Bicycle Dreams: Race Across America (RAAM)

This Wednesday, 7 pm, Southside Works Cinema: Bicycle Dreams, a documentary about the Race Across America (RAAM).

I am really looking forward to this movie, although it has nothing at all to do with any kind of bicycling I've ever been involved with, or will ever be involved with.

Me going to this movie is sort of like a limo chauffeur watching a Nascar race Demolition Derby. These people do incredible things, against all understanding, and it involves bicycles.

Here's my favorite RAAM story (so far): Alberto Blanco is in third place when he experiences Shermer's Neck, which happens when your neck muscles are exhausted from holding your head and helmet at a peculiar angle for a very long time.

His support team used a backpack frame, some straps and coat-hangars, and a lot of Duct Tape to fashion a rig to keep him riding.


More? From Bike-Pgh.org:

Bicycle Dreams, the award-winning feature-length documentary about the Race Across America (RAAM), will premiere in Pittsburgh at the Southside Works Cinema on Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. as part of the film's ongoing nationwide winter tour. The screening is co-sponsored by BikePGH and the OTB Bicycle Café.

The film, which has won numerous awards at film festivals all over the world, "is an up-close look at what RAAM riders go through," says Stephen Auerbach, the director and producer of Bicycle Dreams. "They deal with searing desert heat, agonizing mountain climbs, and endless stretches of open road. And they do it all while battling extreme exhaustion and sleep deprivation. It's a great subject for a film."

Before and after the movie, the OTB Bicycle Café on East Carson Street and will be offering discounts to moviegoers before and after the event. Movie goers can enjoy $3 Snow Melts, $1 Sloppy Joe's and $2 off Great Lakes.

“An astonishing documentary,” declares Pez Cycling. “This film is a ride of many stark contrasts; when it ended I felt both shattered and triumphant. I realized I was experiencing its genius. A central theme of Bicycle Dreams is the profoundly inspiring strength of the human in facing monumental challenge and tragedy. Bicycle Dreams is a race of truth.”

“This film isn’t for those who want to shy away from the tragic side of the human experience, unwilling to risk the cracking of their shell of denial, not willing to risk their coping mechanism,” writes Cycling-Review.com. “Bicycle Dreams captures the human condition like few other films. Bicycle Dreams moves us to break through the barrier of the fear of death. I have seldom found a film that captures this ‘life drama’ as powerfully as does Bicycle Dreams.”

Adds Podium Café, “Bicycle Dreams is the ultimate inner journey. If you thought the life of a cyclist was an internal struggle, wait until you see what Auerbach unearths in this film. Bicycle Dreams is an unprecedented exploration of the subject of the suffering on the bike.”

About.com writes, “As we fall deeper and deeper into Bicycle Dreams, what we witness grows more terrifying, yet more compelling. Auerbach’s masterful direction exposes the raw lessons that drive people to push beyond the limits of human endurance. Revealing what lies at the heart of every impossible human endeavor is what Bicycle Dreams is all about.”

Tickets will be $11 in advance and $15 at the door the night of the show.