Coven Magazine Issue 4

Action. Art. Adventure

free

Š 2013 Vans, Inc. Photo: Max Wanger

It’s funny, the things you remember when you look back. With the golden glow of nostalgia, we recall small pleasures with such great fondness - the time we rode to the beach and ate fish and chips on our laps, the hike up the cliffs, sun beating down on our necks. It’s often when we look back that we note the value of things and realise how lucky we are.

In this, our fourth issue of Coven, Lydia Garnett and Vic Lentaigne photographed six Londoners, asking what advice they’d give their twelve-year-old selves. It made me wonder what my reply would be, what small grain of wisdom I might be able to offer my younger self. But the answer is no earth-shattering revelation, it’s pretty simple - just make the most of everything and take the time to appreciate how lucky you are. If need be, imagine that you could never do what you’ve just done ever again, whether it’s something incredible such as landing a 720 on your snowboard, or something as simple as stroking a cat. Take a moment every day to appreciate your life, the small things, the great things, don’t race through life without noticing.

So my advice? Take a moment to be happy and to enjoy life right now, for what it is. Be nostalgic about this morning, don’t wait to look back. For the time is now!

- Juliet

EDITOR/PUBLISHER/DESIGNER Juliet Elliott PICTURES Lydia Garnett, Nathan Gallager, Dave Noakes, Joel Benjamin, LGVL, Carly Scott, Emily Maye, Mirja Geh, Hannah Bailey, Julian Bleeker, Genyphyr Novak, Joel Fraser

Photo: Nathan Gallager

WORDS Andrew Hartwell, Hannah Bailey, Dave Noakes, Gemma Ford, Jenna Selby, Hannah Coombes , Katy Dartford

Cover: Rebecca Kaye www.rebeccajkaye.com Photo: LGVL This page: Mirja Geh All rights reserverd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form without permission from the publisher. The opinions of authors do not neccesarily represent those of the publisher

This magazine would not have been possible without the help and support of everyone who believes in Coven and what we are doing.

A HUGE thanks to all our contributors, readers and advertisers.

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY Coven Press For enquiries, please contact juliet@covenmagazine.com

10 Show and Tell The best GPS cycle computers 17 But Why? Sam Hart and Amanda Wilmer discuss the allure of the triathlon 19 Emily Maye Are cycling and ballet so far removed?

24 If Only I’d Known That Advice for your twelve year old self 32 Speedy Ready Olympian, Shanaze Reade in her own words 36 Skin Savers Still slathering yourself in chcmicals?

38 Jess Kimura The long road to the top 46 Tin Can Forest Mysterious forces at work 54 Travel Mountain biking Afan 58 Travel Mission: WOW 72 Fashion We Began To Grow Warmer 66 Skateboard Wizard Jenna Selby meets Lizzie Armanto

WE LOVE

OBJECTS OF

Want to look absolutely smokin’ on your bike?

If you like to keep it girly, you’re gonna love the new Ananicoola range just as much as we do.

Stand-out pieces are the ‘Cafe Dress’ (pictured above) and the excellent star print leggings. www.ananichoola.co.uk

Coven’s handpicked favourites

DESIRE

Need an extra lock to deter those dastardly bike thieves? Knog’s lightweight 1.3 metre ‘Party Coil’ is available in eight colours $24.95 www.knog.com.au Cheer up dreary days with Roxy’s ‘Brightly’ hawaiian shirt. £49.99 www.roxy.com

UNDER COVER

Our favourite grumpy cyclist takes to the road with his toddler in tow, travelling from the U.S to Europe in search of family friendly cycle cities.

A Bike Snob Abroad £10.99 www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com

Marshall have been wowing audiences with their clear, expressive sounding amps for over 50 years, and now you can bring a little slice of rock and roll home with the new collection of headphones. Featured here, the Minor Whites kept us rocking whilst we put together this issue.

We especially liked the unique way the earphones are secured, perfect for active ladies like ourselves. £50 www.marshallheadphones.com

The boys at Dalikfodda have teamed up with Dragon to bring you a super limited version of the D1X googles. Get stuck in with the enclosed patch, pins, badge and sewing kit then fling on the bandana and hit the slopes, leather jacket obligatory. £80 www.snowboard-asylum.com

WE LOVE Why settle for more of the same? A unique take on running attire, the Nike X Undercover Gyakusou collection features ultra-lightweight fabrics in eye catching designs. from £65 www.nike.com

We’ve got our eyes on this Ryan McGinley for Edun African Elephant shirt. Printed on 100% Ugandan cotton, make a beeline for the Eden website to get yours. £80 www.edun.com

LDN LOVE A pocket sized tome packed with area by area insider knowledge, The Wellbeing Guide To London lists the healthiest (and loveliest) places to eat and look after yourself. Information on yoga classes & fitness centres round up this handy guide, perfect for some healthy inspiration on the hoof. www.wellbeing-london.com

WARRIOR A variation of the Warrior II pose, reverse warrior helps to develop strength and stamina.

Gemma Ford tells us how it’s done. www.loveyogaonline.com

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Step the left foot to the back of your mat turning the outside of the foot to be in line with the short end of your mat.

With your right knee over the ankle, press down firmly with the outer left foot and make sure your shoulders are over your hips with your arms at shoulder height.

Right toes pointing forwards, bend the right knee deeply, bringing the knee over the ankle. Allow the hips to face the long edge of your mat and reach your arms out in line with your legs, palms facing dowm.

To reverse the warrior drop your left hand back onto your leg for light support and reach the right arm up and over head turning the palm to face the ground reaching through the finger tips, keeping the lower body strong and still grounding through the feet.

SECRET SMILE Created in 2009 as a place to share stories of girls living their own way, from day one, Smile At Your Sister focused on passionate, inspiring women; creative girls close to nature.

Over time the blog’s format evolved; no longer content to deliver pictures and interviews in the traditional manner, Smile At Your Sister began to step outside the common medium and create something tangible, something with an element of surprise and a greater ability to deliver something unique and personal.

Curated by Art Director Daniela Bily and Kathrin Knapp, the ‘Secret Smile’ artist edition bags are full of wonders, containing works from female artists, creative and athletes worldwide. Inspired by childhood art projects and a sense of adventure, every bag contains a surprise mix of art, objects or music.

Daniela herself is not keen on giving away too much about the latest edition, telling us, “the only thing I might reveal is that there’s a bear, a touch of california, a bleeding knee, a shark, a monster for your skin and songs about being sad.”

Secret Smile Edition Two contributing artists and athletes include Catherine Clark, Crista Leonard, Julia Pott, Kitzi, Laura Austin, Sophie Morawetz, Tamara Praderand Element Eden advocates Sarah Larnach, Courtney Brims and Kareena Zerefos.

www.smileatyoursister.blogspot.com

ACCENT MAG Accent Magazine is a global celebration of lives lived outside of the ordinary, a platform to celebrate unconventionality. Incorporating themes of fashion, art, music and subculture, Accent gives voice to extraordinary individuals by collaborating with international photographers on film, photography and written projects.

Founded and curated by photographer Lydia Garnett and designer Lucy Nurnberg, the publication is released quarterly online, with each issue collating ten diverse portrait stories from around the world. Issue One features work from Lizzie King, Vic Lentaigne, Jamie Stoker and Ellie Jauncey.

Lydia, told us “One of the main things on our minds when curating an issue is to produce a balanced collection of projects. We want our stories to feature a strong mix of subjects in terms of age, gender, sexuality and nationality, united by the idea of unconventional living.”

She continued, “This year we’re excited to release three more issues of Accent magazine and to meet even more extraordinary individuals. We’ll be travelling lots for shoots - we’re in Berlin next month, and planning trips to Ireland and Spain over the summer.

At the end of the year, we want to publish an annual of all the stories from the first four issues.” www.accent-magazine.com

Show And Tell

CYCLING COMPUTERS Love it or hate it, technology is here to stay. It might appear intimidating and confusing to begin with but once you embrace the plethora of social networking sites, blogs, smart phones and tablets there is always room for one more useful item. Cycle computers have been getting more and more advanced over the past few years and are now a useful addition to your arsenal of kit, whether you’re a commuter or a seasoned racer.

GPS Cycle computers allow you to record your ride and will give you valuable feedback including how many calories you’ve burned, your cadence, speed, distance, time. They also work as route planners the maps can be used for navigation so you never have to end up lost in the middle of nowhere again.

A really positive feature is seeing the number of calories burned steadily increase throughout your ride, inspiring you to put in as many miles as you can and to refuel properly as well. We put three of the best cycle computers on the market to the test.

GARMIN EDGE 800 £299.99

The Garmin 800 is extremely simple to use. Setting up the optional cadence monitor was slightly more fiddly, but in basic mode, the 800 works straight out of the box and the device itself attaches simply and securely with no faff.

One of the most appealing things about the Garmin is it's simplicity, this straight forward, no nonsense cycle computer is user friendly and very reliable. It’s also fully compatible with Strava, so to add your rides all you need to do is plug it in to your computer, log in and upload.

The device works well both off road and on as it’s compatible with OS mapping as well as European street maps. If you’re accustomed to an iPhone, using the map to naviagate can be tricky - though you can see exactly where you are and what direction you’re heading in, it’s a bit fiddly and unclear. You can however, program a ride or search for a place or postcode and the 800 will display a route and give you clear, easy to follow directions. Programming your own route on your computer requires the downloading of additional software.

