Director's Statement
Before I started on this 3.5 month bike tour that took me over 3000 miles from home I’d rarely used a bike in a daily routine. I would ride a bike to recreate but almost never for practical purposes. A to B usually involved a Saturday afternoon leisurely ride and a maximum distance traveled of 10 miles.
Perhaps the greatest take away I get after completing an experience like this is an entirely new perspective on progress. What can you accomplish in a minute, day, month or year? How much is needed to survive for that same amount of time?
On a cross-country bike ride you can’t help but think about family and friends back at home and compare your day to theirs. Are they sitting in their cubicles working? Has it been two hours since their last meal? These are some of the questions that ran through my head while pedaling 6-8 hours a day. Also, my perspective on eating changed. I began to understand that food and calories are what make your internal engine run and in time the connection between quantities of food and distance traveled became clear. And then, thinking about my life back at home the proverbial, “Ah-Ha!” moment hits me. Why do I need to eat 3 huge meals a day if all I am doing is sitting on my butt?
From the cross country tour and back into everyday life the bicycle has changed me for the better. Today I use a bicycle almost every day of the week. I still own a car but I live in Southern California so it makes sense. I save about 2000 dollars per year in gasoline and auto expenses. My legs are always pumped up and I rarely catch a cold.
After so much time reviewing the footage and interviews we captured on this ride what became clear then is still very important to me today. Environmental change for the better can happen and is happening and at no level is it more clear than at the community.
More often now, people are choosing bicycles as a way to get around their communities. Every time we choose a bicycle it is a win not only for our health and the surrounding community but also for our planet.
This journey has taught me that if you try and if you chip away slowly at a goal and stay persistent you can accomplish your dreams. If you are like me and you dream of a better, healthier planet for our children, I ask you to seriously consider riding a bicycle more than you currently are. Almost all of us have some weight we want to loose and just as many could save some money at the gas pump. Why not give bicycling a try?
Continually challenge your self. Reach the next level. Obtaining the next set of skills will only make you better and collectively as more people choose to ride a bike we raise the quality of life everyone can expect.
On 3-11-12 my Fathers battle with Cancer had finally run its course. We spent lots of time together during the last couple of years. I could not have asked for a better Dad. This documentary series is dedicated to him. Without him it never would have happened.
Jeff Hyland
Perhaps the greatest take away I get after completing an experience like this is an entirely new perspective on progress. What can you accomplish in a minute, day, month or year? How much is needed to survive for that same amount of time?
On a cross-country bike ride you can’t help but think about family and friends back at home and compare your day to theirs. Are they sitting in their cubicles working? Has it been two hours since their last meal? These are some of the questions that ran through my head while pedaling 6-8 hours a day. Also, my perspective on eating changed. I began to understand that food and calories are what make your internal engine run and in time the connection between quantities of food and distance traveled became clear. And then, thinking about my life back at home the proverbial, “Ah-Ha!” moment hits me. Why do I need to eat 3 huge meals a day if all I am doing is sitting on my butt?
From the cross country tour and back into everyday life the bicycle has changed me for the better. Today I use a bicycle almost every day of the week. I still own a car but I live in Southern California so it makes sense. I save about 2000 dollars per year in gasoline and auto expenses. My legs are always pumped up and I rarely catch a cold.
After so much time reviewing the footage and interviews we captured on this ride what became clear then is still very important to me today. Environmental change for the better can happen and is happening and at no level is it more clear than at the community.
More often now, people are choosing bicycles as a way to get around their communities. Every time we choose a bicycle it is a win not only for our health and the surrounding community but also for our planet.
This journey has taught me that if you try and if you chip away slowly at a goal and stay persistent you can accomplish your dreams. If you are like me and you dream of a better, healthier planet for our children, I ask you to seriously consider riding a bicycle more than you currently are. Almost all of us have some weight we want to loose and just as many could save some money at the gas pump. Why not give bicycling a try?
Continually challenge your self. Reach the next level. Obtaining the next set of skills will only make you better and collectively as more people choose to ride a bike we raise the quality of life everyone can expect.
On 3-11-12 my Fathers battle with Cancer had finally run its course. We spent lots of time together during the last couple of years. I could not have asked for a better Dad. This documentary series is dedicated to him. Without him it never would have happened.
Jeff Hyland
