A Life of Wonder

Capturing Moments with Pedro & Tailor

Words by Joshua Perez

I have nearly tangible memories of traveling as a boy. I love to relive the process and memories of packing up and exploring Cuba, Canada and Alaska on our family vacations. But even my everyday life growing up in Miami expressed itself in a happy curiosity accustomed to risk taking and daredevil showmanship.

I was addicted to adventure.

 
 
 
 

So as I would cross the threshold back at home, leaving a suitcase packed with dirty clothes, one thing was clear to me: I could do this forever. I’d return from our trips not discouraged that I couldn’t be on a constant adventure, but daydreaming endlessly about how my future would be shaped by this desire. One day, I would be old enough to finally go and chase more wanderlust affairs for myself. 

The thought, the smell, the feel, sight and sound of adventure fill my senses. Hiking wasn’t just walking, rafting wasn’t fun just because of getting splashed. When we gained any sort of elevation—it transformed my family’s little adventure into something beyond me and something important all at once; I was like an astronaut buckling in before the countdown. Who cared how it ended? I wanted to try it and see what kind of man came out the other side.  

 
 
 
 
 

Along the way, with my dad’s old camera, photography became a passion. I wanted to remember the memories of my childhood adventures exactly as they were while living them. There’s a reason why the word ‘capture’ is used in photography vernacular. You reach out into the light for a fraction of time, click, and save a moment in history we will never have again.

Like how just viewing a picture of a candid smile frozen on a phone or a Polaroid can truly make you remember the full force of the laugh you had back in that shot. I believe there are moments, like those, worth going over in our thoughts, even if it’s only us doing the remembering. 

 
 
 
 
 

Of course, pictures aren’t the only memory joggers of my childhood. Three years ago I was digging through her belongings a few days after my moms death and was surprised to see she’d written me something when I was a kid. Her sudden passing never gave us a chance for a goodbye so the letter I found carried the responsibility of what her last words to me would have been. I’m not sure Mom knew that I’d need those words, but then again any word—spoken in love—can be good at any time.

The last line in her square and slanted script ended with:

advance to a life of wonder.

 
 
 
 
 

Personally, I think she meant that wonder can be found in the small moments. Viewing vast landscapes through a car window, the firm pounding you feel with wind at high speeds or the times you sigh and pick up your board to follow your friend into the waves of another crazy idea.

As time has passed those words have never left me, its become the cornerstone of my business today. I’ve never known exactly what she meant by it, but in some ways it’s refreshing that I never knew. Each new memory and adventure I live through (from starting a second business during a pandemic, to having my own kid) gets reinterpreted through them.

 
 

Alongside my business partner Levi, I’ve built Pedro & Tailor by designing products that become memory makers. Products aimed at bringing to life the stories and places we hold dear. Products that celebrate the memories worthy to be passed on. No matter who you are, where you come from, or where you’re dreaming of going, we believe that everyone deserves a life of wonder.

I know my mother’s words to be trustworthy. They had the backbone of learning to do good and repeating that process.

And true words, like good memories, are meant to be reminisced. To move us outside of ourselves and out into the life of wonder.

A Life of Endless Summers

The Bruce Brown Story

A Film by Dana Brown Coming Soon

The 21st Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) proudly announces its return with the world premiere of A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story as its Opening Night film. The Festival, which was originally scheduled for late April, was postponed due to the COVID - 19 Pandemic. This year only, all screenings will take place at The Lot - Fashion Island. The Festival will run for a 2 week span, August 6 - August 20, 2020, in order to accommodate all of its planned screenings. The Opening Night screening of A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story will take place on Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 7:30pm in all seven cinemas at The Lot - Fashion Island (401 Newport Center Drive).

A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story is the highly anticipated film from acclaimed second-generation documentarian in partnership with Irvine-based SCS. Brown lends his storytelling prowess to a truly memorable and personal piece-of-work in a form of a penned love letter to his father. A road trip turns into a rare, intimate look at the amazing life of his legendary father, Bruce Brown (The Endless Summer and On Any Sunday). Dana started the project with his father as a long-overdue "road trip" they took together traveling up the west coast and Hawaii.

“It’s a fabulous story that has rarely been told: the freewheeling adventurous days when lifestyle sport programming was born,” says James Schiefer, SCS’s Founder.

“The Film is a tribute to my father. Dad started the whole action sports film genre. He broke the mold; he broke the rules; he broke open the film category. There will never be another one like him,” said Dana Brown. “We could not think of a better fit for our world premiere then The Newport Beach Film Festival which places such a strong focus on Action Sports programing and continually acknowledges Dads legacy in the Southern California Community.”

“The Newport Beach Film Festival is exceptionally proud to open its 21st edition with the world premiere of Dana Brown's moving documentary. We are thrilled to bring the community together to celebrate and honor the legacy of Bruce Brown and his impact on documentary filmmaking and surf culture,” said Gregg Schwenk, CEO and Co-Founder of the Newport Beach Film Festival. “With the Festival's long-standing commitment to action sports cinema and deep relationship with the Brown family, it is the ideal film to kick off two weeks of global film screenings and events here in coastal Southern California."

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Liftoff

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A Love Letter to the Stars

A film by Wiley Kaupas | Photos by Lear Miller

Athletes: Austin Hackett-Klaube, Harrison Ory | Filmed by: Wiley Kaupas, Lear Miller, Kasen Schauman | Original Score: Nash Howe

 

What lies above our heads goes on forever.

 
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Forever in motion, and endlessly silent.  

 
 
 
 
 
 

But it calls to us.

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Beckons us to journey into the unknown. 

 
 
 

To search for an end to the endless.

 
 
 
 
 
 

To find weight in being weightless.

 
 
 
 
 

For some, that call is irresistible,

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and the only place that it can be answered

 

is up. 