The 2.6 inch colour backlit touch-screen can easily be operated in gloves and displays your ride data clearly in all conditions. For some extra pennies you can add a heart rate monitor and cadence sensor to analyse your ride in greater detail.

The Garmin 800 is an amazing piece of technology and it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into the design which is well executed. A cinch to use, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this amazing bit of kit.

MIO CYCLO 300 £259.99 A really nice feature of the Mio is the ‘surprise me’ function - you can choose how far or for how long you would like to ride, and it will come up with three routes matched to your requirements. It records your ride data and route effectively and has a wealth of additional features - we liked the fact your can search for local bike shops, cafes and emergency services .

The unit itself is quite large considering the screen size although it is still very light and robust. We’d have preferred a better way of attaching the bracket to thehan a zip tie.

The Mio has the largest display out of the units we tested and the 3 inch display is crisp, clear, bright and colourful. The controls are similar to that of the iPhone – a touch screen display with a home button and it’s incredibly easy to use - just charge and off you go. The menu is clear and easy to navigate, the brightly coloured tiles clearly titled so you know what does what and won’t end up furiously clicking buttons unsure whether it is recording.

The Mio looks good and performs just as well, measuring time, speed, distance, height, calorie consumption and more. Unfortunately you cannot attach a heart rate monitor to this specific model but it’s still a great GPS computer with for the keen cyclist with some great, unique functions. It could however, be improved by having a longer battery life.

BRYTON RIDER 50E £279.99 is displayed in the centre of the screen, granted it’s not overly useful but it makes us feel like we know where we are going and it is easy enough to replace it with something else.

When it came to maps, pre-programming a route and following directions was easy but when we wanted to check where we were it was impossible to zoom in to see street names. We also found the buttons a little clunky, particularly when wearing gloves and it was quite easy to make a mistake and miss out on recording your ride.

The Bryton Rider 50 is a decent, functional GPS computer at a reasonable price which does exactly what it’s supposed to do - it’s very precise at tracking your ride, recording the data and giving directions.

The Rider 50’s 2.2inch screen is clear and bright so you'll have no problem seeing the display in any light or weather conditions. The home screen is fully customisable, allowing you to choose the display which best suits your needs. We really like the compass that

You will need to install Bryton’s software to use the device and download your rides before uploading them if you use Strava, and when we tested ours we found the track weren’t labelled in a very user friendly manner.

However, Bryton are constantly updating the software to fix bugs and glitches so perhaps this might be improved upon. Like the Garmin, you can also pair the Rider 50 with a heart rate monitor and cadence sensor if you want to step your training up a notch.

Dave Noakes / ride-everything.com

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I t ’s f u n n y h ow s o m e t h i n g s a r e s o i n n a n t e l y appealing, yet others can leave you somewhat baffled.

I n e f f o r t t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e a d di c t i v e a p p e a l o f t h e o n e o f t h e w o r l d ’s f a s t e s t g r ow i n g c o m p e t i t i v e s p o r t s , COVEN listened in on a conversation between a pair o f c o m mi t e d t r i a t h l e t e s . B o t h A m a n d a a n d S a m c o a c h t r i a t h l o n i n t h ei r s p a r e t i m e a n d l a s t y e a r , A m a n d a w a s s e l e c t e d t o G r e a t B r i t a i n i n t h e I T U Tr i a t h l o n Wo r l d C h a m p i o n s h i p s F i n a l i n Au c k l a n d , N e w Zealand.

MANDY: So Sam, why do you do triathlons, what’s the appeal for you?

we’re just like ‘ok!’ Triathlons make you lose all your boundaries.

SAM: Well, I think I like all the disciplines separately, and I don’t know if I should say this but, I don’t know if I actually enjoy the physical act of a triathlon, like all the dilly dallying around with the different equipment all one go! But I love all the things separately as it gives me something to aim for and is more interesting.

SAM: And once you’ve achieved one thing, you’re like ‘what can I do next?’ Because naturally you want to progress. It takes you out of everything you’re thinking about and you’re just concentrating on learning something new.

MANDY: I think I like it because it is so diverse. Before triathlons, all I did was run so it’s introduced me to cycling which I now love. And I the people you meet are really outgoing and really passionate; no one is scared of anything.

SAM: Every person I meet that does triathlons I find inspiring in different ways.

MANDY: I have a theory, most triathletes have to learn one of their disciplines, so there’s a certain humbleness about them because they are aware that they’re good at one thing but not another. So they they learn, they train, they do the appropriate drills and get better, and it shows you that you can go from nothing to... well zero to hero if you like, it shows you that you can do anything you want.

SAM: That’s so true! The people I’ve met on triathlons really push themselves to do it and learn.

MANDY: Before you know it, if someone says ‘lets swim 10k down the river,’ and

When I started swimming four years ago, I couldn’t do front crawl and I loved learning it. The thing about swimming for me is that I’m always improving. With the other two, I get better and worse and better and worse! I improve or I’m injured or it’s Christmas...

MANDY: What do you think about the fitness thing? Like the training and how much time you have to spend doing it.

You’re training for three sports in one week, it’s pretty challenging.

SAM: Going cycling or running to me is time to switch off, and you get those endorphins afterwards. It can be the end of the day and I feel really tired and crap and can’t really be bothered, but I just do it and afterwards, everything is so much clearer. I think sports do that to me and I think sports do that to a lot of people in our group. It’s time for yourself.

MANDY: Time to forget about London life!

SAM: Doing triathlons is a way to do that but also to have some structure around it, to

THE CURIOUS APPEAL OF THE TRIATHON

have goals and friends that you can train with.

MANDY: I like social aspect. And I like the fact it’s relatively equal when it comes to gender. In the races, we start after the boys, but I like that you can catch them up on the run or bike! It’s a very equal male to female ratio and I like that you can be better then the boys at a lot of stuff!

SAM: People always ask me ‘how do you do it? How do you get up in the morning?’ I love the feeling if I’ve been for a swim in the mornings and get to work, I just feel different, you body feels so much better, it gets all the blood moving and I feel invigorated. It’s a cliché

but when the alarm goes off I feel like crap and don’t want to get up but once I’m swimming it’s great.

MANDY: The thing I find is, as it’s three disciplines you can’t just not do the training because the chances are that later on you will be doing something else and you’ll have missed your chance. My alarm is set for 6am every morning and I’ve never regretted training or getting up in the morning, only not training.

SAM: Everything you do in your life it kind of relates to, I never regret doing anything either, I only regret not doing something. Well...of course I do regret doing some things, haha!

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SAM: Mandy, how did you get into triathlons?

MANDY: I decided to enter a sprint race in the London triathlon, I knew that if I entered a race then I would have to do it. I got knocked off by bike in the cycle section, but still finished the race, running with my bike because my chain got stuck and I knew nothing about fixing bikes. I had to sleep on my front with my arm hanging out the bed for a couple of weeks because I ripped my arm and back to shreds in the crash. I met you on my second triathlon, right?

SAM: Yeah, my first one.

MANDY: What made you start?

SAM: I started running because wanted to do some form of exercise living in London, then I got injured and couldn’t run so I started swimming. I have a cycling background and all the time I was thinking I really want to add cycling and do all three. It just made sense. I had to work on the swimming....

MANDY: I think it’s a real steep incline of improvement in triathlons. You just get better and better and better, you do have to work hard. You never think ‘I can’t do that,’ all you think is ‘yes I really can!’

You just need to break it down into manageable parts.

When I’m swimming all I’m thinking of is the swim, well I do think ‘ok don’t go too crazy because you have to get up and get on the bike.’ But really all I’m thinking about is that discipline at that time.

SAM: I’m usually thinking ‘ok I need to just get beyond that buoy.’ Or I just need to get up this hill! I think I break mine down into even smaller parts, just get to the bridge, just get to that corner...

MANDY: It is hard work, but anyone can do it.

SAM: It’s not as mental as it sounds. It’s a great gateway in to three amazing sports.

With thanks to London Fields Traithlon Club and London Fields Lido

BUZZKILL B r i t i s h s n ow b o a r d e r , K AT I E B L U N D E L L o n f o r g e t t i n g h e r b o y f r i e n d ’s n a m e My sketchiest moment ever was probably at North Star, in the States. I went over a jump, fell and was getting up when I looked back up the hill and saw a snowboard flying through the air, straight towards my head! After that it all went blank. I heard later that my boyfriend punched the guy.

I couldn't remember anything. I even called my boyfriend 'Keith,' instead of Rich at the hospital. I had to have brain scans, all sorts of tests, I couldn’t remember who I was, where I was, anything really.

It took me over a week to even begin to start feeling better and a few months later I couldn't really remember how I got to America or any of the events leading up to it.

In America no one waits, you get half way to the kicker

and someone is dropping in behind you, and if you’re doing a rail people just follow you straight away. They don’t wait for anyone, you have to go at their pace, so I just didn’t have time to get out the way.

I so nervous when I got back on the slopes again, very aware and always checking who was around me. I was back on the slopes after a week but it knocked it out of me a bit - I hadn’t actually caused the accident myself, so I was really cautious. I now make sure I am wearing my helmet religiously. I had one on when the board hit me in the head and I would have been gone without one. So thanks Bern!

