Plot

A group of college students leave New Haven, CT on bicycles and plan a 4,000-mile adventure to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Hammer and Cycle: is a first-hand account of bicycling across the country, weaving together the accounts of four riders as they endure myriad difficulties and celebrate thrilling triumphs with an annual event to benefit Habitat for Humanity. While they wear the same jersey and ride for the same cause, these four Challengers reflect the genuine diversity that the Habitat Bicycle Challenge embodies: Tyler, a May graduate from Yale, has an intense desire to connect with the people of small-town America; Jordan, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, has been inspired by a serious medical condition to live life to the fullest, with a healthy dose of humor and good-natured zeal; JJ, a 19-year-old rising sophomore at McGill University with no previous cycling experience, has been driven to join the ride by his personal exposure to poverty housing; and Mairin, a recent Yale grad, is an avid athlete and runner who seeks the friendship and bonding that this trip promises. Follow these riders as they visit cities and villages, ride through mountains and valleys, and pedal over 4,000 miles of highways and back-roads across the United States. Watch as they face endless plains and brutal climbs, bitter rain and relentless heat, serious illness and broken bones with the courage and optimism that exemplify this challenge. And join them as they grow from strangers to comrades on their mile-by-mile odyssey from New Haven to San Francisco. Filled with spectacular footage of the ride and set to a stirring, original score, this is the story of HBC as it has never been told. All profits from the documentary will be donated to Habitat for Humanity in an effort to end poverty housing.—Stosh Mintek