Portrait of my grandfather : 80 and still cycling from Florent Piovesan on Vimeo.
Florent Piovesan made this lovely short documentary to mark his grandfather Benjamin Piovesan’s 80th birthday. As he enters his 8th decade, Benjamin is still passionate about cycling and the physical and mental joy it brings.
Anna Brones, author of The Culinary Cyclist. (Photo by Luc Revel)
We cyclists tend to think about food a lot. What to eat before a ride, what fuel to bring with during, the perfect recovery meal. On a long ride, I often find myself plotting my exact post-ride meal with at least a quarter of the route still to go. But if I’m being honest, I’m thinking far more about the number of calories I can stuff down rather than the quality of that food.
Anna Brones, on the other hand, cares about quality above all and has written at length on the value of whole, real foods and their connections with cycling. She is an American author and cyclist living in Paris. Her book, The Culinary Cyclist, is part collection of healthy recipes and part meditation on how to live a simple, satisfying life through the intentionality of cooking and cycling. In this interview, Brones discusses her book and the thesis that food and bikes are essential factors for quality of life, her inspiration for writing it, life as a cyclist in Paris, and more.
In 1933, Horace Dall became the first man to cross Iceland by bicycle. Twenty years later, another group of Englishmen called the Rough Stuff Fellowship became the first group to cross Iceland by bicycle fully self supported. This short film combines footage from a modern day bikepacking expedition across Iceland and an interview with Dick Phillips, one of the members of the 1958 ride. The voiceover narration is pretty bad–it has the tone of a promo video (it was made by an Icelandic bike tour company, afterall) and lots of non sequitur superlatives about epic adventures. But, the interview with Phillips and the amazing footage of riding on Iceland’s admittedly-epic landscape, make it well worth a watch.
Made For You from Stoller on Vimeo.
Rob English is one of the more innovative contemporary custom frame builders. He produces everything from thoroughbred race machines to wildly imaginative concept bikes. I love hear frame builders talk about their process and philosophies and seeing their work with a torch.
Photo courtesy of Sam Smith.
Filmmaker Sam Smith is probably best known as the eccentric-looking guy following Jeremy Powers around with a camera for the web series Behind The Barriers. But Sam’s roots in cycling films reach back over a decade. His first film, Transition, centers on the 2004 North American cyclocross season, following the stories of guys like Barry Wicks, Ryan Trebon, Adam Myerson, and Geoff Kabush. He followed up with a sequel to Transition, a short-lived “video periodical” called Cyclofile, before eventually starting Behind The Barriers. And though he’s left Behind The Barriers, Sam is still producing cycling films including the forthcoming Working Dogs and a new episodic series called Acro Velo. Sam and I spoke about his history with filmmaking, his junior years of bike racing, working on Behind The Barriers and his decision to leave, his filmmaking influences, and much more.