Delivery & Return:Free shipping on all orders over $50
Estimated Delivery:7-15 days international
People:10 people viewing this product right now!
Easy Returns:Enjoy hassle-free returns within 30 days!
Payment:Secure checkout
SKU:43336814
Best-selling author Peter Sutherland's newest title, Pedal, is a wild ride alongside a band of New York City's most feared and respected inhabitants: bike messengers. In a book of photographs and a documentary on DVD, Sutherland follows the frenetic trips and lives of the cyclists who live by their own rules of the road. In Pedal, Sutherland documents bike messengers competing in the 2005 Cycle Messenger World Championships in New York City. Going straight to the center of this urban subculture, Sutherland serves up compelling portraits of the competitors from dozens of countries, in motion and at ease, checking out each other's bags, lingering over modifications to bikes and bodies. Between events like sprints, distance racing, and skid contests, Sutherland shows us the riders' elegant physicality, complex individuality, and unique community that crosses boundaries of race, gender, age, and class. And he doesn't shy away from the blood and bruises that come part and parcel with the messenger's life. Sutherland delves deep into the world of the messengers-a world usually seen from the outside-and returns with a dynamic document that evokes the unbridled anarchy and energy of its inhabitants. The accompanying DVD is a fast-paced documentary film about surviving in the streets of New York City as a bicycle messenger. It features messengers from all walks of life as they battle traffic in a race to make their next delivery on time. Directed by Sutherland and produced by Ana Lombardo, Pedal the documentary lets viewers live the spectacle of the delivery itself. It premiered in 2001 at the South by Southwest film festival, and was later acquired by the Sundance channel, where it aired until 2004.
I loved this film! Who knew a gritty (in an artistic way) documentary could have surprises and tiny little "plot-thickens" moments? My only issue (other than the fact that it wasn't six hours long, I could have watched it with fascination all day) is that the binding on the book failed the moment I removed it from its box. I was very sad, but didn't want to bother sending it back; then I wouldn't have had it for a few days. I liked it so much that I just figured I would buy a second copy when able.I wish it were easier to find more films like this; Fixed-Gear Cycling is an extremely niche market, but I, as well as anyone else I have talked to, am very addicted to it. I wish there were far more films than this out there. And if there are, I wish they were easier to find.And for others who share the above opinion, here are a couple other films I have come across:"Fast Friday," a documentary,"Quicksilver," a very old Kevin Bacon film from 1986,and...I haven't found more! :(ADDITIONAL REVIEW INFORMATION:This film is so good, I DID buy a second copy. I am compulsively careful with the book so the binding has not failed on the new one, I also super-glued the old one together, which worked just fine!I have also discovered a few more fixed-gear documentaries available from Amazon.Com:"Still We Ride," less about fixed-gear but important to the lifestyle,"Red Light, Go!," a documentary about NYC "Alley-Cat" races (excellent!),and several films, purely track-bike action; some popular, others more obscure:"Macaframa,"The "Bootleg Sessions" Four-Volume video project,"MASH,""Council of Doom,"and, hopefully!, more I haven't yet discovered!