Huge thanks to my Dad (and my brother, Nick) for recording our interview on CNN earlier today, he even cut it down and uploaded it to blip for me. Thanks Dad!

It took me about an hour to download and watch the clip with my super-unbelievably-fast EVDO connection - but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm kinda' relieved that they only used about 5 seconds of me from the interview (even though, in those 5 seconds, I do repeat myself... I was very tired... I know, it's no excuse).

I hope this coverage on CNN really helps get the word out there - being only 600 miles away from the end of this step of the film is exciting, but we could use a lot of help... especially financially - and this kind of exposure could do great things for us just we need it most.

Labels: Production

First off, I've heard from several people who saw the CNN interview earlier today - if you missed it, don't forget to check it out tomorrow at 12:30 or 5:30p ET on, but so far I've heard nothing but nice things. Thanks for all the great things you all have been saying - it means a lot to us.


Speaking of great things that people say, I recently mentioned that I uploaded episodes one through four on Vimeo, I've gotten so many comments in such a short time, and they have been some of the most flattering comments I've ever received. For example: 2 days ago Sarah Shevett said about Episode 4, "Wow that actually made me cry."

And 3 days ago Robin said about Episode 1, "[Because in the end it has almost nothing to do with the bike and everything to do with setting out to accomplish something that is intimidating, that is unknown to you, something you know you have a good chance of failing at but doing it anyways and slowly but surely proving yourself wrong.] Moved to tears. Seriously. Bravo Mike!"

Not that my sole purpose is to make people cry with the episodes, but it's unbelievably flattering and inspiring to hear people actually felt *that* connected with what I'm trying so hard to find the words to say. I can't thank you enough.

Labels: CNN, Production, Twitter, Vimeo

Larry & I were interviewed by CNN headline news for a show called "News to Me". The interview is going to air 4 times:

Sat (28th) & Sun (29th) @ 12:30 and 5:30pm (ET) on Headline News.

Since we're still on the road for another 2 weeks, it would be really awesome if someone could TiVo it, it should only run around 2 minutes. I'd love to post it here on the blog, along with a longer version of the conversation.

Labels: Production

Just wanted to let people know that episodes one through four are now up on Vimeo - I always dug the way the player looked when watching Indy Mogul, so I checked out the site earlier today and had to create an account.

This doesn't mean I love Blip.tv any less :) It just makes me happy to see online video sharing done right.

Labels: Blip.tv, Indy Mogul, Production, Vimeo

I just attempted to ride after Larry through the busy streets of Cleavland, Ohio. I lost him after her ran a red light and dodged a slow moving car, I had a camera tied in one hand, and the other hand was gripping the front brake, I couldn't take turns and dodge cars quite as fast as he could. But I did try.

So instead I tore ass through town, heading towards the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, making my way there based off of what I remembered the last time I was in Cleavland - in high school. I managed to find Larry in front of the R&R Hall of Fame, talking to a few people - the place was unusually packed because of a major skate competition going on along the lake.

Larry opted not to go inside and walk around because a) the doors closed in only an hour, and b) he said he stunk too much to be around that many people... I assume c) had something to do with his wearing salt soaked spandex.

Anyway, we are on our way towards Geneva-On-The-Lake, yes, that's the town's full name. I don't have much time to update, but I wanted to post these three videos that Larry took, they've been collecting dust in my iPhoto library.


A curve in the road: North Dakota is flat, I don't think that's news to anyone, but it's also very, very, very straight. So much so that when Larry actually saw a curve a road... he just had to get it on camera.


"Let 'er ride, Larry": While Larry was at the local bar in Esmond, ND, he met Gary. He's escaped from Alcatraz, went head to head with Ali, was a tunnel rat in Nam', and knows everything there is to know about music. Just ask him. He's a legend.


Try sleeping through this: This was taken with Nokia, which sadly, the audio isn't working on it during video mode, but the video doesn't leave much for the imagination. This was the first night Larry had a tent - it also just happened to be a incredibly stormy and windy night. The wind was actually blowing so hard, it ripped up the stakes in Amanda's tent and pulled the floor up so fast it threw her MacBook into her face while she was typing on it. I don't think any of us slept very well that night.

Labels: Amanda, Blip.tv, Gary, Larry, Mp4, Nokia, North Dakota, Ohio, Production

I have 'Living on a Prayer' blasting off the laptop - "we'll give it a shot! ohhh, we're half way there!" - Amanda is trying to eat a melted 3 Musketeers while driving, I think I might have a heart-attack from all the drifting off onto the dirt shoulder.

