We're somewhere in the middle of Wyoming on Hwy 80, driving west in shifts, divided by who can stay-awake-the-longest.


I'm crammed in the back between two rows of boxes, milk crates, duffel bags, dog cages, night stands and a collection of other things we're bring back from Michigan to LA.

I'm anxious to be back in North Hollywood - to see my cat, my friends, sleep in my own bed, watch a movie... but I'm also a bit scared, I'm hoping my old jobs will take me back, I'm hoping that the negative $700+ in Amanda's bank account doesn't, well... I don't even want to think about it. I just hope things work out.

And at the moment, I don't see how that's going to happen. But we've been in worse spots before... or at least I'm telling myself that to stay calm.

Labels: Production

It didn't feel real, sitting at the ocean in Bar Harbor, Maine - waiting for Larry to ride up and reach the end of his 4,300 mile experience. It has taken so long to get to this moment that I just felt... unable to put it into words.

This last three years was just the beginning - now the real hard work begins. And I'm looking forward to it - very much actually. Last night (four days after Bar Harbor) I walked around the streets of Ann Arbor by myself, stood on the top-floor of the parking garage behind the State Theater... thinking about all the days spent there running around with a camera in my hand. I think I've come a long way - and that feels good.

Labels: Amanda, bar harbor, Blip.tv, Mike Ambs, Production, The Ocean

Yesterday, at around 1:51 pm eastern, we arrived at Bar Harbor, Maine. Which means so many things I can't even begin to go into them here and now... but I will soon enough. When I was looking out at the ocean, I twittered this from my phone: Just arrived in bar harbor... how strange to be at the end..., and these awesome people responded with:

Labels: bar harbor, Flickr, Production, Twitter

I'm sitting in the back seat of the van, tucked in alongside the camera equipment, which is laid out on-top of the homemade table covered in non-slip kitchen mats. The sun is coming in through the window to my right and making my arm quite hot... Amanda is driving, trying to adjust her broken pair of sunglasses - now she just pulled over to take a photo of the real estate sign reading: Betty Lou's (which is her Grandmother's name).

We are several miles west of Rockport, Maine, and by tomorrow evening we should be done with this long, long experiment. I'm a lot of things right now - I'm sad to see the trip come to an end, I'm scared that it's ending, I hope I've done a good job. I'm tired. I feel burnt-out, but at the same time accomplished. I feel like it's going to take me a long time to recoup from the last 60-some days.


At the moment, our bank account balance is: $312.74, and maybe that has a lot to do with the way I'm feeling right now.

It seem difficult to focus knowing we are so close to being broke. The kind of broke that gets you in a lot of trouble. I'm a long, long ways from home - and it's hard knowing I have no way of getting back.

I really hope all this trouble and debt, in the end, is worth it. I'm very hopeful that it will be... even that it has already been worth it. But some days.. it's hard to keep sight of that.


So, how did we get ourselves into this corner? Well, we left for this trip knowing we needed another $8,000 - but that, at the time, was okay, because we had someone who was more than excited to help us out, and ensure that the project was seen all the way through.

When it came down to the fine-print, that help came with many strings attached, ones that we felt began to seriously compromise the ideas behind the film. So... we did the scary thing... and didn't give in for the money.

Thanks to family and close friends we were able to raise a third of what we needed to push on. And we owe them more than I can find the words to express for their help. There is absolutely no way we would be one day away from the end of filming without them.


It's strange - being out here on the road, trying very hard to make a film that is supposed to be inspiring... when I just feel scared and stressed and distracted by all this... nonsense.


Okay, I have to go drive now because Amanda seriously hurt her back the other day and she needs to lay down. I can smell the ocean... we're close.

Update: Huge, huge thanks to Mike Hedge, and his Dad, Gary, for their very generous donation!

Labels: Production

I wanted to post these two videos with the actual interview - but it took me several days to find a connection strong enough to upload the full uncut interview phone-conversation with CNN.

