Around the world from my bedroom

I went on a holiday to Southern California recently.

It didn't cost me a cent, and I didn't even have to get on a plane.

In fact, I didn't even have to get off my bed.

It's all thanks to the internet, YouTube, and one man's latest personal project.

Flashback

Last year, I wrote an Independence Day post in which I mentioned a YouTube channel called Mobile Home Gourmet.

For my newer followers, here's a quick summary: It's a collection of over 300 cooking videos made entirely by a single person, an old American man named Dennis Viau, who lives in "a mobile home in a trailer park".

He is also quite skilled in other areas besides cooking, and often tinkers around with stuff.

For example, he custom-built computers and air-conditioners for himself, and once even cauterised his own nose using chemicals.

You read that right. He burned the blood vessels in his nostrils so that they wouldn't bleed so often, while sitting in his kitchen, filming the whole surgery with his video camera and providing a running commentary to boot.

All these shenanigans are gleefully revealed in his other YouTube channel, My Kitchen Vlog. More details can be found in his blogs.

But Dennis now has a third YouTube channel, and it's totally different from the other two.

Cycling Adventures for Seniors

Where his existing YouTube channels are set almost entirely indoors in his kitchen, Dennis tackles the world outside with his newest venture, Cycling Adventures for Seniors.

The concept he has for this channel is to post videos of his bike rides around his neighbourhood, which is near Santa Barbara in Southern California. He hopes to inspire seniors like him to do the same, creating a niche for videos of old people cycling around and being fit and healthy together.

He uses a Pedego e-bike in his videos. He feels that this is a good choice for older bikers because it comes with a motor that will help riders pedal up steep slopes or through rough terrain, while letting them do all the work on smooth and level ground. This ensures that the seniors will still get exercise while avoiding excessive fatigue or injury.

The other tools of his trade are a GoPro Hero 6 video camera with a special attachment for mounting it on his handlebars, and an Evo SS Gimbal stabiliser to prevent the video footage from shaking or tilting.

In future, he plans to go further afield, so he also has a Thule carrier on his car for stowing his Pedego during road trips.

Armchair travel

I'm nowhere near the age where I'd be considered senior, although as I was telling a friend the other day, "(e)very day I wake up aching in some new body part I never even knew I had".

So Dennis' stated intention for his new channel, though commendably noble, doesn't mean much to me.

What does attract me, apart from his overwhelming charisma, is the novelty of being able to see America through the eyes of an American and with the voice of said American narrating in the background.

It's almost like going on a guided tour.

Take this video, for example. He posted this on the My Kitchen Vlog channel because he hadn't made up his mind whether to start the Cycling Adventures for Seniors one back then, but the idea is the same.

He made this video after I requested in a comment on an earlier video to see "symbols of American decadence" like Walmart and Costco.

What intrigued me was how different practically everything looks over there.

Notice how he says "shopping centre" to refer to those low-rise collections of buildings containing shops. We call them town centres, and what we call "shopping centres" are always monolithic glass-and-steel structures.

And we almost always park our cars underground.

The inside of a supermarket or, as the Americans call it, a grocery store seems to be the same wherever you are in the world, however. I could have believed that I was seeing an NTUC FairPrice when he filmed himself shopping for his supplies.

Another way of looking at things

So besides just encouraging seniors to lead an active lifestyle, I think this channel has great potential to start a trend of videos posted by elderly people all over the world, filming and narrating as they cycle past local places of interest. The fact that they are from the places they are talking about, and not some generic host who appears in a different country each episode, lends credibility to their voiceovers. Their age also makes them more believable, and they are likely to have interesting things to share.

If this concept really takes off, I'll be a huge fan of the genre. Given my inability to leave Singapore, media is now my only link to the world outside this sunny island home of mine.

Which is why Dennis, and Cycling Adventures for Seniors, can count on my enduring support.

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Cycling Adventures for Seniors is up and running! You can watch the introductory video below.

If you enjoy it, give it a Like, Subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends!