Race Across The Sky

I just got back from the one day showing of the movie "Race Across the Sky." It's the documentary of the Leadville 100 mtn bike race from this year. It was AMAZING!!! Although I can't ride my mtn bike for 3 miles without crashing, and I'd surely die a horrible death on Columbine Pass- I kinda want to do that race now... :rolleyes:
I've always known it's an extremely tough race, but I have a million times more respect for all those racers after seeing that movie. Wow!!! :eek:
If you have a chance to see it- I highly recommend it.

I just got back from it too and it was great. It was so inspirational and emotional. Was it just shown tonight across the country? It would be too bad if the folks that missed it wouldn't get a chance to see it.

It was very moving on many levels. I think the real winner was the woman that came back to finish after nearly dying 14 months prior from that accident. I tried googling her story when we got home but I forgot her name. I was also inspired by the woman with MS. Rock it ladies.

One question - how am I going to start altitude training when I live at 540 feet? :D:D:D

Guess we will have to move to Colorado;) I still think Lance looked behind him for the pace car when his tire flatted.

You are right, the stories about those women were truly inspirational as well as many others. Don't tell me you didn't wipe a tear when they had to turn the older gentleman back at the 4 hour cut off then we find out at the end of the movie he had just had a double knee replacement.

Oh I cried like a baby when they were stopping people at the 4 hr cutoff. :(
I also cried when that woman told her story of being hit by the car (drats, but I can't remember her name either).
I loved the RD. He was too cute!! I've got one word for you: digdeep. ;)
I like when he said at the pre-race meeting: "we didn't do all this work so you could come out here and be a cry baby." hee hee. I like that man!


I wonder if they'll show it again if there is interested in it? I think they said to go to the movie site and tell them you liked it. www.raceacrossthesky.com

Did you look at the Leadville 100 Leadman and Leadwoman? If you do all 5 events you get bragging rights for life. You have to do the 100 mile mtn bike ride, 100 mile trail run, a trail marathon, a 10K run and a 50 mile mtn bike ride. Can you believe a human can do that (all events are within a 3 week period I believe?). Cooky crazy (and yet, when I retire and can live at altitude- I'm jumping on that like a spider monkey). :)

I've not seen this film but people know before they enter an mtb event that there are cut off times.

At the 100k enduro we did a couple of months ago riders had to be at a certain km point by x time..if you weren't there then your race day was over. The time cut off (not to mention the HILLS!!!) was the main reason I did the shorter distance this time round.

Sure hope this doesn't mean more roadies who can't handle real singletrack and getting dirty start mtn biking. :mad:

Great movie! I loved it too!

The team car comment was hilarious! What a great film (and event!):D

Gosh darn it, now I want to start mountain biking again. And don't worry, this roadie can handle real single track - although it may take some time to get my technical single track legs back. ;)

Don't worry CC, Leadville is safe from the likes of me.

It was definitely the kind of movie that at the end makes you say, "Wow, I'd like to do that." But then the lights come up and you remember you're going to have that same feeling crossing the finish line of that marathon. And that the last thing you need is another sport to train for. ;)

I think it's true, as one of the riders commented after the film, applications will increase. But they don't have to make the field any larger. Sounds like they're very sensible about that.



I don't know about petitioning for another theater showing though. Yeah, it was cool seeing the movie in the company of a bunch of mountain bikers (a couple of whom had done Leadville, and one of whom had done the run). Even as the only roadie in the group. :o But trying to get another theater special event scheduled will just delay the release of the DVD.

Obviously they're not planning a holiday season release for this year - which I think is a mistake on their part. One thing they might do that would probably make a theater replay profitable is to do another live panel discussion in the lead-up to the 2010 race. Apparently Chris Carmichael was supposed to participate this time, and couldn't.

By clicking through, it looks like this is the link to use if you want to ask them to do a replay. It wasn't clear when they mentioned it in the panel discussion.

I was unable to go since the nearest theatre was a two and half hour drive from where I live:(. I SO wanted to see this. Someone mentioned that they are going to put it on DVD?. THAT would be awsome. I will have to keep watching for it.

I guess that is one of the drawbacks from being in a small town.

Red Rock

I loved watching all those kids running across the finish line with their parents. Amazing.

I really enjoyed the film, and shed some tears, too. I would have enjoyed hearing more of the participants stories. Dave Wiens thanking the volunteers at the turnaround point was one of my favorite moments that seemed to capture what must be the real spirit of the race. The 'retro' guy also was great.

Yeah, the retro guy! Can you believe he has been using the same tire all these years? I would have liked to have heard those folks' times--not just the top 10 finishers. And the police department helping all those folks up Highline Hill--how awesome. I like the heart warming stories of "regular" folks overcoming adversity. Don't get me wrong, Lance is awesome, but the lady hit by the car or the one with ms is so inspiring and what leaves an impression with me most.

I hadn't heard of the Leadman or Leadwoman race. 5 events? That's crazy!

You are right, Oakleaf, I sat there watching the movie wishing I hadn't sold my mountain bike but when the lights came on it brought me back to reality! One more thing I don't have time to do. I sold it to someone who will use it because it was so dusty from hanging in the garage.

The other nice thing about the showing is that we shared the audience with folks we ride with, have done triathlons and biathlons and road races with. There were a lot of familiar faces----some were hard to recognize without their bike helmets on;)

I guess I can only fantasize that the movie will make it to Bogota....:(
It looks so great, especially after reading born to run with the leadville 100 run

Loved it! Very moving and emotional. I couldn't believe the story of the woman who was hit by a car and had devastating injuries, then trained enough to ride Leadville! Amazing!! Her husband was sweet too talking about her and riding with her photo taped to his top tube.

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Sure hope this doesn't mean more roadies who can't handle real singletrack and getting dirty start mtn biking. :mad:

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The Leadville 100 is mostly jeep road. Out of 100 miles of race course, there's less than five miles, if that, of singletrack. The general consensus as I understand it is that LA did so well because of the lack of singletrack. He set a brutal pace on the non-climbing sections of dirt road. I'm not discounting the difficulty of doing 100 miles of dirt at elevation, I'm just saying it ain't singletrack is all.

Now a race like the Cascade Creampuff, that is 100 miles of singletrack, that might be a different story.

I ditto the comments on the inspirational stories and that it was a little heavy on the Lance stuff. I really wish they would have said how many women overall were entered, looked like very few to me.

I've never been a Lance fan, and the fact that he was the only one onstage who didn't applaud when the moderator mentioned Roxanne Hall didn't make me like him any more. :mad:

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

people know before they enter an mtb event that there are cut off times.

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Of course they do, but that doesn't make it any less heartbreaking for someone who DNF's a major goal (and Leadville is a major goal for nearly anyone). Especially if they've trained their butts off hoping to come back after major surgery like the guy in the movie.

My husband sucked me into going to see it. I was one of few women in a sea of men. Weird! Lots of people from our club there, so that was kind of fun. I haven't gotten into mountain biking yet. I did a short ride on Dh's mtb a while back, with clips and everything. It was interesting. I could see getting way into it if I were a better climber. If only mountain biking didn't involve, well, MOUNTAINS! :eek:

But the movie did inspire me to try it some more, even if only short rides on not too steep of terrain. If only Dh and I could BOTH ride together and not "share" his bike. Can't afford another bike right now and, if we could, I'd be upgrading my road bike ... which is currently my Christmas wish. :rolleyes:

Awesome movie, though. Very inspiring, even for road cyclists. "You're stronger than you think!" That's the main thing I took away from the movie. Hence, my new mantra. :D

Oh wow, I just watched the trailer, what spectacular views too.

I so hope we get to see the film over here in the UK, I just did a search but came up with zilch!

Clock

I really loved the colors and scenery in the movie. I also thought for a few minutes I would like to mountain bike. The people that put the race on, the lady that had been hit by a car, and all the rest of the interesting racers and regular people made for a great film. Tri Girl you must have been in Norman to see the film?

I saw it at Quail Springs on the North side. I think it was playing at 3 metro theaters. We arrived kinda late thinking there wouldn't be many people there. We were sorely shocked. We had to sit in the 2nd row right in front of the screen. I'll see it again on DVD because I had to close my eyes for some of it because the screen was SO huge and it was making me sick being that close. ;)

I drove the hour and a half to see the movie for my Birthday! It was well worth it, and a great way to spend the night. Very moving stories.

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Originally Posted by Tri Girl

I saw it at Quail Springs on the North side. I think it was playing at 3 metro theaters. We arrived kinda late thinking there wouldn't be many people there. We were sorely shocked. We had to sit in the 2nd row right in front of the screen. I'll see it again on DVD because I had to close my eyes for some of it because the screen was SO huge and it was making me sick being that close. ;)

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Are they going to offer it on DVD? I was not able to go Thursday night and was really disappointed they were only offering it one time.

JoAnn

Jo-n-NY: I was like you, unable to see the film. I was/am dissapointed too. Just to see what they rode through would have been enough for me, let alone all of the stories that everyone is mentioning.

I followed the link that Oakleaf posted. They replied with the Web Cam DVD that Leadville publishes themselves. At least this might give me a chance to see what they are actually riding through. I hope it is worth it. I think on this thread it was mentioned that they were not going to put this on DVD. Which I think is crazy stupid. I thought people liked to make money and they certainly could with this. So that was why I went with the leadville DVD. Check out www.leadvilletrail100.com to purchase a DVD.

I hope this helps. If anyone knows of the Race Across the Sky coming out on DVD, I'm still up for it.

Red Rock

They say they are going to do an encore event on the 12th of November. You can sign up to get a notification of where it will be shown.

http://subscription.events.ncm.com/f...ReminderSignUp

Thank you for your responses. I signed up for the email notification and hopefully it will be shown in my area on 11/12.

I will think about the web DVD. I am not too crazy about viewing it on my lap top especially when watching it with others.

I would have bought a regular dvd also. Crazy for them not offering it. Who knows, maybe after the next showing.

~ JoAnn

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Originally Posted by Jo-n-NY

I am not too crazy about viewing it on my lap top especially when watching it with others.
~ JoAnn

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If you have a Mac, you can plug it right into your TV and get a terrific picture. We watch MotoGP races like that all the time. I'm not sure about Windows boxes - DH has both and he always uses the Mac when he wants to use the TV as a monitor, so I'm assuming it's simpler, but I don't know that for sure.

For those of you who did not see (like me) or need another dose of the awsome Colorado mountainside with some mountain biking thrown in.....

Go to raceacrossthesky.com so you can order the show from last year.

I can't wait to see it FINALLY:D!

Happy purchasing:D

Red Rock

Yeah! I loved this movie! I need to see if Netflix has it yet!

just ordered it. thanx for the update.

try "bicycle dreams," i thought that was excellent!