Come on! What kind of friggin person bashes in their friend's knee? Who would do that to a friend? So it was just 23 years ago when we had two Olympic skiers competing for the goal with Tanya Harding vs Nancy Kerrigan and everybody wanted to know about the incident, all the behind the scenes and good stuff and now we have a film called I Tanya. So what did I think about it? Well, let's get into it. My name is Brandon Keith-Avery and this is just my opinion. Hey, what's going on everyone? Thank you so much for tuning in to my opinion slash review for I Tanya. I really do appreciate it. But before we get into the review, help your boy out by clicking that subscribe button. Also click the bell so you can be notified when I make uploads and also give me that thumbs up. Let's see if we can get this video to 100 likes. So now we have I Tanya and everybody pretty much remembers this story. I don't know how old you are if you're watching this but it only happened 23 years ago in the mid 90s. It was 1994 to be exact. It was Tanya Harding vs Nancy Kerrigan competing for the goal in the Olympics. This film dives into a lot more story before that time but this movie is really about the incident. And if you don't know the incident and this is completely new to you, Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were two Olympic skiers that were competing for the goal in the Olympics. And Nancy Kerrigan was more of the favorite. She was more of the popular. It looked like she was going to win. So there was an incident to where a mysterious figure found Nancy Kerrigan back in the Coliseum in the hallways in the corridor, pulled out some big metal police rod and just knocked Nancy Kerrigan in the right knee to damage her knee so she wasn't able to compete. And it was alleged or it was accused that Tanya Harding was the one that was behind it all or she knew about it. And this movie here dives into that story and gives you a lot of the perspective from Tanya Harding's side of view. Now I remember this like it was yesterday. I was around 10 years old when this came out. I remember watching the Olympics and watching all the skating and Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan coming up to this point. And I was really into it or whatever. I mean at this time this is when the triple axel was like just such a big deal like this impossible feat that you could you know that competitors try to do on the ice. And if you could do it you know you pretty much you was in there you won you was like the best of the best. I remember this like it was yesterday. I remember seeing Nancy Kerrigan on the interview screaming why why it hurts why do they do this and you know all the allegations and the accusing and you know mud slinging back and forth on who was responsible. I remember all that if you don't know you can go and YouTube all that up right now.  Now Margo Robbie is the titular actor actress in this movie playing Tonya Harding also Sebastian Stan is her husband at the time by the name of Jeff Galooly and Alison Janie is playing Tonya Harding's mother named LaVanna Golden and I'll just say this right off the top the casting in this movie was spot on especially from Alison Janie and Margo Robbie I'm really not too familiar with Alison Janie's work she did up here in the movie Juno that came out in 2007 and I missed that film I really wanted to see it everybody told me how great it was but I missed it but she was also in the hip which came out a number of years ago they got nominated and got a lot of recognition doing the war season and so that was a great movie and Margo Robbie popped up with me at the end of 2013 with the Wolf of Wall Street you know before that I pretty much never heard of her before of course she was in Suicide Squad and I believe what was the other movie that she was in I probably should have written it down oh the Tarzan movie and also Focus which came out a couple of years ago with Will Smith she's a great actress and you know to be honest with you this is possibly that one of the better performances that I've seen her in out of all you know out of her whole filmography and I'll touch on that just a little bit more but this film you know I like to divide films into parts you know two parts three parts four parts three extra or whatever but you can divide this film into you know I guess yeah three parts as well not not in the act not in the three act structure but just three parts to where it goes Tonya Harding's childhood and the way she was raised and just that whole environment the actual incident itself and then you know things after the after the incident and what took place after that and this is really just like a biography sports drama type of movie because it has sporting in it of course because they were ice figure skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerr again this is also a drama because some of the stuff is sad it's also kind of a dark comedy as well and I'll get to that but it is really also a biography on the life of Tonya Harding because the film starts off you know at a very young age of her I think at the age of technically she was three years old but her mother being played by Alice and Janey in real life her name is LaVonna Golden you know she said a soft four and you know I am I'm not a doctor I'm not a psychologist but I did you know study that you know when I was in school and just me personally you know everybody is a product of their environment you've heard that before but it's just so true and I realize that you know every day as I get older and I mean there's just no other way around it so just me personally whether it's in a movie a drama a documentary real life whatever I'm always just really interested in knowing you know where somebody came from you know why the way they are you know what you know how will they raise I mean these things just really interest me and you know like why does someone have a chip on the shoulder why do they wear their heart on the sleeve like what happened you know I've been told I'm a good listener I mean that's just kind of things that I'm interested in and you know like when I was starting off this review I was just really concerned you know we're saying even now before I saw this movie now that I'm talking in when I was a child when this real incident happened I'm just like wanting to know what happened and this movie is very good as far as just really telling you how time your hearting was raised and you know why she became the woman that she is today and at that time in 1992 and 1994 and you know no matter what someone goes through for the most part like life is not fair it's just not you know some people you know grow up and they're just treated like crap for no reason and some people grow up with a silver spoon and you know there's a lot in between as well and there as well and you know we just can't do anything about it for the most part all we can do is just take the cars that were dealt and do the best that we possibly can and you know that's what's telling your hearting had to do and how it was portrayed in this movie and you know when people you know have hard times and they don't have all the advantages of somebody else you know I feel sorry for them to an extent but at the same time I'm also just like hey like I just said you have to just do the best you can you know with the cars that you dealt but to be honest with you I'm not I'm not sorry for telling your hearting as far as you know I don't you know I'm not you just like oh she had a valid reason you know for being involved in you know getting Nancy Kerrigan's leg beat but at the same time when I watch this movie I have to be honest with you I did feel a little bit sorry