My memory has totally come back now ...but I think I’m a bit thicker now because I’m missing a few brain cells! It was a really weird experience.

Photo: Nathan Gallagher

emily maye ON CYCLING’S BALLETIC GRACE After growing up studying ballet and training her lens on the enigmatic world of pirouettes and tutus, Emily Maye’s passion for photography hit a turning point after playing ‘fantasy cycling’ during the Tour De France with her father. Swopping dancers for cyclists and the confines of the studio for the roads of the world, Emily’s evocative photos capture the harsh beauty of a life dedicated to cycling, her delicate voyeurism imbueing the tough reality and raw emotion of competive life with a golden glow.

When did you first take up photography and for how long has it been your profession?

I first took up photography in high school as a freshman then at college I studied cinema and screenwriting and very much wanted to be a writer/director of films. I was taking photographs the whole time, but while I was writing after college, I started to get more and more serious about taking photographs. I moved into photography a few years ago and sort of put writing on hold.

I started photographing cycling two years ago this Spring, at the 2011 Tour of California. Now I am moving towards combining writing and photography, it’s nice to come back to writing after a but of time away from it. I miss cinema very much sometimes though and so I try to infuse the photographs with as much cinema as I can.

Honestly, I wish I had gone into cinematography in college. I don’t understand why I didn’t see that path at the time.

Why cycling?

I absolutely love the sport of cycling, especially the history of it. I love the drama of stage races and the single day classics, and the way luck plays such a strange roll in the outcome. The tactics and complexities fascinate me. Yet beyond that there’s a compelling visual.

So many sports are in closed stadiums that always look the same.

Cycling moves through natural elements and is subject to weather and the tone of the country that the race is in. That makes it really interesting to photograph. I also think there is a physicality to it and a tension between strength and frailty that draws me in visually. The combination of those elements are why I’ve chosen to spend the last two years dedicated to it.

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,Pic-

It’s quite a move from ballet...

I grew up in ballet. My mom was a professional ballet dancer and she owned a ballet studio where I started when I was 3 years old. I danced until I was 22 and then began teaching. I would take photographs, wanting to capture the tone of ballet from inside the company.

It’s interesting doing that with something that you know quite well and then applying the same idea to something that you’re discovering as you photograph it. I’ve learned a lot about cycling as I’ve been so close to it now. I probably see things slightly different than I did that first week I started photographing it. I never had that fresh perspective with ballet and sometimes I wish I could have it back with cycling.

You spend a lot of time on the road photographing teams and races. Do you enjoy being constantly on the go or do you crave time at home? Where is home for you?

I spend a lot of time on the road and for the most part I really enjoy it. I’ve had an apartment in Los Angeles during this time and I just decided to get rid of it and put my stuff in storage for the upcoming season. Of course sometimes you crave time at home and when you get home, you crave traveling. But for the most part I really enjoy going to different places and meeting different people. I would say the hardest part is the actual logistics of traveling. And sometimes you end up in a place that you’d really like to explore and there is no time because of the work and you end up back at the airport without having had a chance to check the place out or go to a local pub. On those days, I don’t like it nearly as much.

Some of your photos are quite intimate, you capture a lot of emotion as well as action.

Do you build up a rapport with your subjects or try and remain ‘outside’ of their world, documenting it?

That intimacy of the photos is the thing that is most important to me and is what I am looking for when I go to take a photo. Sometimes you can sneak it better when they don’t know you and you are on the outside

and then sometimes that trust is what allows you to be there in the moment and blend in. So it’s a little bit of both depending on the circumstances. I think you really have to be ready to catch that moment when you see it and sometimes seeing it is the difference. That’s the tricky and rewarding thing about photographing people. I hope to get better and better at that.

When will we see a book of your photos?

A book is really my top goal. Photographs are so much nicer in print than on a computer. I also have a very clear idea of what I would like to do for a book and how it would feel looking through it. I hope I am able to do that soon.

What projects are you working on at the moment?

I just got finished photographing the cyclocross season from September - February and now it’s the road cycling season, so it’s shift of gears. I am heading to Belgium to photograph the Spring Classics which is my favorite time of year. I will be documenting behind the scenes preparation for some of the races with some big name riders and also working on a project about Development that I am really excited about. I will be following some 16-22 year olds throughout the year and writing about the Development process. In May, I will go behind the scenes of the Tour of California with the Bontrager Pro Cycling Team and again in August.

Whats the favourite thing you’ve worked on, and what would be the dream job/ comission?

My favorite job was the Rapha Lookbook at the Team Sky Training Camp in Mallorca.

That was a really cool experience and I was happy with the way it turned out. My dream job would be to do a Grand Tour from behind the scenes embedded with a team. preferably the Giro d’Italia. I love that race.

Do you have favourite cyclists, either as athletes/competitors or subjects?

I really like Fabian Cancellara as an athlete and I look forward to photographing him for

the first time this Spring. I really liked Carlos Sastre and I wish I had a chance to photograph him before he retired.

Mark Cavendish is a rider I have a lot of respect for and would love to photograph as well.

Whats your preferred medium? Do you feel like digital democratsised photography or took away the magic?

I mostly shoot digital because of the demands of the clients and cost but I really appreciate analogue as well. I think that there is a tendency to not place as much emphasis on composition when you are working with digital and that is a shame. I certainly prefer using a smaller camera than a large one in either situation. www.emilymaye.com

IFONLY I’D KNOWN THAT THEN Photographers, LGVL aka Lydia Garnett and Vic Lentaigne ask half a dozen Londoners what advice they’d give their twelve-year-old selves

Keep on being the little weirdo

, Moving Image Student.

Be kind to your parents. Don't make the same hair mistakes of the future. Enjoy yourself looking the best you'll ever look!

Emily, Designer Everything happens for a reason, so don’t sweat the small stuff.

Victoria, Ilustrator.

Imogen, Singer Songwriter.

I’d tell myself to Write it all down. www.garnettandlentaigne.com.

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shanaze IN HER OWN WORDS

An outspoken, no nonsense Crewe lass with the most powerful thighs we’ve ever seen, three times World BMX Champion, Shanaze Reade felt the weight of the nation on her shoulders last summer. She tells us about her Olympic bid, why women should ride BMX and her time as a track cyclist with Victoria Pendleton.

I always loved sports, I had an old mountain bike and would race around the streets, loving how fast I could go and I’d build wooden ramps in my street and see how long I could jump. Then I saw this shiny, chrome BMX with gold parts...I asked my grandparents for months and months before Christmas if they would buy it for me, and surprise, surprise, on Christmas morning I woke up to the BMX. I was introduced to BMX racing when I was ten, starting out at the local track where they hired out bikes. I didn’t realise I was good at it straight away, but everyone would pretty much tell me from when I first went on to the track that I was!

I probably only realised it myself when I became European Champion aged 11. Within a couple of years I found myself going to all the different races across Europe.

I made the choice to race against guys in the UK nationals and because the competition was a lot higher, it pushed me to be a better BMX athlete.

When I started, it was pretty much all guys, there

were only about two other girls racing and I was like ‘where are the others?’ I used to go to the track and see the guys doing jumps that I couldn’t do and it would motivate me to get better and better, to be the best at the sport.

With BMX, you always want to be able to jump a bigger jump, or you want to be able to do the best gate start you can do. There’s always something, I mean even now at the level that I’m at, I’m always refining my technique and looking at areas I can improve, it’s a sport where as the skill level is so high, you’re always finding ways to get better and better. So I’m always practising gate starts because the most important part is the start of a race; if you get into the first corner first or the bottom of the start hill first, you generally have a good chance of winning. So we practice gates and sprint starts sixty metre standing start sprints to try and improve our strength and our speed.

I got in to track cycling for my BMX - I wanted to train indoors because of the poor weather in England - it’s nice smooth track and you don’t have to

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Š Red Bull Media House

worry about the rain or wind! Within six weeks of starting, I became World Champion, which felt pretty crazy! I just clicked with the sport and enjoyed training and racing with Victoria (Pendleton). I’ll definitely be competiting in the next Olympics in Rio, but whether it will be in BMX or track is hard to say right now. I know my heart lies in BMX at the moment, but who knows what the future holds. Maybe in the future I’ll do more track racing, but right now I am 100% BMX. The first time I competed (in the Olympics) in 2008, I didn’t really know how to manage mentally. It was hard just arriving there as so many British cyclists had done so well, winning so many gold medals - I felt the pressure to perform and get a gold as well.

Pressure can do two things to me – it can make me perform out of my skin and push myself to a whole new level or sometimes it can get to me and I can make mistakes. As I get older and more experienced this happens a lot less. I learnt a lot from the 2008 Games and it helped me to deal with a lot of things in London.

It’s important not to change things in the lead up to a major event, but to just replicate what has worked in the past. So before the Olympics my training was the same as it always is, but in the back of my mind I had the thought ‘the Olympics are coming’ and that helped a lot to hit personal bests on the track and in the gym.

I would have liked to have raced a lot more than I did in 2012 in the lead up to the London Olympics, but with injury and illness I wasn’t able to. Racing is the key thing, training is second to that so to not race a lot last year because of injuries didn’t help things at all and I lost confidence in my abilities. Even a week before the World Champs, I took a big crash and ended up in hospital with whiplash after I completely knocked myself out. Immediately after my race in London, I felt exactly how you’d imagine - sad, angry, and upset.

