One Direction, UP.

Director Jason Berry waiting for the peloton high above Andorra. Ken
and Curtis were many k's up the road having suffered the climb with 40
lb's of gear on their backs. We earned our pasta this day!

The Teaser in HD

If you haven't seen it yet,watch the teaser trailer on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7p2gMvuivM

or watch it in HD:

http://www.vholdr.com/video/chasing-legends-teaser-trailer

Calm before the storm

This was taken on the rest day just before heading out for a light
spin which turned to mayhem thanks to Lance & Astana joining. The
Gripped Crew learned first hand what a mobile media scrum is.

Sponsor Parade

how would you like to drive a 10' tall Lion through the alps at 100k/
hr - behind the wheel of a go-cart?

Podium Girls

Jeremy shot most of our still photos and now that I am sorting thru
them all, I find no shortage of French women and podium girls... gotta
love the stealth rubberneck.

Sweet Taste of Victory

Rolf Aldag

The man, the myth, the ... Yeti?

Cav's view

Mark in yet another post-win interview.

Blowout

one day the team bus blew out a tire and could not transport the
riders at the finish line to the hotel. They packed into the team cars
leaving 5 of the staff behind. The CL crew offered up our plush RV and
away we went. It was a fun time amidst many stressful days. The stop
at McDonalds added to the moment - I think Brian wolfed down 4
cheeseburgers. I had 2 milk shakes but in America that would equal 1
small. Then the "SuperSize" jokes started - ohhhh how the world
deserves to mock us.

The Writing

Had a productive evening last night. Amidst scheduling retrospective interviews with some of the riders and past legends, importing footage and creating a library for it all I've got to write the words, the shots and ideas that will be the thread to sew the story together. The process is usually the same - pick some good music first. Then I take it riding and think. I pedal and picture the audience getting quiet as the lights in the theater dim. What do they expect? What will they love? What will make them leave their seat thrilled in 90 minutes but not budge until then? How can I be better than every other cycling film? What's a good idea, what's a bad one?

It's a different kind of pressure from the shooting. With a documentary you simply cannot plan every frame like a typical film. You have to see it as it happens and shoot it. So now when I have a slight bit of control over the monster I have to write around what happened, shoot backup scenes that set up the action - mold something amazing, something genius. Many times I get back from riding without any new direction but yesterday was different. I have to sit down & shut out the world, focus, have a drink. More music. Think. Then finally write. Look over the photos, watch the footage, write more.

Last night I wrote the intro of the film. I think it's solid. Then I watched the intro of Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller is a genius.

Some shots from Verbier. This was the view out George and Wrenshaw's room.

Curtis and I finally took a couple hours off to shake the rust off our legs. 30k down the valley then 30k back up. Both were amazing but one was a lot more fun.

This is Dubs rolling over Lance.

As always, thanks for reading.
-J

"We got the tools"

the footage is looking amazing - huge thanks to Bernie, Mark and Maxime!

European architecture

someday I look forward to a trip just to admire the buildings,
churches, castles and villages.

Logging Miles

our driver, interpreter and all around wise-guy Jeremy holds up the
map he was using to supplement the GPS. Close to 5,000km by the time
we were done. All roads led back to Paris...

Not all fun & games

this was the morning of the Time Trial in Annecy. George said, "I just
have to survive today"

Needs More Crane

another shot - from the TT in Lake Annecy with some 80,000 spectators
on hand to watch. What a day that was!

Wrong Way Soigniers

here's one from the day we started in Switzerland, feed zone was in
Italy and the finish line in France. I was bummed to not be in the RV
as the boys took her through Chamonix, one of my favorite ski towns
but I had work to do. Notice the "Feed Cam" on Frits' arm...Achim was
quite over the whole "filming" thing at this point. Not sure if it
will make it into the movie for fear of French Officials fining them,
but this day was particularly exciting as we overshot the feedzone and
had to drive backwards on course - through the sponsor parade! Yes,
this included going thru tunnels. Yes it was terrifying. No I probably
should not share with the world that but hey, all's well that ends
well right?

Curtis Crane

while it took some effort to cart around Europe and setup in packed
crowds, the crane shots should amp the production value. This is
Curtis not making friends at the finish line, Champs Elysees

The Stills

We are beginning to sort thru the stills and will start posting them daily. This is the "Toast Cam" we put on the riders table. While it seems funny, we were actually lucky Mic didn't throw it across the room. When he saw it his smile did a 180 and he blurted out, "What the F^#@ is THIS!???" He wasn't nearly as amused with it as we were.

Ahhhhh pro riders...