Free online screening of Line of Sight – good until 11PM 8/23

[Bilsko]

For those of you interested in the documentary (if you can call it that) – Outside Magazine will let you watch it for free, tonight, until 11PM EST (9PM MST)
Here: http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/media/film/line-of-sight-free-screening.html

From Cyclelicious:
You know all of those helmet-cam POV videos set to heavy-metal soundtracks showing crazy daredevils on bikes? Lucas Brunelle invented that genre, and with his “Light Of Sight” video he shows us he’s still the master of his craft.

If you’ve watched his videos before you’ll see some recycle footage along with material that might be new to you. And starting RIGHT NOW (5 PM Mountain Time, Thursday August 23 2012), Outside Magazine is making the full film available for free viewing until 7 PM U.S. Mountain Time. The video of these maniacs playing in traffic is an hour long.

Outside Magazine –> Line of Sight Free Screening August 23 2012 5 PM to 7 PM [sic] US Mountain Time.

Please don’t try this at home, kids. You’ll impress nobody. The actors in this video are what we in the industry call “certifiably insane<

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This can’t be stressed enough.

After 20 minutes of watching – let me stress it once more: I don’t condone this type of riding and I think that this and its Hollywood equivalent only make it harder for the rest of us.
That said, there is an intense and unbelievable level of bike-control skill on display.

Topic

[vvill]

And I thought I would be watching today’s stage of the Colorado race tonight.

[PotomacCyclist]

The article says that the filmmaker is an outspoken opponent of bike advocacy. So it appears that this is anti-bike propaganda, which I had already suspected. I won’t be supporting this guy in his anti-bike campaign or help to promote his movie.

Even worse, if this is the same filmmaker from the clip posted in another thread, I have to wonder if some of those reckless cyclists actually killed bystanders. From the brief clips I saw, that was very possible. (Crashing into a pedestrian in a crosswalk while riding at full speed is extremely dangerous. That’s what I saw in the other clip.) If so, then this is a snuff film, another reason for me not to watch or promote it.

[vvill]

It’s an entertaining film but I won’t be sad if/when these sort of bike messengers become obsolete, and the tradition is relegated to video games/VR. They can then graduate to a non-messenger job, and racing SSCX.

The claim that it’s “underground” is not quite valid when there’s cyclists like that in megalopolises around the world. I’ve ridden in London (and been hit by a taxicab), and Copenhagen (which is very bike friendly), and some of the moves are pretty much death wishes.

It’s great they have that much bike control/handling, but it should only be used when you need it. Are these guys compensating much? The line about needing to do this to not feel like they are just punching in their time cards is sad.

[PotomacCyclist]

Another reason why this sort of stuff upsets me: I used to work down the street from a bike messenger service downtown. At least I assumed it was a bike messenger business. I would frequently see a dozen or so cyclists with messenger bags hanging around in one spot. They would also race down the sidewalk at full speed in the middle of the day. I was nearly hit a dozen times or so, while I was strolling about on the sidewalk during lunch hour. The sidewalks were very busy and crowded with pedestrians at those times. And yet, these guys (they were always guys) would scream down the sidewalk at 20+ mph, barely missing me by an inch or two.

Even if they didn’t strike anyone, I can imagine that some people with heart conditions could have a sudden attack. My heart went racing every time it happened to me and I don’t have any heart conditions. This was years before I started cycling as an adult. So based on all of those experiences, I had quite a negative view toward bike messengers.

It’s been a while since I’ve had one of these near misses, and I can’t honestly say how typical those guys were of the overall D.C. bike messenger community. So I don’t have the boiling anger about the situation any longer. But I still occasionally see some guys swerving through busy intersections, in between moving cars traveling in all directions. They are almost always riding with a messenger bag and they have that “messenger” look: pants ending toward the top of the calf, mostly dark colored clothing, a scruffier look than most cyclists I see in the area, older bikes, etc. I admit that my perception of this messenger look may be flawed, but I don’t think I’m too far off-base.

Apologies to any bike messengers or former bike messengers on the forum, but all of those near-misses nearly caused my life to flash before my eyes a few times. That is, until I realized what had happened. Then the anger set in.

I’ve read in the W. Post and elsewhere that the bike messenger world is dying out, because of the trend toward email and cellphone communication these days. Many courts have moved to electronic filing, further decreasing the need for bike messengers, especially in D.C. I don’t know if the messengers will disappear completely but they will become very rare at some point.

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I prefer to watch cyclists like Danny MacAskill. He films amazing and artistic videos of his stunts on the bike, but in isolated areas. He is very impressive without being reckless.

[Bilsko]

Yeah – I do want to be clear that I don’t promote that type of riding. I watched all of it and there was one scene where he runs into a pedestrian – and, of course, we don’t see anything about the aftermath of that accident.

It is unfortunate that this kind of riding takes place – in this case. the recklessness is fueled by the racing – the video covers alleycats in NY and Tokyo (and maybe the UK, although its not clear if that was racing or not). Its certainly no excuse for riding like that – and endangering lots and lots of pedestrians.

On the other hand – you have bike messengers like this:
http://urbanvelo.org/pittsburgh-bike-messengers-work-to-counter-motorist-irritating-behavior/

[jopamora]

The film is available on youtube now. A solid film about what not to do on a bike.

[Author]

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