But, I'll admit, the hypothetical mental-image of Amanda yelling "shit!", just before plowing into a row of corn field, with a mess of dark chocolate all over her teeth, is very amusing to me. Even if it is at my own my expense.


We're several miles east of Oxford Juction, Iowa - one thing that is very depressing to me, is just how apparent it's becoming that my memories, and the order in which I remember people & places connecting, is completely scrambled. It's only been 6 years - and already day 13 of my trip bleeds into day 38, not specifically, but you get what I mean... hopefully.

Maybe that's part of what is so haunting about the experience - it was such a strong moment in my life, and at a young age, and I know I'm loosing the details of it... it leaves a powerful urge to reconnect the dots.


I want to say "thanks!" to Duane, from Warm Showers, in Lansing, Iowa, for inviting us to crash in his back yard. Also, Anna, if you're reading this: we're looking for you. Let us know where you're at (Anna is a bicyclist we also ran into while staying with Duane).

It's a very surreal feeling to be only 20 days away from the east coast - we've been working so hard to make this project for the last three years - to be so close to the end of this baby-step is overwhelming to me. This is it - this is my shot... I try to remind myself daily to not "f' it all up". It's going to be one hell of a story to sort out in post - I look forward to the challenge.

The editing. The festivals. The promotion... the pimping. The distribution. The everything else.


I am anxious though, to sit down and cut more episodes for Pedal - it was a lot of fun explaining the what, how, who, when aspects of where Pedal came from. Telling the behind the scenes of filming and post will be... interesting. We have enough behind-the-scenes footage to cut a whole separate feature length doc'.

Okay, that's all for now - I just thought I'd check in. Don't forget to stop by and check out Amanda's Pedal Flickr photo set.

Labels: Production

I can't believe I'm really doing this...

Labels: Production

We just got a text message from Larry to come meet him in La Crescent, Minnesota, because he met Ted, and "Ted is awesome".

Unfortunately we were sitting in a parking lot behind the train-tracks that run through New Albin, Iowa, 24 miles south-east when we heard - hopefully we make it back in time (Ted is apparently heading towards Chicago, which means I have no idea what route he is taking).

I'm not sure what is going on due to having absolutely no cell phone service.


Ted will be the first person (on a trip of any kind) that we've met in two weeks - not sure where the hell everyone went, but, I'll admit, it's been making me a bit freaked-out.

Today is "one of those days". There are moments when all the "little things" involved in making a documentary are somewhat frustrating and time-consuming. All the errands and back-tracking and blah, that don't actually get anything on tape - just slow us down.

I have moments of extreme jealously - watching Larry ride. I'm in desperate need of another long, long-distant bicycle trip.

Today, while brushing my teeth, I started thinking about my 10 year reunion for Onsted, MI, if I wanted to go or not. See, I have a real problem telling people what I'm up to. It makes me uncomfortable and awkward - reunions seem like one big "what-are-you-doing fest". But I had the thought of riding a bicycle from my apartment in North Hollywood, up the coast to San Francisco, zig-zagging my way towards Glacier and heading east back to Onsted in time to catch the reunion... I think that could clear my head enough and actually enjoy it that way.

Not that any of this has much to do with making Pedal.

Moving on: a lot has been happening out here on the road that I've yet to mention on the blog. Sometimes things unfold slowly and you have be cautious about opening your mouth too soon.

Two things. First: a couple of weeks ago the crew took a train back to Los Angeles. Second: the person who was going to help us with $8,000 we needed, no longer is.

And... end post. Just kidding - I guess these things need some explaining, eh? Let's talk about the latter first.


Everything sounded promising at first, but once we read the fine print of the, I'm sure, typical Hollywood contract, we felt it wasn't for us. At all. We were giving up a little too much... 35% of profits is a lot to hand out for only 8 grand, especially considering how tiny of a percentage that is compared to the overall budget.

That's that in a nutshell - perhaps more details will be included in a future episode. So we found most of what the film needed through family and friends - we are still a bit short, but we are also still talking to other people. We came pretty close though to signing a lot away.

Now for the crew: I should make it clear that there was no falling out, that we are all still on good grounds, and that the Black Sheep are still a big part of Pedal. But... one morning the three of them sat me down and said, basically, that there were too many people working on this project. They felt that they hurt more than they helped - and although they brought a lot to the table (this is me speaking here, not their words), I can see now that they had a point.


It was a hard goodbye, everyone had a bit of something in their eye. Amanda and I were blank-faced when their train pulled away, we went and watched 'Knocked Up' at the local theater, and had a good time. It helped relax us a bit - take our minds out of the "what the hell are we going to do now" mentality.

