Based on the inspiring true story of Greg Townsend and the Rite of Passage cycling team.
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.
Genre: Drama
Director: RJ Daniel Hanna
Writer: RJ Daniel Hanna & Christian Sander
Cast: Matthew Modine, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Leslie David Baker, Sean Astin, Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly, Damien Diaz, Zachary T. Robbins
Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes
Certificate: TBC 12A
Dyddiad: 31st May 2024