Westley Agius

From the Streets to the Racetrack

A film by Johny Mourgue

Westley Agius hails from a non-motorsport background in Essex with early interests like snowboarding and surfing. He spent the better part of a decade living in Japan where he became a professional snowboard instructor. When returning to England, he sought to find that same adrenaline rush through the underground street racing culture which revolved around the Ace Cafe in Hanger Lane. A staple hangout for motorcyclists in southern England. A near fatal accident left him seeking an alternative outlet to channel his desire for speed and adrenaline, which is how he found flat track racing. A DIY ethos and a hunger to succeed has enabled him to build two race bikes and rise through the ranks quicker than any other rider in the UK scene.

All Roads. No Roads.

The Royal Enfield Himalayan

There are no maps for adventure. There’s just the rider, the terrain and, uniting them, a thrumming engine and a pair of wheels. The Royal Enfield Himalayan was forged among the towering mountains and limitless highways to create a machine that flows in harmony with all roads, no roads, and everything in between.

Return to the Island

Britten Motorcycles

A film by Callum Cooper & Michael Latham

The Isle of Man TT is, without doubt, the most dangerous race on the planet. In a similar vein to the World’s Fastest Indian at Bonneville in the 1960s, in 1994 New Zealand inventor John Britten and his team brought their futuristic racing motorcycle to this infamous race.

John Britten turned motorcycle design on its head in the early 1990s with the Britten V1000; a hand-built motorcycle designed and constructed by a small group of friends in John’s backyard shed in Christchurch. The motorcycle incorporated technologies seldom seen before: extensive use of carbon fibre, the radiator located under the seat, double wishbone front suspension, frameless chassis and engine data logging.

At the height of their endeavours the Britten team took three V1000 racers to the 1994 Isle of Man TT races. There they were confronted by the dark side of the world’s most famous and dangerous race track.  

Gone South

A Tour of the Road Less Travelled

A Film by Vita Brevis Films

Everyone has their way of finding sanity. When buried in tasks, or caught idle for too long, creative companies or individuals revert to their personal way of finding inspiration once again. We found ourselves buried in corporate work, work which we love, but can threaten to give us a permanent lazy eye. In times like this we come together for what we call “team building exercises”. These exercises can simply be stepping out of the office to pull weeds together or power wash our attack vehicle. On other occasions, team building exercises can entail an impromptu road trip to Southern Utah proposed by our team lead – aimed to test our equipment and clear our heads. This video is of the latter. We geared up for the weather forecast – dusty, with a chance of a dirty good time: Gone South.

The open road provides a pathway to the uncontrolled spirit, a state of being that is universally felt yet so challenging to capture through a medium, even for an experienced film studio. We brought both of our Red cameras to shoot the story of our traveling family, or, as it turned out, old farts drinking next to their Chinook campers. The team flew down paved roads, our helmets low as we sliced through the wind. Shots of the team cruising were captured in our pursuit van at high speeds, stabilized by our Movi. The off-road shots of our motorcycle bromance were captured with our octocopter, at times pushing its speedometer up to 40 mph. Our trip took us along remote train tracks directly into the path of desert sandstorms raging through Knolls, Utah. We reached as far as the daylight took us. We spent some time gettin’ stuck and crashing our bikes while filming clouds veiling the sinking sun. Our octocopter seemed to be running on an eternal battery: our battery-life indicator was uncharacteristically still flashing green after fifteen minutes of flight time. It was too late when we realized a catastrophic error: the warning light hadn’t reset. The damage from the crash would cost us a pretty penny when we got home, but we were able to clean the bird enough to get it back in the air and ready for our second day, heading in the opposite direction.

Directed by: Skylar Nielsen
Cinematography: Josh Fletcher
Adventurers: Lance Clayton & Nelson Bruggeman
Campers: Pat Fenelon & Corigan Kushmah
Music: Future Islands

#METASELECT

Photo Contest Winner & Finalists

Being on lockdown has got us dreaming of better days, so we invited our audience to participate in the #metaselect photo contest and submit their best images that showcase “a life well ridden”. We received thousands of incredible entries from all corners of the globe. It was extremely difficult to narrow down our top 20, even harder to decide on a top 10 and almost impossible to select just one as the solitary winner. We made our selections based on composition, location, light, shadow, color, the images ability to capture a moment and tell a story, and that special something that made us dream of better days.

There were so many amazing photos and photographers that entered and we are so thankful to be part of such a talented and creative community. Check out the winners below and stay tuned for the next contest!

Contest Winner

Olivier Le Quellec | Saint Tropez, France

It was a hard choice, but we selected this image because of the minimal composition, dreamy location, soft light and vibrant color, the unique motorcycle and the overall story this image tells. It looks like a perfect day on the coast of France, and we’d love to be here right now.

We will be publishing this image in Volume 018 which will be released on newsstands in June. Congrats, Olivier!

 

Top 10 Finalists:

*In no particular order

Top 20 Finalists:

*in no particular order

Build. Train. Race.

Four Women From Four Different Backgrounds

Presented by Royal Enfield

BUILD. TRAIN. RACE. is a female-focused racing initiative from our friends at Royal Enfield. The program tasked four women from across the U.S. and Canada with building four custom flat track motorcycles which they would then train on and race. Each woman had three months to determine a design direction, secure partners and transform stock Royal Enfield INT650 from street bikes to race bikes.  

The four women, while all motorcycle enthusiasts, come from diverse backgrounds. Despite their vastly perspectives, they are united by their passion for motorcycling. This project would not only test their abilities as creatives, but also their skills in building a motorcycle and race craft on the track. For some it was the first time they'd taken on a project of such magnitude and others could rely on their experience working on motorcycles with a tight deadline.

The first test would take place at the Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee in March. Then the women would compete in exhibition races at select American Flat Track events. However, fate and COVID-19 had other plans. The day of the unveiling Wisconsin went under a state of emergency and the races in Milwaukee were canceled. And as the cliché goes, the rest is history. The hope is that things will return to normalcy this fall, and the events will take place then. But only time will tell. 

 

Andrea Lothrop

It may not be a common knowledge, but Toronto has a vibrant motorcycling community. An organization called Moto Social has led the charge in bringing together a divergent culture of two-wheeled enthusiasts in Canada and many other urban cities. On the west end of Toronto, you'll find Moto Revere, a DIY motorcycle shop run by Andrea Lothrop and her partner. 