I was actually happy with how the motos (heats) went and how I was dealing with a ‘home’ Olympics, but in the final I just was too laid back because I hadn’t raced enough - I couldn’t tap in to the zone like I normally can which resulted in me getting a late start.

© Red Bull Media House

This year is a new year with new challenges, I will be racing a lot more and want to win back my world titles, I want to become World Champion and time trial World Champion. I’m attending all World Cups so this year I would love to win the overall series. I have big goals but I’ve been training hard and I believe I can make these happen.

I’ve lived my whole dream through BMX racing, I’ve got to travel, meet friends and make a decent living from the sport. I’ve got to go to the Olympic Games and meet amazing athletes. For men or women, but especially women, it’s an avenue you can go down where you can reach the top! It’s not a sport where it’s full of men and you should be scared to take part, it’s a sport where men will welcome you when you go down to the local BMX track. I don’t think girls should be scared about getting into BMX because you can fall off, I mean you can hurt yourself in any sport!

T h e a v e r a g e w o m a n h a s a s t a g g e r i n g nu m b e r o f beauty products in her bathroom cabinet. HANNAH COOMBS has a think about that long list of i n g r e di e n t s o n t h e b a c k o f t h e b o t t l e .

SAVE OUR SKIN Go and take a look at the ingredients in your shower gel. Do you know what any of them are? The majority of those words you can’t pronounce are most likely parabens, synthetic preservatives, which essentially make the products in your bathroom and your make up bag last longer. Athough that may seem like a good thing financially, studies are revealing that these cosmetic chemicals are producing potentially harmful side effects.

We are all educated enough these days to know that artificial ingredients and preservatives found in foods aren’t good for us, so I can’t help but wonder why it hasn’t really crossed our minds to question what we put onto our skin. While many of us are choosing to do our best to eat healthily, I don’t think enough of us have jumped onto the bandwagon to start creating a larger demand for healthier skin products too. Rows and rows of brightly packaged, fruity, fresh and artificially colored products jump out at us from the shelves, we choose the one we like the smell or look of the most and head to the checkout.

But surely being kind to our skin is just as important as smelling good?!

Baby skincare is marketed with the most gentle of ingredients, and we wouldn’t dream of putting anything harsh on our nippers. So when did it suddenly become ok to start using these products with harsh ingredients, just because we’ve grown up? Multiply the usage of shower gels, shampoos and moisturizers by one or more times a day for a lifetime, and we start to see that in the long run, we’re not being kind to our skin or our bodies.

metics will contain parabens. The most commonly found are methyl, ethyl, propyl and butylparaben and the concern is that these chemicals can mimic hormones in the body and disrupt functions of the endocrine system.

Alhough more research needs to be done, it has been found that some cancerous tumors have a significant concentration of parabens present. It is at this point I feel that even if there is the smallest risk of these products posing a threat, why continue to use them?

Taking this all a step further, there is a neverending list of frequently used ingredients, other than parabens, which are also being questioned for their safety; aluminium in deodorants, synthetic dyes used only for making all these products look pretty and the fact that a labeled (synthetic) ‘fragrance’ means that there may be up to 200 undeclared ingredients, as companies are not required to reveal the make up for a particular scent. Frightening, right?

While a select few larger companies are now at least giving us the option of fewer chemicals, there is still little awareness in the high street stores. I counted eleven different brands of shower gel, all in a range of different colours and scents in my local pharmacy, and only one was labeled paraben free, the Sanex ‘Zero %’ range. My local organic store however, has an extensive range of paraben free skincare, the only negative being that their products are generally more expensive.

My fear is that there is so much pressure on society to look good, the effects of what we are putting on our skin are largely overlooked.

Pre-teen girls want to look older, the forty to sixty somethings want to look younger, and the media bombards us with all the products we need to achieve that.

When making your selection, it pays to see beyond clever marketing ploys - read past the spoonful of avocado oil or some sort of plant related name - some companies will have the word ‘natural’ or something similar labeled on their packaging specifically to catch our eye and make us think it is just that, 100% natural, when in fact they may just contain some natural ingredients, alongside the usual nasty culprits.

It is estimated that 75 to 90 percent of cos-

I wonder how many of us also think about

R the environment when we pull the plug out of the bath. Another positive outcome of companies producing less harmful skin care is that with fewer chemicals comes less impact on the aquatic and environmental ecosystems.

There are now endless websites with detailed information on what to avoid when choosing your skin care. Even if some of us just make a start by changing our shower gel on our next shop, then there’ll soon be enough of us to create a bigger demand for more skin healthy options in the high street. Who’s with me?

Words: Hannah Coombs Illustration: Joel Benjamin 37

JESS KIMURA THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN SITTING PRETTY

Queen of the urban shred, fly-fishing enthusiast, Apocalypse ready, Jess Kimura is one of the most inspirational people we have met and not just on a snowboard. She makes us want to hunt out danger, get rad, enjoy the world and be happy about who we are. Everyone is in need of a dose of danger and Jess provides it, in-fact she attracts it.

Just awarded ‘Women’s Rider of the Year’ and ‘Readers Choice’ at the Rider’s Polls, this rail-riding, urban slayer is dominating the female shred scene with her bad-ass, rad lass way. And with her first pro-model with Capita hitting the the slopes next season, it’s about time we say, she’s laboured and waited long enough, it’s been a long road to the top and she’s got big plans… not all of them involving snowboarding.

Words and Portraits by Hannah Bailey 39

How, when and why did you first get on a snowboard?

I grew up in a town where everything was centered around a ski hill, everyone had a pass, it was really cheap so we all grew up skiing. When I got my first snowboard, I hated it and thought snowboarding was way too hard. Then I turned up in the parking lot one day and there was a jump these kids had built. I wanted to try it; I thought it was so cool that you could go in the air on your snowboard, it had never occurred to me! The guys said ‘no, this jumps just for backflips.. go away’ so I was like, 'f*ck you guys, I can do a backflip!'

I hucked one straight on to my head! Everyone was like 'holy shit!' I mean, I still couldn’t turn toe side, but from day one I was trying back flips!

We can’t imagine you as a skier.. but do you think your ski start it was a good base?

Just being at the hill helped me, but as far as skills go, it held me back. I couldn’t for the life of me work out how you to go sideways down a hill. I couldn't wrap my head around snowboarding, and I sucked at it! It took me so long to figure it out.

shit, I want to make snowboard videos and I want to be in snowboard videos!’

Do you have any of the old vids?

I do, but I have to transfer them on to digital. I have so many embarrassing backflips on to my head!

A lot of girls drop out of sport, what kept you dropping in?

There was no reason for me to stop. It wasn’t even an option. Snowboarding was all I wanted to do, there is nothing that I feel as free doing. I felt so caged my whole life - as a girl growing up, there are all these messages saying you have to be one way, look this way or act this way and I hated that, it would really piss me off!

Me and my friend, Dykeboy, who filmed my 'Barely' video part, we were like ‘screw you society, how dare you expect us to be this stupid way!’ Snowboarding was the one way we could get legitimate respect from guys that wasn’t about looks. We could do something! We would hide our hair, we wanted to look like dudes and just not get pigeon holed in to being like chicks. I don't even remember what the original question was….

I never honestly believed I was going to make it

How old were you when it clicked?

15. After a year. Once I’d hucked that backflip! It didn’t click in the sense I was good, but it clicked as far as ‘I don’t care if I’m good, I’m just going to try really hard.’

What was your first set-up?

A 156/158 Noah Salasnek, Sims pro model from the 80s. It had a yellow base with skate trucks on the bottom. It was pretty classic, I wish I held on to it, it would have been such a collectable item. But I hated it so much at the time, the bindings were broken, it had triple straps and they would pop out and I would go flying. So I got rid of it! When I got a board that fit me, I realized, 'wow, snowboarding’s easier than I thought.'

When did snowboarding become your life?

My second year riding, that’s all we did. Me and my best mate, we started snowboarding together and our lives became all about it. The second year, I threw out my skies and never skied again. My parents had an old handicam and we started filming and I realized, ‘holy

Why you didn’t stop?

We would have never… We used to wear large pants and try and be as repulsive to dudes as much as possible. It’s like a filtering system! If guys were down to hang out and ride with us, that meant they were down for us looking like shit.

How did you get hooked up by sponsors?

That was a long, twisted and crumbling road. I started really being able to enter contests when I was 16 and I didn't start riding for Capita until I was 24... So that's a long time of struggling. I used to ride for Rome, I was trying so hard but didn't get much back. I remember when I quit Rome, I was thinking I’m going to quit snowboarding or quit trying to be sponsored. But then it turned out a dude I knew started working for Capita and flowed me some boards. Then I went out and filmed a whole bunch of shit on those boards and that was the turning point. If I didn’t get that Capita hookup it would never have happened…

That's a long haul…. Shows how much passion you have for snowboarding to have stuck that long at it.

