PRO - A Feature Film Cycling Documentary on The U.S. Pro Cycling Championships in Philly 2004

[@johanordonez6998]

I feel honored to say that I raced with few of those guys. Epic race

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Me as well man.

[@JohanOrdonez-wu9yh]

The difference is that you were right next to them, I was just following wheels! Lol

[@user-DeDub]

Alot of familiar faces. Thanks for the great memories

[@durianriders]

Back when the bikes were light, stiff and easy to work on/get parts for.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Right!

[@gattmolson]

Awesome, I had both this and The Hard Road back on DVD long ago and they've both gone missing. This was real documentary film making back when it was about 100 times more difficult.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you! Yeah, 2001 shot on mostly DV Cam with little tapes! Ha! PRO in 2004 was shot on Panasonic DVX 100... state of the art for the time!

[@kevin9662]

Learned a lot from watching this. A little bit before my time, but it seemed like a great time with lots of guys that seemed to be in good spirits. Thanks for making this film!

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you for watching. Yes, the group of guys week in and week out racing all over America was a great time in cycling for our country!

[@roughcutguitars]

Bobby Julich: THE standard-bearer of class in American cycling

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Great guy! We gave him his first pro contract on my Chevy/LA Sheriff's team in 1994.

[@williampringle1790]

Jamie, I have to thank you for all the hard work, both in making these great documentaries many years ago and for sharing them with us wannabe bike racers. You did an excellent job of capturing the action and the sheer difficulty of this crazy sport we love. You have a real talent as a documentarian…keep up the good work! 👍

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you buddy! Now that I'm 60 I feel so blessed to be able to live that life for so long and to be able to capture it for everyone with these films!

[@denverspin]

Fantastic era of cycling. Thanks for sharing.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Yeah, we're trying to get a film made right now that covers what I think was the golden era, 1984-1995 or so... The birth of American Cycling. That story has never been told. It's even more fascinating now that cycling in the US is completely gone.

[@bradford_shaun_murray]

1:31:18 ...Horner attacks bottom of the wall (lap 10) 1:36:42 ..Horner attacks on lemon hill

[@eamonn9882]

Great film thanks for posting, amazing how much the rider physique has changed they look so much heavier than todays elite , and the bikes look very old even though it don’t seem that long ago! But maybe that’s because I’m getting on myself 😂

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you! So glad you liked it. What a classic. We talked a lot about this on the Roadman Podcast I just did. It's tragic that pro racing in America is gone. Born: 1984, grew up: 1990's, Died: 2013 What a short life for a pro sport. - (the podcast if you're interested: open.spotify.com/episode/3gQq7OrdEhC9d9dNnZofea

[@KingOfTheFreds]

Thanks for putting this up Jamie.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Glad you enjoy them.

[@JBmadera]

enjoyed watching this again (I lost the dvd when I moved to AZ). Makes me sad seeing the state of the domestic peloton here in 2023. a shell of it's former shelf as compared to 2004

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you! Yep, it's sad. I wish the young guns could have the chance that we had to make a living racing exclusively in the US... The crazy thing is, there were actually more huge events and more money in the first half of the 90's than when I made these movies... It was still pretty good though early 2000's.

[@kbesner]

I too had both DVD's, this and The Hard Road. Loved both, great indoor trainer entertainment.

[@mattdowney6540]

Aw man, I had PRO and The Hard Road on DVD back in the day. Golden era.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

No doubt!

[@Sills71]

America had ONE huge classic race, the Pro Champs in Philly... it was legendary. They threw that away. Moving was the biggest mistake.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Yep. When they shortened the distance it was just a matter of time. Awesome memories though. When I went there for the first time in 1989 to do the race I had already raced in Europe and I could not believe we had a better race at home!

[@starblazers01]

Even the Europeans came to race. Even though it wasn't a classic compared to Euros standard, it was our Classic. The whole community was involved & great pictures came from that race. My memory is 7-11, Coors Light & the small Italian teams participanting. 🤘🤘🤘

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Yes sir. Philly shut the entire city down for the day and everyone came. The race also transformed Manayunk from a getto to a GoTo destination to live and have businesses! @@starblazers01

[@roughcutguitars]

​@jamiepaolinetti5087 Looking back, it feels like another lifetime ago. Definitely the last of the "Best of" days to be racing in the U.S. even as a grunt cat. 3 clawing at 2 :-) and fantasizing about Philly. Thanks so much for chronicling it with so much love and respect.

