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Review: "Bicycle Dreams"

"Bicycle Dreams," Stephen Auerbach's documentary about the 2005 Race Across America, has been out for some time and has been reviewed by quite a few bloggers. It's my turn.

I've written frequently about RAAM over the years, mainly because RAAM passes through the St. Louis area almost every year. I've always wondered what goes through the heads of anyone who would attempt to bike across America in 8 to 12 days. "Bicycle Dreams" gives me a pretty good clue.

I'm old enough to remember the early days of RAAM in the 1980s and early 1990s, when ABC and NBC aired extended segments about RAAM on their sports anthology shows. Those segments made me aware of ultramarathon cycling giants such as Lon Haldeman, John Marino and Pete Penseyres.

The segments, normally aired weeks or months after the race, did a good job of giving viewers a taste of the race. Sadly, RAAM doesn't get the attention it once got from the networks, so "Bicycle Dreams" fills a major void.

Fortunately for us, "Bicycle Dreams" goes a step further than the networks were able to do.

Stephen and his crew worked around the clock to film RAAM. They had an advantage over the networks; they had 18 cameras in the field to give an more intimate look at RAAM.

While RAAM athletes have to be in incredible shape, "Bicycle Dreams" makes it clear that the mental battles are the biggest challenges they face over the course of the race. Even someone like Slovenian soldier Jure Robic -- a four-time winner of the race -- fights the effects of long days or riding with little sleep. For example, Robic speaks of seeing a dolphin's head in the road and speaks of forgetting what his wife and children look like. He even speaks of quitting the race -- something he wouldn't do until 2009.

Another competitor, Anna Catharina Berge, chews out her crew for allowing her to sleep for four hours, even though it was clear she was in desperate need of it.

While Robic gets his share of face time, the real centerpiece of "Bicycle Dreams" is Dr. Bob Breedlove, who died June 25, 2005, when he was struck head-on by a pickup truck near Trinidad, Colo., during the race. Bob lived in Des Moines, Iowa, attended Illinois State University, the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and the University of Missouri School of Medicine Orthopaedic Residency Program.

It's eerie to watch Bob on the roads, riding strong, commenting on his tactics to beat the heat of the Arizona desert, realizing that only days later, he would be dead. His death had a devastating impact on French rider Patrick Autissier, who did not finish the race.

Much of the photography is incredible, especially of the western part of the course. Other than sections of Kansas, the Midwest plays a lesser role in the movie. I recognized a lot of the Missouri River valley near Marthasville, Mo. The uprights of the Clark Bridge, a suspension bridge that crosses the Mississippi River at Alton, Ill., are clearly visible in one scene, although the film does not include images of the river or of cyclists crossing the bridge.

"Bicycle Dreams" has won awards at a wide range of film festivals, including the Fallbrook, Los Angeles Sports and Solstice festivals. It won for a reason: "Bicycle Dreams" both tells and shows the physical -- and mental -- exhaustion RAAM athletes endure.

As an independent filmmaker, Stephen Auerbach is relying on a grassroots campaign to spread the word about the race. You can purchase the film for $19.99 through the film's Web site, http://bicycledreamsmovie.com.

As a longtime follower of RAAM, I recommend "Bicycle Dreams."

Labels: cycling, movies, RAAM

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:03 PM

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Race Across the Sky

If you just can't get enough of Lance Armstrong, then go see the documentary "Race Across the Sky," which takes a look at this year's Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.

Thursday's showing of "Race Across the Sky" is being billed as a one-night event. In addition to the film, panel discussions featuring Armstrong, six-time winner Dave Wiens and other elite and amateur cyclists will be shown before and after the film.

Only four theaters in the St. Louis area were chosen to show "Race Across the Sky" at 7 p.m. CDT. The theaters are:

• Edwardsville Showcase, 6644 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Ill.
• AMC Esquire 7, 6707 Clayton Road, St. Louis
• St. Louis Mills 18, 5555 St. Louis Mills Blvd., Hazelwood, Mo.
• AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chestefield Mall, Chesterfield, Mo.

