When I attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, Ca. in the mid-1990s, I rode my first motorcycle, a Honda CB750 — widely known as the Nighthawk. One of the versions ended up in The Art of the Motorcycle, a 1998 exhibition that featured 114 historic or design-crafted motorcycles at a Frank Gehry showcase in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Stepping onto it and throttling it into go felt like you had a sturdy enough bike to handle long rides, and a nifty enough one to take corners at ease. It was a man's man type of bike with a big enough seat for the lady in your life — for me in particular, she was an exchange student named Michaela from the Czech Republic. Cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, sandwiched in between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains will forever be in my heart, soul and memories.
On Friday, the new motorcycle documentary from critically acclaimed filmmaker Dana Brown (Step Into Liquid, Dust To Glory), On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter, will be released in select theaters across the country. The Tampa Bay area is lucky enough to be showing it — specifically, at the Muvico Sundial 19 IMAX in St. Petersburg, the Muvico Starlight 20 and the Muvico Centro Ybor 20 in Tampa. The film delves deep inside the adrenaline- and gas-fueled world of motorcycle riding, from the thrill of the race to the bonding experience between family and friends inspired by motorcycles. Brown serves as the narrator and begins the movie with the line, “Sometimes, it's just about the ride.”
While watching it, I could relate to the line because of my experiences driving to San Diego for a weekend getaway, up the coast to grab a burger at a roadside diner, or through the mountains along Malibu Canyon Road for a Sunday ride. The movie, a follow-up to the 1971 Academy Award-nominated documentary, On Any Sunday, (directed by Brown's father, Bruce) will appeal to mainstream audiences just as much as it will to the passionate core.
Brown takes us into the life of freestyle daredevil Robbie Maddison, who came to America with his now wife, Amy, to perfect his art of riding — that is, drive his wife nuts by flying through the air farther than a football field and deeper than an 18-story building off an Olympic ski jump in Utah or speeding off a ramp to leap onto the top of Caeser's Palace in Las Vegas. We also see riders in professional races of all different kinds, including MotoGP riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, action sports superstar Travis Pastrana, Pikes Peak International phenom Carlin Dunne, women's motocross champ Ashley Fiolek, as well as custom motorcycle designer and former racer Roland Sands.
Brown takes us on a journey from Southern California to Springfield, Illinois, to Alberta, Canada, to Austin, Texas, where the Red Bull Grand Prix of America is held and where Mark Marquez makes history.
Perhaps the best line in the documentary comes from MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa: “When I am younger and I am crying, my parents put me on bike. I stop crying. When I'm off, I start crying.”
Sunday is proudly proclaimed by the motorcycle community as ride day, but On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter can be enjoyed on any day while it is out on the big screen. It would almost be an injustice to watch the thrilling jumps performed by Maddison, or Pastrana or the risk taken by riders like Marquez or Pedrosa, on anything smaller.