Now, to be perfectly honest, the full uncut interview isn't something I would recommend watching: it's fairly long and awkward, due to poor cell phone reception. It's also super washed out because I adjusted the iris, sat down, and then, of course, the rain stop pouring and the sun came out behind us - completely washing us out and creating a blinding white light behind Larry and I.

Well, now that I've talked it up, here it is (you've been warned):



This second clip, however, is very short, and much less boring then the above one. This is the voice-mail that was left on my phone from CNN about their wanting to interview us for the project.

Labels: Blip.tv, CNN, Interview, Larry, Mike Ambs, Production

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

Just wanted to mention two quick things that keep escaping me when I sit down to update. First off, I made a change to the "video & still" link in the menu to the left. Before it was a drop down that I had to go in and manual add/remove items from, now "video" is one link to Pedal's Blip.tv show-page, and the "& still" links back to my flickr collection of Pedal related pictures. These two sites (Blip & Flickr) are much better at social networking and connecting that I am - I think it's better to externalize those aspects of the this site.

Next is Pedal's Twitter log - on the main page of Project Pedal, before you get to the blog, there is a small'ish gray box with a short update in it.


That update is a "Twitter", what is Twitter? It's a great site that you can use to share "what you are doing" with your friends/family/strangers. For example, on June 25th, I wrote: Listening to 'Don't Stop Believing' at the park in Wolf Point, Mt. It's raining - the sky is pink/purple. Very hungry :)

You can receive updates through your IM, your cell phone, or just through the website (it's up to you how you are updated). Okay, back on the road for now.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, flickr, blip.tv, twitter

Labels: Blip.tv, Flickr, Production, Twitter

"Command Center" is the new nickname given to the van by Larry. It's quickly becoming the "Command Center / Weather Tracker 3000 Plus" (or something close to that) because we have a 12ft crane bolted to the top of the roof-rack, and it's making all the locals do a double take as they drive by. I've been asked if I was doing amature radio.

My computer says it's 10:31pm, but I just realized it's after midnight here in Parshall, North Dakota. Which leaves me just enough time to microwave a cup of easymac and down a Dr. Pepper, post two rough interviews from earlier in the week, and finally: sleep.


This first clip is of Phil and Liz, who were the first people we've met riding east to west (aka: into the raging wind). The sound on the FX1 is just the shotgun, the wide had the boom, so this is pretty much un-listenable. But it looks nice. Every once in a while, when the wind calms, you can hear what they are they are saying. When I have more time, after we are back from the road, I'll be able to sync up the close and the wide for a second round of post.


This clip is of Hans and Elly, who, let me just say, I love. We've been on the road for 25-some days now, and we've met a lot of great people who are very cool, and fun to talk to. But it's been hard finding the "voices" I had in mind for Pedal. Perhaps many of the people we've talked to so far are too early on in their rides to really dig deep into their experience. Hans and Elly are on their 2nd bicycle trip - their first was 30 years, when they spent 9 months traveling by bicycle from Holland to New Zeland. Their stories are amazing - I can't wait to hear more. They really understand that trips like these are 99% mental. Amazing people.

Goodnight for now, world. Just for the record, I'm sporting a "Morgan Spurlock" at the moment - total 'fu manchu'.

Labels: Blip.tv, Hans and Elly, Interview, North Dakota, Phil and Liz, Production

This will have to be somewhat short today, we all slept in today because none of us fell asleep till 4 in the morning due to a massive thunder storm. The wind kept pushing the tent down on our heads - I was hit in the face by the tent-poles several times. It was craziness.

We're in "the bread-basket of America", as Larry would say, and things are going good. I have a few interviews imported that I just need trim and export, hopefully they will make up for the lack of interview-footage I've posted so far.

In the meantime, here's a bunch of Mp4 clips that I thought I'd share with the rest of the class.


Here's a quick clip of Olivier taking Liz & Phil's picture, with the 16mm camera, just a few miles outside of Cut Bank.


This is one of my favorite clips, I've watched it at least 5 times so far. It's Larry making up a song about being "clean for an hour".