Moto Revere is fueled by Andrea's love of motorcycles and also her belief in empowerment. The shop gives riders a place to not only work on their motorcycles but also commune with like-minded enthusiasts. While the shop is open to anyone, Andrea specifically caters classes and instruction to female riders. Offering up a friendly environment for women to share their hobby without the oftentimes overwhelming machismo of motorcycling. Because of the above-mentioned reasons, and Andrea's approachable Canadian personality, she was a natural fit for the program. Not to mention her eclectic sense of style. 

 

Andrea's build focused on maintaining the stock functionality of the INT 650 to develop an attainable build that shows what the motorcycle is capable of by handpicking the right parts. She drew inspiration from the 1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor and chose colors and styling clues from that era. It’s a combination of classic and modern as Andrew mixed the simplicity of CNC-cut parts with 3D printed bits. She aptly named her motorcycle "Dopesmoker." 

 

Melissa Paris

Deadlines and intense pressure are nothing new to Melissa Paris. As a veteran road racer and team owner in the Moto America series, she has plenty on her plate. Between taking care of her family, training and managing a racing program, Melissa decided to try her hand at building her first flat track motorcycle ever for Royal Enfield. While she’s no stranger to turning wrenches on her race bikes, this would prove to be a completely different challenge.

In 2019, Melissa led group rides at multiple INT 650 launch events across the U.S. To say she’s familiar with the INT 650 platform is an understatement, as she logged hundreds of miles aboard the motorcycle in L.A., Miami and other cities. Her resume as a racer includes the Daytona 200, Moto America, World SuperSport and Spanish CEV endurance racing. Naturally, flat track is one of the ways Melissa trains for road racing, so the BUILD TRAIN RACE program was the perfect opportunity for her to take her racing expertise and apply it to the INT 650.

 

As a racer, suspension is critical to Melissa when it comes to setting up a bike. And she wanted to leverage as many of her road racing partners as possible in the build. With that in mind, she started out with top-quality components from Ohlins. The motorcycle was essentially built around custom gold Ohlins front forks and black Ohlins rear shocks. These parts set the tone for the build and just about everything else followed suit. The black and gold theme was carried visually throughout the rest of the motorcycle, from the wheels to the bodywork. And if there’s any doubt that Melissa likes to go fast, the motorcycle spent ample time being tuned on the dyno to dial in the power delivery.   

 

Jillian Deschenes

Jillian Deschenes is a soft-spoken hospice nurse who resides just outside of Minneapolis. Her quiet demeanor can be misleading, as once Jillian straps on her helmet she’s a fierce racer and the number one plate holder for the AMA District 23 women’s flat track class. After an introduction with the crew at Royal Enfield, Jillian was asked to participate in a special test at S&S Cycle’s proving grounds last fall. The motorcycle being ridden was a flat track variant of the Royal Enfield Himalayan called the FT411. After seeing Jillian’s abilities, the team immediately recognized the talent before them. 

When the BUILD TRAIN RACE program was in its planning stages, there was no doubt that Jillian was on the short list to be involved. Besides being a skilled racer, Jillian balances being mother to an eight-year old, a demanding career and her passion for motorcycling. Why not add building a flat track racer to the list? Jillian’s down-to-Earth personality and ability to throw a motorcycle sideways solidified her place among the rest of team.

 

Jillian worked diligently in her shop in between shifts at work, consulting with her father Jim Deschenes who machined custom parts for the motorcycle. And her fiancé and fellow racer Erik Moldenhauer lent a hand with the bike’s creation as well. With several inches of snow on the ground once the build neared completion, there was no opportunity for Jillian to properly shake down the motorcycle. So, she did what any good upper-Midwesterner would do. She took the INT 650 out to frozen lake, threw on a set of ice tires and off she went.

And Jillian did not disappoint. From front to back she transformed the appearance of the motorcycle. Her INT 650 stays true to her flat track roots, with its silhouette and bodywork reminiscent of a motorcycle you'll find on racetracks around the country. Using a combination of off-the-shelf parts and custom pieces, Jillian created a race-ready interpretation of a flat track racer. The bike has been featured in multiple custom motorcycle publications and showcased all over social media. Not bad for Jillian’s first build.

 

Lanakila MacNaughton

You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone more in-touch with the women’s motorcycling community. Some would say Lanakila MacNaughton has helped turn “female motorcyclists” into “motorcyclists” through her creation of The Women’s Moto Exhibit. Her work documenting female motorcycling culture with her Hasselblad CM and development of female-focused events such as The Dream Roll has spurred a movement in the industry. Who better to participate in an all-women’s motorcycle build program?

Lana’s love for motorcycling began in her early-twenties and as a photographer, she was able to combine her two passions into a career. This led to her involvement with Royal Enfield as a brand ambassador. And when Lana was approached to participate in the BUILD TRAIN RACE program. She jumped at the opportunity. Among Lana’s fleet of motorcycles is a Royal Enfield Himalayan, so it was a natural fit for her to transition to the INT 650.

 

Lana’s inspiration was to build a timeless, clean and classic flat tracker. And she placed her focus immediately on the setting up the geometry and handling of the bike for flat track racing. After swapping out the forks and upgrading the controls to flat track spec, Lana turned her attention to the wheels and tires, installing 19-inch wheels front and back. The end result is a simple, yet effective racer that showcases the potential of the INT 650 as a builder platform. 

While COVID-19 has postponed the racing portion of the program, Royal Enfield and the ladies remain optimistic that the Fall will allow them to opportunity to put their motorcycles to the test. Royal Enfield also plans to expand the program for 2021, but instead of flat track bikes, a group of four new women will tackle creating road racing motorcycles with the Continental GT650. Melissa Paris will serve as their mentor and will guide the women through the process of going from builder to racer.

While no one can predict the future, when things return to normal, there’s no doubt the ladies of the BUILD TRAIN RACE along with the rest of the motorcycling community will be ready to get back to racing.   

