Rare is the athlete that can call Lance Armstrong a softie.

Yes, Armstrong rides 3,000 some kilometers over a couple weeks every year in France. And the guy beat cancer. But Armstrong rides on paved roads. He has 12 teammates that can literally push him up hills if it comes to it.

Professional mountain bikers know no such luxuries. Eight of the best in the world, Jeremiah Bishop, Mary McConneloug, Susan Haywood, Alison Dunlap, Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Adam Craig and Shonny Vanlandingham can all attest to that; they will also show thousands at this weekend’s Sea Otter Classic, the largest cycling event in the country. (See sidebar for events listing.)

In their quest to qualify for three spots on the 2004 US Olympic Mountain Biking Team, these cyclists braved tire-thin trails through steep and slippery rainforests, unforgiving deserts, oppressive marshland and treacherous frozen mountains—without so much as a single teammate. And they did it on a weekly basis.

As filmmaker Jason Berry, who scrambled around the world capturing it on tape for his documentary Off Road to Athens, says, “They took on every single condition you could ride a bike in: hailstorms, lightning, mud, gravel, single track, rocky and rugged, every geographic possibility.”

And as Berry’s documentary partner, Ken Bell, points out, that’s not even close to the toughest part of the qualifying. Olympic ranking is based on cumulative points earned during international World Cup races the year preceding the games. That means a draining, dizzying odyssey just to get to as many of the intense 30-mile-plus races as possible, in places as far-flung as the Scotland Highlands, the Amazon and the Austrian Alps.

“A Pac Man race around the world,” Berry says.  

“Thirty [races] a year is normal,” Bell says. “They did almost 50. And there were no local races! Now they’re in Cypress, then Athens. Compete, travel, get home for a day, then travel. There isn’t even time to train.”

So as Off Road depicts with rich imagery, one week finds the eight racers barreling down trails between 15,000 foot volcanic peaks spewing ash in Baños, Ecuador, with armed militia looking on from trailside guard posts. Another week, they’re braving marble-sized hailstones in a flash thunder and lightning storm in Calgary, Canada.

Such singular action seemed too potent to pair with the traditional “extreme” sport tunes (punk rock) or tame Tour de France music (i.e. Sheryl Crow). An elegant, original soundtrack reflecting the cultural vivacity of each destination was drafted by composer Haik Naltchyan.

Berry and Bell also found that much of the most gripping theater took place away from the trail. The top racer in the world, Belgium’s Filip Meirhaeghe, was disqualified for using performance-enhancing drugs. In another particularly tense twist, McConneloug and Haywood entered their final race virtually tied, but Haywood discovered a race result hasn’t been added to her point totals. The controversy spiraled all the way into court, leaving both bikers conflicted about McConneloug’s eventual Olympic qualification. (Wells and Horgan-Kobelski also ended up qualifying.)

The mix of mental and physical drama gave Berry and Bell a deep respect and compassion for their subjects.

“The best mountain bikers in our country are scraping to get by—they don’t get sponsorship endorsements and all the money in cycling goes to Lance Armstrong and the top three percent of road racers,” says Berry. “That’s unfortunate with the amount of training and time mountain bikers put in. [Seeing] that is the only thing that got me through the project.”

It was vital motivation for Berry, since he says everyone, including the mountain bike industry “turned their nose up” at the Off Road project. Funding for the film became what he calls, “a matter of researching credit cards and moving debt to the newest 0% card.” He and Bell, who has a wife and two children, also held down full-time jobs to help foot the bills, somehow finding the time and resources to plan all their shots and schlep their mass of equipment along trails, in and out of jeeps, and back to the airport. Berry admits he considers calling it quits more than a few times.

As a tribute to the riders, Berry has arranged for the world premiere of Off Road to coincide with the only time all eight protagonists would be in the same place—at the Sea Otter Classic. He’s also honoring them with a limo ride and a red carpet in front of Golden State Theater this Friday.

And while in Berry’s words, “the film is about the love and passion the athletes have for the sport…chasing a dream,” it’s fitting that he has a place in the limo too.

Off Road to Athens shows at 7pm Friday and Saturday at the Golden State Theater, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $10 advance at www.offroadtoathens.com; $12/at the door. 372-4555.