for her when I was watching this movie that just goes with the writing the story the plot and pacing of this movie and just the performances and like you know telling your heart and she had a rough life I mean it's just you know it's just not fair she had a her father was there in her life but it talks about you know her mother LaVanna how she was married six times that's a lot six times and telling your hearting was her fourth child from her fifth husband and at a young age I want to say it's about four five maybe five or six years old her father was in her life but things didn't work out with her mother LaVanna and you know he went his separate ways and you know just seeing like a little girl you know playing well what is the little girl's name because I really I should have wrote that down just give me a second guys yeah young Tonya Harding by someone made by the name of McKenzie Grace this is a very young actress let me look how old she is she was born in super well she's 11 years old wow she looked like she was much younger but she was born June 25th 2006 and this young child actress this 11-year-old did a really good job with emoting on screen and I'm just like man you go a little tiny I really feel sorry for you there was just one scene to where she was just like dad don't leave me and she did a much better job than I'm doing right now but I was like man that just really sucks you know like you know that just the things that children have to go through in the world and it's just not their fault or whatever and it realized that I say it's not you know it's not her fault I'm gonna bring it up later okay I'm trying to make a point there but you know a little McKenzie McKinney Grace did a great job great casting there as far as Margot Robbie playing the teenage version of Tonya Harding I thought that they could have got another actress to come in and do that because you know I'm just being honest with you know Margot Robbie is very attractive woman she's very sexy as hell and if you've seen the Wolf of Wash Street you know exactly what I'm talking about if you've seen Suicide Squad that crappy movie you know what I'm talking about so you can only de-age a grown woman so much so seeing Margot Robbie with certain makeup and hairstyles and things like that trying to portray a 15 year old I just really wasn't buying it I'm like okay you don't look like you're 15 you know they could have got a better actress in there but that was only like one brief scene so you know I'm not gonna harp on that too much and I'm just trying to you know go up the ladder as far as the age when I said that this is a dark comedy they do have some comedic elements in this movie as well like her mother was like extremely strict like just strict as hell just like you know like just didn't have a filter you know I understand that she was trying to protect her daughter but like one scene to where Tonya Harding was gonna go on a date like her first date ever or whatever the mom went with them or whatever and you know I can understand you kind of like want to drop them off or something like that you've been protective I get that but my goodness gracious that you have to be there up under Tonya Harding and her date the whole time like at the table bother eating and just like hey have y'all had sex yet and she didn't even say that she said the f-word I'm just like oh my god it was shocking but at the same time it was funny and with this being a biography and a lot of dark moments and time in history they had to do with these two figure skaters you know I really have to give it up to the writer Steve Rogers Captain America I'm joking it's not really Captain America but the writer it really is named Steve Rogers and if you know Marvel comics you get that but for him able to include little dark comedic moments like that in this movie that kind of is I don't want to say it's sad but just you know has to do with an incident and it said I really like how he messed that together and how the director Craig Gillespie took advantage of that and didn't dilute the film or whatever it actually brought it up and it made me laugh out loud you know like you know while I was in the theater but you know just something else like Lovanna her mother like was just really abusive and just really mean and just was like really demanding and was just kind of like a dictator I mean like you know wouldn't let her go to the bathroom like was verbally and physically abusive to the point where Tonya Harding just had to you know leave the house at a young age just like it was dangerous like her life was threatened well I don't want to exaggerate too much but it's like I don't want to spoil the movie for you either but it was just like one time in the movie towards the beginning to us just something happened it was having an argument that was having a disagreement I'm just like okay whoa LaVanna you just took it too far and they just have to stop and just like I was okay time you just need to get away this is not your fault you know and you just had to get out of their situation because it was just gonna get worse and what makes the matters worse is LaVanna she just was not you know apologetic about it all she had no more she was just like hey you know my mother treated me like crap and I'm gonna treat you like crap too she didn't say that I'm gonna treat you like crap too but she just like hey you know you should be grateful who I am you know the mother that you have within me you know my mother did treat me like crap and I know it may seem like I'm talking a lot of spoilers but this is movie is based on a true story and these interviews and things have been around for years that you can look up so I mean if you don't know the story I don't want to say I'm sorry but you know I'm just trust me I'm not spoiling anything for you and when I say this is based on a true story and this is also goes into the story how this move this movie this film was made is this movie is based on a true story based on interviews they had to do with all the key influential figures they had to do in real life Nancy Carrigan did not interview in this movie at all one of fun facts she was just like she didn't want to interview she also did not want to see the film as well because I understand that she already lived this moment she has to say that herself but the people that are interviewed in this movie is of course Tonya Harding played by Margot Robbie Sebastian Stan Jeff Gulligli Gulligli Alice and Janie Lovanna Golden and the bodyguard what is his name and there's another like there's a some I don't know if you I don't remember this too well but if you're probably like 45 and up tell me if you remember a production company called hard copy because there's a gentleman by the name of Bobby Cornwall that played the real-life person of a hard copy you know what's the word I was going to say tactician not not I want to say anchor or journalist or pundit and also the guy that played the guy to play Tonya Harding's bodyguard I didn't want to write his name down because I didn't think that I would bring him up in this review but now I want to but the thing about this film being based on interviews is it's not based off the real-life interviews it's based on it well it is based on those interviews but in the film the film has the interviews of the actors and actresses so it's Sebastian Stan this interview on this is Margot Robbie this interviewing it is Allison Janie this interviewing and that takes up about 35 to 40% of the movie and that may sound like it could be kind of janky or disjointed or drawing but no the way that they included that into the film was fantastic that was actually one of the best parts of the movie