Globe of Death

The Story of Lucius Zafalon

A Film by Pedro & James

‘Globe of Death’ is the story of Lucius Zafalon, a daredevil motorcycle rider that risks his body in the pursuit of the perfect globe of death act. Through all the challenges and difficulties he has never stopped focusing on his art. It is what defines him and what he has lived his whole life for.

An act of raw beauty with precise flowing lines that defy the laws of physics, they create an awe inspiring ballet that mesmerizes anyone who dares to keep their eyes open.

For Lucius and his team The Globe of Death is not just an act, it is their lives. The Globe of Death is a stunt that dates from the beginning of the 20th century. One of the oldest patents for the mesh sphere ball was filed in 1904. Different to the Wall of death (popular in the UK) where the riders ride only on the horizontal, with the Globe of Death multiple riders can race in any direction at the same time.

The Globe of Death gained popularity in Latin America and some of the best acts comes from Brazil. What makes a good Globe of Death act isn’t just how many motorcycles the team can fit inside the Globe, but also the beauty of their riding lines. The synchrony between the riders and the team’s particularities, such as riding in the dark and opening the Globe in half sets Lucius’ team apart.

Directed by Pedro and James, they met Lucius through their passion for motorcycles. ‘We were mesmerized by how incredibly visual the act is and thought that combined with his life story it was a perfect subject for a film’.

With photography by DP Malte Rosenfeld, colour grading by Jim Bracher at The Mill, and sound design by Patch Rowland at Final Cut, the film is a look into Lucius’ life and all he has gone through during 30 years of riding motorcycles in the Globe of Death.

Shot on RED with anamorphic lenses from Cooke Optics and Kowa.

CREDITS
Director: Pedro and James
Director of photography: Malte Rosenfeld
Production company: Autobahn Productions
Producer: Thais Altman
Edit: Pedro and James
Colourist: Jim Bracher at The Mill
Score: Russ Chimes
Sound design and mix: Patch Rowland at Final Cut
Additional music: Hems
Graphic design: Duncan Edwards

Special thanks to Lucius’ team Luis Fernando and Paulo Leonardo, and also to Pixi Pixel for equipment hire.

El Trineo

Scrambling the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range

Produced by Scrambler Brothers, John Ryan Hebert & Jorma Vik

Directed by: Luke Adams | Cinematography by: Luke Adams and Amos Adams | Featuring: Jorma Vik | Photography by: John Ryan Hebert | Write up by: Jorma Vik


“Going to the mountains is going home”


John Muir wrote this of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California. 

In recent years it’s become somewhat of a cliche idea, a slogan worthy of a souvenir t-shirt or inspirational meme. Cliche as it may be, these words resonate with me in vibrational harmony. 

John Muir’s particular affinity for the Sierra becomes crystal clear when you’re face to face with them, witnessing the grandeur of its jagged peaks and valleys. You‘re speechless in its vastness. A spectator to the result of hundreds and thousands of years of violent plate shifting and glacial reconstruction. 

The specific area we called home while exploring this region is somewhat unique in its geological diversity. A place where the snowmelt off of the Sierra spills into rivers and through massive canyons eventually collecting in the bosom of the mountains at the western side of the Mojave Desert. 

The results are otherworldly and make for the perfect playground for us to enjoy our latest bike build.

The bike began its life as a 2003 Triumph Bonneville. It’s particular shortcomings in the off-road arena were quickly and painfully realized once taken to the desert for a spirited romp. So, the task was set forth of strengthening the weak points and giving it the old nip n’ tuck, aiming to make the machine more capable for terra multis enjoyment. 

This was no novel idea.

Back in the 1960s and 70s hundreds of fearless barbarians would line up in the Californian desert to race what were essentially street bikes with each rider making unique modifications to their machines. The generic term used for these bikes was “desert sled”.

A pile of tires would be set aflame in the distance, a plume of smoke would arise to offer a visual waypoint and off they would disappear into a thick cloud of Mojave dust. 

These days one can only imagine the glory of 100 scrappy death machines with no form of sound dampening, throttles wide open, plowing through deep sand, over creosote bushes or anything that had the misfortune of being in the way. 

For most, the goal was to merely be able to finish the race, bike and body somewhat intact - A great achievement in itself. 

To win was a feat of marvel.

This bike was built in the spirit of those likeminded individuals; men and women who put a pair of wings on a two wheeled pig. Roman gladiators of their time. 

“El Trineo” (The Sled)

The Temple of Speed

Ascot Park: 1957-1990

Words by Mark Gammo | Photography by Rob Pryce

Archive photos courtesy Ascot

What do Chuck Norris, Ronald Reagan and Steve McQueen have in common? The reverential yet forgotten Southern California racetrack known as Ascot. A nationally known institution, Ascot Park can be spoken in the same breath as Indianapolis and the Daytona Speedway as one of the most famous oval tracks in history. Ascot cultivated more rising car and motorcycle racer careers than most, and even launched Evel Knievel’s daredevil ploys on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. This half-mile track drew out thousands of race crowds, five days a week amid a hunger for speed, Americana and spectacle you cannot replicate.

The story has been told and retold many times over about the fastest racetrack in the country. It’s been said that anyone who wanted to get recognition and prove race credibility needed to win at Ascot. Celebrities and blue-collar fans alike would come see the races, sitting elbow to elbow in a packed house. There were no VIP sections or box seats for the elite; all that was available were the stretched wooden bleachers that wrapped around the track. 

You’re probably scratching your head, or paused to Google, “Where is Ascot now?” The inconvenient truth to the matter is that this ghost track has been dead for the last thirty years. But yet, it still haunts us with those short-lived memories from the past.

 

Today we have the unique opportunity to enter the facility and get a glimpse into a page of forgotten history. I was warned by a colleague before entering this space that the things I was about to see have never been open to the public. The Agajanian family who owns the racetrack have always cherished their privacy. With that said, we enter the Temple of Speed with discretion and elation as if we’re discovering an Egyptian tomb for the very first time. 

