Author Archives: Lauren

Blacksad

June 22, 2010 17:22 | Leave a Comment |

Yet another comic book I’ve deemed worthy of an entry all of its own. Blacksad is a French comic written and illustrated by two Spanish men. It’s finally been translated into English and collected into a hardback by Dark Horse. And it’s nothing short of incredible.

It’s the first time since Usagi Yojimbo – Chanoyu that I actually felt compelled to read something again. I haven’t as yet. I’m taking my time in doing so to draw out the anticipation. I have flicked through it several times and each time I’m just amazed at how good it is. The artwork by Juanjo Guarnido is simply stunning and the scripts by Juan Díaz Canales are godsmackingly good.

I must admit that I do have a soft spot for a comics that feature anthropomorphic animals. However, this is on a whole other level of sheer awesomeness. Usually stories that feature these sorts of characters verge on being twee and overly cutesy so Blacksad is the most refreshing of changes because it has a realistic feel to it and the themes running through it are quite dark.

I’m desperately hoping the new comic gets translated into English. Otherwise, I might just have to learn how to read French.

Posted in: Comics | Tagged: ,

I’m hardcore baby!

June 20, 2010 12:31 | Leave a Comment |


Yup, I felt compelled to take a photo of my leg after I’d peeled off my overshoes and socks when I finally made it home this morning.

I’m so hardcore. 😉

It stopped drizzling about 15 minutes into my ride and I felt pretty good. Got all the way to Black Rock with it only drizzling briefly once or twice. It was when I’d turned around and started to head for home that the heavens opened. Today’s lesson was that rain coming in sideways on your face when you’re ticking along at about 30ks actually hurts. However, I pedaled past plenty of whimpy men who’d stopped to take shelter.

My thinking was that I was already saturated and I had no idea how long the rain was going to last so I might as well continue. It really took it out of me though. At one point I was thinking about finding the nearest train station but I figured actually finding one, waiting for the train, getting on it, heading into the city and changing trains to one that would take me home would’ve taken longer than simply riding home. I still would’ve been saturated but not moving so there would’ve been no body heat being generated which would’ve left me feeling utterly miserable. Plus I probably would’ve stunk the train out and been very unpopular.

And to show just how hardcore I really am, a photo of the back of my jersey before it went in the washing machine.

I am wondering if it will be white ever again.

But to turn to other things…

Viewed a few places yesterday. At one of them, the current tenant had a very sexy black Bianchi. (Geez, I really can’t get away from the bike stuff can I?). The first place I looked at was totally disgusting. And grossly over-priced. The last one was actually kinda depressing. It looked like it was currently home to a divorced dad with two kids that he got on the weekends. It was crammed full of stuff and there was hardly any room to move.

This probably isn’t the best decision but I’ve decided to be choosy about where I end up. I really don’t want to be somewhere crappy. I’m okay with spending more to have something nice. Worse case scenario plans are falling into place so I feel a little more relaxed about it then I did.

Oh, and I’m so totally digging the ads for the upcoming Tour de France on SBS’s FIFA World Cup coverage at the moment. After the Giro d’Aussie, sorry d’Italia, I think I might be having a few late nights in July.

Posted in: Bike, Blatherings | Tagged: , , , ,

What to do about zero motivation…

June 13, 2010 09:51 | Leave a Comment |

It’s 9:15 on a Sunday morning and I’m not out riding my bike. What’s wrong with this picture?

I have zero motivation to do so at the moment. I’m actually still lying in bed. I pulled my blind up a little so I can see that it’s not raining and probably won’t rain but I just can’t be bothered to get up. Plus there’s this whole thing of having my legs squeal in pain every time I move after yesterday’s heavy-on-the-legs group training session.

Whinge, whinge, whinge.

What I should be doing is remembering that it’s okay to not get on the bike every single weekend. That I am allowed to have a rest. The weather also isn’t helping. It’s hard to get motivated to get out of bed when you know it’s only around 6 – 8°C and if there’s any wind at all it makes it feel even colder. I am looking forward to the day when going for a ride doesn’t involve putting on multiple layers of clothing in an attempt to keep warm. It’ll also be nice to not have to ride in the dark so much, although it is pretty amazing to see the sunrise. I’ve seen a few where the sky looks like it’s on fire. Still, not going to miss the numb feet (even with fleecy overshoes) or the cold ears.

There’s also no rule that says I have to go for a ride in the morning. Maybe I’ll feel motivated later in the day to go out and that’s fine too. At least it’ll be a little warmer.

I suppose there’s an obvious answer to what’s causing my lack of motivation – this being that I have to find a new place to live as the owner wants to move in. If I’d decided to move off my own bat I think I’d have a much more positive attitude about it. Having a deadline by which we must be gone is more than a little intimidating. However, my brother put it best when he said I was looking at this the wrong way and I should embrace it as an opportunity for a fresh start. And I think he’s probably right.