that I really did enjoy it because it's just you know the the the actor in the actress is just breaking the fourth wall just talking to you like they can have Sebastian Stan as Jeff her husband at the time saying something but then have Margot Robbie cut in as Tonya Harding be like okay yeah that part was true that part was not true and then vice versa I loved all that and that was just in the interviews itself but then again when you actually have the movie in itself you actually had Tonya herself played by Margot Robbie breaking the fourth wall just looking at the camera like okay you know I did shoot the I did shoot the gun here or I didn't go that far and it's just like a bunch of tattle-telling at all you really don't know exactly what's true and what's false and know where to draw the line that may sound like it's frustrating but I actually found it fascinating kind of like a little puzzle piece of myself like okay you know like what's true was not true just like a little game and you know and myself so I mean seeing Tonya Harding being brought up from childhood from like three to four years old all the way up to her lower 20s was fantastic and seeing all these interviews was fantastic as well but then it finally gets over to the incident and I like how they put that in the film as well because it really gave you the perspective of not telling Harding not just Nancy Kerrigan but also the attackers themselves and like what they were thinking and that could have easily been something that they could have ignored or brushed over because pretty much everybody knows and heard of this story but they did give those characters a lot of attention and the acting during those scenes was you know quite that was quite good as well and like before I shot this review I was I wanted to go back and look at all the real life interviews on YouTube just to refresh my memory and they had a bunch of security officers like running through the hallways and running down the streets trying to find out you know who the guy was and where he came from you had some witnesses like yeah the guy had a club he was a big white guy with a leather jacket and he went that way and they're just running around not knowing what to do but like or knowing where he is but in contrast to that in the movie they gave you the full perspective of the attacker from the time of them planning from the time of them coming to the arena while they're walking through the hallway and running around trying to escape or whatever so I mean I kind of feel like I have a full you know picture here and you know that this feeling really answered a lot of questions that I've had for the last 23 years I mean I wasn't thinking about this five years ago like man I still wish I knew what happened doing you know the Tonya Harding Nancy Kerrigan incident but now that this is a film that there is in theaters and there you know it's coming more coming to the light of day it is something that I really did appreciate the only other gripe that I have about this film is and I completely understand why they may not have one to include it was that at one point in time they started telling you about the relationship between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding and talking about how they were friends but they just kind of jump cut to that real quick and then they cut away and I was like okay okay you said there was friends we got 30 seconds of it and then you know it was in the same hotel room and then we don't get any of that anymore and we just get the incident or whatever and so the incident like I just talked about that that was fantastic as well and then we get a little bit after the incident and that is a lot of the court proceedings and things like that and like I said before there is a lot of comedic dark moments in this movie and just with one like what's on your heart and his bodyguard the guy is a freaking baboon idiot or whatever the way he was portrayed in this movie and you know I was just kind of laughing just how stupid he was in just you know how he will lie to himself and just you know he was freaking delusional or whatever so again just them being able to combine these comedic moments in this time or whatever I just thought that was a great job by the director and the writer now I want to see is there anything else that I want to talk about I think that's pretty much it yeah yeah yeah I hit on that point I hit on that point I hit on that point and I hit on that point but I feel like I'm leaving something else out that's just really important now as far as the true story goes for a long time after the incident Sonia Harding denied that she did not know about the attack she denied she denied she denied I saw one interview like real life interview where she they said that she never immediately did another one to where she finally came out and said that she did know about the attack before it comes she ended up she ended up not even placing at the Olympics in 94 Nancy you know Tonya Hart not Nancy Kerrigan ended up getting like the bronze medal in 92 and the the silver medal at the Olympics but I oh yeah I just want to touch back like Tonya Harding throughout this whole movie played by Margaret Ryder just kept saying that you know this is not my fault this is not my fault this is not my fault she kept putting the blame on other people and while it sometimes I don't feel sorry for her and some instances I do and I'm just really torn by that you know because she really just did have a crappy upbringing and I really seen this from this movie and that was just pretty much the best part of it to me you know the skating was great you know she was not it they had to do some CGI for her to do the triple axle and now that was great but Margot Robbie's performance in this thing was fantastic I said at the very beginning of this review that this is the best performance that I've seen her do because that was just one time like after the incident when she was there just trying to perform she was just broken and you know trying to put up makeup and she just looked horrible I'm not trying to clown her anything but I was like damn I mean like I feel sorry for you I mean I don't I don't feel sorry for you if you knew about the attack that's just this despicable you got to take your L's when they come you got to take the W's when they come you win some you lose some but it was just one scene to where she was about to perform and she just didn't she she would just pull in every which way you know her her mom treated her like crap her husband treated her like crap and beat on her and all this and she was so she would fight back and then it would the the competition's wasn't fair either I mean they just wasn't judging her on the skating it was just because of the image and she was just like look why can't you just judge me on the skating they're just like you're not the image that we want you're you're representing America you know these snobby judges and it's like man it just really sucks it's just not fair and this film did a great job of putting that on the forefront and so those are the points where I actually feel sorry for Tony Hardy you know and Margot Robbie made me feel that way with her acting because it was just this one scene to where she just like looking at the screen like I have nothing left like God you know and it was just a great performance guys I really enjoyed this movie and it really frustrates me because this is actually one of the better movies of the year and it's gonna make my top 10 best films of 2017 even hard so yes I will be I will be having well let me well yeah I can talk about that okay I will be making a top 10 best of 2017 and though the top 10 is gonna