PORT ANGELES — For people around the world, a bike means freedom. It means pedaling into a brand-new day, propelled by one’s own power.
That’s the story told around the world in “With My Own Two Wheels,” a documentary about what’s known as “bike relief,” screening free Monday night in the Peninsula College Little Theater.
And to offer some local bike relief, the new Bike Garage shop will adjust brakes and gears on any bicycle ridden to the screening.
These adjustments start at 5 p.m.; the movie itself will start at 7 p.m.
The Bike Garage, which opened this spring in the Bella Rosa-Subway plaza at Lincoln and Fourth streets, is co-sponsoring “With My Own Two Wheels” with Peninsula College and the Port Townsend Film Institute.
Bicycles change lives
Two brothers, Jacob and Isaac Seigel-Boettner, set out to see where in the world the bicycle is changing lives.
In their movie, they take viewers to Ghana, India, Zambia, Guatemala and California.
At that last stop, the brothers introduce Sharkey, a young man who uses bicycles to get away from the gangs that consume so many of his peers.
In Zambia, we meet Fred, a health worker whose bike enables him to reach out to twice as many AIDS patients as he could otherwise visit.
Bharati, a teenager in India, relies on two wheels to provide an access to education.
We also meet Carlos, a Guatemalan farmer who uses his bike to help neighbors reduce pollution, and Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman who works on bicycles to escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
“The film was one of my favorite documentaries from last year’s Port Townsend Film Festival,” said Bruce Hattendorf, coordinator of the college’s film series.
“So when Selina Poulsen from the Bike Garage called me asking if the college would be interested in showing it, I thought it was a great idea . . . It seemed like a fun thing to do in the summer when it’s light enough for the audience to ride their bikes to and from the film.”
‘Innovative’ look
Besides, he said, “Two Wheels” is “a fun and inspiring look at innovative uses of the bicycle from around the world. We think people will really enjoy it.”
For details about Monday’s event, visit www.Pencol.edu; to find out more about the Bike Garage and its activities, visit the shop’s Facebook page or phone 360-504-2040.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
