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Shadow of a Wheel

Sponsored Project

  • Paul Bonesteel, Director/Producer
  • John Northrup, Producer
  • Robin Turner, Producer
stylistic collage of cyclists, crowds of people and american scenery, all following the multicolored zigzag running across this film poster

About the Project

They were teenagers who had never been far from home. But in the summer of 1982, thirty-one kids attempted a remarkable feat, a daunting coast-to-coast, 3,600 mile bicycle journey across the United States. Called “Spokesmen of America”, they set out to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis and spread awareness about the disease.

This 4 part episodic film celebrates the unstoppable optimism of youth, and reflects on how the hopes and adventures of adolescence resonate through the inevitable challenges of life.

Forty years after that life-altering summer, the film blends the iconic music and imagery of the period to deeply personal interviews that bend the prism of time to access the ‘kids’ who embarked on a journey filled with intense challenges, humor, mishaps, personal discovery and tragedy.