I can’t believe someone made a documentary out of this. But I’m happy they did.
MAMIL’s are the oft-ridiculed cycling world sub-culture characterized by men in bright-and-tight lycra who speed around in packs chasing Strava segments and trying to recapture their glory days. Now their story has been told in a feature documentary, MAMIL, that will screen one night only in Portland. The screening is organized by Demand Film, a “cinema on demand” service that is showing MAMIL on 300 theaters across the country on the same night: February 21st. You can see it in the Portland area at: Regal Fox Tower Stadium 6, Regal Lloyd Center 10, and Regal Hilltop 9 Cinema (Oregon City).
The film is narrated by legendary Tour de France commentator Phil Liggett. Here’s the official blurb:
“MAMIL captures on film the spirit and the members of a movement that is growing throughout the world — middle-aged men taking to their cycles and biking through mountains, city streets, you name it, all in the name of CYCLING. Some do it for health, some for love, others just to clear their heads and face the world. And despite all the crashes, mega-pricey carbon fiber cycles, and wives worrying that they’ve been replaced by two wheels and a $1,200 bicycle seat, these guys wouldn’t have it any other way.
Filmed in the U.S., Australia and the U.K., MAMIL is a celebration of the love that can finally be shared – that of man for bike. You might be in an LGBT cycling club in New York or Christian in the Midwest; you might be a lawyer or a cancer survivor, you might be hauling your middle-aged belly over the next hill, or speeding along the open road, but you still thrill to the meditation of the bike.”
Here’s the official trailer:
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MAMILs unite! Who wants to get a group together and ride a screening? In lycra of course!
I’ll be 43 in a few days so that puts me in the club. And there are few things I love more than putting on the chamois-suit and riding the roads of this beautiful state. I can definitely relate to the guy in the documentary who says, “I am not going to deny it. I am absolutely a MAMIL. And I am a happy MAMIL!”
Tickets must be purchased in advance. Grab your seats and watch the trailer here.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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