My wife and I attended the 6pm showings at the Bicycle Film Festival Saturday and had a great time. This particular program had two shorts and one feature. The crowd size was really impressive – we got there plenty early and were waaay back in line to get in. Glad to see the festival draw so much interest from our cycling community.

First up was “I’m Good On That One,” a short of pieced together bmx trick footage from various locales in San Francisco. It was fun and light, but certainly not deep or enlightening – no dialogue, for example, and you could find similar videos on YouTube in a few seconds. However, for what it was meant to be, it was a good short film.

The second film short was “Train Trip,” by local rider Joe Rich and Spanish rider Ruben Alcantara. The enthusiasm for Joe was amazing in the room – comments and cheers could be heard many times during the showing. The two filmmakers took a train trip across europe accompanied only by small backpacks and their bikes – and filmed the whole trip. Part of what makes this short so interesting are the scenes of riding in other countries and reactions from the locals. Some of the places they get to ride and simply breathtaking, places I would love to see in person – skate parks within view of medieval cathedrals, all kinds of dilapidated modernist buildings and so much more. Very, very enjoyable.

Saving the best for last, the full-length feature for Saturday’s 6pm segment was “I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes.” I hate to go into this film too much, as I don’t want to give a thing away, but wow, this was terrific. Alternately hilarious and touching, “I Love My Bicycle” follows the stories and personalities behind one of the most influential and important BMX (and t-shirt!) makers on the planet. It provides a look at just how much fun Steve Crandall and crew have had over the years, but that fun was always accompanied by a huge amount of struggle in running his business as well. I can’t recommend this film enough for bmx enthusiasts or anyone thinking of working in the bicycle industry.