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This Race Documentary is a Masterclass in Real-Time Storytelling

From drones to dirt bikes, see how a bold production team turned chaos into captivating storytelling at the Life Time Grand Prix off-road cycling series.

Wayne Grayson • Apr 15, 2025

If you think endurance cycle racing is intense, wait until you see what it takes to film it.

A few years back, the team at Cold Collaborative—a production company focused on adventure and conservation filmmaking—asked a daring question: "What if we combined documentary filmmaking with live race coverage in order to produce a feature-length docu-race highlight within 48 hours?"

The effort to answer that question—to get those shots and turn around such a massive undertaking so quickly—would push Cold Collaborative to previously unexplored lengths.

In the video below, we take you behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious and adrenaline-fueled filmmaking projects in recent memory as Cold Collaborative chases off-road gravel cyclists through some of the most rugged, remote backcountry terrain in North America. Armed with drones, gimbals, motorcycles, helicopters, ATVs and a whole lot more, they’ve crafted a visual experience that puts you right in the heart of the action.

🎬 Watch now: The Making of the Life Time Grand Prix

The Key to Turning Around a Full Race Documentary in Only 48 Hours

What sets this project apart is the way it blends real-time storytelling with cinematic excellence. Not only that, but Cold Collaborative has and is pulling off this feat multiple times per year, producing a whopping six of these episodes as part of the series "Call of a Life Time."

The logistics are just as jaw-dropping as the footage itself. The team navigates unpredictable weather, bumpy backroads, and high-speed terrain using everything from side-by-sides to camera-equipped trucks.

"All that has to come together as if it's its own symphony," says Cold Collaborative director Shannon Vandivier. "It's a dance."

But what was the linchpin in this whole endeavor? Was there truly one piece of gear that made it all possible? Yes.

Cold Collaborative makes it all happen with the help of the Jellyfish Nomad to edit the massive amount of footage captured during each race on the fly. To pull each episode of this docu-series off, Cold Collaborative needs central storage that is accessible by multiple editors simultaneously. Jellyfish Nomad gives the team a fast, portable, durable, and secure solution that meets that need perfectly.

"Nothing gets done without the edit team. Everything that gets captured in the field, at the end of the day, comes back to the people who have to put the story together and at the center of that is the server. The Jellyfish Nomad is a product that allows us to move lighting fast," Vandivier says.

Check out how Cold Collaborative puts the Jellyfish Nomad to use in the field above and click here to learn more about Jellyfish Nomad.

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