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Bike Trips & Moto Photography with VonGasphalt #432
Bike Trips & Moto Photography with VonGasphalt #432
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About this episode
Vaughn Gassfalt, a NYC-based photographer, shares his experiences from a challenging motorcycle trip across the country. Initially planned as a smooth journey on a custom-built 2024 Street Glide, the trip turned into a philosophical exercise after a mishap left him with a broken finger and a damaged bike. He discusses the importance of adaptability, the value of meaningful connections, and the evolution of his photography style. The episode dives deep into the balance between expectations and reality in both travel and creative pursuits, making it a reflective listen for anyone interested in the motorcycle culture.
Topics:
motorcycle trips
photography
adaptability
personal growth
motorcycle culture
travel experiences
creative process
community connections
While on a motorcycle trip, VonGasphalt spent the weekend here with us in Dallas, Texas. In this episode, we talk about his current motorcycle trip, photography, building out his new 2025 street glide, and what's possibly next for the New York-based motorcycle traveler and photographer!
VonGasphalt Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vongasphalt/
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What is up, everyone, and welcome back to the Fast Life Podcast.
On today's episode, I'm sitting down with New York City-based photographer Vaughn Gassfalt,
who is currently on a motorcycle trip, possibly across the country.
But he left New York City, came down here to Dallas.
We spent the whole weekend shooting photos, talking about photography, and just having
an all-around good time.
We recorded this episode, which was one of many, many great conversations that we had
that I'm very thankful for.
So hopefully you enjoy it.
Before we get into it, please take a moment to check out our sponsors, 1-800-LAWTIGERS.
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Also, if you need to get your lights dialed in on your bike, headlights, tail lights, and
everything in between, Custom Dynamics is the one I use, and I recommend them to you.
Check them out.
Also, if you need a newer used motorcycle, don't hesitate to check out Cowboy Harley-Davidson
down in Austin, Texas.
They have a great selection of new and used motorcycles that get you going down
the road.
All right, let's get into it with Vaughn Gassfalt.
Hey, guys.
You ready to let the dogs out?
Well, I don't know how we're going to do this, man.
Seriously, I think that, you know, we've done like seven podcasts in the town.
I was thinking the same, like, so we can, I mean, just we'll have to probably
recap some of the conversations and whatnot.
But I think for, yeah, what are we on?
Like, what's the what's the agenda?
What's the hope of this trip?
Dude, that is a very deep first question.
The hope of this trip is to do different things versus what I've done.
I think to test different side of what a road trip is, I think I've always thought
of road trip in a very conventional way because I was just going from point A to
point B to point C on my motorcycle and everything was always pretty seamless
and pretty smooth despite the occasional breakdowns and all of that good stuff.
I think this trip has been an absolute curveball of a trip.
Nothing worked the way it was supposed to work.
And he almost became an exercise in.
PMA, positive mental attitude.
It became an exercise in finding silver linings when things get tough.
It became an exercise of finding plan B's when plan A doesn't work
and still finding a way to make things interesting where everything that I had
imagined this trip would be kind of unraveled before my eyes in a few days.
Yeah, so it really became more of a philosophical exercise,
more than a trip itself, I would say.
Maybe I'll backtrack just a little bit because that's a lot of strong statements.
That trip was always supposed to be a regular trip.
The difference between this one and the previous ones was I was going
to be on a different motorcycle, so not on my usual dyna, but on a fully
built 2024 Street Glide that I have built over the course of the winter
and spring alongside with my friend and FXDLS Brooklyn on the road glide.
And that was a six months process of, you know, taking stock
bikes and putting them together and bringing them to, you know, the best level
we could with our respective means and visions.
And with that trip was a lot of expectation tied up as far as the
the riding we're going to do, the content we're going to do,
like the events we're going to bring these bikes to.
So I had six months of like imagination of what this trip was going to be,
like six months of, OK, I'm going to do all this kind of stuff.
The bike is the street light is going to be super sick.
And then, unfortunately, on days three of the of the trip,
like I ended up catching a death wobble because of geometric issues on the bike.
And I went down in Milwaukee and the bike was trashed.
I mean, it's not trashed, actually, it's pretty good, but not rideable.
And so and I broke my finger also.
And so I couldn't keep riding because I needed my finger to heal.
And and I had all these events lined up.
I had homecoming, I had Sturgis.