I don't know why I tried so hard for so long. When all my friends dropped off, got real jobs and went to college, I just kept struggling, trying to make it. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't stop, not until I got there. I tried so hard that I over compensated, and it ended up way bigger than I imagined. I never thought I would get here. I can sit here today and say that I never honestly believed I was going to make it. Even when I won those first awards, cause I was so used to being kicked down, I was thinking, this is good for today but tomorrow no one’s going to give a shit, so keep trying. I think that helped me in the end.

So how do you feel about the position you are in today? Respected, winning awards, travelling…

Its crazy, I’m still getting used to it and trying to see it as a good thing.

Maybe a year or two ago, I was so used to having to battle for everything, I thought this was just going to be another battle, get ready for it!

But it’s not.

It’s amazing to hear the amount of time and effort you put in to get something back. In this day and age people think things come with minimal effort, some people probably look at you and think how lucky you are…

I get that from some people in the industry too, people who don't know my back story, who just think I showed up and took everyone’s coverage away from them. I get that vibe from some people. But you don't know me, don't know what the fuck I’ve been through. I guarantee it's nothing that you've ever seen in your lifetime.

When you're at the top people are always going to try to take shots at you to cut you down. That's something that I’ve got to accept and not take personally and do something good with.

Do you find the hater side of things difficult to deal with?

Yeah, but it probably drives me a little harder. I’m going to show you!

Guys have no clue what it's like for girls growing up, with all those messages

If I look at it in a different sense, I have a chance to do something for something I give a shit about, which is girls and giving little girls a reason to look at something good, instead of this stupid nothing, this Barbie idiot. This is what I think is the raddest thing about being in this position now, just being able to have a positive influence without forcing it. When I was young I hated being told what to do, but if you just show someone by your actions, set a good example, then they will look at it and follow that way. Instead of you saying ’go to church, stop doing drugs…’

And show girls that there’s more to life than sitting around looking pretty and feeling shit about yourself?

Yes, it's fucked! Guys have no clue what it’s like for girls growing up, with all those messages. When you’re young you don't really think for yourself, you just think what you’re supposed to think and a lot of that is totally nuts stuff. Its unfair but at the same time if you can break out of that. You think if I was a dude I’d be anywhere in snowboarding? No! I’d just be another one of the mix. But the thing about being a girl, and when I was younger I always wished I was a dude, is that you have a chance to be something different and that makes such an impact. More than to just be another guy that's good at snowboarding.

Do you ever feel like you push yourself too hard?

Yeah, logically I guess so. But in my own mind it doesn’t feel like it. If I can step back from a situation I can think, ok that was a bit much. But if it's just me doing what I’m doing, that's how I do everything. It's the same thing with rehab and training, I go all out. I can’t do anything half assed, I just don't know how!

It seems to work…

Most of the time, unless I fuck myself over.

Do you ever feel like you have to control yourself?

All the time.

You can see it in your riding, pushing yourself hard!

I’ve been going like a motherfucker this summer, I’ve never done training before but I’ve been doing a ton of rehab for my knee and getting super strong. I think that's going to help me. Being in way better shape, if I fall I won’t get hurt as easily and I’ll be able to recover faster.

Sounds like your maturing as a snowboarder?

Yeah. Hopefully. So I won’t be so loose! People were expecting that I’m always going to be hurt cause I’m stupid but it’s not that, I’ve just got to do things, and some people look at that and think your way too loose!

Your part in Think Thank, exposed you from the shadow,

Photo: Joel Fraser

29

how did it feel to go from unknown to winning awards?

I knew what my part was a whole year before. I just put my head down and, thought just do this, this is the chance you have been waiting for your whole life, don’t fuck this up! That was my first time filming with the real crew, it felt insane. The first trip I went on to Alaska with those guys, I was looking at them thinking, these are my heroes! I’ve been watching their videos all day everyday and now I’m in this crew.

A properly tweaked grab or a 180, to see someone else do - any guy can do flips, but to me it’s generic to watch.

For me to do, the best feeling trick is probably a cab 5 tail grab, I love that trick. A lot of other spins I’m doing, I don’t feel I know it well enough to tweak the grab but with a cab 5, something clicks. People know I can do rails, but there are so many other things I haven’t found the time to do yet or get good at. There is so much left I want to do!

So I tried so hard, every second I could. I was puking at spots because I was so beat up but still trying shit. I thought ‘this is my one shot’ and it really was. And if I had blown that, slacked that year, thought, ‘sweet I have my first travel budget ever’, it would never have happened. I didn’t even know I was going to have a full part. But then at the premiere in Hood, they start playing the movie and I’ve got the first part in Left Brain.

I had a heart attack, I couldn’t believe it! First of all to even have a part in their movie and secondly to have something that they thought was worthy of putting in as a first part in a guy’s video!

Anything in particular?

First off, in the streets, I want to experiment with concrete transitions more. Going up or down vert walls, instead of just doing typical down rail stuff. A good example is the thing I did in the Quebec episode of Barely (Jess’ webs series which dropped last year), the wall ride into flip things. Stuff like that. First off, the flip would have been hard enough, but you have to nail the wall ride in to it. Stuff that takes more than just a fluke, because you have to get through this crazy section into even hit the thing. So you have to nail 3 things in a row to do it properly.

Think Thank are so creative. What inspires your line?

Just trying to think of something different. A lot of the time there’s not enough snow or you’re getting kicked out of spots or everyone’s hit this rail...but is there something apart from the rail you can hit? Is there something you can jump onto then jump onto the rail?

That’s the kind of mindset. It’s those little things that end up being some of the best things ever, and that’s what Burt and those guys encourage, that’s the kind of environment they foster. Just creativity and looking at things a different way.

That trick, the wall ride in to flip in Barely was amazing, by the way! Tell us how it came about?

It took us a whole day to film it, it probably took like 20 tries. I was so desperate at that point, so tired and hurt. We’ve got to get this! I put my head down and we got it in less tries than I thought. Never done that trick before… If you didn’t nail the backside wallride, which was pretty hard to get, you wouldn’t have enough speed for the second bit.

What’s your favourite trick visually and to do yourself?

Did you visualize the trick?

Yes, originally I wanted to do a backside wall ride and frontside hand plant on the other wall. But it was hard

to get my hand down. A bunch of other Quebec railriding dudes turned up, it was so embarrassing. I just wanted them to go the fuck away. Then I just closed my eyes and hucked it. Got to my feet and was like sweet!

Lets get this going and get the hell outa here. Then the next day I blew my knee…

What’s with the name, ‘Barely’ anyway?

It was based on Jake Blauvelt’s project, which is called ‘Naturally’. Jake is so good, but me, I have to work a lot harder for things, it doesn’t come as naturally. So we were just joking around and Burt was like, you should call it Barely. We wanted to call it the Dickless Wander, but Transworld weren’t stoked on that… So we went with Barely.

Did you enjoy having your own series?

Yes and no. It was really stressful and a lot of pressure and really really hard to do. It took a lot out of me. I felt like I was done after the end of last season, I was so beat. Cause it’s all on you! I was the only rider there with a photographer and two filmers. They were like, ‘ok, go!’ but I wanted to go hide in my bed. I’m not complaining, it was a great experience and I’m glad I did it. But it was really difficult to do and I feel like we barely pulled it off. Everything was so barely. We were scratching to get by!

So no plans for series 2?

No, not yet. I want to go back and film a video part.

But you’re working on the Nike movie, is that your big focus for the season?

The Nike thing’s going to be a feature length film with their team, they have a pretty heavy team right now so I think it’s going to be crazy. I’m also doing Real Snow X Games, the girls’ version. Two snowboarders, two skiiers, two surfers, two skateboarders and we all go up against each other. I’m going to film for that and see how that goes.

Some people may say, ‘your pretty good for a girl’ or ‘you are legit for a girl rider.’ What do you think about that?

I’m not concerned with labels. It doesn't really bother me like it would have maybe 10 years ago. I would have been like… ‘girl, GIRL! Who you calling a girl?’ Anyone that says that and really thinks that was can go fuck themselves.

Why do you think snowboarding makes the world a better place?

It brings people together and it gives kids something to do besides fuck up. A lot of people look at people

who are snowboarding as messing up, but they’re not.

Its something so rad. To me, it’s all about hope, there is hope in it. You can have these dreams, like becoming a pro-snowboarder, and you can take this path and blaze your own trail. I think that's important for kids to know that that is out there, that option, and just to get those ideas from snowboarding and take them in to art, design or whatever career they have. Having that open mindset is something that can be really important for your whole life!

And what other things snowboarding?

I can build stuff. I can build my own shit. My nets, everything in my build.

do you like or do apart from use any power tool and I can furniture, racks for stuff, cabihouse I try to customize and

Are you building anything at the moment?

I have way too many projects I haven’t quite finished yet…I could do everything to build a house except for the electricals and plumbing.

Is that a dream?

Absolutely, I’ve got to get some of those shipping containers, take a plasma cutter, open up the inside and put some doors and windows in.

So why is being Jess Kimura’s good right now?

Fishing. I got into fly fishing this summer and it’s all I really think about right now. It’s going to give me something to do on all the days when you’re waiting around for the weather to clear and you can’t ride, I’m going to be out trying to get salmon. I’m practicing for the apocalypse; I’ve got my survival kit mapped out and my escape route. I guess I’m kinda hoping something will happen so I can go live in the wild, how I really believe I should be. I’ve just been doing outdoor things to practice, get all my survival skills down, not necessarily for the apocalypse just cause I like living in the woods.

