Film Review: A Peloton of One

                                         A Peloton of One

Sexual abuse of children is almost too awful to contemplate. Unfortunately, it is neither a new phenomenon nor a rarity.

In 2015, for example, several female Olympic gymnasts came forward to accuse longtime coach Larry Nassar of sexual abuse. That event led to a trial which resulted in a 40-175 year jail sentence, with an added 60 years for child pornography, the sentences to be served consecutively.

One major problem of this kind of abuse is that it creates loners afraid to talk about their experience, who may eventually begin abusing their own bodies by overeating or escaping into alcohol or drugs.

“Peloton of One” tells the story of bicyclist Dave Ohlmuller (abused for the first time at 12 by a priest in his parish, and repeatedly thereafter). Dave fell into the traps – gaining weight, drinking and taking drugs. When he reached 230 pounds, he decided to “fix the problem,” and started by working out an hour a day. 

After he’d dropped 50 pounds and recovered some sense of self, he decided to try to help other abuse victims. To raise awareness of the problem, Dave bought a bike (and got a lesson in how to change a bike tire) in preparation for a solo bike ride from Chicago to New York in 2019, talking to others (including victims) along the way and starting a group called SNAP (Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests).

It’s difficult to imagine even attempting a trip like that, though Dave contends that “once I got through Chicago, I was just in a zone.”

“Peloton” is the word for a group of bike riders, and “A Peloton of One” is the video story of Dave’s solo ride and his experiences along the way. Fun things like finding out he needed foot guards to keep his feet from slipping off the pedals, and what to do when the bike chain falls off. 

He made a lot of friends on this trip, many of them also victims of what they call “soul murder.”  He also found out that abuse isn’t local, it’s a universal problem and deserving of federal laws against it. Though several states have at least introduced legislation, few have passed anything of consequence. 

This is a problem no one wants to talk about. Let’s hope “A Peloton of One” helps to change that. This film is a must-see.

“A Peloton of One” opens Feb. 18, 2022 in virtual theaters. It will be released digitally on March 11, 2022.