look easy, but will Si even make it to the finish line?

The deeply personal story of elite Welsh trans cyclist Emily Bridges as she fights to represent her country in the female category for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.

A fascinating insight into the role of the bicycle in the First World War - from reconnaissance to transporting ammunition, historian and cycling enthusiast Jeremy Banning explores stories from the battlefield. Ollie Bridgewood discovers the role cycle scouts played in the Army Cycling Corp and rides the original bikes used in the conflict. Mark Beaumont meets the grandson of a WW1 soldier who rode for the Highland Cyclist Battalion and survived brutal combat on the front line.

In 1939, driven by a desire for fame and fortune English amateur Tommy Godwin cycled a world record 75,065 miles in one year setting out from home each day through bitter winters and the blackouts of World War Two. He became the fastest person to cycle 100,000 miles in just 500 days. After this epic feat of endurance, Tommy had to learn to walk again and uncurl his hands! The madcap record has only been attempted by a handful of determined souls and Tommy’s record stood for 76 years making it one of the greatest, but also most overlooked sporting achievements. Ultra endurance athlete and round the world cycling record holder Mark Beaumont is on a mission to shine a light on Tommy’s ride. He delves deeper into Tommy’s story and finds out if he has the physical and mental stamina to take on Godwin’s record.

Tulsa Tough is one of the hardest, fastest, most prestigious criterium races in the United States of America. This high-octane, action packed film follows the Miami Blazers, and hears from sprinter and fast rising talent Dante Young, as they go toe-to-toe with the likes of L39ION OF LOS ANGELES on the downtown streets of Tulsa. It’s NASCAR meets bike racing as we see the best criterium racers in the world battle for supremacy.

The Rainbow Jersey is the crowning achievement of any cyclist’s career, proof that they are the very best in the world. GCN stats guru Cillian Kelly heads to Belgium in a lighthearted jaunt to chat to ex pros, pros and journalists about how the Rainbow Jersey undoubtedly brings with it greatness, but also the pressure to live up to the win. In 'Legend of the Rainbow Jersey’, Cillian uses his statistical nouse as he crunches the numbers and speaks with a selection of former world champions including Michal Kwiatkowski, Rui Costa, Philippe Gilbert and Johan Museeuw about riders wins and losses after winning this famous jersey. Finally, Cillian watches from the roadside as current world champions Remco Evenepoel and Annemiek van Vleuten take on the Ardennes hills in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Will they crown their season as world champions by winning in rainbows? Or will the jersey weigh heavy on their shoulders?

Addicted to breaking records, this former world champion puts his mind and body on the line one last time. 20 years after his last world record he is in the American desert looking for purpose and salvation on a speed machine he built in his Scottish kitchen. Will his ageing body and fragile psyche cope with the pressure he will find on Nevada's State Route 305?

In the mid-1980s, one team dominated the cycling headlines: La Vie Claire. Despite a ferocious internal power struggle between two of the sport’s biggest stars, they racked up more than 100 wins. Wearing their iconic Mondrian jersey, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond won two of the most infamous Tour de France victories of all time. Bankrolled by the controversial businessman, Bernard Tapie, La Vie Claire rewrote the rulebook on both bike racing and fashion. Dan Lloyd is joined by special guests Pippa York and William Fotheringham to discuss how the team turned a recipe for disaster into a period of complete dominance.

Bordeaux-Paris was the best bike race you’ve never heard of: a midnight start, 550km-long, and ridden behind motorised ‘dernys’, with winners including Jacques Anquetil and Tom Simpson. More than thirty years since Bordeaux-Paris was last raced, pro cyclists Mitch Docker and Sam Bewley are aiming to recreate the infamous 1965 edition. How will they fare at the ‘Derby of the Road’?

“PRO” takes viewers on an unforgettable ride into the ultra-elite world of the superstars of professional bike racing: Bobby Julich, Chris Horner, Freddie Rodriguez, Mike Sayers, Gord Fraser, Henk Vogels, Mark McCormack, Jonas Carney, Trent Klasna, Michael Creed, Erik Saunders, Tim Johnson and more. These superstars and their teams star in “PRO”, director Jamie Paolinetti’s follow up film to the cult phenomenon, The Hard Road.

On your marks. Follow cyclists from 13 countries as they cover 2.400 km of Gaspé countryside in 12 days-a course longer than those of Italy, Belgium or Spain. The long shots of curving landscape and open road are set to a mesmerizing soundtrack in this documentary, and the results are spellbinding.