Right now I think a fresh start would be an excellent idea. I’ve found myself feeling angry so much of the time and I feel really dissatisfied with the direction my life has been taking. I’m not a fan of the person I’ve become in the last few months so this is an opportunity to do something about it. To a degree I feel that I have very little control over what happens in my life and going out on my own again is a way to wrest that control back. New home equals new opportunities and a chance to work out what I’m doing at my own pace without any outside pressure or influences. Financially it’s going to suck as living on your own isn’t cheap but I’m choosing to think of it as investing in my well-being.

My first reaction was to panic. Two months seems like such a short time to find somewhere to live. But panicking serves no one and I need to have faith that everything will work itself out. It’s happened before so there’s no reason to think it won’t happen again. I just have to keep telling myself that I will find somewhere to live and that there’s no need to freak out. Chances are it won’t be my dream home but I’m sure I’ll find somewhere that’ll be okay. Also, if I’m honest, as much I love this house, there are some thing I will not miss about it – like the rather loud religious chanting in Greek that’s being played next door right now.

This whole growing up thing sucks. It’s not fun when you realise you’ve actually made a bit of a mess of your life. Still, helps to remember that life is nothing but progression – gotta be with the whole moving forward.

Posted in: Bike, Blatherings | Tagged: , , ,

Gee, I can ramble on

May 24, 2010 11:30 | 1 Comment |

My dilemma has been resolved. I’m going to do the Degani Kinglake ride and try to ease myself into rides that include a serious hill climb by doing the 70km one. Means I’ll probably be doing it on my own as the other person I know who’s doing it is going to do the 120km version. I suppose I could give the 120km one a crack. I have some time to train for it and I should be setting myself a challenge. If worse comes to worse and I find myself defeated by the hills, I’ll just have to get off and walk for a bit. Like no one has ever done that before!

Still, I think a lot of my problems are that I always tell myself I can’t do it. My attitude is one of defeat from the onset. The stupid thing is that I’m aware that I’m doing it. I told myself that Yarra Boulevard was too hard for me and I’m riding that twice a week now with improvement. Tiny little increments of improvement but still improvement. So why I do I always underestimate what I can do? It’s a similar thing to when I go clothes shopping, I always assume things aren’t going to fit. When I was in San Fran trying on jeans I had to go down three sizes before finding the right ones. I think that I’m still disgustingly fat even though I know I’m not. Okay, I’m still on the chubby side but I’m nowhere near as big as I was.

So, in my head, I’m still incapable of doing over 60km on the bike even though I knocked over 75km last weekend. I still think of myself as being weak when I’m probably not. I feel like I’m not improving on the bike at all but the question is am I actually restricting myself because of my attitude? I really don’t believe I can do 100km or that I can get up the big hills. My attitude from the onset is one of defeat and that’s stupid. Maybe I just need some encouragement and a bit of a nudge but I don’t know where to get it from.

I’m wondering if I’ve lost sight of why I ride. When I have a good ride, I feel sensational for the rest of the day but when it’s hard or I struggle, it knocks me for six. It was ridiculously cold yesterday morning so I was wearing multiple layers to keep warm, including a beanie which only just fit under my helmet and two pairs of gloves. But that left me feeling uncomfortable on the bike so it was a really hard ride. My friend who I was riding with has leapt past me in fitness and he left me behind on the hills and once or twice on flat sections. Plus, I underestimated how much energy I was burning and I took too long to eat so I started to feel really light-headed. I was on the verge of bonking and only just managed to stop it by sucking down an energy gel. It was a hard ride and I was really glad to get off the bike, which isn’t helping my attitude now because it looked like it was a cruise for my riding partner. But I did get up a footbridge with what must be at least a 15% grade that I couldn’t do before. I was very worried I was going to tip over but I did it so go team me!

I’m full of sighs about my SIDI shoes. I had a bike fit on Saturday which was quite interesting. My arm reach (fully extended with right finger tips touching the ground and left arm stretching up) is actually bigger than my height and I can reach about 2cm past the tips of my toes when sitting on the floor. He measured my shoes, my feet, my height, my bike, just about everything he could think of. He was pleased with the way I sit on the bike, especially with a back injury. He actually said he thought he’d have to make a few changes but he didn’t change anything at all. All he did was put my seat down a little as he felt I was stretching out a little too much.

He videoed me on the bike wearing both pairs of shoes and I’m not doing anything different that would cause the pain I’m experiencing with the SIDIs. However, measuring the shoes showed that the SIDS are a tiny bit smaller than the Shimanos, which is weird considering the SIDIs are marked a size bigger. They’re a narrower shoe and more rigid which he thinks is causing the pain. I have to decide what to do about them. Do I continue with them and try to stretch them in the hope the pain will stop? Or do I cut my loses and sell them? At the moment I’m thinking of selling them. They seem to be more hassle then they’re worth and there are plenty of other shoes out there.