be the 10 films that I deserve that I feel should be in the Oscar race also will have be having a top 10 favorite of 2017 those are my favorite my biased opinion doesn't have anything to do with quality just you know my favorite biased opinion I'm also going to review all the money in the world I'll probably post that tomorrow probably post the two top 10s on Sunday and I don't know if I'm gonna do a top 10 worse I don't know if I do it excuse me it'll just be a surprise but guys if I have to rate I tell you out of a one out of ten I will easily give this a nine out of ten yes eight nine out of ten but guys that's just my opinion have you seen I tell you do you want to see it have I turned you one have I turned you off do you agree with me or do you disagree with me let me know in the comment section below let's get this conversation going to keep it flowing if you liked this video go ahead and give me the thumbs up and if you don't that's fine go ahead and subscribe to my channel also check me out on my website bookmark that I would appreciate it also go to my us look me up on social media Facebook Instagram and Twitter all that good stuff it's right there at the bottom of the screen and I made it easy by providing a link to all that down in the description box below but guys I just want to thank you again for tuning in to my opinion slash review for itania starring Sebastian Stan Margot Robbie and Allison Jane he directed by Craig Gillespie and before you go don't forget that my name is Brennan Keith Avery and that's just my opinion peace


So after 12 years of road cycling, this was my perception of gravel riding. And to be fair, those images you just saw, that did form part of our ride, but that only felt like 10, maybe 15% of the ride. 40% of the ride felt like this. I'm not riding that. So you could say, I got a massive wakeup call. I underestimated things massively and as a result of that, I made a ton of mistakes. And in this video, whether you're looking to get into gravel riding and you want to learn from my mistakes or maybe you're into gravel riding and you're just up for a good laugh.  I think this video has got a lot to offer.  As many of you will know, I am a true road cycling wanker with aero carbon bikes and juicy expensive carbon rims everywhere. That's all I own. So for this cycling adventure, and I'll explain why I was doing this gravel bike riding adventure for you shortly, I needed a gravel bike. So I reached out to my good friends at Advanced Traders who are the Aussie distributor for BMC, Norco and Merida here in Queensland, Australia to see if they might happen to have a couple of demo gravel bikes. One gravel bike for me and one for Ryan who's also in this video and doesn't have a gravel bike. Either he's got a mountain bike and I thought we could do a bit of cross-promotional activity I could promote these gravel bikes in the video in return for lending them to me for the day. Oh, here we go. Hello. You're good, Mark. It's Cam Nichols, you know, the cycling YouTuber. Oh, good, Cam, how are you, man? Mate, I've got a little gravel adventure coming up and I was wondering if you had any demo bikes I could loan for a day or two. Hey, Wano. Yeah, mate, I've got this YouTuber on the phone again, Cam Nichols. Get in, he's after not only one, but two gravel bikes. Two? Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, what a dickhead! Tell him he's dreaming. Yeah, sorry, Cam, we can't help you out, mate. Gravel bikes are pretty hard to get at the moment, but good luck. All right, mate. No worries, thanks anyway. So after that, Bailia, so I've come to the Cycle Sportif in Noosa where you can hire bikes. This is a Focus Parallel, it's an endurance road bike, and we've fitted some Maxxis Cyclocross tyres, they're a 33mm tyre, so it should be good for the gravel road. The gear set up is a SRAM Apex-1, so it has one chain ring on the front, it's a 44 twos, and 10 to 34 on the back. So depending on your weight, but something around the 40 psi for the off-road sections. So gravel bike for me anyway, tick and for ride, as you'll see shortly, he did the whole ride on a mountain bike. So why after 12 years of road cycling, would I all of a sudden, to randomly just go decide to do a proper gravel ride? Let's hear from the head coach of the Road Cycling Academy, Ryan Thomas, as to why we were doing this in the first place. We're testing out one of the gravel courses actually, so we're the main partner for the coaching at the Noosa Injuro, which is in the end of July. So we thought we'd come out here, see what it's all about. So the Road Cycling Academy, where I'm also a road cycling coach, is the coaching partner for the Noosa Mountain Bike Injuro, which is also hosting on the same weekend, late in July, the Australian Gravel National Titles. So I thought I'd better get involved. Now please know for this particular event, obviously when it comes to gravel, I have no idea. So as the coaching partner for this event, I'm taking a backward step and Ryan Thomas will be managing all our eight week programs leading into both the Injuro and gravel events. And all these eight week programs start next week. So if you happen to be doing this event and you want coaching support, I'll provide some links below, but you'll need to be quick because as I said, we're starting next week. So to set the scene for this one, let me paint five pitches for you before we get into it. Pitcher number one, clearly I have no idea. Yes, I've ridden on gravel a few times on a road bike, probably for a few hundred meters at a time, but I've never done a gravel ride nor even a proper mountain bike ride. Number two, this is a difficult course. And while these gravel courses don't have overall ratings, I did ask Ryan Thomas because he's got a lot of experience in this space. How would you rate this course out of 10? He rates it an eight out of 10. So this was my first gravel experience on an eight out of 10. Number three, we have had a lot of rain here in the Sunshine Coast over the past two to three months. I have never seen anything like it. Queensland's flooding crisis is developing into the night. Brisbane is a city under water. So as a result of all that, everything is wet. The ground is extremely wet. Thus the difficulty of this course was exacerbated by extremely wet and muddy conditions. Number four, to this picture that I'm painting, I was riding with two elite bike handlers. I mean, Daymo Jones has run a bike shop for the past 20 years and he loves his off-road and head coach of the RCA, Ryan Thomas, is currently racing at a UCI continental level with Mayo Pro and is a very proficient mountain biker coming forth in the Nusa Enduro mountain bike event last year. And then there's me. And this is kind of like the cherry on top of the five points that I wanted to share with you. Is that I am currently overweight and out of form. So the foundations were set for a very good day on the bike. Now, literally it would have been three to five minutes into this ride where we hit our first off-road section. And can I just say, I was not expecting trails at all. In fact, I didn't really know gravel riding included trails. Pretty silly. Considering the Enduro website even says 10% trails although it felt to me more like 40% trails at least. So within a few minutes of my gravel riding experience, I was literally on dirt, rocks, mud, tree roots, debris, more rocks, you name it. I was literally shitting myself. What have I got myself into here?  