Graeme Simpson: Cycling veteran Dean talks about film

Tour de France action from the documentary feature All For One/ORICA Scott

"When I kind of look back on it, I'm not sure we really knew what we were doing, "laughs Julian Dean, from All For One, a feature length film that follows the exploits of Australia's first professional road tour team GreenEDGE (now Orica Scott) over its first five years.

Dean is a Grand Tours, Olympic and Commonwealth Games and World Championship veteran and a Bay of Plenty favourite son and was part of the team from its first days in 2011.

"It wasn't really making a movie as such, we were just living our lives over a five-year period. Dan Jones, the producer, was part of that group that made up the team and it just so happened he had a camera with him 24/7," he continues.

"We all had a deep trust in him as to what he was going to include in the film and that allowed us to be really candid all the time."

As a Tour de France veteran Dean knew how different the Orica was from the outset.

"It's made up of individuals that really care for the team and its legacy. To many of us Australasians who were the founding members of the team, it was a dream come true and many years in the making to have our own team on the start line at the Tour de France," he adds.

"All For One is a very good reflection of that philosophy and culture ... as well as highlighting the characters that make the team."

Based back in Rotorua, Dean still travels regularly to work with Orica Scott.

"I'm home in New Zealand for summer and then the main focus will be preparing the sprint group of the team for the 2018 Tour de France," he says.

"This'll include build-up races in Abu Dhabi, California and Holland, just before the Tour de France."

All for One will screen as part of The Big Bike Film Night - Features Series next Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Rotorua.

In the last year, TBBFN director, Brett Cotter, has introduced a new cycling film collection celebrating women cyclists and toured across New Zealand and Australia.

However, he's refusing to rest on his laurels.

"The 'Feature Series' is another way to satisfy those cycling enthusiasts that crave even more bike drama" he says.

The second film on the programme is a classic Audax cycling documentary.

"London. Edinburgh. London is for those pedal punters that believe in the mantra 'epic shouldn't be easy'," Cotter says.

"London to Edinburgh and back in just five days is one of Britain's great cycling challenges."

The film follows a group of cyclists from around the world on a remarkable feat of endurance, travelling over 1400km.

"They're an unlikely and eccentric bunch of heroes who are tested physically, facing mental challenges that force them to look inside to find the resolve they never knew they had and go one more day," adds Cotter.

London. Edinburgh. London will screen at 6pm and All for One at 8.30pm.

For more information about other venues and to buy your tickets for one or both films check out: www.bigbikefilmnight.nz

Photo: Tour de France action from the documentary feature 'All for One' (ORICA Scott)