needlessly so

Yay, it’s my first official project pedal blog post! (Mike made me say that).



So, we wanted to talk about the overall tone of the last two episodes. We have gotten some really great feed back. We are so overwhelmed and thankful for the incredibly kind things some of you have said. I can’t begin to tell you just how happy and relieved I am that our episodes are touching people the way we’d always hoped.

I also want to respond to some of the other comments we’ve received about the episodes being so “heavy, solemn,” or “mellow dramatic.” First of all, we really appreciate these comments as well; they let us know what we can be doing better. That’s one of the biggest reasons we started this website. So thank you very much for bringing this up.

It’s true, they have been a bit heavy, but I don’t believe that they are needlessly so. I believe there is a reason behind every creative choice we make. As the story unfolds, the audience will learn these reasons.

Episode 6 starts off very heavy, the reason for this is that we were trying to convey exactly how Mike felt during the months immediately following our return from filming. Letting everything sink in and returning to normal life was hard enough on it’s own, even for Larry and I, but for Mike the pressure of writing… finding the words... explaining what had happened…

The ‘64 days’ episodes are very personal to Mike and I. They tell the story of what we experienced while on the road filming last summer. Living out of a van for 2.5 months, sharing a tent, while trying like hell to make something out of our more than 3 years of preparations and hard work. And all of this after just ending a nearly 5 year romantic relationship. So, yeah, it was pretty intense.

Cross-country biking is intense. It is fun, and difficult and freeing, and a life changing experience, one you’ll never forget. These episodes are not about biking. These episodes are about us… and our struggles. They are about our trial and error experience of making a film with no previous experience. They are about our relationships, and emotions. These episodes are about our adventure.

This is one of my favorite comments from Ivan:

Riding a bike is just a metaphor, right? Your movie is really about life, it's about living it, giving, sharing, enjoying, meeting, and looking back.

Ever since Mike and I met, everything for us has seemed to come in the form of trips. That constant theme of the road… a perfect metaphor. On a bike or in a car. We fell in love while driving from Michigan to New York and past the atlantic ocean. We took a leap and left our lives in Michigan and followed our dreams to California. We grew and experienced adventure together biking up the pacific coast from Santa Monica to Seattle. Then there’s the road trip that ultimately led to our brake-up and of course, this trip. This is our life, really. This is our journey. It’s not always so serious. We laugh too. You just have to wait and see.