Micky's Favorite Cycling Movies

We can lose focus during these cold months.

For cyclists, this is the bottom of the seasons.

We get snowed in physically, but mentally too.

We have to walk/hike, run, bowl - something to feel physical exertion.

Never mind that we're addicted to riding bicycles.

We're addicted to riding them as fast as we can.

So now, many of will frequent the gyms.

I will hike more.

But, I will ride my rollers more.

I need some motivation.

Sometimes the old movies can revive the summer spirit in the middle of winter.

Pick anything that works!

"Breaking Away" was ground breaking.

The movie was released well after I was fully addicted to cycling. I had chosen a hard way to go once again by taking a job at half the pay I was used to. I would be a bicycle frame builder apprentice.

I worked in Columbia at Melton's Bicycle Company. I rode my bike everywhere. I commuted 45 miles to work on many days. I lived with two cool musicians and cyclists.

Lane Phillips was the painter at the Melton Bicycle Co. He pretty much showed me the ropes of great cycling. I'm not sure if this is how Lane regards himself but it's my view. We saved our "real wool jerseys" for race day or special club ride day.

We rode every day.

Lane refused to ride on Monday.

He would ride only to work on Monday.

He might ride by the grocery store or a restaurant or by his girl-friend's house.

But Lane refused to ride on Monday. But for those "emergencies".

Lane always won the "last person to wear shorts in the winter" award.

But, on most riding days, we wore T-shirts and wool shorts.

Our shoes were a basic leather with toe-clips and straps.

We wore cycling hats. Everywhere. For every occasion.

We rode European racing frames and equipment.

We did everything we did, by bicycle.

So here was a movie that showed off the Campy equipment, the racing bike, and other facets of the life of aspiring racer.

Breaking Away is about romance. It's romancing the girl, the bicycle, the sport.

Parents were doubting the sanity of their bicycle racing children.

The "embedding" is disabled by request (whatever that means). But please take the time to watch this video when you can. Or get the whole DVD.

You can just double click on the video. You will just open another browser.

So much is so very realistic.

However there is a "blooper" in the movie. At one point our hero, Dave Stoler (Dennis Christopher) is drafting a semi on the open highway. He's in his big ring on the front. The tractor-trailer driver holds up 5 fingers for 50 miles an hour. In the next shot, our hero is in his small chain ring on the front. The driver holds up 6 fingers twice for 60 miles an hour. The blooper is - you would have to be in your big sprocket on the front to go 40 or so or more.

But, regardless, "Breaking Away" is excellent!

Kevin Costner headlines "American Flyers". This is a dramatic come-from-behind race and love story.

It's based on the old "Red Zinger Classic" stage race that became the "Coors Classic".

These races were held in the West and centered around Boulder Colorado.

These races were tailored after the stage races in Europe. There would be "time trials" or "races against the clock". There are flat stages with amazing sprints. There were criteriums. There were mountain stages.

So The race "Hell of the West" was the fictitious name of the race for American Flyers.

It's always great to have "Eddy" join in on the training ride. "Eddy" (named for Eddy Merckx) is a very large and fast dog.

Most cyclists have known an "Eddy".

Rae Dawn Chong makes a perfect wheel exchange! She is a natural.

I changed the wheel for the winner of the "Tour de Louisiana" decades ago. A racer was leading after a time trial and a day of rest where a stage was canceled due to storms. Most of what the racer needed to do was stay with the lead pack. He didn't need to win the stage but just sit in. He had a flat. A slow leak. He drifted to the rear of the pack with a friend and pointed at his rear wheel. I was the mechanic. The driver sped around the pack and pulled off the road ahead. I jumped out with a good wheel. The racer had shifted the derailleur so that the chain was on the smallest and outside sprocket in the rear. I changed it like Rae Dawn Chong and the racer with his friend caught the pack and he won the "over-all" event. He came over and thanked me after the race.

So - it's so cool to see the perfect wheel exchange by such a beautiful lady.

Rae Dawn Chong.

So- American Flyers has some really good stuff in there!

