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Matinee: Biking The Dolomites Share This on LinkedIn   Share This on Google   Tweet This   Forward This

26 November 2016

Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?

So we're pleased to present the 163rd in our series of Saturday matinees today: Biking The Dolomites.

The Thanksgiving holiday is a sedentary event celebrated on couches and dining room chairs. So we thought this slide show by photographer Ben Haggar of a mountain biking adventure trip through Italy's Dolomite mountain range would be just what the doctor ordered.

It's certainly gorgeous. Part of the Southern Limestone Alps, the pale, cathedral-like Dolomites are a recreational treasure in northeastern Italy. And Haggar's 8:25 slide show captures their breath-taking beauty in frame after frame.

The images fly by quickly but if you stay as alert as a bike rider on a rocky trail, you'll see a few visual jokes along the way.

But it isn't all scenery. There's the biking (and carrying bikes over terrain that resists rolling stock). And there are a few comforts too. Food and drink. Not quite on the scale of Thanksgiving, but just enough to get you back in the saddle for the next leg of the trip.

The images fly by quickly but if you stay as alert as a bike rider on a rocky trail, you'll see a few visual jokes along the way.

Haggar himself is based in British Columbia, working as an assistant expedition leader in charge of logistics and leading trips in the Arctic and Antarctica. So a few hills don't bother him.

His goal, he writes on his Web site, "is to inspire people to go a little further, break out of their comfort zone and discover new places and experiences at home or abroad."

Which we translate as "push your chair back from the table, get up and get moving."

This is, we admit, a lot easier for people of a certain youthful inclination. If you want break out of your comfort zone, just get old. That's when everyday life really becomes "pushing the envelope." No need to seek out adventure. Just getting out of bed can produce all the thrills of paragliding.

Which brings us back to today's vicarious experience. You'll probably sit down to watch it but, to enjoy the full effect, try sitting on a stationary bike and pedalling along.

Especially if you still have Thanksgiving leftovers to dispense with later today.


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