This isn't fun. I'm not having a good time here. In addition to all these new bits and pieces that were on the ground that I was having to deal with, there were also some steep little inclines to deal with in that first section. And I was yet to appreciate how to deal with these small and slippery but steep inclines. So I learned the hard way. But thankfully I had a great support crew there to care and nurture me as I went through this process. It's behind the scenes. Is this why it's called road cycling in the academy and not gravel? So that first section of what felt like pretty much all trails was roughly 10 kilometers in length and probably the hardest section of them all. And that is literally how I started my first gravel experience. Then we hit some proper roads. And it was an amazing experience. I was just hopeful it would last at least another 80 kilometers, but unfortunately five minutes later we're back in a section that was just as bad as the last. And then I hit this thing. I'm not riding that. Yeah, if you've got good bike handling skills. So what am I supposed to just walk in the water?  Oh my God. So a big tip for those thinking about going on their first gravel adventure. This is why you don't use road shoes. You're exactly right. Look at that. Beautiful. No, I'm 100. I can't click. Why are you even getting those in? I don't know. I don't think I am. That's the worst. That's what you said about half an hour ago. We descend down to bitumen and then gravel road. Yeah, no more sections like they say. No more sections like that. Next. We finally hit some nice gravel and I gotta say the gravel riding was great. No cars, open roads, fresh air and good times with good friends. But I had this constant thought in the back of my head when's the next slippery hilly trail coming? It was stressing me out. And I had a right to be stressed because literally moments later we hit this section. Was this section even considered gravel or trail or I don't bloody know what it was. But what I can say it was in this section I started to develop more confidence. Just really relaxing the upper body, putting a lot of weight on the saddle and just letting the bike slide around. Let the bike do its thing. Don't try and get in the way and you will progress better than if you are stiff and worried about what's potentially going to happen next. So I was finally starting to feel like I was getting the hang of gravel and mud but a false sense of security perhaps. After that section, we hit a small town called Koran. We had a coffee, refilled our water. What are we doing Ryan? You wanna drink out of that? Yeah. You wanna drink out of that? And I'm thinking to myself we're only a third of the way through this ride and I am cooked. Never before have I been so mentally fatigued from a ride the concentration required was adding a fatiguing element to the constant verse of VO2 max and anaerobic power I was having to push as I tried to get up some of these short hills. And we still hadn't hit the beast. That is Mother Mountain. But once again, we cruised on some very nice dirt gravel roads on the way to Mother Mountain. And again, I'm loving the vibe, no cars, open roads, fresh air and good times with good friends but worried about what's to come. I also realized I left my GoPro back at Koran. I think that was the fatigue kicking in. So we got to the bottom of Mother, Mother, Mother, something like that, mountains. The climb is 10 kilometers. It'll be really washed out because of the rain we've had.   This section of the ride was almighty challenging. We have a combination here of poor bike skills, fatigue, incredibly tough to rain and really poor gear selections. We are less than 500 meters into this climb and I'm already cooked. This is kind of like what we're dealing with right down here. Rocks, gravel, all sorts. Out of air, big time. And this is what I'm looking at. That left me pushing the bike a lot in that first two kilometer section which has an average gradient of over 10%. Sad scenes, but that's actually what happened. After descending that climb, we popped out on some very nice roads. Scenery was great, but more random. What are we riding on at the moment, grass? And it was by this point in the ride where I literally felt like purposely crashing in a bush and having a dose. I was that cooked. But we pushed on and then we reached an intersection where we had the opportunity to go back to Koran and pick up my GoPro. So that's what we did, which meant we didn't quite finish off the true 100 kilometer gravel event. We sort of skipped 30 kilometers, but I was very thankful to be able to go pick up my GoPro and also to be able to ride on the road and sit on both Daimo and Ryan Thomas' wheel for a solid 25 kilometers. So to summarize this experience, and to be honest, I'm still a bit bamboozled by the whole thing, if I had to break it down into three key takeaways. Number one would be make sure you've got the right gear. I had the wrong shoes, the wrong gear ratio, and the wrong tires, and that was all my fault. Number two, riding gravel is physically and mentally fatiguing. So carve up, which I didn't do, and be prepared mentally. Number three, gravel riding is not just gravel riding. In fact, I think we should change the name of it. We should call it everything riding. So be expected for the unexpected. To wrap this one up, little plug for the Road Cycling Academy, the reason being we open up a 12 week program called the Up Level Road Cycling Course. Now three times a year and the next opening is not too far away, July 18th. So if you're keen to take your road cycling performance to another level or gravel, you could work with Ryan if you wanted to improve your gravel or mountain biking. There'll be a link below where you can apply for our next major intake. We'll catch you in the next video.


It's currently around 5 o'clock a.m.. And usually when I wake up I have to get myself out of bed right away because I hold back a sleep like this So I have to keep my body moving But I kind of wanted to try something different today because I wanted to implement the habit of Reading like 10 pages or 15 pages every single morning So I'm gonna experiment with that today and see if I can do it in bed right now without falling back to sleep So we're gonna try and see if that works in our favor I feel like if I sit myself up brought myself up a little bit It will be fine and also gives me a little bit more time in bed Just to relax and enjoy my bed before I have to get out of it You know cuz it's so warm. So I have my iPad here with my book downloaded I'm gonna read 15 pages see how long it takes me of atomic habits and Go from there Okay, I just read 10 pages. I stayed awake I was actually really motivating and that's why I want to start this every morning just to give myself that extra boost of Motivation right when I wake up and instead of scrolling on social media You guys know I don't go on my phone in the morning So instead of doing that feel like it's really good to put some Educational books in my brain and just motivate myself. I'm gonna try to do this habit tomorrow again and see how it goes But so far so good I think I'm gonna try to implement this every day just for 10 minutes or 15 pages or whatever Amount I want to do that morning. Hey, let's get out of bed before I actually do fall asleep Why not treat myself this morning and put on some eye masks like everybody for the gym These are from Grace and Stella. It's like an energy drink for your eyes. So we'll see about that She's like not sticking at all. That's supposed to happen. Okay. I got it to stick. Oh, whoa, maybe not All right, this one's sticking a lot nicer. Are we in our eye mask era now? He's actually feeling really good though There's kind of like a cooling sensation that's going on here and it's already making me feel more awake, which is amazing I don't know why they're they're not