Kevin Bacon stars in a movie about the bicycle messenger services.

His employer is the Quicksilver Messenger Service - just like the band from the 70s.

Quicksilver has bicycle versus bicycle races in the "city".

The movie has bicycle versus car races.

Bacon rides a "fixed gear" bike without brakes. I look for the discrepancies with the obvious "conrering" done on a bike with a "freewheel" but the movie is well done and hard to tell.

It has the fall of a stockbroker coincide with the birth of a soul.

The soundtrack is excellent.

Quicksilver has bicycle stunts and love.

Quicksilver is very entertaining.

In the above video from Quicksilver, the Olympic silver and gold medalist, Nelson Vails, has a "cameo" race with Kevin Bacon's cab.

The video above has the tricks performed by the "messengers".

Amazing tricks that must have hurt to learn!

Above, Kevin and another rider/racer rip the city streets.

It's "freewheel" versus "fixed gear".

Above is the "car versus bicycle" chase scene.

It's pretty exciting!

Here is the "dance scene". Dancer versus bike-dancer".

I especially like the bike stunts.

Quicksilver is very entertaining and inspiring.

Triplets of Belleville is certainly among my favorites and is one of the newest.

It's a foreign animated film.

There is almost no speaking at all in the English version.

But you know where it all leads.

The music is beautiful.

"Champion" is encouraged to ride bikes and follow his passion.

"Champion" races in the "race around France".

"Champion's" grandmother is a pretty tough bird and travels to a new world to save her grandson. Their dog goes along for the ride too.

I love this movie. The first third of the movie, I could rewind and rewind.

It's all good and beautiful.

If you ride bikes, or if you're a fan, you will love "Triplets of Belleville"!

This is my favorite part.

It's the struggle of training.

It's the disrespect of automobiles that crunch you and your bike into a curb.

It's about truing the bicycle wheel back into "true". Of course mechanics don't use pliers on the spokes as "grandmother" does.

Racers never use "egg-beaters" to massage their legs after collapsing from a training ride.

But there's a lot of true feeling there.

Here, "Champion" measures his food to match his desired weight.

There's a lot of "living like a monk" when trying to ride a bicycle fast.

The movie continues as Champion is kidnapped!

It's wonderful and all that is needed is popcorn!

Enjoy!

Yes! Absolutely! I love Pee Wee's Big Adventure!

Drama! His bicycle is stolen!

Of course this is one of the worst tragedies that can befall a person.

I suggest you watch the entire Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

But - if there isn't time - you can watch a lot of the movie with the above video:

"Pee Wee's Big Adventure In Nine Minutes"

The "Bicycle Thief" is a world acclaimed movie of renown!

It is beautiful. It's beautifully done.

I found the movie hard to take as it shows life in its actuality.

The father's bicycle is the great source of "job" and income for the growing family.

The bike is stolen. This movie breaks my heart actually.

So- I guess the movie accomplished stirring emotion in me which is part of passionate films. So, I endorse the movie for art-sake and portraying the world as it often is.

The Bicycle Thief is a hard story of hard life told really well.

I do love the pretty cycling scenes.

The Bicycle Thief is beautifully done.

I hope you will enjoy all these movies as I have.

Please tell me about your choices for "favorite cycling movies".

I hope these inspire.

God bless,

~Micky~

For more more inspiration try

                                Mick's Picks For Professional Cycling Moments On Video!

Check out:

                   Breaking Away From 2010 And Attacking 2011!

And Micky's Stars And Watercarriers!

Micky's Cycling Poetry

Why Cyclists Wear Lycra!

Bicycle, How Do I Love Thee?

She's Even Faster In The Nude

If Mona Lisa Had A Bicycle!

A Poem of Cycling-What Can I Say?

Breaking The Wind In A Pace-Line

When a Cyclist’s Chamois Freezes

I Miss Your Rooster Tail!

Don't Try A Track Stand On Three Margaritas

A Poem For Major Taylor

For short personal cycling videos Micky is also known as TheBikingDude.

Check out TheBikingDude's Channel on YouTube!