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , ,

Not sure what to believe

May 21, 2010 22:15 | 2 Comments |

So, Floyd Landis has come out and accused Lance Armstrong of being a drug cheat.

You’d think by now no one would care as Armstrong has been accused so many times before and it’s never gone anywhere. Either Armstrong is clean or he’s the best drug cheat on the planet seeing as he keeps getting away with it. Landis is pointing the finger at everyone in the U.S. Postal Service team, including George Hincapie who I’ve always liked, as well as cycling officials both American and international.

The thing is, why now? Why wait nearly four years after being stripped of a Tour de France win and fighting the charges for so long before making these accusations? Wouldn’t it have been better to said all this in 2006 when his voice would’ve still had some weight and to a degree been believable. By waiting so long and taking a line of “deny, deny, deny, deny” he’s destroyed his credibility. It’s very difficult to believe someone who swore black and blue he wasn’t doping and set up a foundation for donations to use for his various court cases. People donated a substantial amount of money and he used it in an attempt to clear his name even though he knew he was lying. How can you believe someone who was willing to do that?

I’m not sure why this is bothering me so much when Armstrong has been accused so many time before. I didn’t really know who Landis was before he won the 2006 Tour de France and I’m sure I’m not the only one. He came out of nowhere to win the most prestigious cycling race in the world. I wasn’t really surprised when he tested positive.

I suppose it’s the timing of it that’s bothering me and the way he’s going about it. It has the feel of a man who knows he’s going down and has decided to take everyone down with him. It’s very hard to believe him because I feel he destroyed his credibility by sitting on his accusation for so long while maintaining his innocence.

The other thing is that I really don’t want Armstrong to be a drug cheat. I want him to be clean because for him to be a drug cheat would utterly diminish everything he achieved. I’ve always admired him even though I know he’s a bit of an arsehole. For someone who should be dead, he’s achieved amazing things. If Landis is right and Armstrong is a cheat, it’s all been a huge con.

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , ,

I have a dilemma

May 16, 2010 18:45 | Leave a Comment |

Two rides on the same day. Which one to choose?

Ride number one: Degani Kinglake Ride

Ride number two: Fruit Loop Ride

My original plan was to do the 180km (!!) Fruit Loop Ride. At first, I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to complete the ride having not broken 100km as yet but that’s something that can be easily fixed. Plus there’s a 14km climb in the later part of the ride which is a bit of a concern for me. Climbing is difficult for me and I am trying to improve but I have serious doubts about my ability to manage such a climb after already been on the bike for about 100km. I know I’m strong but I don’t know if I’m that strong. My other problem is that I don’t have the time to do enough hill training to feel 100% certain I could do it. So, this weekend, I decided to do the 100km ride instead. There’s a few small hill climbs in that ride too but I know they’re ones I can manage.

However…

The Kinglake Ride is 70km but has a decent climb in the middle of it. I feel I could actually achieve this and that it’s not beyond my capabilities. It just fits better in my head. Plus, even though the entry fee does seem a little steep (Fruit Loop is cheaper), I’d get a nice jersey out of it. It also has the advantage of being much closer to Melbourne and to see part of the state I haven’t visited before. A lot of cyclists rave about the riding around Kinglake so it’d be something to experience and I’d learn a new route.

But I have to make a decision soon because the Kinglake ride is capped and I know it’s rather popular.

Anyhoo… I’m getting a bike fit next Saturday. I’m really hoping the guy I’m seeing will be able to sort out my shoe issues. I’m also very curious to see what he says about my position on the bike. I feel pretty comfortable so I can’t imagine there will be too much, if anything, to change. I’m really hoping he can get my shoes right, otherwise I wasted $300 when it could’ve been spent on a nice piece of comic book art. If I really can’t wear the SIDIs, I’ll just have to sell them and get something else. Just sucks because I really did like them.

Oh, and I made it to Mordialloc and back yesterday. All 75kms. I must admit I did feel a small sense of achievement when I got home. I felt I’d really earned a nanna nap on the couch – not something I usually do.

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , ,

If I Ride

May 11, 2010 16:15 | Leave a Comment |

Best lines ever:
If I ride uphill, I will eventually get to ride downhill. That’s how it works.
If I ride, I can wear spandex. Like Spider-man.

The video is a like a gigantic hug because it tells me I’m not the only weirdo who’s totally in love with cycling. I would pledge but it’s for America only. *pouts*

And have you ever wondered what happened to Cadel Evan’s road world champion shoes? I did. And now I know.