sticking. Well, though. That's the only thing. Okay, let's go downstairs Do some journaling drink our bone broth and get ourselves ready for the gym for real now Just got dressed in my workout set. I'm wearing this sports bra from Ritzia This is like my go-to black sports bra. It's in their butter collection. The material is amazing And then these leggings I got them so long ago. I honestly don't remember, but they're very buttery They remind me of the Ritzia butter line as well, but they're not so I forget the brands But once you get in your workout clothes, it's such a good feeling because there's no going back from here so we're gonna go work out and I'm gonna do my hair and stuff and then get my water pack my bag and then we're gonna leave the house I want to keep these eyepatches on so badly because they feel so good, but we have to leave so I have to take them off Just made it in the car I'm so grateful to have my car back because I was out the other day and thankfully I was with my sister and a friend But I was driving and my car battery died So we were stranded for a little bit and then we had to get jump-started My battery in my car was so old I don't I've never changed it since I've had my car and I've had this car now for almost five years So it was about time to get a new battery anyways, but anyways I couldn't drive my car for the day because I didn't want to risk it taking it out to a workout or something and then getting Stranded again because that would have really sucked since we had gotten it back into the garage finally So I went to Costco because we were going there anyways And I bought a battery because they sell car batteries there and I installed it with my brother He came to help me because me and Joel we're gonna do it and just watch a YouTube video because apparently it's super easy But we didn't have we don't have tools so I was like wait we need a wrench for this So my brother bought a wrench and helps me put a battery in so I'm just thankful that my car is running You don't really realize how much you rely on your car and how convenient it is to have a car Until that's taken away from you and that's honestly like a lot of things in life You don't appreciate them to their full capacity or enough until it's taken away from you And you're like wow that really does make a big difference in my everyday life and it's actually affecting me which is funny So that just goes to really show that we should be grateful for what we have because anything at any moment could be taken away from us Including materialistic things people and so just make sure you tell your family or your friends that you love them today This car thing really just put everything into perspective for me because I'm like damn I really have to appreciate everything more in my life not just my car But people and just everything as a whole too because you never know what can happen and things could be ripped away from you So anyways, I don't want to go too deep into that because it's a bit dark But I just thought that I put that out there because I feel like that's just so important And I'm just very appreciative to have my car back So anyways going to go work out now and then after my workout I'm gonna go grocery shopping because I gotta get some ingredients for dinner And it's just gonna be like a quick little shop probably and I also really really want to get my nails done today So once they open I'm gonna call and see if they have an appointment because these are getting so bad I've let them grown out too much. So anyways, okay, let's get going go work out really random side note But I've been listening to podcasts on my way to the gym and stuff instead of music recently and I've been loving it It's honestly so motivating you stuff to find the right podcast. Please leave any podcast recommendations down below I'm gonna be starting my own soon. So that's exciting But I don't know it just hits different and I don't know I just feel like I'm learning while I'm driving and it's motivating me and it's just such a different vibe Obviously music has its time and place But I want to start listening to more like motivational educational podcasts in the new year because I just I feel so good after listening to one It's also a form of entertainment in a way, too So anyways, I just thought that I put that out there because I feel like podcasts are underrated So a little bit of a plot twist, you know how I was just explaining to you guys How I'm so grateful that my car is starting again. Um It's not um I just sat literally on the couch for an hour contemplating what to do because I cannot work out yesterday or the day before that because of my car So I'm in a bit of a pickle.  I want to work out. I want to be productive But you know what I just really want to be authentic with you guys And I feel like if I completely just scrapped this video That would be very inauthentic of me because I'm hiding the Imperfections in my life and when things go wrong But that's just life and if I were to not show this then that's just a little bit fake of me I feel like there's a balance between spreading You know positivity as I always want to do and I always want to give you guys motivation and make you feel good But I am also a real human who is definitely not even close to perfect and things like this happened to me And I feel like I should just start documenting them more instead of Completely scrapping the video because I was this close to just not doing this video Which would mean that I would not have an upload on the state that you're watching it So when life gives you lemons, you got to make lemonade.  I just find it so ironic how I was just saying how I'm so great That my car starts and then it just doesn't start I actually was like you're not like you're this has to be a joke anyways So that's some more love the story at the end of the day. It is freezing cold outside right now It's like negative one zero degrees But I think I'm gonna walk myself to the grocery store and get groceries because I want exercise I haven't gotten exercise in a few days because it's been raining and freezing and I haven't been able to leave the house To the gym, so I haven't been getting any exercise. It's actually sunny today. So there's no rain. It's not too cloudy It's pretty nice actually so even though it is really really cold I'm just gonna bundle up and we're gonna go to the grocery store together and buy some things for dinner or else We're gonna have no groceries for dinner So like I said, you got to make do what you have I used to walk to the grocery store sometimes in my old apartment But I have never walked to the grocery store here in my new place So I do wish it was a little hotter outside. So it would be nicer But at least it's not raining so we got this and then we can also get exercise in so yeah Anyways, that's the update this video and my plans took a bit of a turn But we're working with what we got here. Let's go on a walk and let's go grocery shopping Here is the walking outfit of today.  