Videos: Cyclists blocked by bulls, 12ft hamsters & team cars

What is the weirdest thing you've ever seen while out on a ride? A herd of cows blocking your way? A mid-peloton speed skater? A father carrying his two children in baskets on his shoulders? A 12-foot hamster?

They may sound like the stuff of nightmares, or weird drug-fuelled dreams, but we've got the lot here in today's video round-up, plus some other bits and bobs.

Those bits and bobs include some incredible bike handling skills from our man Vittorio Brumotti, some arguably better bike handling skills from the World Championship trials competitors & perhaps the riskiest riding of the lot from Spaniard David Cachon on a gravel bike.

After all that, if you weren't exhausted enough, there's some footage from an exhausting 5-day trip from London to Edinburgh and back. The rag-tag bunch that take part make great watching!

Enjoy!

Speed skater keeps up with cyclists

There's always one on the group ride who fancies themselves a bit of a joker.

Maybe they'll show up in a bizarre bit of kit, take a folding bike out on a particularly hilly Sunday ride out, or in this case show up in roller blades.

At first we were astonished that someone could keep up with a group of cyclists on a pair of roller blades, until we realised this was the US national speedskating squad out for a training ride.

Maybe we've unfairly labeled this individual as a maverick; maybe they simply didn't get the memo and left their bike at home.

Team Astana come up against a bovine roadblock

It's not something you expect you're going to have to deal with on a training ride, a herd of cows blocking your way. These Astana riders appear to handle the situation incredibly well.

Either they've had to deal with this sort of thing many times before, or they've overlooked the long pointy horns on the first beast they pass.

You certainly wouldn't catch any of us sauntering so close to a cow that pointy. We don't care what you say about them being docile.

Tinkoff car blocks winning Gazprom-RusVelo rider in Giro TT

How far away are we from banning all vehicles from the road during road races?

Obviously that's not going to happen, but how many times this year have we all been up in arms about the behaviour of those in charge of the motorised vehicles in professional bike races?

Fortunately no one was hurt on this occasion, but Sergey Firsanov was on track to take his first ever Grand Tour stage win before his rhythm and pace was totally disrupted by team Tinkoff's team car.

Can more be done to regulate the dangers to life, health and competition that the race vehicles pose?

12-foot hamster on a cycle lane

No, it's not an abomination.

Once again we've got another piece of bizarre marketing to report to you in the video round-up; this time from car repair chain KwikFit.

The story goes that one mechanic discovered that a customer had left a hamster in the glove box of his car after handing it in to be repaired.

The guys at KwikFit say they find a lot of stuff, but Jaffa the hamster took the buscuit. Or is it a cake?

Anyway, big Jaffa is powered by a bike, and is captured in this video disrupting all sorts of people's day in the name of advertising, including a few cyclists.

Dad of the year, or should we call child protection?

We all loved playing those games with our dads as kids, you know, the ones that involved a bit of a risk.

Whether it was him throwing us up in the air and catching us, or sitting on his shoulders as he ran about, that element of fear was what made things fun.

Which is why we have no doubt that the kids in this video are absolutely elated about being placed in baskets and balancing on their father's shoulder as he cycles through the streets.

We're not sure what the Chinese outlook is on child safety or road safety, but we're fairly sure that this isn't the norm.

Look how close the car is to bumping into the child on the left, for goodness sake! Think of the children!

Brumotti on holiday

A couple of trailsy videos now. One to satiate your need of a weekly dose of our favourite maverick Italian cyclist Vittorio Brumotti.

This video was made to celebrate the 46th Nove Colli International Gran Fondo sportive in the stunning town of Cesenatico in Italy.

By the looks of the place in Brumotti's video, we all missed a trick not taking part in this ride last Sunday.

There's always next year.

Trials World Cup highlights

From some fancy celebrity road bike trials, to a little taster of the real thing.

This year the UCI Trials World Cup took place in Krakow, Poland, with Aurelien Fontenoy of France walking away with the top prize in the men's 26" category.

German Nina Reichenbach won the women's category to find herself in the UCI's rainbow jersey for a world champion.

It's an interesting comparison to watch the best in the world compete with all the right equipment after watching Brumotti swan about doing similar stuff on a road bike.

Really puts the Italian's skills into perspective, eh?

Ride literally anywhere on a gravel bike

David Cachon: bike adventurer, extreme sportsman, star of this incredible gravel bike video.

The Spaniard takes us around the island of Formentera, just south of Ibiza, on what is something of an ode to the gravel bike. Cachon really shows us that the mix of slightly fatter tyres and a more forgiving frame give a stiff old road bike a license to go anywhere.

If you've got skills like this, at least.

London to Edinburgh, then back to London

1400km in 5 days, could you do it?

Over roads you're familiar with? Maybe. With your bed to sleep in every night? Maybe. All the way up to Edinburgh from London and back in five days, with a rag tag bunch, and what looks like school cafeterias to refuel in? Maybe not.

This documentary follows a bunch of cyclists doing exactly that, and blimey, the trailer is telling us it's well worth a watch.