| Friday 6 November 2009 Movie House, Dublin Road, Belfast On a damp Friday evening the Movie House in Belfast was a welcome refuge for the cycling community to get dressed up for. Director Andy Yoong (Honcho Designs) was busy running around sorting out last minute details as the rest of us mingled and enjoyed the free Red Bull shots. Around 7:20 the mixed crowd of mostly downhillers with a splattering of cros country riders, cycle shop reps, tandem cyclists, and Cycling Ulster reps, made their way into the cinema to take their seats. The original allocation of 220 tickets were soon sold out and another 100 released and it looks as if most of those were sold as well. Just before the start a large crowd of late comers arrived (Newry lot!) all decked out in their fancy gear with Glyn O'Brien even in a mask. Andy Yoong then took the mic and thanked everyone for coming along and asked the 10 downhillers to come out of the crowd to be presented to the audience. There was Glyn, Colin Ross, Maeve Baxter, Wolfe brothers Dan and Gerad, Ben Reid, Tom Power, Greg O'Keefe, Jamie McCullough and Ewan Doherty. It was after 8 pm when before the lights went down and the film started rolling. It turned out the Andy had to hire in a special projector to show the DVD onto the big screen as the normal cinema ones required reels. The music in the film was provided by local groups in Ireland and, as expected, was a mixture of soft moody numbers and loud, fast beat rock. The film is broken down into sections focusing on each rider. The riders were filmed in their favourite haunts including Cave Hill, Lead Mines in Ards, Tollymore and the Mourne Mountains. At the end of each piece the crowd appauded wildly adding to the atmosphere of the evening. At the end there was another great round of applause which was justly deserved. Andy Yoong then appeared with the mic again and thanked the riders and supporters for their help. The crowd then moved form the Movie House to AM:PM on Upper Arthur Street which was a bit of a tight squeeze for such a large group. The DVD has been released for sale. You can buy it through their website http://breakthecyclefilm.com/.  |  Martin with Colin Ross  Getting ready to start  Some of the rowdies |