If you ever wondered what it is like to be a professional mountain bike racer, you now have a chance to find out. The inaugural screening of “Off Road To Athens,” a documentary detailing the high stakes, high stress, high energy world of professional mountain biking, will take place at the Rafael Film Center next Sunday. The feature-length film follows eight U.S. professional mountain bikers around the world for six months as they chase international points that determine who will fill the three slots available for the 2004 U.S. Team competing in the Athens Olympics.

Due to the history mountain biking has here, I am absolutely thrilled that this film is showing in Marin. Almost 30 years ago, the first mountain-bike races took place in Fairfax down Repack Trail. Since its inception, the sport has been embraced worldwide, eventually attaining Olympic status eight years ago. Bringing this event to Marin is a representative final product of what pioneers such as Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, Gary Fisher, and Charles Kelly started many years back.

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