I don't even know what to say about this one :) except that it makes me laugh. It's about a minute of the crew all brushing their teeth in the bathroom. Yes, that's it.


I think this will forever cheer me up no matter how down I am - nothing better than a truck full of rabid little dogs.


Jef & Olan surround me while I'm on the phone with Mike Hedge and then Amanda after she beeps in.


Here's me with the crew in Glacier Park, at 6 in the morning, waiting for the fog to clear so we could get our sunrise shot. It never did clear - at least not in time for the sunrise.


Jef took this while driving in the van to who-knows-where - I just like the 360 perspective of our routine.

By the way, if you haven't already watched the Clip Show's 50th Episode, which talks about Project Pedal, then you should go here - it's a really great post. And plus: Josh broke his arm filming it.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Production

The last post, which ended up not going through via crappy EVDO connection, was a bit scrambled and "ehh". So, I think it's time for a "proper" post.

[Update: I just found out it did get through before I lost single. But it was still is a crapy post, and I already wrote this one... so some things get covered twice.]

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but we've been jetting from mountain range to mountain rage, and have had little connection. Not sure if that's Sprint's fault, or if it would be just as bad with a Verizon network.

I'm in the van right now, listening to "Learning to Fly" off the iPod, we're heading back from Glacier Park towards Whitefish. "Why?" you ask: well, for a few unexpected reasons.

A) first off, we backed up the rental van into a good sized rock, and it almost took the bumper clean off the back. Which sucked. This on top of a shitty night's sleep in tents that didn't quite hold up in the downpour from hell. Okay, it wasn't quite *that* bad, but it was bad enough to wake up every hour with a new part of the bag being wet.

Seeing as there is no phone or cell connection at the base of the glaciers, we are heading back into town to take care of the whole insurance/rental situation. Fingers crossed that it works out okay.

B) I broke my bike frame... that's a different story for a different time, but it's extremely un-rideable. And the last bike shop for a while is back in Whitefish, there was a used bike shop near the school.

C) I feel a bit awkward about this "aspect" of the project, awkward in the sense that I don't like to talk about money. On one hand, I don't want to sound like a sympathy-case... and on the other, I don't want to pretend or hide the financial difficulties that exist in a low-budget project like Pedal. Or every low budget project for that matter.

But we are about 8 days away from being rock-bottom broke. Which can be a slight distraction when trying to stay focused on the task at hand. But, fear not, there is someone who has said they can fund the remainder of the trip. Yes, we are cutting it close... uncomfortably close, but we don't have much choice.

Some of you might be curious as to how someone can go from winning $25,000 to broke in three months time. Especially considering the budget on the site is only $9,000. Well, almost a full $10,000 of the 25k went to personal debts and expenses that needed to be taken care of. Then there is equipment that I never put into the budget because I was just not expecting to be able to make a film with anything but the dinky camera I already had. And to be honest, with only 9k, I'd probably be stuck without a crew.

But winning the Network2.tv video contest allowed me to make the project I really wanted to make, not the one I could just get by making. So, I was encouraged to buy a camera that matched the one 'The Black Sheep' were bringing, a Z1U. There's 5 grand. I purchased a cheap 12 foot crane, that was about $900. I bought a glidecam system, which was around $1,800. Four long-life batteries for filming long hours on the road. Camping gear. UV Filters. XLR cables. Headphones. $1,000 in microphones, $600 wind-jammer. $760 in miniDV tapes (60 hours). Shipping fees. I had to take a month off from work in order to squeeze all the last minute planning in, there's 3 months rent. 3 months utilities. A laptop for editing on the road. 3 round trip tickets from Belgium to LA. $2,500 to rent a van for two months. Wide angle lens for $350. My own personal plane ticket and rental car cost for visiting Larry & Jay before the trip. Food. More food. Gas... almost four times the amount originally budgeted because the van is overloaded and gets poor mpg, plus we have to drive back to LA when done. And, of course, there's always "et cetera". Now add in all the problems and extra money here and there. I won't even go into that.

