Club MX 2.15.12

It was Tuesday (14th) evening when these thoughts hit me. I've already heard about the dreamy weather we're suppose to have on Wednesday. Then I read a status update from the Club MX facebook page saying Tim Ferry was out doing some suspension testing. The best part of all, my schedule was wide open.

By now, you're probably guessing that I took a trip back out to the Club. You're absolutely right! There was no way I was about to let that kind of configuration slip out of my hands. I even got to catch up with my photog buddy ole pal, Randall Overby!

As usual, the Club MX fellas didn't disappoint. Zach Osborne was out pounding lap after lap while Ferry made a couple of laps at... probably no where near his capability! It's the strangest thing; even at the casual speed he was riding, he still looked solid on a bike. To me that just proves that he's got a bit of experience under his belt. In addition to all of this awesomeness, Brandon Haas was throwing some mad-crazy whips! And he whipped it every time over the big jump!!! Talk about candy for my lens...

Enough talk. On with the pics!

Ready to see the whole gallery? Just click here and it will take you straight to it.

Club MX 2.8.11

I was just about to head back home from dinner when I got a phone call from David Root asking if I was available for a few photos at Club MX the very next day. Austin, Brandon (Wollenhaupt) and Christopher Venditti were headed to the Club for a few laps of moto therapy. And the answer was... you-betcha!

I love photography at Club MX. Those guys keep their tracks groomed very nicely. Not to mention new track designs are often made. The Club MX guys were also out throwing down along with a hand full other practice riders.

Even though the track looked good, the weather was perfect; it was just one of those days! The ones where you know it's probably best not to push it. Brandon is healing from a lingering injury and only made a couple of laps while Austin decided to just practice cornering while Christopher was riding his heart out! He had his 85 in the wind!

Overall, it was a magnificent day to take a few photos.

Andrews Motorsports - The good ole days

Every once in a while, you'll hear the phrase "all good things must come to an end". I really wish I could give a good answer as to why this type of thing happens, but I can't. All I can say is... that's life.

I think we all agree that riding at Andrews was mx at it's best. Mike always took care of his track and you better believe it was for the advanced rider. Big jumps were just around a few tight corners, up hill, down hill and a hi-speed straight-away that would have your bike swapping like a fish out of water if you're not focused keeping it between your legs.

And best of all... the best whoops in town. So lets take a trip down memory lane and re-live the good ole days, shall we!

The whoop-de-dos:

No one... and I do mean no one, had a set of whoops like Andrews Motorsports. Most riders would double all the way through (including myself) and the advanced riders would either triple through or skim the tops. I've even witnessed a rider quad through these bad boys. Pretty ballzy don't ya think? Once you think you have em down, Mike would re-build the whoops back up to man status. I can still hear Mike saying... "ah these whoops are just speed bumps to the top pros". And I'd say he's right  on the mark with that statement.

The Winter.

Andrews was always closed during the months of January and February to let the coldest weather pass. And then, would re-open the first weekend of March. These were the times we'd all load up and head to the sand pits in SC for some good ole sand riding. By the time the track was open for the year, it was a good month or two before the leaves started blooming. It was cold at times but there was nothing like a good ride to get you all warmed up.

Next was the Spring and Summer time. At this point, the track was in full swing and all the riders would bring there awnings to keep the heat and sun off their head. Even with this track being buried in the woods, the roughness of the track would bring out the exhaustion. My point here is when you left Mikes track, you left know you just rode a mans track.

The Fall season. Now this is always my favorite time of year. You know that Andrews would be groomed with all kinds of natures color with the entire track being surrounded by trees.

And once it's all said and done and your packed up and ready to hit the road, there was nothing like the high fives from riders for a good day of riding. We had the best of times... for sure.

My story of the Racer X job interview!

Yep, you heard right. Racer X Illustrated job interview! I haven't spoken of this to anyone but to a select few people. Maybe it's the New Years cheers or the giddy feeling I have about my new business but I feel now is the time make it public. Life has presented something to me that I feel is a career gift and Racer X actually had a little something to do with it.

Drum roll please... this is how it all went down. I'll try to make it short and not go into every small detail, cause there was definitely a ton of it! :)

It was winter season, 2010. I submitted my resume to Racer X for a photo/video/web position that was open at the Racer X headquarters. My first interview was actually a phone interview and my thoughts were, if I can have a good phone interview, then the next step should be a face to face interview. A face to face would be a giant step forward you know! Why else would they bring me all the way up (West Virginia meaning all the way up) if they just weren't interested.

So, e-mail confirmed, I'm headed North for a dream job interview with a company that I'm a huge fan of, doing something I'm passionate about! You can guess that I was not on cloud 9... it was more like cloud 100!

After checking into my hotel for the night, I got a call from Bryan Stealey (who I'd been talking with during the whole process) asking if I wanted to meet up for coffee the next morning. And you know I was up for that! A good chance to shake the nerves before going into my interview.

Long story short and skipping all the fine details, the interview was outstanding! After the interview, Bryan, Davey Coombs and other members of the staff took me out for lunch at a fine Indian restaurant where we all talked about... yep... you guessed it, motocross! It felt so good that it was almost inexplicable.

After lunch we wrapped up, shook hands and I drove back to my hotel to get my luggage and start making my way back home. Before I left, Bryan had mentioned something about going out to some local bars that evening for a few cold ones. But a serious snow storm was moving in and I felt it was best that I start making my way back to the Carolinas.

The job position was between myself and one other guy! I made it in over hundreds of applicants. That alone is a great accomplishment!

