It’s the end of 2019. The time for reflection (and skiving work) is upon us. Spend some quality time watching some truly excellent MTB videos.

>>> Editor’s Choice 2019 – home of the best bikes and products on the market

For this video round-up we’ve split it into five categories: marketing promos, viral vids, Instavids, full length features and race runs.

Promo vid of the year: Bryn Atkinson on Norco Optic

Bryn Atkinson is the archetypal marketing man’s mountain biker. Super skilled but likeable and human. Light-hearted but not goofy or annoying. Each and every of his videos is worth watching. He makes speed look fun and balletic. This is far and away the best two minutes of advertising executed in 2019.

Viral video of the year: Andreu Lacondeguy not dying at Rampage

Personally speaking, this was the most exciting moment in mountain biking of 2019. I’ve watched this roughly one million times and I still can’t believe it. Even though it’s utterly beyond pretty much everyone’s skill level, we’ve all had moments where we’ve nearly crashed but somehow managed to ride it out. Not many of us have done so whilst effectively falling down a cliff in a desert.

Shout out to Brendan Fairclough’s canyon backflip too, which was the most impressive thing done during the whole of this year’s Rampage but still didn’t equal the OMG thrill of watching Lacondeguy not-dying.

Race run of the year: Amaury Pierron

Lacondeguy’s run could almost win this but he did unfortunately go on to crash further down into his race run. And Rampage isn’t really racing racing is it? For all-out speed racing there was one clear winner in 2019. Amaury Pierron at Les Gets World Cup Downhill. We think Pierron’s run will be more remembered even than Loic Bruni winning the World Champs and World Cup Overall double in 2019. It’s this generation’s ‘Sam Hill at the Val di Sole World Champs’, except with a happy ending.

Pierron’s run starts at 3m 16s into this video by the way.

Instavid of the year: Jasper Penton

Although we really should give the nod to Kirt Voreis, we’re gonna give this title to an up and coming yoof rider called Jasper Penton. Where Voreis’ Instagrams are more about goofing around mixed with impressive bike handling skills, there’s something about Penton’s ‘grams that feel more urgent and I-want-to-ride-my-bike-now-please. So we’re giving him the Instagram winstagram.

Full length feature of the year: Fabio Wibmer’s Urban Freeride Live 3

By ‘full length feature’ of course we mean ‘longer than two minutes’. This is the internet after all. The whole movie is worth watching and rewatching several times but the winning moment is that kerb ‘berm’ schred innit. Extremely GIF-worthy.

Best bike video of the decade: Chris Akrigg, Best Of Mongoose

Shout out to Danny Hart’s Champery World Champs winning run (but we ran a whole feature on that already).

But we’re giving this award to a video that actually only came out a few days ago. No, we’re not being rash or being seduced by novelty. Akrigg rules riding vids. With the shock announcement that Akrigg is leaving Mongoose after 12 years(!) of riding for them, this video is more than a worthy tribute to legendary UK mountain bike master.