Not to mention the thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment that the crew brought along. 16mm film stock. A fluid-head tripod. An army of SLR lens and filters. A 35 kit. You name it - that came loaded.

All in all, I'd say the budget it pushing the $200,000 area. So that's the dark side of the low budget project... it's fun stuff to tackle with no financial backing (sarcasm). Not to mention the fear of putting all this time, energy and money into something that, now that you've started, might not make see to the end. It's enough to make a person sick.

I have to finish this project. It's started - and there is no turning back. I don't know how - but there's no turning back now.


Whew. Okay, that felt good to get off my chest. And please, don't feel like I'm pressuring you for a handout. Like I said, someone has said they'd help us finish the project. It's just a part of the project that I've been meaning/wanting to share for a while. It never feels like the "right" time, so what the hell, right?


It's now 11:20 at night, Amanda has called the insurance people and they were great about it. We'll even be able to still get up at 5, like planned, and head back into Glacier to get a shot of the mountains against Lake McDonald.

Afterward we plan to follow Larry to the peak of Logan's Pass, it's closed after the top because a huge section of the 'Going to the Sun Road' was washed away by glacier run off (yay, global warming). But Larry, being the monster that he is, wants to go to the top and then turn around just to "get it under his belt". Love that guy.

We also ran into Galan, who reminds me a lot of Lyon. We ate breakfast this morning at the restaurant in Apgar and talked for 3 hours. Sadly, none of it was one tape, but he's great, we'll talk to him tomorrow before he heads too far north.

Other than all that - we plan on spending the next few days around the Glacier area, there's so much great stuff to get, and it's basically biker-central for all the cyclist. We're wanting to head back down the road and talk to 3 women we met a few days ago, I think they have a great perspective on their trip - it's rare to run into a women only group. And it shouldn't be.

Also, before I forget, I didn't have much time to go through footage while we were in Eureka, but I did dump a few random clips of Larry riding his bike (not the smoothest of shots we've taken, but I still like the look on Larry's face climbing up that hill).


And a very pretty long shot we took of a broken down house/cabin/pile-of-wood, there's cars and junk in the frame that, if I used it later, I'd snip out. But you get the idea.


We'd love to hear from you - see you on the other side (of Glacier Park).

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Black Sheep, Blip.tv, Budget, Larry, Production

[Written on the 14th] Day 13 of filming. We crossed over from Idaho to Montana yesterday evening, the change was almost immediate: it's definitely big sky country. very beautiful here - we spent a lot of time at Kootenai Falls & the "Swinging Bridge".

Shooting is going good - we have more landscapes then we do conversations with people, but we're working to fix that, and find the right balance of time spent filming Larry's interactions and also just filming some of our own. In some cases we roll first and ask permission later, in other cases we approach a person and ask if it's okay to film them... and before they agree/disagree they say a bunch of great stuff we don't get on camera.


Larry is doing amazing - it's unbelievable how much road he covers in such a short amount of time. Yesterday we found him on Hwy 2, after Troy, he stopped a bit and talked to us about how good of a day he was having, and then he quickly took off. Not more than five minutes passed while we dug out the steadicam and set up a shot from the side of the car, and we drove for what seemed like forever before we caught up to him again.

[Written on the 16th] Larry took the day off in Libby yesterday to relax and do some fishing. I figured the crew was in desperate need of a brake also, so we did absolutely nothing all day. I have to admit - it was nice.

Amanda, myself and the crew went out to dinner at one of the only places still open past 6pm, besides all the dark and depressing casinos... 'The Antlers' restaurant. Just before our orders came out from the kitchen a guy walked up holding a folded newspaper and asked if we were from around here...

Long story short - we were up till 3 in the morning, hanging around the campfire with Brett, playing guitar, drinking beers, and talking about anything. And even though he was a vocal-creationist :) he was a really, really nice guy - very good singer/guitar-player... it's too bad Larry wasn't with us.


I know this post is all over the place - but I'm trying to go over the last few days, while thinking about the next few ahead of us. And I'm sorry I haven't been updating more often, the EVDO card we bought before leaving isn't exactly working too often in the mountains here. Which is a bit annoying, but we're hoping it picks up.

