Hard Miles tells the uplifting true story of the bicycling team at Rite of Passage’s RidgeView Academy, a medium-security correctional school in Colorado. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend (Matthew Modine) as he rounds up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students for a seemingly impossible bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. As the beginner bicyclists battle heatstroke, speed wobbles, and the greatest enemy of all cyclists — a chafed crotch — they must learn to stop fighting and ride together as a peloton. The bicycle serves not just as a means of transportation, but as a test; a way for each of these young men to see what they are truly capable of, physically, mentally, and emotionally. As caring social worker Haddie (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) attempts to be the voice of reason, coach Greg Townsend pushes the boys to their limit, and cracks begin to form in the peloton. Ultimately, Greg’s words will ring hollow unless he can apply his coaching advice to his own life and make amends with his dying father. In the sweltering desert, the boys reach a crossroads and must decide whether to continue down the path of least resistance, or take agency of their futures and pave the way to forgiveness.
“Matthew Modine finally gets the starring role he deserves, the first that’s fully tested him since his Eighties heyday, in this true-life sports drama about the healing power of cycling.”
“[T]he film is a combination of spectacular scenery, arduous exertion, inspiring pep talks, adolescent rebellion, emotional confrontations, and lessons learned by both the teenagers and their leader.”
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