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , , ,

Usagi Yojimbo – Chanoyu

May 7, 2010 23:38 | Leave a Comment |

I’ve been reading comics for a while now and on the whole, there’s not much to get that excited about. There are some great stories and some great art but on the whole, it’s average stories and art I’m meh about. But on occasion, there’s a diamond waiting to be discovered. Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo is one of those rare diamonds. I don’t think I’ve read a single issue that I haven’t loved and that’s a quite a feat considering how many issues there are. It’s taken me over a year to buy all the volumes – up to vol. 23 now which is the most recent one. (I mean, what’s not to love about a rabbit samurai?)

Today I read Usagi Yojimbo issue 93 – Chanoyu. And this particular issue is astounding. So good I had to read it again straight away. It’s a powerful illustration of how a story can be told with little or no dialogue and that you don’t need the characters to say everything single thing that comes into their heads. Sometimes the best stories are told without words.

There are so many artists out there who should be paying close attention to Usagi Yojimbo because it’s a master class in how to tell great stories in a simple fashion without all the noise.

For those interested, Chanoyu is the Japanese formal tea ceremony. Tea was introduced to Japan in the 9th century. Chanoyu rose to prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries and is still practiced today. There are variations of the ceremony but the one so beautifully illustrated in Usagi Yojimbo is one where the participants speak very little. The idea is to commune on a spiritual level rather than by using words.

Posted in: Comics | Tagged: , ,

Uuummmm, about that plan…

April 23, 2010 23:57 | Leave a Comment |

I did manage to get up on Tuesday and go for a ride. I even felt like I’d achieved something as I managed to ride the entire length of Yarra Boulevard for the first time in ages. And best of all, I ran into my brother. Not literally because that would’ve been bad. Apparently he also rides Yarra Boulevard every Tuesday so I may be seeing more of him. He, of course, can totally kick my arse on hills so if he does ride with me he’s going to have to slow down. Or maybe I could attach a rope to him and he can drag me up the hills 😉

I also went to cardio boxing on Wednesday night. Everything was going swimmingly until it came to doing some kicking with the crash pad. I don’t know what I did about about half way through I was hopping around the park, grimacing in pain. Somehow I managed to strain my left calf muscle. At first it felt like a cramp but the pain wouldn’t go away even when I stretched it out. So much for my plan. I optimistically set my alarm for 6am Thursday morning but simply moving my leg while still lying in bed told me I wasn’t going anywhere. Which really sucked because it was a perfect morning for a ride. Oh well, hopefully there will be other perfect mornings that I won’t have to skip.

Funnily enough I woke up this morning at 5:45 and thought about getting up for a ride. But I decided I should rest my calf and not risk damaging it even more because as far as I can tell, Yarra Boulevard isn’t kind to injured bodies. I have the weekend to rest up and my calf does feel better this time today than it did yesterday. Hopefully by Monday it’ll be all good as I have plans to ride to Black Rock. What better way to spend a public holiday? Get up early and jump on the bike!! Sleep in? What’s a sleep in?

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , , ,

So, the plan is…

April 19, 2010 12:35 | Leave a Comment |

Weather permitting:

  1. To be on the bike every Tuesday and Thursday by 6:30am to ride Yarra Boulevard before work.
  2. To go for a ride every second Saturday when there’s no group training on.
  3. Continue to ride every Sunday.
  4. Every day do 2×10 jack knife and 2x increasing number of sit ups on the fit-ball to improve my core strength. Once I can do the jack knife sets without struggling, I will add push-ups to each one.
  5. Start going to cardio boxing again on Wednesday evenings.

    Right now I feel fat and lazy, schlepping around the house doing little or no physical exercise. This must change. I have a gorgeous new bike that needs to be ridden. I am ill-disciplined but I have goals I want to achieve. I want to break 100km in a single ride. I want to be able to do the 120km social rides. I want to be able to do hill climbs without feeling like I’m going to die.

    I lost two kilos when I had gastro two weeks ago. However, I ate barely anything for three days so that probably has something to do with my rapid weight lose. Of course, I’m eating again so I’ve put most of the weight back on. Sigh. I’m tired of doing the body test on the Wii and having minimal changes (the last two have been gains). I feel like I’m not achieving anything. I’m tired of seeing this disgusting gut poking out the front of my bike gear. You really can’t hide anything in lycra so all my flaws are out there for the world to see. Any wonder I don’t like looking in mirrors when I’m dressed for a ride.

    Hence the plan.

    I will find the discipline I once had. I will get out there and ride. I will work hard. I will try to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good. Every day I will try to remind myself that I’ve already accomplished a lot. Going from a 36 inch waist to a 29 one isn’t something to be sneezed at. But most of all, simply enjoy the riding. It’s as close to flying we can get.

    Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , , ,