Last night I watched Race Across the Sky, the movie about this year’s Leadville 100 MTB race and I gotta say it was pretty awesome. I was surprised the see the movie theater auditorium mostly full and I’d estimate there were at least 200+ people at my showing. The movie started off a little weird with a panel discussion with the riders (Armstrong, Wiens, Brown, etc.) but once the movie started it was all about riding.
Although I already knew the outcome of the race after watching it live online, I still found myself surprised at many parts and there were definitely some interesting take-aways:
- Lance Armstrong is a boss. At the beginning of the film, Lance is on a MTB training ride with his coach, Chris Carmichael and you see the two grinding it out on a rocky doubletrack climb somewhere in Colorado. Following close behind is a guy on a dirt bike with two spare wheels and probably an entire bike tool kit on board. Must be nice to not worry about your equipment failing. Getting used to that level of support may just come back to haunt Lance in the race 🙂
- Travis Brown rode the entire 100 mile race on a mountain bike with drop bars. During the panel discussion afterward Brown said he’s convinced that’s the way to go and it sounds like he’ll do it again next year. It was also interesting to note that none of the top 5 riders rode 29ers.
- Dave Wiens is a super nice guy and you can see it throughout the movie.
- Armstrong makes the comment that no one has approached the Leadville 100 as a team race (yet). Will Lance’s pro cycling team assist him in breaking the 6 hour mark at Leadville in the future?
- I loved the old school rider from Denver who had probably the funniest line in the entire movie: “I’m riding the same bike I bought in the 1990s. Same front tire too.” (I’m paraphrasing)
- Second funniest moment: the overweight woman in the yellow shirt running beside Lance during his ascent of the powerline climb, trying to photograph herself with Lance.
- The third place finisher, Matt Shriver, had a pretty remarkable race. Yet another amazing rider from Ft. Lewis College in Durango.
- Saddest moment? Seeing riders stopped at the 4 hour cut-off and not being able to finish the race.
- Did anyone else notice that Lance just chucked the CO2 cartridge after attempting to fix his flat tire? I suppose a fan rushed over to pick it up and now it sits in a glass case in a rec room somewhere but still… pack it in, pack it out.
If you didn’t get to see Race Across the Sky last night, definitely put it on your to do list. It’s an inspirational film and I definitely left wanting to ride more and move back to Colorado. Stay tuned for word about an encore presentation in theaters and/or the DVD release date.
7 Comments
Oct 27, 2009
Anyway, I heard about the DVD release...but an encore theater release? Don't tease us like that!!
Oct 24, 2009
All I can say is, it's about time someone noticed Matt.
Nov 1, 2009
Oct 29, 2009
Oct 27, 2009
Nov 10, 2009
Sep 29, 2010