We killed the bicycle we brought with us for filming - backed it up into a tree and bend the frame 30-some degrees. The pedal is stuck in the rear spokes, more money we have to spent that wasn't budgeted out.


Speaking of the budget - I suppose this site wouldn't be a very "personal and behind the scenes look" if I wasn't honest about our financial situation. I always feel awkward about bringing it up, because I want to avoid sounding like a sympathy-case, but we are about 10 days away from being completely broke... with only a $300 credit card to get us back to LA, actually, scratch that, half of that is gone right now.

But fear not (fingers crossed), we have someone who is possibly going to see the project through with some funding. Yes, we are cutting it close, and yes, it's a bit stressful, but I'm sure if we just stay focused on the project that things will work out.

I have more footage to share, but, sadly, Whitefish has a very poor internet connection and I'm having a hell of time just checking my email - I don't think uploading entire movie files is going to happen. Maybe on the other side of Glacier Park. Till then.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Brett, Larry, Montana, Production

It's 11:50 at night right now, I'm curled up in my tent, 3 miles outside of Republic, Washington. I'm pretty heavy-eyed at the moment, so this might be a somewhat short post.

I'm very excited to post the 1st sneak-peak raw interview of the trip. I met Jack Denson in Rockport and knew right away he was "one of those people" I'd love to talk with at several points during our way east (if he's willing, of course). He's got just a great personality, and he's very relaxed on camera.

We lost him for a day after Marblemount, but drove past the bike shop in Winthrop and spotted him talking outside. Turned out he was spending the day at the KOA down the street and was happy to talk to us.

One thing to keep in mind is we didn't have the "nice microphone" on the camera with the HDV35 kit, we ran the XLR into the wide, so this is a shot-gun mic mounted to the front of the FX1. We have the nice-nice sound on the other tape, which, if I had the time, I could have synced up the two. But I'm on the run, so that will have to wait.


I think the interview went great - I can't wait to talk with Jack more, further down the road. Take a moment to check out his 'Crazy Guy on a Bike' page, also he's helping to raise awareness for Wounded Warriors, so take a moment to support them in any way you can.

I would love to hear your thoughts or questions! Goodnight.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding, wounded warriors, hdv35

Labels: Blip.tv, HDV35, Interview, Jack Denson, Production

No EVDO connection. No cell phone single. We've set up camp where the Skagit River runs into the Cascade River, surrounded on all sides by mountains ranging from 4,000 to 8,900 feet in elevation. It's very beautiful. People in town (Marblemount) say that we are "in for a treat" tomorrow - I'm looking forward to it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself - I mentioned in my last post I was excited about uploading the first few "official" shots (I say "official" because we've been capturing tons with the two mp4 cameras and our Nokia), yesterday we stopped at a laundry mat in Concrete where I managed to import a few minutes here and there, and export them straight to quicktime-movies.

This 1st clip is one of the many takes we captured with the sun setting behind the camp-site. It was very cloudy and grey all day but around 8:30 the sun came down under the clouds enough to just light everything up.


I'm so happy with this 2nd clip - we had set up in the morning to get their "taking off" moment, and on the 35 kit (HDV35), the guys had their zoom-lens (200). But Amanda had packed her SLR camera and one of the lens she has for it is a very long lens (a 300), we swapped it out and it looks just amazing.


Unbelievably sharp depth of field. We stopped by a field yesterday to shoot some tall grass with the mountains in the background - and I couldn't believe how many "layers" of field we could shift through.

The great news is it's turned out to be much, much easier to film on-the-fly with the 35 kit mounted to the FX1. At first we were planning to only break it out for interviews. But Olivier is finding it very simple to focus and move at the same time - which I love, it's just one more "look" we can play with for the film.

