10 of the maddest, baddest (in a good way) cycling videos from 2016

A new full-length Danny MacAskill video was just one of the highlights of 2016 when it comes to footage depicting rad - or just plain mad - riding.

Here's our round-up of ten that grabbed our attention over the past 12 months - click on the headlines for the full story.

The hardest road bike climb ever?

Italian trials ace Vittorio Brumotti has been sponsored by Tinkoff for the past couple of years and travelled to Argentina to shoot this promo for January’s Tour de San Luis that saw him ride up the steep side of a governmental building. Of course, what goes up must come down, and the descent wasn’t one for the faint-hearted, either.

Riders battle 100kph headwind (without success)

In February, the Volta a La Marina race in Benidorm was abandoned on safety grounds after the 153 riders found it impossible to pedal into headwinds that hit 100 kilometres an hour – some of them forced to dismount and struggling to keep their bikes from being blown away.

Cardiff cyclist triggers speed camera

Okay, so this one isn't from 2016 - it's from four years earlier - but received widespread attention after Wales Online unearthed the footage on YouTube in July, showing a cyclist triggering a speed camera on the Welsh capital's Newport Road. He was pretty chuffed with his achievement, too.

FDJ pro and pals devise pivot-frame bike

There’s reinventing the wheel, and then there’s reinventing the bicycle. This video, from April, features the pivot-framed Trocadero Fixie, devised by FDJ pro Johan Le Bon and friends.

Trocadero-fixie from Romain Frogé on Vimeo.

"After a night of drinking, my friend thought it would be a good idea"

The words that preface many a tale of woe. The key lesson to be drawn here is that if you’re going to ride your bike down an escalator, as this chap did at a shopping mall in California in May, it’s a good idea to check there isn’t a wall at the bottom.

Cyclist whizzes past motorbikers on descent ... and one of them isn't happy

Anyone who’s ever ridden a long, snaking descent will know that a cyclist with decent downhill skills will beat a someone on a motorbike to the bottom. One of the bikers in this video from Colombia, which we featured in June, wasn’t too happy about it and simply had to get back in front, to the cyclist’s annoyance.

Deer demolishes mountain biker on South Downs

Animals of all shapes and sizes can pose a hazard to cyclists – this year alone we’ve featured ostriches, alligators, kangaroos and here, a deer which took out a mountain biker during the Wiggle South Downs Classic. Ouch.

Sick ... Unicyclists ride round top of chimney - 256 metres above the ground

August brought us this video from a pair of unicyclists in Romania who pedalled, bunny-hopped and juggled their way around the top of a 256-metre tall chimney. Rather them than us.

Wee Day Out – Danny MacAskill’s latest film

Danny MacAskill’s videos have collectively racked up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube and are always highly anticipated.  The latest, released in October and called Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out, didn’t disappoint.

And finally …

Here’s one we missed (it does happen) but is well worth sharing. BMX freestyle rider Tim Knoll headed to Barcelona courtesy of travel firm Contiki for this video, released in October, since when it has amassed around 3 million views on YouTube. Stunning riding.