[@adamfarabaugh7632]

Great film bringing back the memories! I would watch this and the Hard Road in high school riding the trainer dreaming of being a pro. Wasn't quite to the same level as it was in '04 but I raced Philly a few times and it was always one of the best races of the year. The times have certainly changed over the years.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

So Cool! Thank you!

[@larrymcgoldrick3471]

Awesome!!! Thanks.

[@philipsangalang5077]

Had this DVD and wasn't able to find it in Storage, glad to see it's been uploaded here!

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you!

[@prof_Pomari]

Crazy to see how the area of the wall changed compared to those times. The race made that entire neighbourhood vibrant and the people proud. Now so much has changed, starting with the road maintainance. To me that is a big sign of how the development in the area has been forgotten, shame for the residents.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

I'm sorry man. I first did the race in 1989, then watched as the area grew and prospered! It was awesome.

[@prof_Pomari]

​@@jamiepaolinetti5087 Btw, awesome movie! A true road racing story, can tell it is made by a cyclist for cyclists

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

@@prof_Pomari Thank you!

[@darrenstanleysmith5207]

U can tell this movie was made by a bike racer 4 bike racers. I’m more inspired by this than any GT or classics footage and commentary.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thanks Darren! That's the best thing anyone could say about my movies!

[@korethoe262]

EPO handed out in the feed zones. I was there, juiced 100x. I miss those days.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Ha! You're not completely wrong, but what no one ever believes is that in America a great many guys raced clean and still won races. But, that's a topic for another movie. A handful of the top guys, (myself included) knew that if they wanted to go to Europe and win they had to get on the program or be domestiques. So a lot of us stayed home. Good racing calendar, good money, clean dudes. I'll tell you this, it was harder by 2001 then in say 1994-1995. Thanks!

[@andrearatkovic4048]

I loved racing Philly. Strawberry Hill, Lemon Hill, and the Manayunk Wall (my fav) w/all the people drinking beer and hollering!😄

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

A classic!

[@Shadowboost]

Webcor and CSC. Man those teams bring back memories

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Horner was the best to interview! Legend.

[@julianallen515]

Arguably Horner was the strongest rider that day. But, no-one will agreee that he wasn't the smartest.

[@EMC2Scotia]

This is great stuff, the way riders talk about racing and being a rider is so good. My question however, is it possible for captions with people's names to be added or edited in? I may need to pay better attention but thought I'd ask! Thanks again for the upload.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you! It's not really possible for us to add subtitles, but KZbin has a button at the bottom of the viewer on the right that looks like a little white box with a CC in it... Also, if you want to know the spelling of one of the rider's names, just reply here with the time stamp in the video and I can give it to you. Thanks again! You might like my first film, THE HARD ROAD as well. The link is in the description.

[@RockinTukker]

Very cool to see. Especially in the era of "Netflix Flashy" sports docus. Amazing to see how riders' bodies have changed and sad to realize that the early 2000's must have been the heyday of cycling in the US. Where in the US do you see distance cycle races these days?

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you. To answer your question, nowhere. The sport at a pro level is totally dead. I just did a podcast about this and I'm working on another film that explores why. Actually, the sport's golden era in the US was the early 90's!

[@brucehumphries6889]

@@jamiepaolinetti5087waiting on that new film. Listened to the Podcast and was nodding my head in agreement. Road scene is dead, except in pockets, MTB is going that way as well.

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

@@brucehumphries6889 Yeah, especially for those of us who know what it was. Thank you! I'm trying!

[@unclespliff_productions]

cool documentary

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Thank you.

[@unclespliff_productions]

@@jamiepaolinetti5087 enjoyed seeing the older days here in usa. i got into cycling around 11-12 yrs old as american bc of the tour and lance. didn't take up the sport until years later but was always interested in the tour and how the americans would do.

[@nortonowitz]

48:18 Schuler?

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

Good eye! He's a class act!

[@bicyclestreet1]

Such great doping memories!! Glorifying thr cheaters....

[@jamiepaolinetti5087]

You are definitely right about a bunch of dopers in this film. The greatest untold story of cycling in America though is how many clean riders there were. And some of them even won races. I know it's not the "mainstream" or media view of the sport, but like with a lot of things they have been misinformed. Anyway, I hope you can enjoy the film for the spectacle of the awesome event and the memory of a sport that was once was great in our country and is now gone forever it looks like. Maybe on day I'll tell the actual story of doping in America.

[@future46r]

I can 100 percent say not everyone racing was doping!

[@andrewsandoz8005]

Hank Vogels? His name is Henk.

[@damon8645]

😎 promo sm