As the door to the building cracks open, I am greeted by Chris Agajanian himself, along with his very alluring smile and kind eyes. A first gaze around his space reveals the endless photos, trophies and memorabilia that fight to fit on the walls of this 6,000-square-foot, two-story garage-office-showroom.

 
 

At a brushing glance it’s difficult to focus on just one photo or just one memento. But soon the faces start to emerge that I quickly recognize. Tucked in among the frames is Steve McQueen photographed with James Garner in an intimate moment that is left to hold space of the frame it’s hung up on. Then just to the right of it, a young Gene Romero and Kenny Roberts soaked in mud, dirt and all. They are grinning ear to ear, and next to them a tall, handsomely dressed man in a cowboy hat hunching over whispering into their ears as if the joke was on us. From Sylvester Stallone to the Beatles’ George Harrison, an endless array of photographs decorate these walls. One continuous figure throughout these portraits was the man in a cream-colored suit and his Stetson cowboy hat. This man was Chris’s father, J.C. Agajanian.

As we continued our tour of the facility we turned to Chris to council us on what his family left to preserve the heavy history of a forgotten legacy. We continue walking the space as he randomly points out photographs, jerseys, bikes and trophies, and follows each one with an interesting story behind it. And yes, he also has an Indy race car in the garage, along with the pace car for that year, to boot. Walking through the halls, stumbling past tattered old race suits and vintage motorcycles held together by rusted nuts and bolts, I could feel the motorsport souls speaking through ephemeral voices from the track. I knew right then that I was not writing a story just about a racetrack, but the story of a family influential in commercializing the Southern California race culture, if not the whole country. 

 
 

Chris reminiscently tells me, “Everyone came down to the track and wanted to experience it firsthand. It was about Southern California, and it’s Hollywood. Celebs would come, and we didn’t have VIP sections; so they’d sit in the grandstands or get into the pits with everyone else. SoCal just became a hotbed for racing. There were builders that built race cars for the Indy 500, hot rods, and innovative designers like Caroll Shelby that fed the brewing generations of young kids that all they’d want to do is go fast. Then there was the Friday night motorcycle flat track series. During those years from 1957 all the way through, was just the most phenomenal time. The place would be sold out – it was like a national championship every Friday night, because all of the great riders would come out and race on this amazing dirt track. With all these Harleys, BSA Gold Stars, Triumphs, Ariels, Velocettes, and all these different motorcycles. These guys were daredevils, man; there wasn’t a hay bale to be seen and a couple of bobbles or high sides and that was the end of your career.”

Ascot was known as the fastest half-mile dirt oval in the States. That dirt was a special kind of dirt. The track became so sticky and tacky it would pull the shoe right off your foot. Riders would say it was 90 percent traction all the way around the track, and to be able to hold that throttle wide open and blip it no matter where you were – you could go wide to the top and race full speed.

Aside from being the fastest, that track was also known as the busiest racetrack in the country because there were five nights of racing a week. The dirt track hosted all kinds of races during its 33-year existence. Sprint cars, midget cars, stock cars, motorcycles, dune buggies, ATVs, motocross, Go Karts, figure 8 races, destruction derbies and many more were held there. From 1957 until 1990 the Ascot Park resided in Gardena, CA. Once called the berry-growing capital of Southern California, Ascot race track was cultivated out of a local motorcycle club and thus started a flat-track revolution.

 
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When asking Chris if he thinks Ascot Park could ever be resurrected from its ashes and gain a new crowd of spectators, he told me, “Of course it could! The reality is, environmentally there’s a lot of challenges that we’d have to face. Especially with light pollution and noise pollution, which I think surrounding neighborhoods would throw a fit. I still get people nowadays who tell me they would hear the races roaring all the way from their house as far as Manhattan Beach. Now think about that in this day and age. It was a different era back then, and people really enjoyed it. It was more like gladiators back then; the races were real, and the racers put it on the line every time.”

La Cible

A Film by Gabriel Dugué & Hugo Kerr

La Cible is a motocross club situated in a former stone quarry in an industrial area near the Mediterranean Sea. The track is run by Sebastien Martinez who also lives there. A local motocross legend, Sebastien was born with a condition that normally wouldn’t have allowed him to ride a motorcycle, let alone compete and teach.

Directed by: Gabriel Dugué and Hugo Kerr
Photography by: Fabio Caldironi
Grading: Arthur Paux
Editing and graphic design by: Gabriel Dugué
Prod Company: Grand Crême
Music: MiM feat Jaw
Sound design : Emilien Bernaux

Long Live the Kings

A film by Clement Beauvais & Arthur de Kersauson

A short documentary shot on super 16mm film that explores the hopes and desires of those who take motorcycle road trips.


A film by Clement Beauvais and Arthur de Kersauson
Directed by Clement Beauvais
Produced by Arthur de Kersauson
Written by Clement Beauvais and Arthur de Kersauson
DOP: Zack Spiger
Editing: Clement Beauvais
A Moonwalk films Production
With the support of Edwin
Photographer Donald van der Putten

The Little Things

Kiana Clay: No Excuses

Words by Andrew Campo | Photography by Jimmy Bowron

I had just wrapped an hourlong interview with 25-year-old motocross racer and snowboard athlete Kiana Clay, and the emotion following our conversation was both complex and powerful. My heartstrings were ripping apart when hearing about her struggle, but her endless perseverance and positivity was so inspiring. 

After taking a few days to let things soak in, it finally hit me: I can’t tell you the full story because it’s far from over. However, what I can do is introduce you to an incredible young woman and talk about how she’s overcome adversity, with the hope that her experience can give you some perspective to throw your excuses out the window and be better in your own life.

