BicycleCrazy

Anyone watched "Bikes of Wrath"? It's a great, real movie about 5 Australian friends that ride from Oklahoma to California. The experiences they had...incredible people they met...the challenges etc. It reminded me of my solo ride across the USA I made in 2017 on a $350 department store mountain bike and zero experience. If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it on Amazon video. Highly recommend it!


Bikes of Wrath Movie photo

thumpism 

Did not know about this and I'm sure it's explained in the film, but how in the hell did four Aussies begin in Oklahoma? Did they parachute in and head for the nearest ocean? One has to wonder.

debade

It was a lot of fun. I watched it as part of a bicycling film festival on Zoom. This and the other movie shorts related to bicycling I have seen over the years are usually well done. I am looking forward to attending them at the theater again. I am also trying to get our local group to add one of the movie festivals to their schedule as a way to encourage biking in our city.

gios

It's on Amazon Prime.

fishboat

We watched it a few weeks ago. Good show. They did it the hard way. With a little more planning, and no additional money, their lives/trip could have been much more pleasant. Information has never been more readily available than it is today. They did make it though and it was a heck of a trip.

thump..they started in Oklahoma to mimic/follow the path laid out in Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath book.

balto charlie

I saw it a few years ago. It was a good movie. It really showed middle America. My favorite line was when one of the locals said "The poor man will give you his last dollar" (or something like that). They were comparing poor folks to wealthy folks.

sloar 

Just watched today, thanks for the heads up.

J.Higgins 

Thanks for the heads up. I just wrote it down, and will watch tomorrow night.

tcs

Shot in 2016 and already seems dated - no drone shots!

Seriously, though, it's a good film. I liked that in addition to wanting to experience, they wanted to understand.

robow

"A wealthy man will give you a dollar, the poor man will give you his last dollar"

I enjoyed the film greatly, thanks for the heads up.

Cyclist0108

They wanted to travel the route of the "Oakies" who migrated to CA in the book Grapes of Wrath.

thumpism 

Given the title, that makes sense. Guess I was reading too much into it, envisioning a Mad Max scenario.

balto charlie

That's it! Thanks

J.Higgins 

Just watched it. Enjoyed it. Reminded me of all the stuff I hated about touring, but also the rewards.

a_d_a_m

Of course as soon as I cancel my Prime...dammit!

John N

Being from Oklahoma, I will have to give it a watch.

Cycle_Buhda

Thanks for sharing, great movie I forgot about and just watched it again

mev

Thanks for sharing. Watched it last night.

One thing I like about bicycle touring is how it can help get me a connection to geography, people and history of a region. I think their film did a reasonable job of drawing both history and people aspects of cycle touring. In their case it was also on the kindness of strangers and others getting involved with their goals.

Their desire to follow historical routes led them to Route 66 and thus to spending most of the last half of their trip following I-40 which has replaced that route in many areas. A lot of that area of the Southwest is fairly open with long gaps between towns, but this also brought them into the culture of lots of trucks, Pilot truck stops, etc. Their film glossed over it, but they would have spent multiple days riding interstates or frontage roads through arid areas. They got a few "locals" such as owner of the gas station in Newkirk, but many fewer than the first half of their cycling though Oklahoma and Texas.

Also in 2016, I took a route that brought me not too far from those same end-points. I came through Albuquerque and eventually ended in San Diego, so ended up a bit further south. I was also later in the year and hence cooler temperatures. My route would likely have been too hot in July when they were cycling. Unless one were trying to re-create a Route 66 vibe, I would recommend that route and spring/fall over spending as much time riding I-40.

djb

You know I was intrigued and realized we have the prime video thing, but was disappointed that the film isn’t on the Canadian version......oh well....

a_d_a_m

I saw it a few nights back. I enjoyed it, but as someone who's looking to get into touring, I wanted more of THAT aspect. Then again, I understand they were trying to connect it to Steinbeck, etc. blah blah blah.

J.Higgins 

You got to admit that the whole Steinbeck thing was a good theme for their journey, because they could have pedaled the 1500 (or so) miles anywhere else in the world. Making it a journey of discovery to that part of America, and keeping it simple with the low-income folks they met along the way kind of added some shine to the trip. The fact that they were Ozzies, and loved Steinbeck so much made it rather nice.

What this film reminded me of my touring days was the sleeping on sidewalks and benches, washing up in truck stop bathrooms, and meeting nutjob people along the way. I don't want to revisit my touring days if I have to live like I was homeless again, or exist on packages of ketchup and scraps from a dumpster. Never again.

a_d_a_m

I appreciate that aspect of it, I guess I just wanted to see more of the cycling side of it, too.

fishboat

While the documentary is entertaining, and I certainly can't knock their determination in completing the trip, I think one can learn more in what not to do. Of course, that can be entertaining as well. As I mentioned above..with a bit more planning up front they could have made things a little/lot more pleasant. On the other hand..they're kids & kids thrive on that sort of thing..initially.

There's tons of good sources on the web to learn more about touring and one of the best is researching specific topics here on BF-Touring. If you have camping/backpacking experience..you're well down the road already, so to speak. Knowing your own requirements in what kind of comfort you prefer(from trial and error), and how to get there, is a big plus.