If you’re wondering what to do this weekend, you should get yourself to the Vail Valley and check out the 2011 Teva Mountain Games. It’s all about adventure in the outdoors. Originally started as a kayak event, the Games have expanded to include other events like mountain biking, fly-fishing, and that new fangled water sport, stand-up paddle boarding.
The Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, CO starts this week and we’re psyched because there are a few bicycle movies in the line-up. One in particular, With My Own Two Wheels, has a personal connection from our travels on the Trail Care Crew. We were fortunate to meet the producer/co-director of the film, Jacob Seigel-Boettner, during our visit to Santa Barbara, CA in March.
I didn’t fully understand the impact that the bicycle could have for those without access to motorized transportation until college when I spent a semester in Rwanda working for Project Rwanda, an organization that developed and distributed specially-designed cargo bikes to coffee farmers. Just seeing the sheer number of ways that people used their bikes in Rwanda was an eye opener. I saw bikes loaded down with dozens of chickens, huge stacks of jerry cans, piles of firewood, entire families. It definitely made me realize how much I had taken the bike for granted, and the potential that two wheels could have around the world.
I have to say the most surprising part of the trip however was the across-the-board openness that all of the people we filmed had towards us. We were very worried that given our short timeframe for shooting in each country (only 5 days in Zambia), we wouldn’t be able to make enough of a connection with our subjects and thus wouldn’t get the sort of intimate day-in-the-life footage that we were looking for. Wow. Couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t know if it was just luck, but all five characters completely opened up their lives to us…
Had a chance to ride mountain bike trails in Salida last week. It was the perfect place to stretch the legs on the way to Denver from Santa Fe. After a very short detour off Highway 285 unloaded the bikes and gear in an epicenter of fat tire fun.