What’s In Your Cycling DVD Library?
As cyclists, we’ve seen a lot of them but how many do we own? I’m talking about cycling movies. In my last post, I was talking about ‘Breaking Away’ and its great soundtrack. Most of you have seen it but a couple have not. A few months back, I watched ’The Flying Scotsman’ with some cycling buddies… it was great too. Here’s my point of this post. I was responding to a comment when I realized I have watched a variety of cycling movies… I just don’t own any of them. Seriously… NOT ONE. Now that I think about it… I may just be the lone cyclist without any cycling movies in my TV cabinet. So, how many cycling DVD’s do you own and which ones? Even better, since I don’t own one… which one(s) would you suggest I get to start my new collection?
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We don’t own any either. I have zero DVD’s. I never watch movies tho! I have seen maybe 5 in the last 5 years. We saw The Flying Scotsman (it was a good story but the movie itself was cheesy). What is Breaking Away?
WILL– GREAT… I’m ready to watch! Janice is looking forward to it as well. Thanks so much!
JUDI– Look at my last post and watch the first video. It’s the trailer for Breaking Away. It’s a 1979 flick. So… being older might seem a little cheesy… but it’s a classic.
UNCADAN8– Well… it’s starting to seem like I’m not alone here. Like you sad… maybe we’ll get some more good suggestions though. I’m looking forward to watching WILL’S choice!
STEVE– Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll put that on my list and I’m sure my fellow cyclists who also haven’t seen it we’ll take note as well.
Two cycling crazy people in our household so there is a huge collection of race DVD’s like Paris-Roubaix (various years), Tour de France (several years), Giro d’Italia (the year Cunego won) etc
I also bought Hell on Wheels and Overcoming (I love both) and we saw the Flying Scotchman in the movies and I watched it again on a long flight to Europe. Alberto also recently bought the “A day in hell” documentary. I highly recommend this one. Great piece of cycling history. Then there is also a big collection of windtrainer cts training DVDs (climbing, sprinting, time trialing) and I should forget the Tour of Lombardia Tracx Cycling DVD - the one that just shows the road so you can look at some scenery to divert from the boredom and pain that is windtrainer training.
Do you need to know more? 
American Flyer is very good, Flying Scotsman and of course Breaking away. I have a couple that are spanish with no subtitles, from the early 80’s. Also Pedal and Monster Track which are both documentaries on urban/messenger bike culture.
Don’t buy Breaking Away or Flying Scotsman Donald, I have two copies of each and will send you my second set.
Correction: The DVD is called A Sunday in Hell - I just had a look. I also saw (quick glance) Tour d’Espana and Milan - San Remo and Paris - Nice.
GROOVER– It’s settled… movie night at your place!
We’ll bring the popcorn… you and Alberto can supply the movies. Sprocketboy would be a good one for the beverages. Oh, and I guess if were all coming that far we should go for a ride!
IAN– Two copies? Now that’s cycling DVD dedication. Speaking of urban/messenger movies… by the way I haven’t heard of Pedal and Monster Track. But, my wife is a fan of Kevin Bacon and she saw ‘Quicksilver’… apparently about bike messengers in NY. She said it’s kind of CHEESY though. He leaves the business world and finds a new passion on a bike. So… it looks like we’ve built a good list here.
Breaking Away is awesome. American Flyers is marginal. The Flying Scotsman didn’t do much for me. Now, Quicksilver was the bomb. HA!
I have some vintage cycling stuff. A Sunday in Hell is my favorite.
CHRIS– You and Groover both have good things to say about ‘A Sunday in Hell’ … so that’s a must watch for me now. I’ll tell my wife your comment about ‘Quicksilver.’ That’s funny… I’m not sure now if I should watch or not. Maybe I will just for a chuckle.
Donald - Would love to have you all over for a DVD night and an epic ride. I can say this safely since I’m soooo far away … 
GROOVER– Thanks so much for the invite! Let’s start talking about getting something together by 2012.
I echo the comments about “A Sunday in Hell.” The same director, a Dane named Jurgen Leth, also has a few other films. WCP sells two of them on one DVD: “The Impossible Hour” and “Stars and Watercarriers.” Of course, “Breaking Away,” which was nominated for four Oscars in 1979 and won Best Screenplay, is a marvellous film more about coming-of-age than cycling. When it came out, nobody in the United States knew anything about bike racing and lots of us dreamed about that red Masi. So too “Bicycle Thieves” is not so much about bicycles but about people struggling to survive in post-war Italy–it ranks as one of the finest movies ever made (and I am not exaggerating here). I also have a three-part documentary on the history of bicycles but that dates back pretty far. Or course, I have a mammoth collection of race DVDs too, but they are really for training since I don’t imagine they would be that fun to sit through. Unless you were drunk with all your friends.
Considering how exciting we find cycling, it is odd that there are so few good cycling movies. I am not sure that I would second Will’s “Ghislain Lambert” suggestion–that is one odd film, with doping played for laughs! There have been discussions over the years about filming Ralph Hurne’s book “The Yellow Jersey,” and Dustin Hoffmann was interested some decades ago but nothing came of it. The Lance Armstrong biopic has also not been realized.
SPROCKETBOY– Great detail and information as always. And… being WIKI… I expected you would have a good handle on this including owning many cycling DVDs.
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You have to watch:
Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (2001)
A very fun french/belgium movie about a rider in the 70s that dreamed of being Eddie Merckx - he was born on the same day ….. but with a 10 minute time gap.
It comes with English sub-titles. Much of the shooting is at famous sites icluding Paris-Roubaix, Col d’Izoard, and Mont Ventoux - not to mention some hills near me.
It’s available at Amazon.com …. also as a digital download there.