Across the wide span of the majestic American landscape, an adventure is reborn every year. The goal is to pedal a bicycle 3000 miles across the country in just ten days. It is a journey unlike any other, filled with daunting obstacles both physical and mental, and one that attracts a special breed of competitor. The brave souls who accept the challenge must find and crush their physical, emotional, and spiritual limits, or risk being left broken and humbled somewhere on the roads of America. And while many will fall, those that reach the finish line will achieve a seemingly impossible dream: to confront their fears and conquer the Race Across America.
Now available on DVD for the first time ever, Race Across America tells the inspirational true story of the event that Outside Magazine calls the "toughest race in the world." Narrated by legendary sports broadcaster Jim Lampley, Race Across America captures all the drama and emotion of RAAM, showing the riders' most difficult moments as well as their greatest triumphs. From the controversial battle for first to the constant struggle to overcome injuries and fatigue, all aspects of the race are covered in intimate detail.
Race Across America is the first in a trilogy of spellbinding cycling documentaries by award-winning filmmaker Stephen Auerbach. The second in the series, Bicycle Dreams, has already won 15 film festival awards and counting. The final installment of the trilogy, Stay on the Bike, will be released in early 2011.
The inspiration for Race Across America was ABC’s Wide World of Sports coverage of the early days of the race in the 1980’s. Executive producer Jim Lampley, who reported on those early races personally and was deeply moved by the experience, called on director Stephen Auerbach to capture the emotion and intensity of RAAM with the hopes of reintroducing it to the mainstream. Although coverage of the race had been in decline for years, Auerbach believed that if it were done right, the unique power of the race could make for an extraordinary film.
With an extremely limited budget, Auerbach had to come up with creative ways to shoot the race. He brought in an army of hungry young camera operators, many of them straight off of craigslist, and deployed them as "embedded cameras" in the riders’ crew vehicles. These resourceful men and women shot footage day and night, always on the lookout for the personal moments that reveal the inner workings of the race. Altogether, Auerbach and his crew spent 15 days covering the Race Across America. They traveled over 3000 miles in smelly minivans, cramped RVs, and rented cropdusters, eventually shooting over 400 hours of one-of-a-kind footage.
Following the race, Auerbach and his editors set about organizing the material and finding the stories that would make up the heart of the film. They eventually settled on a group of riders who represented the wide array of personalities and motivations of those who ride RAAM. There were those at the front of the pack like Jure Robic and Michael Trevino, who were locked in an epic battle for first. Then there were the rookies, men like David Haase and Randy Van Zee, who pushed on heroically despite utter exhaustion and mounting injuries. And there was Team Vail Go Fast, who rode in memory of a fallen teammate, killed during the same race only a year before.
When the film was finally completed, the team knew they had something special. First airing on NBC, Race Across America pulled in the highest ratings ever for a cycling broadcast on American network television. As a result, Auerbach was asked to transform the television documentary into a full-length theatrical feature film. This director’s cut became a huge hit with audiences at festivals around the country, going on to take top prize at the prestigious Boulder International Film Festival, proving that when an amazing event is combined with a creative, innovative style of filmmaking, anything is possible.
