Ben Reid, if you don’t already know, is Ireland’s top downhill racer and also one of the fastest men to have ever swung his leg over a downhill bike. There have been several edits before this one of Ben riding in Pila, Italy, each of which has featured Ben’s signature riding style as he hits into turn-after-turn at warp-speed in the Italian dust.

This one was in fact filmed in 2010 by John Lawlor, but, as he explains below, it was ‘forgotten’ until now:

“The year was 2010. The Month was July. I was in Italy for four weeks in my van shooting the last of the European rounds of the World Cup. The first week of that trip I had arranged to meet Ben Reid in Pila, Italy to film for his section in 3 Minute Gaps.

“I had filmed with ‘Baltic’ Ben many times before this, but this was the most fun I have ever had filming with anyone. As the days went on, I was keeping a close eye on how many shots I had in the bag, and I began cutting a rough edit of all the best clips we had. The footage looked great. Ben was killing it on every shot we filmed. I could not believe how well he was riding and how up for filming he was. By the end of the last day, with the help of Ben, we had this test edit complete.

“Although this test edit, as it is seen here, was never intended to be used in 3 Minute Gaps, it is one those sections that just shows how talented Ben Reid is on two wheels and it also served as a great foundation for his final section in the film. I uploaded this edit to show Clay what footage we had as he was not at this shoot and still in California. He watched it and was super happy.

“Two years has passed and since then this edit has been forgotten about. Just watching it now proves that amazing riding and combined with speed and style never goes out of fashion. Ben Reid, you are a pinner..”