Things since have been a much lighter, faster production. It's not the same without the three of them, they are missed. I still laugh at the craziness that went down in the short time that they were here. They left a good deal of their equipment with us, to make sure the transition behind the scenes didn't effect the film in any way. I feel it's gone good.

[...]

Having said that. We just finished an interview with Ted behind the subway. Footage of that soon - he was a really cool guy, I like the way he's doing his trip - he buys a gas station map and marks down places he wants to check out, and off he goes. Tim and I did a bit of that after Glacier on our way to the coast, but nothing like what he's doing.

Don't forget to watch the latest JETSET episode - I recorded a quick update for Steve & Zadi and they were awesome enough to include it in their show.

Labels: Production

We've been on the road for 33 days now - when we left from Anacortes, Washington, we were meeting different people traveling by bicycle every day - some we got a chance to talk to on camera, some we just got a chance to introduce ourselves to. But somewhere after the badlands of North Dakota - everyone has disappeared.

Not sure if the bulk of people are ahead of us, or behind us - we're in Fargo, North Dakota at the moment - and after a few videos finish uploading to JETSET's servers, we'll be heading east towards Dalbo. I know some of you might be taking the north fork after Fargo - either way, if you are anywhere on or near the Northern Tier - we'd love to hear from you.

Let us know where you're at, and where you'll be heading - we'll do our best to find you. We'd really love to talk to as many different people out riding this summer as possible.


Also, we're keeping pace with Larry, above is a picture of Larry (he's looking a bit rough here, but trust us, he's super nice) - if you cross paths with him, we'll be close by. Hope to see you out on the road.

Labels: Fargo, JETSET, Larry, North Dakota, Production

Yesterday, while in Minot, we ate breakfast at Schatz's, where our waiter had an outrageously cool "dekotaaa" accent - half-way through my breakfast burrito I said to Amanda that I had a good feeing about finding a bike in this town.

For those of you new to the blog, a few weeks ago, in Idaho, the bike was (mounted to the rear of the van) backed into a tree, and the frame snapped. It was sad.

Ever since, I've been looking in every bike shop we passed for a new used replacement - with no luck. So after eating we ran back into town, returned some rain coats we bought at Target, bought some Coldstone icecream, and went to Val's Cyclery. When I asked if they had any used road bikes, they took me to the back and pointed to the only one they had in the store - which they had gotten only that morning.

It was a beautiful / sexy red Schwinn road bicycle - light as feather - and cheap too. $175 as is, it was obviously much, much more than that new. Barely ridden.

We paid, strapped it to the back of the van, along-side my old now-deformed bike, and drove east on the 2 to catch up with Larry. He about had heart-attack when he saw the bike - we popped off the pedals from my old bike and put them on the new one, and I rode about 5 miles with Larry, into the strong winds (which are blowing the wrong way, east to west, and have been for days).


We stopped at Ganville to look for two girl bicyclist we've been hearing so much about, but no one was there. The town had a cool vibe to it, in an old abandoned kind of way, so I leaned the bicycle up against the back of the van and walked around taking some video. As I reached the end of the block (only about 200 feet away from the van), Amanda called my cell phone, she was crying when I answered. "Your gonna' kill me", she said, and I knew what happened right away. Amanda was far more upset than I was, she felt horrible, but luckily the damage wasn't to the frame this time. There was a tiny amount of bend'age near the derailer, but the rear tire came out all crazy.

We woke up this morning and drove an hour back into town - the guy at the bike shop was a bit surprised to see us again so soon. But "yay", he managed to bend the frame back into place, and found a cheap replacement wheel. She's back in business!


We spent about an hour poking around an old abandoned farm house yesterday evening. I love old houses - so much subtle history to them: the 1967 copy of reader's digest on the floor... the years and years worth of pigeon shit covering everything... the two flower-patterned kitchen chairs left behind... the scattered baseball cards in the stairway leading to the second story. The empty rusted-out bed-frames in the master bedroom - from the looks of what's left, 40-some years ago, it used to be a really fantastic little place.

[5 hours later]

We just finished hanging out on the side of the road with Larry - this head-wind is "sucking his will to live" (Wayne's World quote). But joking aside, when he caught up with us, he was not too happy. I know the feeling... I sympathize.


We're on our way into Esmond, Nd - Larry wanted to push on past Devil's Lake, but it's another 26 miles straight into the "light breeze". Half of this town is gone and boarded up - it's been like that a lot lately.

Well, we just arrived at the park for the night - covered pavilions, quarter-showers, volleyball pit - cool place. The cafe' is about the only thing still open this time of night, I think we'll go check it out.

Labels: Bicycle, Esmond, Larry, Minot, North Dakota, Production, This Old House