The last guest speaker was a guy by the name of Tom Danielson. He was the top American in the 2011 Tour de France, finishing 9th, and is considered to be the next Lance Armstrong. Anyway, obviously a great moment for a two wheel nut like myself. He mentions how this time of year (January) he is on his bike a minimum of 6 hours a day. Let's just say I struggle for 6 hours a week in prime riding season. So it gets me motivated to pull out my road bike and put a few miles on it.
http://wp.tomdanielson.com/
On the flight home I decided to watch one of the greatest mountain bike films I have ever seen. It isn't just guys going crazy on bikes, it isn't just good music and fun trails... It has those things but it also has a story, a philosophy and beautiful cinematography. The film "Life Cycles" is a work of art that has a voice. Its not a bike movie, its a movie about a bike and the perspective shifted gives the film soul. Ive included some of the dialogue and suggest you add it to your Netflix cue and feel the passion of life!
Life Cycles - 2010
Life is a river. That's what Grand-dad always used to say. A beginning, an end, a million different ways between. He used the metaphor all my life how it ebbed and flowed, following the path of least resistance, barreling straight through the impossible, clear as air and black as night. But no matter what direction or how it moved or what it looked like, the point, according to Grand-dad was that the river always moved forward. What kept him running the rapids till he was old and gray? The mystery of what lay around the bend.
These days, that mystery is hard to find. The river is distant, the sky clouded in concrete. For many of us life's great adventure, all its beauty, all its connection sails by unnoticed. Funny thing is the river is never that far off. This is a story of a way back in to the rush of moving forward. Born from the Earth's crust. Grown from the seeds of innovation. Forged in the fires of industry. The Earth's most efficient machine creates it's most efficient animal - The bicycle. Our noblest invention.
It's only taken 200 years of trial and error to get here, 200 years of innovation and invention, of not giving up. Complex by design, simple by nature. The bike is nothing more than circles turning circles. It's the human motor that makes it elegant. But no matter how far the bike has come, no matter how much it can already do, the pushing doesn't stop. We still haven't found the edge.
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I love the poetry and truth in these words.
Enjoy the trailer I've included and have a Camtastic Ride!!