Oh, we're good now Just finished grocery shopping I went to a smaller grocery store than what I usually go to so I can't make what I Want to sleep for dinner because I didn't have everything that I needed so I kind of had to pivot Glad I still got to get groceries for dinner tonight So we're gonna have a sausage instead of soup with salad, but I picked up a midday square There's supposed to be like a healthy alternative to chocolate So I started getting really hungry so I cracked it open and I took a bite and oh my gosh, it's so good This is just hitting right now. So good Here is my mini mini grocery haul today, I just got these organic salted rounds I love tortilla chips when they're round. I don't know why but they're just so good And then I just got some lettuce for tonight's dinner so I can make a salad and then some sausages I'm probably gonna make rice and then I just bought two cans of beans because I was gonna make the soup And then I ended up just buying the beans anyways because I will make the soup eventually So it'll be nice to just have the beans, but anyways That's a little grocery haul and then I also got the midday square that I was telling you guys about and it was so good So I just laid my mat out and I'm gonna do yoga I'm actually really excited for this if you guys didn't know I used to do yoga like every single morning for 10 minutes At least and I would follow a yoga video on YouTube But I stopped doing that because now when I go to my workout classes and when I go to the gym I just stretch there So there's not really a need to do it before I leave the house But I used to wake and do that every single day, which actually was so nice Yeah, now I just do it outside of the house. So it's a little bit different Basically, I'm still doing it. It's just not in like the same routine But since I can't drive to the gym or anything today I did get a really good walk from going to the grocery store So that was really nice even get fresh air because I feel like a lot of the times in the winter We don't get fresh air and even though it's freezing Outside and you can't really be out there for too too long It's still really nice to bundle up and just get outside for even if it's five ten minutes Just to breathe in some, you know, fresh air is really really good for you and to connect to nature Some way so it actually felt really good to do that because all my workouts But I do are all within door and in the summer though. I do go on really long walks I was doing that like every day last summer And I was going on a walk every single morning and it was so nice because it was such a good temperature at that time So that was a vibe So I'm definitely gonna keep doing walks like that in the summer It's just so hard especially when it's like raining every day here and freezing cold for now We're gonna do a yoga video and every time I do a yoga video. It just puts me in the best mood So why not make the best of today and bring that back. Let's do a yoga video again I'm probably gonna do a yoga video from yoga with Cassandra. I will link her channel down below I'm gonna do her 10-minute morning yoga video. I did her 30 day yoga challenge once and it was so good I completed every single day and it was awesome. So I really really love our classes even though my routine was thrown off today It's a bit different and I don't mind it Let's do some yoga stretch out the body get into a good flow and when I do yoga I really try to quiet my mind and also Simultaneously do a bit of a meditation but come out always feeling really really good One of my goals for 2024 is to get a little bit more flexible because I feel like I just don't stretch enough And when I do stretch, I don't stretch for long enough doing yoga definitely helps So let's get into it and it's free. You can do it for free My breakfast I just made this is a sweet potato yamble with poached eggs on top Usually I would put avocado on this but unfortunately my avocado that I have is not ripe yet So I don't really want to eat a hard avocado So we're just gonna wait till it ripens, but it'll still be good like this I made a little sauce to go with it.  I'm so excited to eat this I'm just about to hop in the shower that breakfast was so good And I thought that I would just read today's affirmation since I haven't read it yet because I was reading my book in the morning And I forgot so today is January 11th. Oh my god today's 1-1-1 crazy alignment Affirmation is let there be quiet drifting through the sky gentle and light Did you know that snow has a vital function in our winter landscape? It's not just decorative snow insulates the plants and animals that sleep beneath it many creatures and foliage need a specific time in Hypernation or cold induced stasis in order to flourish in the spring you too need a period of quiet to thrive Wow, I actually love that and it's so true as much as I love to preach to be productive And I wake up early every morning so I can get a lot of things done in the day I don't want to preach talk to productivity because it's so important like this book said to let yourself just be quiet Rest spend some alone time. Maybe balance is everything in life You can't have one thing without the other as much as it makes me feel good to be productive I do need to have those days where I just don't do anything and I have those quiet days So very accurate really like that information today. I actually had no idea that animals did that That's actually pretty funny. I'm also about to hit 200,000 subscribers I'm at a hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and forty six So I need fifty four more subscribers Which I am just I just can't believe it There are some people that didn't believe that I could get to a hundred thousand subscribers even and now I did it twice So I'm definitely gonna hit it today Maybe within the next hour or two, but I just wanted to say thank you guys in advance for your constant support And it truly does mean the world to me I wouldn't be where I'm at without you guys and thank you for supporting my channel and always Commenting the nicest things I see every single one of your comments So I appreciate them so much and I always try to answer to as many of them as I can But thank you for clicking on my videos and watching me and even though I can't really see you on the other side of The camera I appreciate and love you so much and I'm sending you all the positive vibes And I can tear up right now because I'm just so appreciative and I love you guys so much 200,000 to me is crazy. So I just wanted to say thank you. Anyways, I'm gonna go shower ready for the day I've put on my pajama pants since things just didn't go as planned. I'm gonna soak it in and be a little extra comfy today I at least like put some makeup on got myself together. My hair is so greasy right now So I'm just gonna keep these clips in because I need to wash it probably tonight But I'm gonna muster up a quick to-do list to do it's our key to productivity you guys Especially when I now I'm doing my 5 a.m. Routine every day the day feels so long It's amazing But if I don't make it to-do list then I feel like I'm just wasting the day away because I am just scattered all over the place I swear the dates that I make it to-do list I am a hundred times more productive than when I don't have one even if you just have a couple things on that to-do list It's still so much better than not making one and that's like a habit that I've implemented every single day I swear it's a game-changer, especially if you have so many thoughts running through your brain like constantly I feel like I'm like oh my gosh. I need to do this. I need to do that. I need to get this I need to remember that taking those thoughts that can overwhelm you and drain your energy and actually putting them on paper is Such a relief and it helps more than you think it would the stress of trying to hold everything that you need to do in Your brain is so overwhelming and it just helps so much putting that onto paper So that's what I'm gonna do right now I really wanted to get my nails done today But I'm not gonna be able to do that because I don't have a car technically it could uber there But I feel like that's just so pointless. I'd rather just wait until I get my car back for that I'll get them done next week, but they're just just don't mind them Honestly, I go through phases of how