I had something I needed to shoot for Holly in Oregon in Idaho.
And I was like, how am I going to do all this?
And should I just go home?
Should I just cancel everything?
And I kind of forced myself to stay out there, find ways to make things
work that were just not what I thought it was going to be.
Be at peace that all the plans that I had made for six months
were just in the trash can and that I needed to make new plans
and find a way to remain engaged in the trip, interested,
open minded enough to meet people, even though deep in my head,
I had dark thoughts and and kind of go roll with the punches.
And that's the first time I that trip was very hard because of that.
Sorry, that's a long and square question.
Yeah, no. But and this was a trip
that initially was going to kick off for on the way to homecoming in Sturgis.
Correct. So yeah, we left New York with the cursed crew.
We'll talk about curse later, like a bunch of our friends
and like for three days we were on the road and we were all going to Milwaukee.
And it was a good time, like very good time.
And then like most of our friends would go home and then Alex and I
would keep pushing.
He was he ended up doing what he was supposed to do on Israel.
Glad with his dad.
They went to the Pacific and back
while I was going to go to Oregon to shoot stuff for Harley on the street light.
And then we would meet together somewhere in California and ride back to Sturgis.
And obviously none of that happened.
But this yeah, this trip was like it was it was the culmination of everything.
Alex, Alex Deersbrook, and I have been working for for six months.
And and so it took me a lot of effort to get out of my own head and be like,
OK, everything I had in mind is not going to happen the way I planned it.
How can I be OK with that?
And how can I?
How can I find a way to still have a good time and still do great stuff?
And because I didn't have the day, nothing of this matters.
Like it's just a bike.
It's how can I still enjoy my time and how can I still make content
that's going to be interesting, et cetera?
And so in the end, the content ended up being pretty cool.
It was and we've talked about this last year.
It ended up just not being about me, which is more actually more interesting,
I think. Yeah.
So I'm actually somewhat, I guess you could say,
proud of myself, was not trying to sound pretentious,
but I'm I'm happy with myself that I'm usually a fairly pessimistic person.
But for once, I was able to force myself to be optimistic.
And for once, I was able to force myself to be really
somewhat vulnerable, but also yet outgoing to meet people,
to say yes to people that offered opportunities during this trip
and and to still make the best of it in the way that I could at least.
So when you did you go home after Sturgis and then basically
like that's when it was like, you know what?
I'm going to jump on the dyna and I'm going to do my own trip.
Yes. So I went.
The only reason I went home after Sturgis is because
and that's the saddest part of this wreck.
When I when I went down with the death wobble,
my 100 to 500 lens got busted
and I had to send it to Canon for repair and they shipped it back home.
And so I had to get home to get the lens
because I had to go to Ohio to shoot the race last week.
And so I had to be in New York at some point.
And then I was like, well, my finger is doing better.
It's been three weeks, four weeks almost since it was broken.
So I can probably get on the dyna and I can probably
go there with the data.
I was also trying to save money because renting cars
have been renting cars for like three weeks is not a cheap thing to do.
Yeah. So I was like, OK, I'll get on the dyna.
And it was a bit of a it's a bit of an open ended trip.
I knew I had to be in Ohio.
And after that, I was like, well, I'm in Ohio.
Where should I go?
And then I went to Indiana police with Andy King and Crown.
Then Ben get that motto was like, come to Nashville.
I was like, OK, then I knew I needed to put you in Texas at some point.
And so we chatted and a few other people we chatted to.
And I was like, OK, I'll come to Texas.
And then I see what I don't know where I'm going
after in three days from there.
But the dyna, as always, has worked really well.
So so far so good. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, that's that's that's interesting because, you know, you're.
I understand the concept of like creating a lot of expectations,
especially when you have a lot of
collaborations going on with the bike build, you know,
like the way you guys were doing with the the roguelite and street glide.
And so these collaborations become obligations.
And when those obligations go go south, it's like you don't feel
like you're fulfilling your end of the bargain, which creates a bit of a
I don't know, like I wouldn't say uncertainty, but like it just makes
you feel like, fuck, I didn't come through.
I felt terrible.
Integrity becomes a question.
You know, I felt more terrible about that specific part
you mentioned than my own health and my own wreck.
Like the part that really bothered me the most was that I was letting down
the people that I told that I would create cost of four.
