Hard Miles Is the New Feel-Good Cycling Movie Encouraging Big Goals
Hard Miles will debut in over 350 theaters nationwide on April 19. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend, played by Matthew Modine, as he rounds up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students for a seemingly impossible 762-mile bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.
The story follows the group of beginner cyclists through all the tests: learning how to ride properly, battling the elements, and working as a team. They’re forced to learn about themselves and each other physically, mentally, and emotionally.
“As caring social worker Haddie (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) attempts to be the voice of reason, coach Greg Townsend pushes the boys to their limit, and cracks begin to form in the peloton. Ultimately, Greg’s words will ring hollow unless he can apply his coaching advice to his own life and make amends with his dying father. In the sweltering desert, the boys reach a crossroads and must decide whether to continue down the path of least resistance or take agency of their futures and pave the way to forgiveness,” according to the press release.
In addition to Matthew Modine, the film stars Sean Astin, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, and Leslie David Baker. It was written by R.J. Daniel Hanna and Christian Sander. Billed as the next Breaking Away, this film shares the humor and the wit of the 1979 classic, but instead of the Midwest, it’s set in the mountains, and the desert.
According to Forbes, Modine is a lifelong cyclist. “When I moved to New York City to study acting, my wife—she was my girlfriend then—was really successful, and I had no money,” Modine told a crowd at last year’s Heartland International Film Festival in Indiana.
“I couldn’t even afford a subway [ticket]. So, another actor might be able to get to two auditions a day; I was able to get to four because I could speed around on my bicycle and get from place to place. It was my gymnasium. I could get exercise. And it liberated me. So, I’ve been riding a bicycle. I don’t have a car. I still live in New York City. And [cycling has] been my single most mode of transportation since [I was] 18 years old.”
Modine founded Bicycle for a Day in 2008, a short-lived nonprofit that encouraged cycling as a solution to better health and environmental sustainability.
So, if Modine seems especially comfortable on a bike, he is. The film also consulted the real-life Townsend and pro cyclists Christian Vande Velde and George Hincapie.
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