Passes & Canyons Blog

Not really a motorcycle movie.

I came away from seeing “A Story Worth Living” Thursday night with decidedly mixed feelings. I had put up a blog post telling people about it and then, as it turned out, it really wasn’t a motorcycle movie. It was a movie that had motorcycles in it, but they were not the main thing.

Ostensibly this was a film about a bunch of guys who had little or no dirt riding experience taking some 800cc BMWs on some gnarly roads. But in fact that was not really the story, that was just the setting. The story was really about what the name gets at: a story worth living. It’s about doing things in your life that give you a story to tell, and to learn from, and not just meandering through life with no direction or purpose. Clearly that’s a much deeper, broader focus but when you’ve come expecting to see a motorcycle movie and you find yourself listening to philosophical discussions of things not particularly related to motorcycles it can be a disappointment.

To attest to that, people started leaving about mid-way through the show. Just a few here and there, but then at the end there is a lengthy talk portion, and by lengthy I mean 20-30 minutes. That’s when people started leaving in droves. We stayed to the end and by then the theatre was nearly empty.

So I said I had mixed feelings. That’s because some parts of it were very good while other parts I could have done without. There was way too much philosophy of the psychobabble variety. I don’t think many of us were there to be introspective. I’m not religious, so I could easily have forgone the Jesus portions. And if there had been more riding and less discussion that would have been very good.

And that’s the thing. The riding portions were great. The photography was terrific. I was wondering much of the time how they got the stellar aerial shots and was glad toward the end when they talked about the use of drones for the aerials. Very cool. And a lot of the other camera work was also very good.

Because it was shot in Colorado I was wondering all the time where they were. In particular, there was one shot they used a couple times, and which had been used in the trailer I had viewed beforehand, that I looked at and said, that has got to be where the Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass roads come together. I’ve never ridden Engineer but I have ridden Cinnamon, and I could swear I recognized that spot. In the discussion later on they talked more about where they were and from what I gathered I was correct.

Then they talked about riding the Shelf Road, down between Canon City and Cripple Creek, and that confirmed my suspicions as well. Most of the rest looked awfully familiar but just could not be placed. I would have liked it if they had said more often, “OK, today we’re going through this area” or something of that sort.

So I’d give it a 3 on a 5-point scale. I think for many of us who were there, if we had had a better idea what it was actually about it would have been better. But to come expecting one thing and find it’s something else was just not a pleasant surprise.

Biker Quote for Today

You only live once–don’t leave it covered in the garage.

The trailer for A Story Worth Living.

Alan sent me a note with a link to this movie, and after watching the trailer I decided I definitely want to see it. You may be interested, too.

The movie is A Story Worth Living. Here’s how BMW Motorrad International describes it:

When John Eldredge and his three sons planned an eight-day, 1,600 kilometre adventure ride across the scenic roads and trails of Colorado, U.S.A., their first stumbling block was a distinct lack of off-road riding experience. The next step was to acquire the required bikes. With the details sorted, their adventure of a lifetime swiftly became the start of a lifetime of adventure.

OK, that’s fine but is it really all that good? Who knows. All I have is the trailer, which you ought to watch, but which I’ll describe a little.

These guys got their inspiration from that Ewan Mcgregor thing, “Long Way Round.” So they decided they wanted to do something like that. Only problem was they had no dirt riding experience. As one of the guys said, “I am wildly unprepared for this.”

This, in this case, is a ride through Colorado, presumably–I am guessing–on the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route. Or something like it. And they’re a bit scared that something bad could happen. And apparently something did. I assume no one died.

So what I really wonder is, how do you go about filming a trip like this, making it into a professional quality movie, and then getting it booked into a variety of theaters for a one-showing special engagement? However it works, they did, and it is showing this Thursday night at these theaters in Colorado.

I’ve got my tickets for the Greenwood Plaza 12. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Biker Quote for Today

The brave don’t live forever . . . the cautious don’t live at all.