No matter how hard you try to get away from yourself,

you’re still right there.
fighting_twins_by_zhechong-d4ut5k0
Image via Zhe Chong

I’m sure today’s total has something to do with my current condition, but specifically what it is I don’t know.

It could be as I type this I’m reflecting on the fact that my injury has now crept into my subconscious and I awoke this morning from two dreams. One of which I was at a friend’s property in Whistler, absolutely zigzagged with amazing trails, yet I was unable to ride a bike. The other I was preparing to open this year’s Underbike with a magic trick, yet was incapable of folding my knee enough to fit inside of the barrel, which evidently was a part of said trick.

Sad days indeed.

Anyway, general afflictions aside, let’s get on with the getting on that is today’s post.

Firstly, it was several years ago when I first heard Joe Parkin (Has Nice Hair) first refer to cycling as being the new golf. Since then, I’ve seen and heard this comparison referenced a number of times, but based on a cover article I recently saw, that’s not true.

Golf is actually way cheaper;
wtf
Ahh, to live in a world where $3,500 is affordable. Thems be some good times, indeed.

Moving on, Bay Area photo ace Pamela Palma made with the contact regarding a little project she’s got cracking soon;

Hey Stevil,

Here’s some info about the show I’m in;
These Girls Are Machines;
web-banner-TYPE
I hope you can mention it on your blog. Thanks! Hope you heal up soon!

Thanks!

pp

The fine print in this show is worth reading. There are a rides, opening receptions, a screening for this documentary, and so on that are associated with it, so open the link, pull your calendar off the wall, and jot down some notes.

Alas, because I hate maneuvering on crutches, I most likely will be absent, which would be a total drag were it not for the fact that my old chum DC dropped by a veritable goldmine of reading material for me;
mags
The magazines themselves are great, but I was extra plussed to find a whole cache of old Radical Rick strips;
RR
All of which will eventually be expertly scanned, stitched together and placed here for all of the world to enjoy.

Funny story which I may have told before, but will again just for Poos and snickers-

Several years ago- Like, maybe five or six at this point, I tracked down the person responsible for drawing all of those amazing Radical Rick panels month after month. I sent him an email thanking him for his efforts, and told him as a young person with a penchant for drawing myself, I found a great deal of inspiration in his work. I gushed and I gushed, and I finally closed with a link to my own personal art website.

He emailed me back the next day saying something along the lines of “thanks for making contact, though apparently based the content of your work, the strip’s message of morality and lessons regarding virtue didn’t make that great of an impression on you.

I was completely floored. If someone emailed me and told me something that I did nearly thirty years ago brought and continues to bring a great deal of joy to them, I can say without hesitation that of the thousands of ways I might respond, the very last way would be like that.

So I replied and told him that besides his work, that you know, the last, like, three decades of my own existence have had a little bit to do with shaping the kind of work I do as well… I then thanked him for his time, and thought about the adage regarding never meeting your heroes.

Eventually he emailed me back and apologized and said when he opened my site he was hanging out with his kids, and that the content of the work was disconcerting.

We’ve had a few exchanges in the years since, all of which basically lead me to believe that he doesn’t really care for me, my work, or the fact that regardless of everything, I still think Radical Rick is one of his career’s greatest accomplishments, which come to think of it is maybe exactly why he always seems so aggravated.

I don’t really take it personally.

As one whose self loathing knows almost no boundaries, this is familiar territory.

Not tackle myself on the floor and punch myself in the face territory, but it’s always close.
newlittleskull

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11 Responses to “No matter how hard you try to get away from yourself,”

  1. Bushmills May 11, 2015 at 4:59 am #

    This is, and always has been, one of the greatest web-blogging-type-sites ever. Cheers man!

  2. pedalman May 11, 2015 at 6:05 am #

    Sort of like meeting the Italians and finding out they’re dicks! Oh well its like my Mama used to say ‘Moralistic is as moralistic does’.

    • John May 11, 2015 at 6:50 am #

      Fucking Team Cinzano indeed.

      It’s great when something really resonates with you and inspires you to do cool stuff. But it’s important to remember that it’s probably 1% the thing and like 99% what was already inside you.

      Things are even more confused when you realize that the reason you’re motivated to to be a decent, caring human being is because people have done terrible things to you. I’m not sure how to even think about that, maybe because it’s too painful.

  3. Loudass, Esq. May 11, 2015 at 11:00 am #

    I’ll bet that when Damian Fulton met his idol, Robert Williams was a total dick to him for copying his style.

  4. Ben May 11, 2015 at 1:05 pm #

    JPHNH may have coined that phrase right after I told him that kickstands were the new colored rims. Oh, and despite the price of bikes these days, I don’t think that is what he was referring to. Besides, you clearly have not noticed how expensive golf is. A high quality set of clubs (no bag or anything else) can easily run 2-3k, and then there are course fees (since you can’t just golf anywhere you want). The LEAST expensive one year membership to a local country club near here is $15,000. A YEAR! They go all the way up to 65k for a family “deal”. Then they use up all the water so they can look pretty in the deserts, and on top of that I get yelled at when I ride through there on my bike (golf courses have sweet berms).

    • Stevil May 11, 2015 at 1:47 pm #

      Driver, iron, putter from a thrift store- $30.00. Bag- $15.00. Balls (stolen=free). A day on a municipal course- $10.00. Twelve pack- $12.00. Total- $67.00.

      • Ben May 12, 2015 at 8:39 am #

        I’ve got one club. Found it in the cardboard recycling behind the bar one day in an unopened box. I’ve never used it. Keep it around in case I need to whack something.

        When I was younger my dad and I golfed a bit at the muni course in northern MN. We’d go “after the rates went down”, meaning closing time. Usually could bumble our way through 5 or 6 holes before it got too dark.

  5. Paul Fleshman May 11, 2015 at 4:32 pm #

    15 to 65K is what keeps me off their field. It also keeps them off mine.

  6. blacksocks May 12, 2015 at 5:32 pm #

    Just keep high-fiving, man. You’re doing life right every single day.

  7. Bill pustow May 14, 2015 at 3:59 pm #

    That first guy, Bushmills: I agree with him. Here in cheap Louisville, Ky, a private club starts at $15,000 and monthly spending fee of atleast $250. Hey, the equipment cost is cheap in comparison. At the top course here (Valhalla where they play pga televised games) they asked a member what a pack of golf balls cost. He responded by saying if you have to ask, they’re too expensive. What a dick.
    Let’s stick with bikes. Oh, and heal – not fast, just heal.

  8. Damian Fulton October 1, 2022 at 3:38 pm #

    Sorry. All I can say is I responded poorly.
    Your continued appreciation of the strip makes my knee jerk reaction to your artwork all the more embarrassing. Hope you can forgive and forget. If you’re still drawing, I’d be interested to see your new work.

    Sincerely,
    Damian