The opening scene, though, is at Mammoth Mountain in California at a downhill mountain bike race. The main character, Laurie, is a racer who is fired from her team because she hesitated for two seconds at the start of a race.

This movie had very good reviews. I thought it was OK.

The movie I loved watching is about mountain biking. "Ride the Divide," was released in 2010 and chronicles an underground 2,700-mile mountain bike race from Banff Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

It follows a route that includes some paved roads, but mostly unpaved, including trails not passable by motorized vehicles.

I know someone who has ridden it multiple times at a touring pace and I hope that I can ride it someday. The participants have to complete the route without any outside support other than stores and motels along the route. The racers ride as long and as far as they can each day, stopping when they decide to stop. The record is just under 18 days.

This race is very different than the Race Across America (RAAM), which is a West Coast to East Coast race on paved roads and takes about eight days, covering about 3,000 miles. Riders in this race have support teams.

The record for completing RAAM  is between eight and nine days. RAAM also inspired a film called, "Bicycle Dreams," that was well received at numerous film festivals.

Other Cycling movies that you should see: 

1. "Breaking Away," 1979; received Academy award for best original screenplay. Ranked eighth on list of 100 most inspiring movies. 
2. "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," 1985; Pee-wee loves his bike and when it is stolen he is taken on a great adventure trying to find it. This film has been called a remake of the next film on my list. 
3. "Bicycle Thieves," 1948; Italy. This film is on many lists as one of the greatest films ever made. 
4.  "The Triplets of Belleville," 2003; animated. There is little dialogue in this story about an elderly woman who raises her grandson to become a bicycle racer. He is kidnapped  and she goes on a quest to rescue him. Nominated for two Academy Awards for best animated feature and best original song. 
5. "American Flyers," 1985, Kevin Costner. Two brothers, one a sports physician, train for a professional cycling race in the mountains of Colorado despite their family history of cerebral aneurysms. There are some great racing sceens in this movie. The real life 7-Eleven team, which competed in the Tour de France, is in the movie. Much of the race filming was done during the Coors Classic race. 
6. "The Flying Scotsman," 2006. Dramatic film tells the true story of an amateur cyclist who manages to set a world record one-hour speed record on a bicycle he designs and constructs, made of scrap parts, some from a washing machine. 
7. "Emmanuel's Gift," 2005. True story, narrated by Oprah Winfrey. Emmanuel is crippled in Ghana and living at the edge of society. His life is completely changed when he is provided a gift of a bicycle. He becomes an ambassador for handicapped people everywhere. 
8. " A Sunday in Hell." There are a number of great stories chronicling various classic races or racers or teams. I recommend several. The first one, "A Sunday in Hell," is about the 1976 edition of Paris Roubiax, the most challenging one-day race in professional cycling. 
9. "Hell on Wheels," 2004, follows the T-Mobile team competing in the Tour de France.  Stunning cinematography capturing the landscape of the race and France. 
10. "Overcoming," 2005, follows the CSC team as they break into the Pro-Tour and how they face the challenges of competition.

Hope you enjoy a movie or two without consuming too much popcorn. I usually overdo it.