Kiana Clay works as a graphic designer at a small print shop in Frisco, Colorado, living paycheck to paycheck. She grew up devoting most of her childhood to a life on two wheels with her father. She now spends most of her time preparing to represent the United States in the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing, China, in both boardercross and banked slalom events. She trains at Copper Mountain with the Adaptive Action Sports Team and is striving to be the first upper limb impairment female to represent the U.S. in the Paralympics. She is doing this all of her own accord, and she’s the last person to complain about the struggles life throws her way. Funding the road to Beijing and back is not cheap, and support at that level has yet to come to fruition for Kiana. But she has hope and wants nothing more than the opportunity to represent our country.

Kiana began riding motorcycles at age seven, after her parents brought home a Yamaha PW80. It wasn’t long after that before she began racing local events and eventually setting her sights on the Amateur National motocross calendar. She was obsessed with the thrill of speed and had found a true passion in racing motocross. Kiana was determined to become setting her sights on becoming one of the next top professional women in the sport.

On November 18, 2006, Kiana was racing at Freestone County Raceway in Wortham, Texas. It had rained the day before, so the track was muddy and deep. During practice, she crashed on the back side of the finish line jump as a result of her back tire sliding out. She was landed on by another rider who was close behind her, with the front end of the other racer’s bike landing directly on her neck, avulsing her nerves and resulting in a complex neck injury called brachial plexus. As she awoke from being knocked unconscious for roughly four minutes, Kiana noticed that she couldn’t move her arm whatsoever. After visiting three different hospitals, she finally received her diagnosis at Children’s Medical Center Dallas: full paralysis in her dominant right arm. 

“I will never forget waking up on the stretcher, trying to move all my limbs and realizing that I couldn’t feel or move my right arm. It was the most terrifying moment of my life,”

she recalls. “I had no idea how to react other than to scream. I will be honest, that first week, I never wanted to see a dirt bike again. I hated the idea of motocross and everything about it. It took away one of my limbs and made my life beyond challenging from that point on. Anger was all I felt.

“After some time, getting adapted to being disabled and grasping the hard truths of my new reality, my anger went away, and I started to miss racing. It’s all I wanted to do, despite my outcome. I tried out for everything you can think of in middle school and high school. I felt so out of place and unhappy being handicapped in everything I pursued. I thought, ‘I’m going to have to settle with this. This is my life now.’”

Kiana and her family set out to find a brachial plexus specialist in hopes of reconstructing nerves and giving her arm a chance to recover. Surgery to repair brachial plexus nerves should generally occur within six to seven months after the injury. Surgeries that occur later than that have lower success rates.  

Unfortunately, about a month after her racing injury, Kiana and her father were involved in a car accident. Their vehicle flipped multiple times after being struck by a drunk driver. Because of complications from that accident, she had now lost all chances of regaining use of her arm. Her dreams of racing to the top had come to an end, and doing the same things as before was no longer an option. But what she didn’t know at the time was that life had handed her a gift, although it did not come easy. 

“I remember after my wreck, back in middle school and high school, how much I hated taking photos with my arm showing because of how different it looked. Even wearing bikinis, T-shirts and tank tops where my arm showed, I felt beyond uncomfortable,” she says. “It was my biggest insecurity for a long time. Now, I embrace it and I love it because it makes me unique. Different is good. Can you imagine how boring the world would look if we all looked the same?”

About three years ago, her personal life took a huge turn, to the point where she has lost pretty much everything. Family issues arose, and Texas became a toxic place for her to live both mentally and physically. In search of new beginnings, Kiana visited Colorado for a mini vacation to snowboard and refocus. 

“I kept reflecting back to my parents and multiple doctors that kept telling me that I will never be in action sports, let alone race dirt bikes again. But one day I decided: It’s my life. I’ll make the call of what’s ‘impossible,’” Kiana says. “Fast-forward a few years, and here I am. I’m happy I chose to get back on the bike. I proved to myself what I am capable of, and better yet, I’ve been able to help people in my own unique way.

I’m no longer angry at the sport, but rather I am grateful. It has given me so much more opportunity and happiness than any desk job will ever give me.”

During that time, her current coach offered to train her full time and presented the opportunity to compete in the Paralympics and to chase the dream of competing as a professional athlete. She had zero desire to stay in Texas, so she packed her belongings and moved up to Silverthorne, Colorado, with only $180 to her name. There is a saying in Summit County, “You either have two houses or two jobs.” Kiana ended up getting three full-time jobs and trained full time while competing, traveling, and living either out of her truck or couchsurfing until she could afford decent housing.

Today, Kiana is fully independent and supports herself, working two full-time jobs and managing most of her training regimen herself. Kiana heads to the mountain every morning, Monday through Friday, to ride as much as possible before work. She builds out her nutrition plans and works on meal prep on Sundays, goes to the gym every night after her shifts. She participates in serving her local community through “Snowboarders for Christ” in her church community group. When you break down her schedule, it sounds like a fun and adventurous road, but this is by far the most challenging road she has ever been on. When you have to hustle this much, you can become quite isolated, which can lead to severe depression even though it is extremely rewarding.

“Everything that is worth having takes hard work, hustle and a lot of determination, sometimes with a side of therapy,” 

One thing that most people don’t know about paralysis is the constant pain that comes with it, called neuropathy pain. In summary, it’s basically like you’re constantly being electrocuted. A combination of throbbing, bee-sting and stabbing sensations. Kiana never knows when it’s going to kick in, and it could be minor or extreme. It comes and goes when it pleases. When the neuropathy pain is at its most severe, it can send her into a neurological shock, which can make her black out and experience seizures. This pain affects her life tremendously. When it’s bad, she can’t train, or even get out of bed. “Sometimes I scream into my pillow for hours and can’t sleep,” she explains. “The worst part is that there is no cure. No magic fix. You just have to toughen up and deal with it until it passes.” It’s a lesson Kiana seems to have carried into other aspects of her life.

Last year, Kiana decided to get a therapy dog after experiencing her second seizure episode while driving. He is in training to be able to help Kiana during difficult times, but she tells us “it’s so nice to have someone to come home to and snuggle with.” Kiana is by herself 99 percent of the time, so her dog helps significantly with her mental health. He loves going to the track, riding shotgun in her truck and traveling everywhere with Kiana. She named him Harley after Harley-Davidson, because he loves motorcycles! She is beyond thankful for him.