In a similar way, when I did my trip last summer, when we first met,
I talked about it so much on the podcast and through the channels that I have
that I felt so like I wasn't getting the things I wanted.
And I felt like I was having that same thing, that same feeling that you had
about like providing the thing that you set out to do.
And you kind of promised everybody.
So because of that, I've tried to be less vocal about the plans
and things I want to do on here.
So that if things change or if things fall through, I don't feel so like,
well, guys, I know I said I was going to do this, you know, because
for a long time, I mean, that was kind of like my thing is that I wanted
to be the dude that every time I said I was going to do something, I did it.
Yeah.
And I mean, I still did the trip.
Yeah, I did it.
I haven't done the book yet.
Yeah.
But now I feel like even if I don't have the same desire to make the
book, I have to.
Yeah.
Because I said you would.
Yeah.
And so finding a way to be able to be open and communicate the things and
goals that I have, but without putting it out there so much or in a way that
I feel like I'm trapped within them.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, totally.
And I think that's very fair.
I'll say that to be honest, I was kind of blown away by, I called
every single person the day after and I told them, guys, I'm sorry.
Like I will do everything I said I would, but it's going to take a
bit more time.
And now coming from a different line of work with different types of
industry, I was fully prepared to hear like some not so nice things.
Like, and I was kind of bracing myself for it, to be honest.
And none of this happened.
Like everybody was shockingly nice and supportive to almost to the
point that I was like, I mean, I was truly surprised by some of what
I've, some of what I've heard from some people.
And that's in a way that was kind of heartwarming because yeah, it is
not what I expected.
But I think that's fair to say that maybe going forward, like less
promises and or more discrete promises is probably an easier way
for you to conduct what you have to conduct.
And that's why it's funny that I just think of this when I did
my very first thousand mile in the day, I never advertised it until
it was done, for example, because I do want to put myself in a
position that I would start advertising it and then I would
have to stop it and then people would be like, oh, what the hell
he didn't even finish it.
And I think it's kind of the same sentiment in a way, like
give yourself breathing room, like to do things.
Yeah, sometimes it feels better to say, man, you know,
after you've done the 1000 miles, like, Hey guys, the 1000
miles, that was sick.
Yeah, exactly.
As opposed to it's four in the morning.
Doing 1000 miles a day.
And then you don't do it or whatever.
Cause then I mean, it does create a sense of like excitement to
see if you get done, like for the viewer, like, I want to see
if, if, uh, if the curse crew makes 1000 miles a day, right?
And then when you're giving the updates all day long, it's
fun to follow along on social media.
And then if something happens, it's more like, Oh, I
understand.
Yeah, I mean, um, but yeah, I guess what I'm getting at is
like, I just, I felt very trapped within my own vision, visions
that I put out there and expectations.
And so when I started trying to, uh, like course correct or,
or anything, I felt like I was like cheating on my ideas.
You know, it's like, I don't, it's a mindful of what I'm
even, I feel like I'm even saying, but it's for context
of the listeners, like when you're, if you're just jumping
on a bike, not just, but if you're going to jump on a
bike and go on a bike trip across the country, um, you're
going to have expectations of like what you want to do, see,
experience, all that stuff, right?
On this side of the table, I think we're doing the same
thing, but we also have like some obligations as being a
part of the motorcycle industry to do, whether it's
photo shoots, uh, make content or for me do podcasts and
those obligations become, have to be part of those other
things that you want to do.
And so you just, you, you have to think about all the
other stuff going on is what I'm getting at.
And it gets kind of, uh, difficult and, you know, not
trying to woe is me, uh, oh, right across country, you
know, like it's a privilege to do all these things.
That's what I was going to get at with what you
just said while ago.
It's like, it's probably hard to be optimistic after a wreck
and it's now just trashed all your plans, but there's
still this aspect of like, I'm in Sturgis.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, and I'm so glad I forced myself a little bit to
go, uh, because it ended up being by far the best
Sturgis, the best homecoming and the best, in a way, the
best trip, I guess you could say, as far as like meeting
people, opportunities, interesting conversations,
like, artistic, I mean, artistic emulation as a whole.
Uh, and I would have missed out on so much if I had just
crawled back to Brooklyn and kind of like lick my
wounds kind of thing.
I'm really, really, and my initial instinct was to do
just that, but I'm really happy that I didn't.
