If you follow Danny MacAskill’s Instagram feed, and you certainly should, you will notice how much fun he has and how seriously he doesn’t take himself. This guy is important because he took a well-defined and very niche thing, observed trials, and brought it to the street in a wholly new way. He might not have been the first (check out this guy, whose VHS tapes I used to collect), but he is the best.

Danny MacAskill is different, because he brings a creativity and virtuosity that no one else has. I am not even a fraction of the rider he is, but seeing this video made me think about all the places I ride in a different way. It made me thinking about bike skills in a different way, and it helped me enjoy rail riding even more than I already did.

This was his first video, the one that broke my brain. This is Danny, riding around his native Edinburgh. He was still working in a bike shop when this video was made. There is a casual brilliance to this that I think is missing from most of his later stuff, even though it is all worth watching on repeat when you need some inspiration.