The Mysterious Nelson Vails Documentary

Posted on October 19, 2012 by josh| 1 Comment

Nelson Vails was the first African American cyclist to medal in the Olympics, making history when he won the Silver in the 1984 track sprint. Before his professional cycling career, he made his living as a bike messenger in New York, which earned him a role in the famed Kevin Bacon messenger movie Quicksilver. In short, he’s an awesome figure in cycling history. He’s also one of the featured athletes in a forthcoming documentary on African American cyclists called RIDE: In Living Color. Click here to read the recent interview with RIDE’s director Yolanda Davis-Overstreet.

A few weeks ago, a teaser for a Nelson Vails documentary was posted on youtube by user stephgauger1. It’s made the rounds on cycling blogs, but nobody seems to know who’s behind its production or anything about the film beyond the stated “2013” release date. In this day and age, a movie trailer without any accompanying information pretty much constitutes a mystery. But, a little Internet sleuthing reveals that stephgauger1 is Stephane Gauger. He is one of the two filmmakers involved in Cruzin’, about a ride former professional cyclist Tony Cruz did down the length of Vietnam.

I contacted Cruzin’s production company, One World Media Group for a little information on the Nelson Vails film. Cruizin‘s director Scott Nguyen responded. He said: “As of right now we’re still in the development phase for the documentary film. It basically outlines Nelson Vails life story, his trials and tribulations, etc. We are set to shoot the film in NYC this December for an April, 2013 release.”

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Posted in Cycling Media, Frame Builders, History, Racing

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Rising From the Ashes, the Team Rwanda Documentary

Posted on October 16, 2012 by josh| Leave a comment

Team Rwanda’s story is fascinating. Many of its founding members were young boys during their country’s horrific 1994 genocide. They’ve found redemption and success as professional cyclists competing on an international level. The team’s founder, Jock Boyer, was the first American to race in the Tour de France. He too found a form of redemption in the team after his life in the United States fell apart following his professional cycling career. The team, its stars, and its founder were the subject of a terrific New Yorker article that stands out as one of the best pieces of cycling-related writing out there.

Team Rwanda is now the subject of a new feature-length documentary, Rising From the Ashes. The film has been in the works for six years and brings to it the star-power of Forest Whitaker as Executive Producer and narrator. Like the New Yorker article, the film looks at the foundation of the Team, its standout riders, Jock Boyer, and, according to the film’s synopsis, uses them as a catalyst to explore the larger issues of Rwanda’s genocide and its aftermath. The trailer is excellent and I look forward to seeing the film.

Rising From Ashes from T.C. Johnstone on Vimeo.

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Chicago’s Original Freak-Bike Club; Cooler Than You

Posted on October 12, 2012 by josh| 2 Comments

Though far from mainstream, freak-bike gangs have become a fairly ubiquitous part of American bike culture. Black Label Bike Club, C.H.U.N.K. 666, Dead Baby, most major cities seem to have their own version of tall-bike riding, vest wearing, bike clubs. But long before crusty punks were bike jousting under bridges, the clean-cut Chicago chapter of the National Bicycle Dealer’s Association was building amazing freak bikes in their bike repair shop.

Life Magazine published photos of the artsy creations in a December 1948 issue. From the magazine:

To Webster a bicycle is ‘a light vehicle having two wheels, one behind the other.’ Such a definition theoretically describes the contraptions [seen in the article], but fails to do justice to the imagination of the Chicago chapter of the National Bicycle Dealers’ Association.

By artfully applying welders’ torches to metal tubing, the chapter’s members transform ordinary, utilitarian bicycles into traveling monstrosities. By far the most outlandish ideas have come from the Steinlauf family, who produced from their bicycle repair shop most of the oddities [shown in the article]. They are hazardous; generally at least one member of the clan is to be found in the hospital.

Here are a few more of the photos from Life. Click to see the full gallery on Time Magazine’s Life archive.

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Posted in Art, Cycling Media, Everything Else, History

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Yolanda Davis-Overstreet: Sharing the Story of African American Cyclists

Posted on October 9, 2012 by josh| 3 Comments

Yolanda Davis-Overstreet is the Director of the upcoming documentary RIDE: In Living Color. The film looks at African American cyclists through history from Major Taylor’s amazing achievements in sport to people using bikes to change their lives in present day. Most of the filming is complete and the RIDE team is currently raising money through an IndieGoGo campaign to help fund post-production work. I spoke to Yolanda about the film and its production, her background in cycling, media coverage of African American cyclists, barriers to entry in cycling for people of color, and more.

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Posted in Advocacy, Cycling Media, History, Interviews, Racing

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Michelle Cassel and Ryan McAfee’s Tour of America ByCycle

Posted on October 3, 2012 by josh| 3 Comments

Michelle Cassell and Ryan McAfee are multimedia journalists-turned-adventurers exploring America by bike. As the journalism industry continued to falter in 2011 and the duo continued to struggle to make freelancing work, they decided to set off on a cross-country bike tour from Virginia to Oregon. They documented their trip in videos that became season one of their America ByCycle bike travel series. Now they’ve started on their second trip and second season of the show. I spoke to them as they and their new touring partner Alex visited Seattle early on in their Canada to Mexico West Coast tour. We discussed the inspiration for their first tour, their experience as completely novice touring cyclists, their backgrounds as journalists and their goals for the video series, and more.

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Posted in Bike Touring, Cycling Media, Interviews

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