“When I look back over the last seven years of being back into action sports, I wouldn’t be on the road that I am on without motocross,” she adds “Getting back on the bike led me to Moto Sports Adaptive, where I met Mike Schultz. He then introduced me to Daniel Gale, who is the director of Adaptive Action Sports. Daniel is helping me on this road to the Paralympics, to make history and pave the way for other future upper-limb females. There is not much of an upper-limb category because of the lack of females showing up. Because of that, I have an awesome opportunity to make a future for disabled upper limb women, and that is all thanks to motocross.”

When she was a kid, she had big dreams. However, when looking back, it seems her injury has opened more doors for her than if she were a fully abled person. Kiana’s first motivational speech was a TED Talk four years ago. She was also invited to speak at the ESPN W event in California, where she represented the adaptive community, snowboarding and disabled women, as well as the motocross community. She got to speak at the Children’s Medical Center gala, where she was first diagnosed; she encouraged the employees by sharing how much their job matters, and she visited kids in multiple trauma units. She passed out old racing jerseys, wrote letters, and got to share her story with them to help encourage them to keep fighting.  

“It was so cool meeting other women who said that they never met a woman motocross competitor before, let alone a disabled one,” she says.

Kiana wouldn’t want her life any other way. She is grateful for what her disability has shown and has taught her. She says she wouldn’t be who she is today without it, and encourages others to learn to love everything about yourself, because that’s what makes you, you.

“Always look at what you have rather than what you don’t,” she shares. “What I have still lets me pursue my dreams and it’s what’s makes me, me.

And that’s enough. These challenges have really humbled me to be grateful and thankful for the little things.

Alone Together

A Film by Sebastien Zanella

Words by Ben Giese | Photography by Sebastien Zanella

Our long time friend Todd Blubaugh is a professional photographer who has worked with us on several projects including a feature with the California’s Cycle Zombies and a portrait of Ryan Cox and his beautiful 1939 Harley-Davidson. Todd’s creative pursuit began in junior high when his mother, also an artist, acquainted him with his first camera. His father introduced him to the freedoms found on a motorcycle, and over time these two objects would provide substantial meaning to Todd’s life.

One week before he was scheduled to leave on a cross-country motorcycle trip, Todd was faced with tragedy when both of his parents were killed in an automobile accident. A whirlwind of anguish and disbelief presented an entirely new perspective on the upcoming trip. Todd spent six months on the road with his motorcycle, searching for a sense of inner peace, understanding, and deeper meaning in the wake of loss. Lonely conversations with the highway and the nothingness of the open road were a crucial part of healing and self-discovery. The connection shared with his machine and the solitude found during this displacement would be the key to his recovery.

Upon returning from his trip, Todd published the book Too Far Gone, a heartfelt narrative driven by beautiful images of the intimate moments experienced during his time on the road. A series of unsent letters addressed to people encountered along the way tell the story of sadness and healing, friendship and love. The project served as a lesson for Todd to keep the wheels turning and always stay in motion. A concept that has guided his life to this day.

Then came Nicola. 

The two unlikely characters met on set filming Lotawana, and through that experience have become inseparable. When this video was filmed, in the beginning of their relationship, Nicola was dancer living in New York City thousands of miles away from Todd’s outpost in the California desert. As anyone who’s done a long distance relationship can tell you, it’s not easy. So close yet so far away. Alone together. A feeling many of us can relate to right now with the current COVID-19 lockdown.

Since the filming of this three years ago, the two have gotten married and Nicola moved out to California to start a life with Todd. Creative expression brought them together and the wheels keep turning as the pursuit of freedom guides their happily ever after.

[you are] Essential

A Message to Our Community

Words by Ben Giese, Dale Spangler & the META team

Photo by @pedromkk

During times of uncertainty, often, we’re faced with difficult decisions. Currently, our way of life is being challenged, and as a result, two categories have emerged as crucial differentiators when making decisions: is it essential or non-essential? How one chooses to categorize each will understandably be a personal decision; however, we can say with certainty that during these trying times, you are essential. You, we—all of us—play a crucial role in the health of the motorcycle industry. We’re all part of the circle of life that makes this passion of ours thrive and enables thousands of enthusiasts to experience the joys of riding.

There is no doubt these are uncertain times and never has there been a more crucial moment for us to come together as a community. We’ve already seen the industry and the world as a whole begin to adjust to a new normal. Dealers are changing the way they operate, brands are adapting, and the media is doing its part to keep our community informed and in good spirits by providing inspirational content that reminds us all why we’re passionate about riding.

On the surface, COVID-19 is an unwelcome and disruptive crisis for people and businesses across the globe. There’s no doubt that this is a terrible tragedy for those who have lost their lives to this virus, but maybe there’s a silver lining here too. Honestly, we’ve found a lot of positivity from the situation. During times of tragedy people have an incredible way of coming together. We’ve seen riders at the epicenter of the crisis in New York City delivering masks to the medical staff that needs them most. We’ve teamed up with Biker Down Foundation here in Denver to deliver meals to people in need for an initiative called #2Wheels4Meals. We will also be delivering hand sanitizer via motorcycle to the local medical staff that need it. We’ve got friends making and distributing DIY masks for the Colorado Mask Project to help slow the spread of the virus. We’ve lowered our print subscription cost to just $10 in hopes of providing people with some enjoyment, entertainment and normalcy during these times. And we’ve seen several brands in the motorcycle industry and beyond spreading inspiring messages of hope and positivity. It’s refreshing.

We get so comfortable in our daily routines that the little things that create beauty in our lives are often taken for granted, and you don’t realize how important those little things are until they are gone. When this all ends, AND IT WILL, we will have a greater appreciation for those little things. Maybe through this we can become a little less divided and realize that we are all just humans floating on this rock together. We’ll hug one and other. We’ll tell our friends and family that we love them. We’ll gather and embrace and tell stories and eat and drink and celebrate. Events and gatherings will sell out. Restaurants will have long waits. We’ll put down our phones and go outside. We’ll be inspired to travel and seek adventure. People will love their jobs and kids will be excited to go back to school. People will buy bikes and gear and we’ll go riding with our friends again. That day is coming and it’s going to be a damn good day.