About a week later, I was notified that I didn't get the job but to keep my head up. I think the next few days my mouth didn't open much unless I really had to talk. I was bummed out for sure. I mean, how many chances in life do you get an opportunity to work for a company doing something you dreamed of since childhood, along with the industries top professionals?

Even though I didn't get the job, and was a bit bummed, I didn't let it take over my life. For whatever reason it be, it was just not my time to shine at Racer X or shall I say, in the motocross industry.

So, just like what the pros say when they're on the podium; I must give a huge shout out and big thanks to Bryan Stealey, Davey Coombs and the entire staff of Racer X Illustrated. I had the time of my life while I was there! I see it like this. I can look back and say that I was in close running for a position at Racer X Illustrated, bench race with the people that produce one of the best motocross magazines and was able to talk with some folks that most people will only read about! That to me, was a chance of a lifetime! And I am proud to say, that I came in second place on this deal!

What else can I really say! Hats off to the guy who got the job! I'd shake hands with the guy If I had the chance. I believe in having a good and positive attitude about situations that both work out and don't work out.

Now you ask, how does this tie into what I'm doing now? Well, to come so extremely close to having a dream job in the motocross industry and then have the doors closed on everything, especially when it all seemed to go so right; there obviously had to be something else in the hands of life waiting for me to grasp.

Now-a-days, I'm building my very own business. And I specialize in videography. There are some photography jobs that come around but it's mostly the video side where I stay the busiest! And I'm completely stoked. Who knows... maybe one day I'll get to do some video/photo work for Racer X.

You just never can tell!


One more thing! West Virginia is one heck-of-a beautiful state! There are postcard photos on nearly every corner. And I could just kick myself for not taking the time to snap a few shots of the breathtaking views around Morgantown!

Instead, enjoy these few I shot while driving!!! ;) I promise I was being safe while doing so...

I've always thought this sign was in a funky spot!

The Updated Factory 987

Over the holidays, I managed to make a few updates to the factory. I'm super proud to say that Factory 987 is purely, 100% dedicated to motocross!

If you've visited my factory 987 website in the past, you'll know that I stay very involved with the wedding industry. It just didn't seem right to mix these two together. So I decided to build an entire new site dedicated to weddings.

Next up,  a look back on 2011's best mx photos.

Now,  click here and go check out the all mx site!

Carlo Gagliardo. And it's a wrap!!!

Now that all the filming is over. It's time to begin the editing process. I can't wait to get this thing finished and delivered to Carlo.

Until then, enjoy this trailer I put together of the entire journey that we captured.

A day in the life at Beaver Creek. The last segment.

I must admit... I'm a little sad that this journey has come to an end. A few weekends ago, we filmed a sport bike practice at Carolina Motorsports Park and I guess you could say that was officially the last portion of riding that we intended to do. As we headed home, I mentioned to Carlo that it would be icing on the cake if we coud sneak in 1 more mx practice. And true to Carol G's pro fashion, he made it happen. And that's mainly the reason why I'm so bummed. No matter what the situation was at hand, Carlo G made it happen. If you really think about it, I was just a tag along with a video camera in hand.

This journey actually started back in May of this year. Carlo sent me an e-mail saying he wanted a profile video sort-of like the teaser I made for Tom Kraft last year. Usually this is just a 1 day event but Carlo had something bigger in mind. Instead of a 2-3 minute video, he decided to have something more like a movie made about himself.

It was sometime around the end of summer when we finally started rolling with everything. And to fire off this journey, we just filmed a play session at Carlo G's shop. That's actually another thing that made this journey so nice. His shop is about 5 minutes from my house. So it was nothing to meet up. He also never required that I drive anywhere. I would either meet him at the shop or at his house (which was around 15 minutes away) and I could ride with him and the fellas in his van. When he really didn't have room, he made room! That spoke volumes to me. He was really putting in a solid effort to make his movie of A day in the life happen.

After the play session at the shop was in the books, the very next week we headed out to Club mx in Chesterfield SC for a day, and a week or so later, Cedar Cairn in Concord for a few sessions. It was during these times when I heard things like, mile long wheelies and backflips. I already knew he could ride a good wheelie but the backflip... I just had to see that for myself.

Around this part of the journey, daylight savings was still in affect. I met Carlo at his house one evening after work and the next thing I know, we're blasting down Albemarle Rd, filming Carlo on 1 wheel. The other wheel was in the air. Now that the adrenaline was pumping pretty good, it was time for the backflip. And he did it twice!

Next up was the big air jump. There is a huge mound of dirt that is ever so gracefully next door to Carlo off Albemarle Rd. It was one of those jumps where you had to make sure the wind wasn't blowing too hard. Cause there was definitely some air time involved with this jump. And don't you know it. Just so I could get several camera angles, Carlo hit that jump numerous times. He even pulled off a heel clicker on 1 of the jumps.

In a nut shell, that pretty much leads us up to these last 2 events. The sport bike practice worked out perfect and to put a ribbion on this whole deal, we filmed our last session at Beaver Creek MX. I must give a big high five to David Root for allowing us to film at his track.

So here we are. The very last segment! Along for the ride was Carlo G's niece and the super fast TJ Snow. One more thing! When we met that morning, Carlo said that he wasn't exactly feeling it and almost called this session off due to some back problems. After a Red Bull and lots of good ole country talk, you'd never know it. To me that's just another thing that makes Carlo Gagliardo a pro!

Here are a few screenshots from my video camera.