I also can't believe how much I'm loving the mp4 and Nokia footage, it gives a less "cinematic / grandiose" feel to the shot and makes it more personal. I've uploading some of it here, here and here... and one more here. We've been slowly and carefully breaking out our 16mm, we only have 30 minutes of stock for the entire two months (if anyone has any 100 foot daylight spools they'd like to donate, please let me know, we could use it).


But... *deep breath* I do have some bad news. It was news that, I could tell, was very hard for Jay to come talk to us about. Amanda was curled up in her tent, and the four of us guys were at the picnic table looking at rushes and talking about whatever, when Jay let us know the situation with his knee. I've never actually talked about it here on the site, so this will require a quick catch-up: Jay is a snowboarder, actually a very good one.

In the 2005 he took the bronze in the world championship. Yea, I know, he's good. But he's had knee trouble for years, gone through 5 major surgeries, and at the moment is actually completely missing his ACL.

Both Larry & Jay have been training, in the mountains, a great deal - so it's hard to say if it's the added weight to the bike that caused the problem, or if it just finally caught up with him. But only 10 miles into the ride this morning and his knee almost brought him to tears, and Jay's a tough enough guy to know that's a problem... especially on a flat day like they had this morning. So, Jay is going to stay behind - Larry is pressing on... alone. He's, understandably, a bit terrified about the following 4,200 miles - but he's also a bit excited about the solitude. It changes things for us, not in a bad way, but we'll adapt with it.

As a crew we are still trying to find the best balance for what we are doing - I know it will take some time in this kind of on-the-move environment. For example, Jeff and I had a hell of time today with a simple crane shot - not too sure if any of that footage actually worked out.

But I am very sad to see Jay go - I know he was very excited and ready for this ride, I know he's sad to watch Larry ride on without him. But I understand and encourage him not to push himself to the point of ruining his snowboarding career, or even just simply ruining his knee.

It's going to be a hard good bye tomorrow morning. Well, it's after midnight, I need to get some sleep. Goodnight for now.

(PS) I found out that a lot of the videos I uploaded with Transmit on the road didn't get transfered correctly and have been bouncing out bad files through the feed, sorry for this, I'll only try to upload from now on with a more reliable connection.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Blip.tv, Camp, Day 6, HDV35, Jay, Larry, Mp4, Production

We pulled into camp last night around 1 in the morning - overall, I think we drove a total of 14 hours from Leggett to Anacortes. We watched the sun set as Jeff played us songs in French.


Amanda and I woke up around 8 to head back to Seattle to pick up Larry and Jay from the airport. We expected it to take us around an hour and twenty minutes to head back into town - it took over two and a half hours, the whole time the crew is waiting here at camp with no way of knowing what is taking us so long.


There's plenty more to share - but that will have to do for now. It's midnight and everyone is planning to get up around 5 to head out. We shot our first "official" shots for Pedal today - I can't wait to upload them to the blog. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Also, don't forget to wish my Mom a happy birthday (on the 6th)!

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Anacortes, Blip.tv, Day 4, Production

We're heading north on the 101 - 30 miles south of Crescent City. It's half raining, half misting in the mountains. We are way behind schedule, which, sadly, is all my fault; I wanted to take "the scenic route" along Hwy 1 and it was so back-and-forth and up-and-down that it made us terribly car sick. It took us two hours to get back to the 101.


We were supposed to be able to meet up with Mike Hedge in Seattle as he takes off on his Live Earth tour - instead we are trying to pin point where we'll cross paths at an Amtrak station. Which is difficult to do without a connection for my cell-phone or EV-DO card.

I'm nervous though about our being behind - we need to be in Anacortes with enough time to set up a decent camp-site for the crew, Amanda and I have to wake up early tomorrow morning and head 80 miles east into Seattle to pick up Larry & Jay from the airport, and then bring them back.

On top of this it looks like it's going to be raining for the next few days... everywhere.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Day 3, Production

I'm writing this while driving through the beautiful mountains north of Los Alamos... thanks to our awesome new EV-DO card we bought for the trip. With Adrianna Krikl playing off the ipod it's *almost* very relaxing - if it weren't for a few straps between the roof and the rack vibrating wildly in the wind, creating what some might describe as the world's most annoying sound.