What do you think you will be doing in 20-30 years?

I hope I will be doing something which is halfway between art and a trade, like welding crazy metal pieces for something. I dunno. Bringing the artistic sides into a trade, that you can bring something new and cool into. Maybe I’ll be a tile setter that does crazy mosaics or maybe I’ll build skateparks. Something that takes hard work as a trade but you can put your own twist on it and do it your own way. Either way, no matter what 45

There are mysterious forces at work in the woods‌ Werewolves, drunken skeletons, witches, vampires, talking animals, the spirits of the woodland.....

TIN CAN FOREST are an artistic duo comprised of Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek, and they first came to my attention with some illustrations in a small black metal zine called 'Oaken Throne', with their highly original imagery of the dark and disturbing yet with a strange fairy tale twist, imparting a feel of skewed normality.

Around the same time I discovered their first book 'Pohadky', an incredible small press publication that really expanded on their work. Whole new realms of folk patterns and traditional tales, clouds of witches and cats and part human creatures in glorious soft colours floating across the pages like some Wild Hunt.

Their work really encourages the reader to feel what the images express rather than necessarily being explicit in their narrative or linear meaning. In that respect TIN CAN FOREST produce truly special work as they create a world of liminal folklore, an ageless space that communicates with the reader from outside of time.

Braving the deep dark woods of Canada, Andrew Hartwell caught up with these modern myth makers to find out a little more..

How did you come to your signature and unique graphic style that graces Pohadky? Â

By Andrew Hartwell

How did you come to your signature and unique graphic style that graces Pohadky?

Petit Livre imprint. Pat edited the book, so she can speak to that..

Marek: Pohadky was our first published book, back in 2008. At the time we were working around the clock in commercial animation, and to clear our heads of that type of work we began designing characters and landscapes for the type of animated films we wanted to do ourselves.

This evolved into a series of images we called "Domovoi" after the Russian house spirit, since we are very inspired by Rus-

Pat: I wanted the experience of reading the book to be more like watching a short film, so Pohadky was edited to have a certain filmic rhythm, with close ups and pans, and an implied narrative arc with sections of calm and action.

Can you explain how the elements of European folklore have entered and informed your work to such a degree? Can you also explain something about their national and regional origin? Were these tales and characters something that you grew up with as children?

Marek : I was born in the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia at the time) and grew up in Canada. When I was growing up my parents were very intent that I retain the Czech language, so everyday they had me read Czech folk-tales and then write a one page synopsis accompanied by my own illustrations. It's like early imprinting or something, doing the type of work I do now comes very naturally since it's been part of my life for so long. Also, these story-books I was reading as a kid were full of beautiful art by the greats of Czech illustration, such as Josef Lada, Jirí Trnka, Adolf Born, among others, so that's been a huge influence on my own art.

sian and East European animation, illustration, and folklore. I was listening to a lot of black metal as well, so that's reflected in the art too. At the same time, Pat was studying Slavic pictograms, and we started to incorporate these folk symbols into our art as well. Eventually we put the work online, and someone at Drawn and Quarterly saw it and they asked us if we wanted to do a collection for their their 50

Pat: I'm second generation UkrainianCanadian, and I grew up in Winnipeg.

My exposure to the culture was mostly through the Ukrainain church my parents attended, and our family practiced some of the traditional cultural rituals.

As an adult I became interested in the history of the rituals, and I was happy to discover the pagan roots of Ukrainian folk culture. Since that time I've spent many hours studying the folklore, fairytales, and arts of Ukrainian and other Slavic cultures, deciphering the meaning behind

A N Y R E P R E S E N TAT I O N S O F D A R K N E S S I N O U R W O R K PA L E S I N C O M PA R I S O N T O S O M E O F T H E T R U LY S I N I S T E R FA B R I C AT I O N S O F THE MODERN WORLD

the traditions and symbols. I found that the traditional reverence and respect towards nature expressed in the folk arts dovetailed with my own views towards the natural world.

Although focusing on a very natural environment, you portray this as a very dark and sinister world, though undeniably filled with beauty. Have you always been drawn to nature?

Marek : The forest is an ever present character in our work. It's more than just a background, but a participant in the narrative, and so it expresses a personality, sometimes comforting, sometimes menacing (to humans). There was a time when we were more interested cities, but that's really lost it's appeal for us. Just too many cars basically.

Pat: I don't find we portray the natural environment as sinister. Any representations of darkness in our work pales in comparison to some of the truly sinister fabrications of the modern world. I would say we portray nature as powerful, sentient, and sacred. Still, the woods at night can be quite frightening, and it's easier to understand the old folktales after you have felt this fear. A cougar killed a deer under our porch once, and it made us sorta nervous to be in the woods at night, but we're really far more scared of bad drivers on the narrow country roads than wildlife.

Did you grow up in the countryside or the city? You said that you are both trail runners and currently live in a remote area: can you tell me how that informs your work? I'm guessing you must spend a lot of time outside in wilderness; has anything happened to reinforce

your depiction of the wild as sinister? Any dark figures moving in the woods?!

Marek: Neither of us grew up in the country, we grew up in the suburbs of Winnipeg.

When I was a kid, I could walk out my backdoor and be walking in a forest in a couple of minutes, although it's the prairies so it's mostly fields and sky as far as the eye can see. We're now on the Canadian west coast, on top of a small mountain on an island. We don't drive, so it's about a forty minute hike down to town and about an hour back up. It definitely inspires our art. Every day you see deer, eagles, ravens, and then the mist rolls in through the moss covered forest, it's all crazily epic.

Pat: I've always been very drawn to nature, searching it out where ever I've lived. Running in nature is inspirational, meditational, and energizing. In the space of an hour you can have a great adventure, running in the wind by the sea or uphill through a mossy forest. Being a long distance runner, you get to know the landscape intimately. Our location right now is ideal, as we can run through the woods to get to the town, and don't have to worry about getting hit by a car. It's the perfect environment for us to work in, very inspiring with no distractions.

Your work in Wax Cross seems to be slightly more experimental, using focus and depth, paying with lighting almost. Are you using more computer technology than in the past? How do you usually work on a piece? Do you both illustrate? How do you divide the workload?

Marek: We experimented with narrative structure and different graphic styles in Wax

Cross, but we weren't using any more digital tools than in the past. There's actually more brush and ink drawing in Wax Cross than in our previous book. Some of those light effects were achieved quite primitively by photographing multiple layers of ink drawings on a light table. We don't have any set system for collaborating, it's mostly an ongoing discussion about the themes we're both interested in. We both do art, writing, research,etc, we play to our individual strengths and keep the process pretty organic.

Your signature dark woodland work is much different to the animation work I've seen on your site. Â Is that due to commercial reason (i.e. was the animation commissioned, for example) or is is the Wax Cross material more personal?

Marek: Yes, Some of the animation on the site was commissioned work and so the job dictated the style.

There's also an excerpt from a short we did ourselves called Montrose Avenue, which was stylistically a homage to Czech illustrator Miroslav Sasek.

Pat: To pay the bills, we've worked commercially in animation, directing and designing commercials, and design for television series. Â We've also done music videos but now mostly make our own short films. Commercial work has never been our main focus, we've been very choosey about what we're comfortable promoting.

Our main concern has always been creating art.

What are you working on next? Any major projects for 2013?

Marek: Two new books in the same vein as Baba Yaga and Wax Cross, a stop motion animated short that should be dome by early spring, and we're also currently doing web comic titled " cabbage in a nutshell " on our blog : www.tincanforest.blogspot.ca All TIN CAN FOREST titles that are currently in print can be purchased from tincanforest.com and from all good comic book stores.

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AFAN

I ’ m s t a n di n g i n t h e r a i n i n a c a r p a r k , c o v e r e d h e a d t o t o e i n mu d , r i v u l e t s o f w a t e r m e a n d e r i n g t h ei r w a y d ow n m y s o g g y G o r e - Te x j a c k e t t h e n t r a v e r s i n g t h e e x p a n s e o f d r e n c h e d l y c r a and pooling drearily in my shoes. My fingers are white with cold, my eyelids drooping with tiredness and I’ve given up wiping the snot from my nose. My legs, well don’t even get me st arted on my legs, suffice to say that I only just made it b a c k t o t h i s c a r p a r k . A n d di d I m e n t i o n t h a t i t w a s o n e d e g r e e C e l s i u s a n d b l ow i n g a g a l e ?

But I’m standing here with a smile firmly planted on my face, for I’ve just spent two days riding the Afan Valley, there’s a fire glowing cheerily in Afan Lodge’s bar and our chef is humming away in the kitchen creating steak and ale pies.

Twenty years ago, it’s highly unlikely my legs would be aching from mountain biking in this region – were I local to this part of Wales, in all likelihood, I’d be tired and hungry from my time down the pit. As with many other areas of South Wales, coal mining was once the only way to earn a crust in the Afan Valley, with huge number of pits dug to support the iron, tin and steel works in Port Talbot. With the eventual demise of coal mining, the valley’s inhabitants fell upon hard times and despite the natural beauty of the area, it’s difficult not to sense a slight bleakness as you drive through the near empty villages.

