Flying tonight

August 14, 2006 11:14 AM

Tonight is the world premiere, at the Edinburgh film festival, of "The Flying Scotsman", a biopic of Graeme Obree, the Scottish cyclist who broke the world hour record on a bike famously made from washing machine parts. Obree has faced many problems in his life, and the film has too, many of the participants haven't been paid yet. Of course, you could just buy the book.
posted by aisforal (3 comments total)

The book is great, though he's a much better as a rider than a writer. It's interesting how the disease prevented him from fitting into any kind of team structure, so he just suffered like a dog and went out by himself and did it. Hope the film makes it to the states, if not I'll see it on DVD.
posted by fixedgear at 11:57 AM on August 14, 2006

At a time when cycling has a rather troubled image, it's also worth pointing out that Obree was actually sacked by his pro team and essentially had his road career stopped because he refused to pay a portion of his wages into the team doping fund.

As fixedgear says, hopefully this film will get a wider theatrical release or at least make it to DVD some time in the future.
posted by afx237vi at 3:48 PM on August 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

via MetaFilter
posted by shoesfullofdust at 4:25 PM on August 19, 2006