Life Cycles: A Year Later - Part 1 - The Premiere

Pinkbike readers recently voted Life Cycles as their favourite bike movie of all time and it brought back memories of my first time seeing the film and the impact its had on the mountain bike world in the past year.

It was 7:06pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, about a mile from the Boneyard as I strolled awkwardly around the theatre lobby, waiting. Looping by the makeshift bar I was startled out of my impatient reverie. ‘’I love mountain bikers,’’ the bartender said to me with a grin. ‘’You guys know how to party!’’ Clearly, he’d worked Crankworx before.


My Life Cycles pilgrimage began with the typical summer morning routine: check Pinkbike, check Facebook, and check Gmail. What’s that? My inbox had an unread message from Derek Frankowski. That was cause for curiosity in itself but then I read the tagline - LIFE CYCLES industry premier RSVP – my heart started thumping like a dubstep bass line. I’ll admit, I’m a movie geek and I’d been anticipating this one since I first read about it in the Splatter section of Bike Mag in 2008. Stance Films had been setting internet forums ablaze for months after lifecyclesfilm.com dropped and I was skeptical about it living up to the hype. I opened the email, ‘’Hope you can make it, I’m sure you'll like what you see!’’ There was no question about it; I was already there.


As guests started rolling in to Whistler’s Millennium Place, a who’s who of industry heavy-hitters, riders and assorted friends and family passed by. Excited chatter was punctuated by guffaws and the occasional expletive as industry buffs rubbed shoulders, united by a desire to see the much-ballyhooed project. Shortly after 8:00pm the doors opened, and a wave of anticipation swept through those assembled. Frankowski and co-creator Ryan Gibb introduced their work, the lights dimmed and then that distinctive narration began. It was a testament to the quality of the film that not a single cell phone or crying baby was heard from, throughout the duration. It was, in fact, the quietest movie showing I’ve ever witnessed except for the periodic OOOOOOOO’s after certain standout moves. The mountain bike intelligentsia is a jaded group and there have been no shortage of big budget, big name releases debuted over the past few years. Some, to be fair, have been quite excellent but they tend to blend into a homogeneous testosterone-fuelled blur.


The reception from the heavies in attendance must have been the ultimate pat on the back for Stance Films. The looks of incredulity from Clay Porter, Dylan Dunkerton, and Aaron Larocque, not to mention the thunderous standing ovation from the crowd, were instant validation for them. Brandon Semenuk, professional rider and one of the stars of the show, may have said it best when he Tweeted, ‘’Life Cycles was rad! It’s like Planet Earth had sex with your favorite bike movie.’’ Mountain biking has never had its Field of Dreams, its Raging Bull or even a Cool Runnings; there’s never been a film that defines our sport to those outside of it.



Five years in the making, the brainchild of Ryan Gibb and Derek Frankowski is more than the ubiquitous ‘bike porn’ typically associated with mtb cinema. Said Gibb, ‘’Instead of just getting someone “pumped to ride”, hopefully it gets someone pumped to build a trail or go on a road trip or become an activist in saving their local trails.’’ Life Cycles isn’t about the newest most progressive tricks or the biggest most technical terrain. One of the goals for Stance Films was to appeal to the general public (as well as core riders) and Gibb sees it as a potential tipping point, ‘’Since the 1990s mountain biking has been trying to shed this image of spandex nerdy enthusiast and it’s only a matter of time until it receives proper recognition. We wanted to make a movie that could help someone who didn’t mountain bike understand why people like us are so passionate about mountain biking and at the same time stoke out those of us who are riders.’’ Winning Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Film at the 2011 X-Dance Film Festival shows that mountain biking is intriguing and accessible to even those unfamiliar with the sport. They created the quintessential bike movie.


Life Cycles has polarized opinion like nothing before it. The wait (and hype) made it the most anticipated film since The Collective debuted in 2004. Internet forums ran wild for months preceding it and many people were critical after its release. Did people build it up to be more than what it is? Publicity is often a double-edged sword, too little and no one will know about it, too much and the project can be crushed by outsized expectations. Mountain biking at its core is an unpretentious blue-collar sport and art is a subjective experience. One man’s Picasso is another’s kindergarten doodle. In our instant gratification culture, Life Cycles is in some ways a throwback; it doesn’t use rapid editing, explosions or loud music to keep the viewer enthralled -- the focus is on story. By now you’ve probably seen Life Cycles and have some form of opinion, good or bad. Did it change your life? Probably not, it’s only a movie after all. It needs to be appreciated for what it is -- and isn’t. It’s a work of art and the ultimate ode to our favorite vehicle, it’s proof of how unique and mesmerizing cycling is, and the fulfillment of a five-year odyssey for two men. Most of all, it’s a time capsule of what it is to ride mountain bikes right now. You may never meet the filmmakers personally, but watching the movie gives you a feeling for the passion and love they have for the sport and their art. Like Ride to the Hills a decade before it, Life Cycles is a quantum leap forward for mountain biking and the true impact of it won’t show up right away. It will leach in slowly, inspiring the next generation of young riders and filmmakers and forcing the current group to up the ante… it may have taken a while to get here, but like the sport itself, some things gets better with age.



Check out my previous Life Cycles piece ''How the Riders Saw it'' https://www.pinkbike.com/news/Life-Cycles-How-the-Riders-Saw-It-2011.html

Words by Scott Secco
Photos by Ian Hylands and Derek Frankowski
Support the filmmakers http://www.lifecyclesfilm.com/

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