But I'm glad I finally have a moment to slow down and write a post - the last two days have been go-go-go, and on almost no sleep to add icing to the "cake".

I'm so excited about being featured on Have Money Will Vlog - it's been something I've been waiting a long time to announce, and the timing couldn't be more perfect. Jan and Ryanne recored a Skype conversation they had about Pedal's interesting history with HMWV, how things have evolved since I started working with Ryanne and then later with Jan.

In the video they mention how Jan gave me the kick in the butt to ask Nokia (WOM) about sponsoring us with a video-phone, something I wasn't considering before for a number of reasons. A: Didn't think they would give me one. B: Didn't think I would use it. But, long story short, I asked, they gave the project a phone, and I can't wait to take full advantage of it. Thanks Jan!

It's a great addition to the mix of media we are packing: 16mm, HDV, HDV with a 45 adapter ("HDV35"), mp4 cameras, Polariod, a wide range of SLR cameras and lenses we plan to do specific time-lapse shots with... I'm very excited about having so many different "looks" to choose from.

But I have to run for now, we just parked at OSH to buy something to muffle the vibration.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Adrianna Krikl, Day 1, HMWV, Jan, Production, Ryanne

It's all so surreal. Four years ago, I watched a short film called 'Marla', made by a team of Belgiums (who, at that time, called themselves "Another State of Mind") on a shoe-string budget. Using a homemade rig involving a GL2 and an old SLR Nikon they bought off eBay for cheap, they created a "mini35" (MiniDV meets 35mm film) look that was very impressive and different. I was an instant fan.

Fast forward to last night - driving in the rented mini van with Amanda down the 405, on our way to pick up Olivier (co-founder of ASOM) and Jeff from LAX.

We were late - because I didn't finish installing the rack on the van's roof soon enough - and not to mention traffic was backed up on a Tuesday night at 6:30. Add to this I only wrote on the back of my hand the flight number, and not the actual airline... yea, we were having issues.

First we park the van, run into terminal 2 looking at US Airlines and Delta - Amanda is on the phone with her sister trying to look up the airline, I'm at the baggage claim begging some guy to punch it in on his computer. They've been on the ground for 30 minutes. We find out it's in terminal 6 - which just happens to be about as far away from 2 as possible.

We run back to the parked van, go through the long exit line, do a loop to the other side, miss the parking structure for 6, drive another 400 feet to garage 7. Get out, race to terminal 6, realize that international flights get dumped off at 7. Turn back around, race to 7, at this point it's been 45 minutes since their flight has landed. The pick-up area is packed, I don't actually know what Olivier or Jeff look like... we forgot to make a "Black Sheep" sign.

I'm basically looking for two people who look like they are looking for people looking for them. When a tall guy to my left casually asked me, with a bit of a grin on his face, "are you looking for someone?". It was perfect.

And luckily, they had just picked up their bags moments before, so we didn't look like total assholes.

They are great - I couldn't be happier with things right now. It's all happening. Tomorrow we are going to be prepping the van, loading the equipment, finishing the rack on the roof, picking up the last of the camping gear, and 20 other little things. Friday night we pick up Olan, and Saturday morning we leave.

In the mean time - check out the short film that started all this craziness:


tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding, another state of mind, black sheep

Labels: Another State of Mind, Black Sheep, Marla, Production

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The large majority of questions "slash" concerns (from people after watching Episode One) dealt with Pedal's exact process, and in relation to this; the exact results. 1) Who are we following? 2) Who are we interviewing? 3) Are we driving, or also riding bicycles? 4) How long will this take?

Which brings us to "episode two" - where I do my best to answer these questions as clearly as possible, while walking through what's to be expected during filming. As always I love to hear your feedback!

Special thanks to Len from LenEdgerly.com & Steve from SleeplessNights.com for their generous donations.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, drawing, episode

Labels: Blip.tv, Episode, Logistics, Pre-Production, Production, Questions/Concerns, Vlog