Colorado League_15th Anniversary Beyond the Finish Line

Experience the energy and vibe of the Colorado High School Cycling League. Why do youth want to travel miles on weekends in the fall to race bikes? Coaches, community, and spirited fun allow youth to shine while they develop friendships and a lifelong sport.

From the creator: Bill Donovan, Dangerous Collective
For 15 years I have been fascinated by why it has such a positive impact on so many kids. This film is intended to capture the positive energy and inspire coaches and others to help propel the values that have made it work so well for so many.

The challenge is to reach a highly diverse audience, from the non-biking parent of an 8th grader to an 18-year-old veteran racer heading to the world stage of cycling. The latter should feel it’s an honest representation of the experience and feel a sense of pride, while the new parent should feel an appreciation for the uniqueness of the culture and have a desire for their kiddo to participate. Optimally, every freshman kid will see the film and want to get on a bike.

The tendency in a film like this is to lean on interviews, but I wanted to distill messaging to its most pure state per the closing statements. There is power in seeing the racers explaining what it’s all about, unscripted.

My approach was to create an artifact or documentary that puts a spotlight on the best parts of why we all love High School Mountain Bike racing. It’s about being outside, being supported, traveling, feeling empowered, away from phones and just being our best selves as strong individuals.

• The voiceover was scripted to take the viewer on a journey of exploration because the narrator has a sense of
“infectious awe,” yet has authority which is established in the opening credit.
• The script is not a lecture or explanation and the narrator walks us through the sport with humility.
• The emphasis is on individual character, self-expression, and peer-to-peer support.
• There is a balance of gender.
• The goal is to communicate the culture and differentiate High School Mountain Biking from other high school sports without any condemnation (of other sports).
• There are no podiums shown.
• There are no awards shown.
• There are no winners or losers.
• When we see racers leave the start line, we witnessed the racers at the back. This is by design; Seeing girls crashing and getting back up with no pause and no anger.
• When we see the finish line, we do not see someone getting beat; we see solo triumph.
• The emphasis is on the individual, but also on the importance of coaches.
• When we see coaches, we only see them in a fun role, or a support role, but never in a traditional sports coaching roll.
• We do not see people scrolling, we see humans interacting.

These kids are moving into an unknown and unpredictable future. At the risk of being too philosophical or heavy, they see a plethora of lying politicians, and each day they witness climate change, doomsaying, the danger of plastics, etc. They are bombarded with social media information and told they are mentally unhealthy. But, the closing sequence shows racers as thoughtful humans who understand, and in many cases, are humbled by their lived experience. Like life, they recognize community. They acknowledge pain and suffering, but they keep coming back because with the right attitude, they understand life can still be fun (see coach montage). At it’s core, the film was designed to show strength and resilience.

My son raced in the first four years of the Colorado League and became a team captain. He was in the middle of the pack at best, but had fun and loved it. At 28, he now runs film crews around the world, shooting Formula 1 drivers, and people like Venus Williams, working on social justice projects, and shooting on films like Avatar. He hated high school sports, but high school mountain bike racing changed his life and he attributes his success, in part, to the Colorado League.

Thanks to Fred Maxwell for absolutely crushing my script.