For now, we are using this time to adjust, adapt, rebuild, change and grow. We’ll be spending time in the garage, wrenching on our bikes and dreaming of the next adventure. We’ve taken this time to stop and rest and nurture ourselves. To think and dream and evaluate our lives and our business. We may never have an opportunity like this again where we’re forced to stop and look inward and gain some perspective on our priorities. We’ll continue producing this magazine and delivering inspiring content to our community because we need that inspiration now more than ever. To all of our readers, partners, subscribers, followers and supporters – we are in this fight together, and we are ALL essential. Now is not the time to step back. It’s the time to move forward. By sticking together, we can make this experience a positive one and come out the other side stronger.

Captain Tom

Riding the Lines Between Adventure and the Page

Words by Ben Giese | Artwork by Tom Pajdlhauser

Tomas Pajdlhauser, aka “Captain Tom,” is an artist and creative director based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For the last 15 years, Tom has worked as an illustrator and designer in the cartoon industry, and currently works as an Art Director for animated TV shows and movies, with clients like Disney, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, National Geographic and Mattel. Outside of his day job, Tom somehow manages to find the time and energy to integrate his passions into how he lives his life. 

Tom grew up skateboarding and still loves skating to this day.  That lifelong interest has resulted in the skate shop that he co-owns in Ottawa, called Birling. Tom loves the rush he gets from skateboarding, but as he gets older that rush is becoming harder to maintain, and bikes seem to fill that void. Tom also has a passion for travel that has inspired various motorcycle trips across the globe, where he documents the journey with beautiful illustrations in a sketchbook that he carries along.

The first time Tom brought a sketchbook with him on a trip was in Vietnam in 2012. This is when a light bulb went off, as he discovered the connection between riding motorcycles and capturing moments in sketchbooks. He tells me, “There’s something about the raw energy and sensory overload of riding bikes through new and exciting environments that paired so well with stopping and taking the time to sit down, focus and capture something that caught my eye.” Taking that time to stop and illustrate a scene is an opportunity to be truly present in that moment. It’s a way of appreciating all of the little details that would otherwise go unnoticed. But Tom’s sketches don’t just capture a place and a moment. They capture a feeling, and I think that’s what makes them so special. These moments on the road with a sketchbook are when he feels happiest. 

When I asked Tom how long he’s been a professional artist, he corrected me: “I never really became a ‘professional artist,’” he says. “I create art for myself, first and foremost, and rarely sell originals or have exhibitions. My art is documenting lived experiences in sketchbooks, particularly while on the road. But to answer your question, I’ve been doing that for 8 years.”

A perfect day for Tom would include waking up outdoors with the sun; packing gear onto his bike; riding with his pals (especially off-road); exploring new places; performing roadside repairs; stopping to sketch for an hour or two; and setting up camp somewhere new. Tom lives a unique life, riding the lines between the adventure and the page. I’m thankful for people like him, because they provide the rest of us with a refreshing reminder that you can design a life around the things that make you happy.

A View From the Moon

A Letter to the Human Race

Words by Chris Nelson | Photo by Aaron Brimhall

The only love I have in this forsaken universe is suffering at your hands, and still you look up at me and smile. The little hope I have left for you—the supposed miracles of my Earth—I hold onto because she asked me to, because no matter how badly you hurt her, she still believes in you.

I am the Earth’s lost heart, and she and I were inseparable until a splitting rock forced us apart. I remember the fear that overcame me in that moment, knowing I would shatter into millions of pieces and hurtle off through space and never again see my Earth, but she held onto as much of me as she could, and she kept me close and helped me coalesce into a body of my own. We knew we’d never again touch, and she said that our breaks and wounds would heal, and that our molten scars would cool, and that we would dance around the sun until the day it burned out.

Something had changed in her, though, and I watched her as she turned from red to blue, like she was sick with something, and I struggled to help her stay upright and stable. Still, we had each other, and I learned to play in her ocean so we could feel closer again. I remember how we laughed when hard crust first rose up out of her waters, and I remember the pain I felt when ice first crawled down her face. I remember how she looked different when she thawed, cut apart by glaciers and the shifting plates beneath her skin, and I remember not knowing how to feel when she told me something new was growing within her.

I often wonder how it would be if she hadn’t given birth to life. As adorably simple as those first creatures seemed, we soon saw the tangled webs of energy inside of each and every organism. Before we knew it, plants flourished and flowered, and fish crawled from her waters to walk on land. In awe we watched birds take flight, and in horror we watched mass extinctions, one after another, and through it all she smiled and said, “Life will find a way to go on.”

She told me you’d be the best of them, and for a while I believed her, but then I watched as your fires turned into sleepless cities of electric light, your crude machines coughed poisonous gasses into her air, and your weapons of hubris marred her perfect face. I saw how your irrepressible avarice had convinced you of a perfectly myopic understanding of existence.

She doesn’t talk now, and she stopped smiling long before that. I am terribly selfish for wanting her to freeze over again, because then at least her neglect would feel right to me, and because then maybe we’d be rid of you. Instead I watch as the little ice she has left draws back into nothing. When I play in her waves, I smell only oil and death; when I look down at my yellowing love all I see are thousands of satellites orbiting just outside of her atmosphere, choking her.

I hear echoes as you talk about coming here, and from here into the far beyond, and when I hear your words I look longingly into space for a rock to come from nowhere and blow me apart, because then maybe you wouldn’t leave my dearest Earth to die. I see now that you haven’t known Earth as I have—that you unfortunate creatures occur for only a few moments, flash-burning through a lifetime before you fizzle and return to her—but even now that you understand the pain you’ve caused her, you choose to flee. I ask that you don’t, and that you please save my Earth, as she once saved me. Love her as much as I love her and she loves you.

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