But tourism, and the bicycle have turned out to be the saviors of Afan; having successfully clawed the wilderness back from the greedy mines and quarries which once littered the landscape, the region is now a mountain bikers’ paradise with five world class trails and over 100km of superb singletrack. The Afan Forest Park covers over 11,000 hectares, a mixture of dense forestry commission land, wildly exposed mountain top pathways, rooty, rocky, exhilarating descents and thoughtfully sculpted cycle paths.

The previous day we’d made a beeline for Skyline Cycles in Glyncorrwg to pick up a pair of Orange ‘Five’ demo bikes, and hastily donning more appropriate attire, wasted no time in saddling up and heading out the door. We’d been directed towards the ‘White’s Level’ trail and gamely pedalled off in pursuit of mud and thrills.

Graded red, for difficult, the trail began with a lung-busting 6km of climbing before summiting majestically above the village of Glncorrwyg, the landscape a soothing mix of deep ochres, dense greens and somber greys. Some tight singletrack followed which together with some slightly more technical downhill made for a fantastically varied route.

Emerging caked in mud, soaked to the skin and

thoroughly happy, we’d wondered whether to hose ourselves down as well as our bikes. Having prioritised the bikes, we tiptoed in to Afan Lodge to meet owner, Louise who was genuinely very happy to see us in this condition.

Mountain biking enthusiasts themselves, Louise and Richard opened the Afan Lodge in 2009 with the aim of providing friendly, comfortable accommodation for cyclists, a change from the usual bunkhouse and B & B offerings. Arriving muddy and disheveled is de rigeur; neither of them bats an eyelid at our sorry state but instead direct us straight to the bar to warm up by the fire.

Adjacent to the bar, the restaurant offers classic, British cooking, an impeccable beer battered fish and chips (some of the best we’d ever eaten), and the aforementioned pie all begging to be demolished with a proper pint. Our room, formerly the dance hall of the Miner’s Institute is similarly comforting with the added bonus of a bath that fills to the brim in less than three minutes.

The following morning we eye up the weather dressed in slightly damp clothing from the day before, hearty Welsh breakfast filling our bellies. Undeterred by torrential rain, we head off to tackle the Wall or Y Wall as it’s known lo-

cally, the forbidding looking slab of mountain which rises mightily in front of the lodge.

Like White’s Level, the Wall begins with fairly long climb, though thankfully heavy woodland does a marvelous job of keeping out the rain and sheltering us from high winds. Some of the top sections are a little more exposed but such brilliantly good fun that we don’t care about being blasted with sleet. The trails in Afan are of such a high quality, so varied and so long that the only thing that will distract you from riding is the scenery.

Part way through the Wall, the trail meets the recently completed Afan Bike Park that is outstanding, an extravaganza of tight, swooping berms and tables set over a series of five graded runs. I was pretty over excited at this point, not only had we just ridden some of the best single track in the world, we were hurtling through this superbly executed area dedicated to joy and had yet to even begin the much anticipated descent to the lodge.

So despite the fatigue beginning to set in, several laps of this woodland playground were in order, not least as we had the entire place to ourselves.

As the daylight faded along with our last remaining ounce of energy, we screamed down the hill towards the cosy glow of the Afan Lodge, faces sore from the cold, the wind and the non-stop grinning, mud decorating our happy faces.

Skyline Cycles Tel: 01639 850011 www.skylinecycles.tumblr.com Hard tail and full suspension hire from £15 per hour Afan Lodge Tel: 01639 852500 www.mountain-bike-accomodation.com Doubles from £70

MISSION: WOW

Katy Dartford heads off on the split skies f o r a w e e k e n d o f s k i - t o u r i n g i n Va l F e r r e t .

Wo r d s : K a t y D a r t f o r d Photos: Genyphyr Novak

“You’re not allowed to say sorry. There are no sorrys this weekend” says Caroline George, our lithe looking American/Swiss guide as a few of us apologise for faffing around trying to clip into the ski tour bindings. On first appearance look rather complicated...and sparse....

How could that small piece of metal possibly hold a ski boot in place when smashing through the thick powder that had been persistently falling since the previous night?

I’m in the Val Ferret in Courmayeur on a girl only weekend introduction to ski touring, organised by MissionWOW. Having spent much of this winter in Chamonix honing my carving and off-piste skills, it was time to break free from the hordes on the slopes and head off for a more authentic mountain adventure.

I’d heard much about touring amongst the legendary peaks of Chamonix, and I wanted to ‘earn my turns.’

But where to start? There seemed to me a whole lot of bravado over which couloir to ski, who had ‘just missed’ an avalanche unfolding on top of them and the day's latest ‘epic.’ I really wanted to get away from all that ‘boy talk’ and learn the skills of ski touring in an unintimidating environment.

We start by preparing our equipment, provided by Scott Sports, in the car park of the Val Ferret. Our guides

show us the basics of sticking our carpet-like skins onto our touring skis so we can ascend the mountain, clipping our touring boots, which have a walk/ski setting, into our touring bindings and the basic movement for walking uphill; bending from the knees and sliding the skis so they are always in contact with the snow.

We skin through the valley for about an hour before a vital hot chocolate stop half way, then stop for ten minutes more before beginning our final ascent of around 400 meters. Ulrika urges us to eat, drink and quickly put on layers, as despite feeling very hot from the effort, you lose heat and energy quickly. We're also given helpful tips such as holding the uphill pole lower down its length so your arm is at a 90 degrees angle, how to do pivot pivot turns round a sharp corner by making the shape of a ‘V’ then an ‘A’ then a ‘V’ with our skis, and my personal favourite; flicking a plate of metal on the binding called the heel lifter, which lifts your heel so your calves aren’t so stretched when going uphill - tight calves something I’ve had problems with after years of wearing high heels.

From the distance we look like a trail of ants following each other up the hill carrying our loads. When we eventually arrive at the Refugio Bonatti, part of the Tour du Mont Blanc after about an hour and a half

of climbing, it's surprise for the gnarly mountaineers to see a group of 25 jovial women, from as far flung places as Scotland, New Zealand, French and Britain led by Ulrika Asp, Isabelle Santoire, Caroline George and Pia Palm, some of Europe’s top female mountain guides.

After lunch we’re offered the choice of either staying and chilling out in the hut, or having a ‘kick turn clinic.’

We split into small groups and are shown how to make full 180 degrees turns; apparently men find hard to do as their hips aren’t so flexible but fter a few attempts I’d pretty much mastered it. We then take our skins off, twist the bindings into ski mode and ski back down to the hut in time for a quick stretch session, before a dinner, of salad, soup with cheese, meatballs and apple flan. It’s not long before we were all ready for bed in the cosy dormitory style rooms.

Sunday dawns bleak again with practically zero visibility. We’re offered a choice of activities; a short skin up and ski down with avalanche training, map reading and crevasse rescue skills back at the hut, or a long skin up and ski back down to the hut, with some avalanche training before lunch. Alternatively, you could just do nothing. Wanting to make the most of it, I opt for the exercise, joining the long skin up group to the ‘Tete Entre Deux Sauts’ or the ‘Head Between Two Jumps.’

Caroline shows us that we are following a summer hiking trail and from that we can see what features to expect, just about making them out amidst the white out - a ridge line to the right and ruck buildings to the left.

After about an hour skinning we stop briefly to refuel, then taking off one skin at a time so we don’t have such an impact on the snow pack, we get ready for a rewarding ski down to the hut for lunch, then a final descent back down to the valley.

The snow is fairly tough, like frozen shaving foam and at first I fall a few times not feeling confident in the minimal visibility, but the guides are very encouraging and in no rush to get us down. We are split into slow and faster groups and by the time we reach the trees my confidence is boosted by the improved visibility. I then finally remember my off-piste skills and begin a mix of tight turns between the trees and big sweeping turns, cutting fresh tracks through the open sections as I try not to fall. By the time we arrive back in the valley for a celebratory beer, we all feel more confident to head out into the backcountry and explore the world away from the hordes on the piste. www.missionwow.org

45

MIRJA GEH

A photographer for over ten years, Mirja Geh gravitated towards sports photography five years ago after taking pictures of her friends whilst skiing. From there, Mirya experimented with shooting a wide range of fast paced outdoor sports, from mountain biking to snowboarding and kayaking to base jumping.

For Mirja, it’s a dream job, “I really love to be outside in the nature when I’m shooting”, she says, adding, “ I get to know so many different interesting people doing crazy kinds of sports. I really love skiing. It’s great when you can combine your favourite hobby with your job.”

Her flourishing career has seen her travel extensively but for Mirja, there’s no place like home; if she had the choice, she’d never leave. She tells Coven, “I’m based in a small town called Bad Ischl in Austria and travel a lot during the year. But I really love being here at home ‘cause no matter what season, it’s always beautiful with all the mountains and lakes.

When I don’t have to travel because of my job, I try to spend most of my time at home or at least not too far away.”

As one of only a handful on female action sports photographers, why does she think there are so few women in her profession? “I don’t know,” muses Mirja, searching for an answer.

“Maybe it’s because you have to be quite tough sometimes, such as when you have to shoot out of the door of a helicopter, or in some places which can only be reached with skis somewhere in the backcountry. Also, you have a lot of equipment to carry around. Maybe that’s not so typical for a women’s job,” she concludes.