And I'm really happy that I, even if it wasn't a car,
I'm really happy that I drove across the US, uh, to
go see rodeos and meet people, et cetera.
That was my way of trying to make it interesting and
nothing that, that worked pretty well.
So yeah, it was really an exercise in style.
And it's, it's the first time that usually my plans
happened the way I want them to happen.
I guess I've always been quite lucky.
It was the first time that nothing worked.
And I just can't, had to find, not solution, but just
had to find plan B's on the go.
It wasn't perfect.
If I had to do it again, there's a few things
that I would do differently, but all together, I
think it's as good as it was going to be.
And the outcome is pretty good.
You know, we talked about this in one of our many
conversations we had over the last couple of days.
Do you think that I know that because of the type
of personalities, I think you and I both share that when
plans go the way we expected that it's, we are, we
kind of expected this.
So it feels good that it was, that it happened the
way we wanted it to.
But what if like you didn't have expectations and so
you didn't know what, where's the, where's the
ceiling at for this experience?
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
And if you go into things with like such low
expectations or like go on a trip with basically
kind of like you're doing now where you're, you
don't really have an agenda or you have one, we
have one deadline.
I need to be back in New York by this time.
And so you don't know what's going to happen or
what's going to be the higher low because you
haven't set any expectations.
That's, that's, that's closer to, I guess, the
definition of freedom in a way.
And I think a lot of my past trips, I set a lot
of boundaries and guidelines for myself, whether
it's through intense itineraries or places
I have to be, people I have to see.
And I think this trip, what you just said, like,
especially this trip as of a week ago on the
diner, the other trip was on the car and, and
the rental glides and everything was different.
But this trip on the diner, my philosophy is just
don't say no.
And like if, like, for example, the Texas
Hills guys were like, come to Austin when
you're done with Dallas and like, okay, I'll
come to Austin.
And like these other guys like, yeah, come
to North Carolina.
Okay, I'll go to North Carolina.
So it's, it's, and I think it's closer to
maybe the efforts of, you know, freedom on
the road kind of thing of also like just being
you and your bike and just, yeah, you're
not trying to crush a thousand miles.
You're not trying to impress anyone.
You're not trying to do, you're just trying
to make meaningful connections and learn
about people and see things in a more
intimate, intimate way as what you would.
I think like this couple of days we've
spent together, to me are a really good
benchmark of what I would like to evolve
my motorcycle travels to be a little bit
more like most of my motorcycle travels.
If you look back, if I look back over
the past six, seven years, I've always
been placed A, B, C, D, E very fast.
And then like not superficially seeing
the local culture, but like not seeing it
that deep, not spending much meaningful
time maybe with as many people as I
could, oftentimes also being more like
on my own or with a very small group
of people.
I think I probably missed out on embedding
myself into culture in a way.
And I think, you know, and we talked
about this last year a little bit, like
as I mature a little bit, like age a little
bit, I think for me the ideal trip is
less so about, you know, 1000 miles
this and that, that is just 200 or 300
miles a day, finding like great
conversation, good people, seeing
things through the eyes of the people
that live where I am, rather than
seeing it on my own and thinking I've
seen, I've discovered something where
actually I've missed a lot of what I
could have seen.
It's a long-winded answer, but I think
I've really started to reshape the way
I think of motorcycle trips a little
bit and the coast to coast will
always has its appeal, because it's
romantic in a way, and also the West
is just that badass that I love to
spend time there, but there's beauty
everywhere and if you're on your
own, you're probably just going to
miss a lot of things, but seeing
yes, seeing people spending time with
people, being open to being out of your
comfort zone, which for me means
meeting people sometimes, because I'm
not the most outgoing person
necessarily, I think to me that's kind
of the next stage of what I would
like to do when it comes to this type
of trips.
