In Your Travels

Cycling Movies

I'm looking forward to seeing The Flying Scotsman. http://www.mgm.com/ Trying to hook up a time to go see it with a couple of friends. I was racing and riding in the days of Graeme Obree and I remember the twists and turns of his career very very well. I consider him to be a true bicycle philosopher in the sense of the way he applied his vision to the actual mechanics of cycling. Let me unpack what I mean in that suitcase of a sentence in my next paragraph.

First one understands locomotion. This starts when a baby rolls over for the first time. It develops with crawling, cruising and walking. One understands motion and the need and joy of moving somewhere. Then one sees the inventions around that allow for more options than just walking. Most will grab up the easiest one available to them at the available age, a car. And most cyclists will do the same thing with their bike, just grab it up and ride, perhaps adjust the seat here, the handlebars there, the cleat, perhaps delve into the different kinds of wheels and tires. The point is that it that it takes a very developed cycling psyche to grasp how to customize a machine to draw out the best from one's body.

Graeme Obree took this about as far as anyone ever has. His existential grasp of the bicycle was so firm that he designed a revolutionary position that fit him perfectly and made the most of his ability. http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/nmspic.php

Now, many of us, myself included, have had these kinds of cycling satori moments. But I never took apart my washing machine and made them into reality, much less cleaned up with world records as the result! So in that way Graeme Obree is a very real hero to me.

Given the sad state of affairs in professional cycling regarding doping, we have very few of these heroes left to us anymore. Indeed we have to look into the past to find one. Therefore, I will go out of my way to the land of Mary this coming weekend, to Bethesda, or perhaps downtown, and revel in the great and wonderful story of Graeme Obree. Starts Friday, May 4 at the Bethesda Row Cinema and E Street Cinema. Send me an email if you want to come. fly the bike one word at g mail one word dot you know what.

Also, Breaking Away is killer and showing soon in Adams Morgan on some patch of green somewhere, I think www.waba.org had the info.

I don't have time right know to write up all that I feel about Peter Nye's America's Jazz Age Sport DVD, which I borrowed from my dentist BTW :) (Nye uses Marty Turner too), but it is just terribly awesome as well, a must see.

posted by Mark @ 11:49 AM