If you don't live in the St. Louis area and want to know where the movie will be shown near you, go to the NCM Fathom site, type in your ZIP code in the box near the top of the page and off you go! The movie starts at 8 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. MDT and will be shown on tape-delay on the West Coast at 8 p.m. PDT.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Leadville Trail 100, here's a brief description from the Fathom site:

At 10,000+ feet, against the misty backdrop of a former mining town, Leadville, Colo., 1400 cyclists line the starting line. For many, it will be the most difficult race of their lives. For some, a bragging right to say they raced alongside the best in the world. Some imagine victory. Most hope only to finish. But everyone will count.

The race that started 25 years ago as a running race to drive tourism in Leadville has now grown to a lottery cap of 1000+ competitors, many of them the world’s most elite cyclists. But the Leadville Trail 100 "Race Across the Sky" Mountain Bike Race is not just a race of man against man:  It’s man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. elements, man vs. time. A clock set for 12 grueling hours slugs through 100 miles, over 14,000 vertical feet of climbing, some two miles above sea level, through extreme climate changes ranging from heat to hail, from rain to snow.  To the racers, the risks of injury, fatigue and mechanical failure pale next to the chance that they will fall behind the 12-hour cut off mark and be eliminated.

Armstrong won the 2009 Leadville race, knocking more than 15 minutes off of the old record, about a half hour ahead of  Wiens. You can read more about this year's race at VeloNews.

Labels: Lance Armstrong, mountain biking, movies

Roger 0 comments links to this post 12:48 AM

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Obama "breaking away" in Indiana

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama decided to bask in the glow of this weekend's Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

The Associated Press reported that Obama, the junior U.S. senator from Illinois, "waded into Bill Armstrong Stadium on Friday and was greeted by a colorful array of spandex and a raucous student body. The race announcer credited him with bringing the good weather."

Obama climbed to the receiving stand and waved, but he made no remarks, AP reported. He then walked along the edge of the track as students and race participants strained to shake his hand or take his picture. Obama then watched the 32-team, 100-lap women's race.

The Little 500 continues today with the men's race, which was immortalized in the 1979 film "Breaking Away." For those of you who haven't seen the film, do so. It's a classic coming-of-age movie involving four Bloomington friends who wind up racing the Little 500 as the "Cutters," named after the people who worked at limestone quarries surrounding the southern Indiana city.

The Bloomington area also is known as being the home of the Hilly Hundred, one of the Midwest's best bicycle events.

Labels: Indiana, movies, politics

Roger 0 comments links to this post 2:14 AM

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

"Wired to Win" coming to St. Louis

"Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France," the IMAX film about the legendary race and how the human brain wires itself to handle the demands of the grueling event, is coming to St. Louis.

Beginning June 15, the movie will be shown at the Omnimax Theater at the St. Louis Science Center. The movie's Web site says the film will remain at the theater until Jan. 3, 2008. The film already has been shown in numerous theaters around the world since 2005, so it's finally making its way to St. Louis, but the timing actually may be good: The Tour of Missouri bicycle race, which will be Sept. 11-16, is a sponsor of the St. Louis screening, along with Big Shark Bicycle Co., Trailnet and Johnny Mack's Sporting Goods.

The film's Web site has all kinds of goodies, including desktop photos and podcasts, but I've posted the movie's trailer below in case you don't have time to visit the site:



The movie tells the story of Australian Baden Cooke and his French teammate Jimmy Caspar as they compete in 2003 edition of the Tour de France. "Just to finish in Paris, they will need to avoid danger, stave off crushing pain and fatigue, control their emotions, seize fleeting moments of opportunity and stay highly motivated. It's the brain that controls all of this," the film's Web site says.

By the way, there's no truth to any speculation that "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment" will be shown along with "Wired to Win."

Labels: cycling, movies, racing, Tour de France

Roger 1 comments links to this post 3:57 PM