The helmet cam videos are sorta cool, but let’s face it. One, unless you’re in Moab or BC, one midwest trail look pretty much like another. After uploading the mountain bike videos on the videos page and figuring out how to make them into a video podcast, I thought, why not do a real Mountain Biking TV show. Make TrailTapes, Mountain Bike TV.

I’ve found a few mountain biking, and just biking in general, related audio podcasts. I really like Gearnoise. It’s very well produced and well presented with some interesting content.

Listened to SingleTrack in the car on the way home today. A bunch of UK guys chit chatting about a LED headlamp this week and a lot of time spent on the battery. Yawn. A few funny bits though as the guys ribbed one another.

But so far in my limited search, I’ve found only one video podcast. West Coast Style. It’s really a tv show available to tv stations. Not really a vodcast, but apparently someone has made it available in the iTunes directory. It’s really slick production and decent content too. A good model for my TrailTapes vodcast, but, I’ll admit, it’s a lofty goal. I’ll be happy if TrailTapes looks like a souped up version of my high school av class project.

So I’ve found a few other vodcasts, not bike related. One is Photoshop TV, produced by the NAPP for Photoshop users. This is more my speed. Great content presented in an organized manner. Good production elements. That’s great, amature television. That’s more my speed.

And I was up late last night working on the pilot script.

I’m planning a road trip to Ray’s MTB in Cleveland, OH, in late January. Indoor mountain biking. If you haven’t seen the writeups in any of the mags over the past year or so, you’ve been living under a rock. This place is cool. I thought that would be a good topic for the pilot episode. We’ll also have a “Tech Tips” section with my wrench from my local bike shop. Some mountain biking news, maybe something from the IMBA news feed, or news from mountain bikers who care to submit it. Other features could be:

• Bike ‘O Rama bike show in Madison, WI
• Preparing for a Mountain Bike Race
• How to fix a flat tire and a broken chain on the trail
• Trail location reviews. Could be submitted by mountain biking videographers from anywhere. Foreign correspondents. oooooohh.
• Trek factory is only about 50 miles north of my house. Could get a tour.
• Spin Class and trainers. How to stay in shape in the winter
• Bike Winter groups
• Bike Cops
• Trail building
• Race coverage. WORS. 24 hours of 9-mile. Chicago Night ride.

Lots of possibilities. Post a comment if you have some ideas or would like to contribute a story or some news. Or email me at trailtapes@trailtapes.com.