I make my to-do list. Sometimes I'll do it on my laptop Sometimes I'll do it on paper. Sometimes I'll do it on my phone It just depends the day what I have to do if I have computer work to do all day and I'm sitting at home I'll probably just make it on a piece of paper quickly. It just really depends I really do like making it on my phone and I have been recently my phone is so convenient I could bring it with me. I go on my notes app. So laundry I'm gonna put that first because I haven't done laundry in a while That's a habit that I want to start getting better at is doing laundry I always tell myself I'm gonna get better at it and it just never happens. So anyways laundry is first on that list I got to edit this video. I want to plan a rubric for an upcoming Sponsorship I have to film this video the one that you're watching right now I have to make it thumbnail and I also want to order my iMac today As you guys know if you've seen one of my last vlogs I was talking about how I'm gonna be doing a office renovation and I really want to order myself an iMac I kind of want to customize it and add extra storage and make it stronger So you can't really just go to buy that in the store if you want to customize when you have to order it in advance And I got to order more bone broth. Yeah, that's pretty much it Editing this video is gonna take up like the biggest chunk of my day So I start off with laundry because I feel like I have no clean underwear right now So Get it upstairs to do that and then we can get actually started for today So I recently have developed an obsession to this lemon bubbly water that I just make myself and it's so good And it's keeping me so hydrated. Anyways, so start with a cup full of ice You want to put a lot of ice and this is my bubbly water of choice. You can get any bubbly water I'm almost out which is sad So I'm gonna stock up on these next time I go to the grocery store But I'm just gonna fill this with whatever I have left The other day at the grocery store. I picked up this organic lemon juice. It's a hundred percent squeezed lemon So there's nothing else in here, but pure lemon juice So instead of squeezing a lemon it just makes it so much more convenient and easy to make this drink So I love this for me. Just pour a little bit of that in just kind of eyeball the amount And I mix it all together And oh my goodness, it's addicting. I don't know what makes this so good compared to regular lemon water It really fixes my cravings for any sort of pop. I can guzzle like eight of these a day I swear, but please give it a try if you guys are looking for a healthy drink Alternative to have dinner with or just throughout the day. I'm actually obsessed.  It's just that good. Just thought I'd share because it's so good I'm about to go to bed soon waking up early makes you so tired early in the evening, obviously Now that it gets dark at like 4 p.m. It just makes sense going to bed around 9 9 30 to 10 I feel like in the summer it's such a different vibe because the Sun is out until like 9 30 And it would just feel so wrong going to bed at that time So I don't know what my sleep schedule is gonna be like in the summer But we'll see but anyway, I have been reading atomic habits and it's been so good I just wanted to share a couple things that I've learned from the book basically what it's talking about right now is how Little habits every day compound and make a huge difference in your lifelong term and we Overestimate how much we can get done in a month two months even three months But we really underestimate how much we can get done and achieve in a year or two years or three years Looking back on it. It's so funny like the journey of my life when I'm working towards something I think it's taking me so long to get there and the journey feels like forever But then once I'm there and I look back and like wow this only took me two years And this is a huge accomplishment But he just really emphasizes the point that your daily habits that you do whether it's doing things to work towards a goal Or for your own personal health or whatever it is They really compound every day you probably don't see a difference every single day But once you look back over time you will see a massive difference and a change It's like going to the gym every day You're not going to see results after a day or a week or maybe even a month of going to the gym You only start seeing results after like maybe I don't know six months or whatever the timeline is That's why so many people quit on their goals and what they want to accomplish because they think that they're supposed to be seeing Results right away, but that's not the case results take a long time And our habits are compounding every single day and what we choose to do and what we choose to work towards And even though in the moment, I mean not seem like we're getting any better We are it just kind of happening underground. He made the comparison to a bamboo tree That's been the first like six years or something growing its roots underground And then all of a sudden within six weeks or something crazy like that It's so tall all of a sudden after six years So you kind of have to see it like that where even though you're not visually seeing any progress There's a lot being done behind like the scenes I guess of the universe and like what you're putting in one of the quotes in the book is Success is the product of daily habits not once in a lifetime Transformation so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on the daily basis And he also talks about the significance of getting even just better one percent a day and how that compounds in a year It's actually insane when you do the math and he does the math He shows graphs in the book. The book is just so good. I definitely recommend Yeah, so anyways, I just wanted to give you guys some motivation at the end of the video since it's the new year I've been in my breeding self-help book era and so I want to share what I learned with you guys But seriously, you can achieve anything you set your mind towards and your daily habits do make a huge difference He also says in the book the same thing goes for bad habits They compound and then that's how you go down a downward spiral when you don't change anything Any sort of goals that you have just know that you're going to get there and the journey might seem like it's taking forever But you're gonna get there. It was like me at one point. I was at 200 subscribers and it felt like I was never like it felt Impossible how can I get 200,000? How can I get to 10,000? But I just hit 200,000 which is insane If that is not a real life proof of you guys can achieve your goals as well Then I don't know what is because I started from the bottom I started with zero subscribers and I built this through my habits through my manifestation and the proof is in the pudding So just saying I didn't wake up one day and get 200,000 subscribers and make a living off of this It was a journey to get there, but now when I look back on it I'm like damn it wasn't even that long of a time like it happened pretty quick It's just in the moment It feels like a long time because you want to get there so bad But the journey is everything in life And so as long as you're making steps every day towards your goals and what you want to achieve Then you're on the right path and obviously that with balance anyways, I'm gonna stop rambling on I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your constant support And I love you guys more than you know. Hope you guys have an amazing week ahead And I will see you guys in my next video also comment down below a goal that you guys have for this year I love you guys so much