So what advice would Mirja give to women looking to work in the industry? “Find the kind of photography you love and you’re good at, you’ll work hard at getting better and that’s what it’s all about,” she says. “I think in sports photography, it’s doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, all that counts is a good picture. www.mirjageh.com

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65

Interview: Jenna Selby Photos: Julian Bleecker / Hello Skater Girl

‘There's something exciting and unique about watching Lizzie skate. Her skating has an unpredictableness to it; it comes across with a spontaneity that is also somehow full of intention. Fast, dangerous, delicate and refined all at the same time. Much like an exotic flower - the kind that would kill you if you were to eat it!

When it comes to competing, Lizzie is always on. She seems to thrive in that competitive environment; morphing external pressures into tricks, composed lines and results. Watching her encourages me to continue to push the limits of my own skating. I hope we see more girls learn to skate like Lizzie Armanto in the years to come!�

- Mimi Knoop, pro bowl skater and co-founder of the non-profit organization for female skateboarders; Action Sports Alliance.

Back in 2007, Lizzie Armanto picked up her first board and it started her on a journey that fast lead to her becoming one of the top female bowl riders in the world today. She has also picked up an enviable list of sponsors along the way, including Santa Monica Airlines (a deck company, no real planes involved there!!), Bones, Independent Trucks and Dakine.

So how did she rise to the top of her game so quickly?

Initially, the half Finnish, quarter Filipino and quarter Scottish-Germany-Irish-ish hybrid skater started skating because her younger brother wanted to try it.

“We went to the skate park just down the street and that was the beginning really. I progressed faster then him, and then he chipped his tooth. He quit after that,” she says.

But skating obviously runs in the Armanto family, as Lizzie explains,“My mom used to skate when she was younger, actually, a few months ago she started trying to ride at our local park and now she goes there more then I do!”

Raised in Santa Monica, California, Lizzie naturally gravitated towards the dreamily smooth skateparks of her home town. “My home park is the Cove Santa Monica Skate Park which mostly consists of transition,” explains Lizzie, “so growing up there I was naturally brought up in to bowl skating rather than street.”

It was the start of something big and the following year, Lizzie returned to the same competition with a large and varied bag of tricks, including rock n’ roll boardslides, stalefishs front and big backside airs, feebles to fakie and textbook backside disasters taking the top spot on the podium.

It’s slightly intimidating skating against people you look up to

After getting to grips with her local bowls and parks, Lizzie started making a name for herself on the competition circuit, entering her first contest just two short years after she began skating.

Apparently the secret to her quick progression was down to her doggedness and sheer determination, “There was a summer when I was trying to learn a trick every day. I practiced until I got it. And then suddenly everything clicked,” she reveals. Obviously her dedication paid off - the same year, Lizzie went on to win other World Cup Skateboarding bowl events, including the Oregon Trifecta and the Tim Brauch Memorial, firmly establishing herself as one of the top skaters in the US.

“My first real comp was the ProTec Pool Party in 2009, I was really excited about the whole thing although I was a bit nervous the day before. But I skated to the best of my ability at that point in time.”

This year Lizzie was the first female skater ever to be invited to ride with the guys at the presitgious ‘BowlA-Rama’ over in Sydney, Australia. Bowl-A-Rama is a series of two contests; the first leg in Wellington is an

international ‘open’ where riders from all around the world are given the chance to compete for one of the ten wildcards, which if won would see them progress to the next stage - the Bondi leg. Upon winning one of the coveted wildcards, those riders then join the top 25 world ranked Pro-Bowl skaters who are pre-qualified to skate in Bondi. Legendary riders (or ‘Masters’ as they are known) include Steve Cab, Pat Ngoho and Christian Hoisoi who skate alongside pro riders Bucky Lasek, Rune Glifberg and Sam Becket to name but a few competing for a huge prize purse. It’s a week long festival and is held at one of the finest bowls on one of the most iconic beaches in the world.

So how did Lizzie get involved with all this? “It started with me initially wanting to skate in Bowl-A-Rama two years back but a women's event was not a realistic possibility. I entered the Hurley Australian Bowlriders Championships thinking I could qualify for Bondi Bowl-A-Rama through that event, only to find out it was strictly for Australians! Last minute I bought a ticket to go to Wellington Bowl-A-Rama so I could actually try to qualify, which I did and I received the second wildcard for the Bondi contest.”

So what was it like skating in such a well respected

event? “Most of the guys [who rode at the comp] are my friends and were really supportive of me, which helped.” says Lizzie. “It’s slightly intimidating skating against people you look up to though, but they did seem to be stoked upon knowing I was going to be competing with them!”

Lizzie finished 8th in the pro division in Wellington – no doubt she’s already planning her lines for the next event. As for this year, Lizzie already has a list of competitions as long as your arm which she’ll be attending, including Florida Bowl Riders, X-Games park, Rocky Mountain Rampage, Chili Bowl, Tim Brauch Memorial.

With top marks in the World Cup female bowl rider rankings in 2012, realistically how can that be topped and does she feel pressure due to her new profle? “Other then defending my title, I set personal goals that I will work towards as well. I am currently studying at Santa Monica College, but I took this semester off to travel to the contests,” Lizzie says. “At competitions I don’t grade my skating upon my results, I judge it upon how I skated. I know my ability and what my level of skating should be. Its just about always pushing yourself yet knowing your limit.”

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PHOTOGRAPHER Carly SCOTT STYLIST Mireia ROELAS

SITKA at SURFDOME swinsuit ADIDAS Sneakers MARKS AND SPENCER Socks Previous page: TOPSHOP Sunglasses ADIDAS Shorts ABSOLUTE VINTAGE Top ROXY Scarf

BILLABONG at SURFDOME Wetsuit CONVERSE at SURFDOME sneakers

BRUTUS Shirt ROXY Jumper ROCKIT Trousers JUJU Shoes

Left: ADIDAS Top ADIDAS Pants VANS shoes

BEYOND RETRO Baseball Jacket PENFIELD Shirt LEE jeans Sweatshirt Stylish own Opposite: UMBRO Football shirt LAVENHAM Jacket

SITKA at SURFDOME Swimsuit MIKO Jacket DR MARTENS Boots HAPPY SOCKS socks

LAVENHAM shirt STUSSY windbreaker MIKO leather jacket

Left: FRED PERRY Shirt FRED PERRY Sweater Below: HOUSE OF HOLLAND for SCHOTT NYC Jacket AMERICAN APPAREL Top AMERICAN APPAREL Skirt

ASSISTANT: Katie Hodgson.

MAKE UP: Hayley Alexis

laura trott A DAY IN THE LIFE

If I’m training, I normally get up around 9am. I don't often get to have much of a lie in, normally when I think 'yes, I get a lie in,’ I just wake up even earlier than normal. I've also just got a puppy who just loves waking me up before 7am. So the first thing I do when I open my eyes is have a cuddle with my puppy, before letting him out into the garden.

I’ve always been sporty, my doctor recommended swimming to help with my asthma when I was young then I started cycling when I was eight. My Mum and my sister both cycled too and I started getting really into it, but I didn’t realize I was any good at it at first. When I started winning my first few races and saw how proud I made my mum and dad, that was it, I loved it.

I live in Manchester at the moment. I do a fair bit of travelling to and from the European races but it’s nice to be based here.

Whenever I’m not racing, I’m here. My life is so busy most of the time that when I get a moment to relax, I really like to watch TV most of the time or take the dog for a stroll.

sity but it’s pretty full on most of the time, I mean I’m always cycling six days a week.

Once I’ve done my training, I like to start the afternoon on the sofa - doing nothing is always good!

For lunch I normally have pasta with sweetcorn and tuna or if I'm in a rush, something like spaghetti hoops on toast or a fish finger butty. Unlike a lot of the men’s pro team, Wiggle Honda doesn’t have a chef. I just eat whatever I want really, I don’t have to watch what I eat at all. I cook my evening meal in a machine called a thermomix, which I enjoy using as it makes cooking so much easier! I make quite a lot of stuff in that, my favorite is probably prawn curry.

I love my job, and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else

Breakfast is usually porridge with some nuts and a scoop of nutella and straight after that I head out on my bike. As a cyclist, you kind of have to be a morning person but it does help if the weather is nice. I ride for between two and four hours a day, six days a week.

Training takes up a lot of the day so it's best to just get it done and then I get the afternoon to chill.

Most of my friends are cyclists so I get to spend a lot of time with them anyway, but when I go home, I love seeing my best mate and going for a chinese. I do go out every now and again, but on the whole, I like staying in with my boyfriend, who is also a cyclist. We don’t really talk about cycling much, after all, that’s not why we’re together, but if there’s something one of us wants to get off our chest, we’ll discuss it then leave it at that.

At the moment, it's the road racing season rather than the track season and I don't do a lot of 'double days,' meaning I only train in the morning. When it's track racing time, I'll fit in two training sessions a day. In the run up to races, my training eases off very slightly, I might do fewer hours at less inten-

I’m really tired in the evening, after all that training, who wouldn’t be? I go to bed about 10 pm most nights and I fall asleep right away. I love sleeping! Sometimes if a big event is coming up, I might dream about cycling. I love my job, and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

e first of Coven Magazine’s new collaborative series, the Coven x Milltag c

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