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Yeah you couldn't have said it better man
like that's what I've realized when I
started traveling across the country on
bikes you know a long time ago it
was like very short amount of time and
so very tunnel vision laser focused
on getting to the destination yeah you
know you're you're basically just
stopping at the state signs to take a
picture with the New Mexico sign the
Arizona the California and that's
really all you got to show for it at
the end of the trip and then once
you've done the trip and you feel
what it feels like to be on the road
then I think that over time for
myself I've been able to slow down
more and more and more and more
because you just kind of like see
things and opportunities and I want to
see where that road goes and yeah I'd
really like to hang out with this
person in their area you know it's like
I mean really sickly how how often do
you think people get to be like to do
like kind of what maybe I we've done
is like hey let me show you let me
just show you where we go yeah exactly
like this is where I go I mean there's
a lot of cool spots in Dallas but
this is where I go yeah you know what
I mean yeah and just being like you
said embedded into someone else's world
as a way of being a student like we
were talking about before we turned the
microphones on where it's like you
know I want to be here like that's what
I when I go to New York that's what I
want I want to be I don't want to try
to figure out where to go eat I want
yeah the people there to like what
vibe you want I'm like man I just
like chill stuff got you let's go
like that's what you want I want to
be the in their culture you know
I mean it's funny because you know
before doing marketing I did a
bachelor in sociology and sociology is
the study of people yeah and I think
I've always been passionate by that
but in always in a very bookworm kind of
way yeah like I've read a lot about it
but not doing it necessarily myself I've
always had this kind of guardrail
between me and people a little bit
maybe that comes from the black metal
stuff where you always standoffish
and distant I don't know but I've
always been somewhat standoffish
and I mean not standoffish because
it comes across wrong like just
like you know a little bit reserved
reserved yes that's the way
that's the world I'm looking for and I
think even I was looking at the book
that you showed me from Todd what's his
nice blue ball some room like this
interaction that he has in the book
where like he talks to the gas station
clock for like 15 minutes and he
talks to this random dude that has a
random flag in his in his yard and
he learns about like that's the type
of stuff I would never ever ever do
and even if these people came to me
and started a conversation I would not
engage much and I think I with time
I want to try to do more things like
that so that even something that's as
superficial as a 15 minute encounter as
a gas station or a two-day with you in
Texas I think I see them both as the
same opportunity to try to really
you know share something meaningful
or not with someone but live with a
deeper appreciation for the place I
mean and the people that are in
there
whereas in the past I would just be
go go go and at the end I would
maybe see pretty things but I would
miss out on the culture that surrounds
these things
yeah and that book I think like I
haven't finished it but like whatever
the half I've read this morning what
really made an impression on me
especially on that front like the
fact that he is able to connect with
so many different people in so many
different ways I think that's pretty
cool
yeah I mean that book was impactful
for me whenever I found it and
you know I've tried to implement as
much of the idea ideas in it as
possible I'm I'm very I can be
standoffish too you know but
like when I'm in a comfortable space
I'm very open and you know hey this is
hey check this out watch this you know
but like I'm still not really the
person that's probably gonna engage
too much in that conversation with the
gas station store clerk you know I
might pass a couple words back and
forth but I'm not gonna just put
my groceries down and say yeah man
how what's the weather like like I'm
probably not that way yeah but I think
that over time I think I will I think
maybe with age you get to a point
where you know you like we're kind of
similar in age so it's like now I've
lived half my life in this way well
what if I change some things about my
the way I view the world and the way
that I interact with the world to
see if life would also feel different
yes you know what I mean yes and
then you know honestly like through
the the aspect of photography that's
probably been the most awakening
that I've had in like those kind of
things is understanding you know talking
with Brian Helm and Todd and you know
Joss Kirbyus and and you know Tim O'Keeffe
and these guys that I'm all extremely
inspired by you know you find that
like their connection to people is
what gets them access to shoot
what I'm in love with and so I'm
looking at it like a technical thing
like I have the camera
there's the person how do I get that
shot and it's not as much technical as
it is psychological yeah you know
knowing you know there's it's really
hard to explain but it's like that's
the difference between it all they have
a connection to a photo that means
something to them and you're looking
at like yeah I don't get it man but
to them they're like do this this you
know for me this is what the photo
does this is what it represents and I
think that's just like a connection to
the art that they're creating and
testament to the integrity of it
because they could easily just turn
down that picture of that that person
or that bike or whatever and go right
over there to those massive titties
and take a picture of those and it's
going to do way better on all platforms
I think that's kind of what I'm
trying to evolve a little bit when
it comes to photography because
I think over the a lot of what I
used to do was very staged a lot
of what I used to do was very
anonymous as well it's a lot of
even not about me but
helmets and people hiding themselves
behind their bikes and their helmets
and recently in this trip actually
before the streetlight mishap
when I was posting about the day I
was actually doing like 10 or 15
photos and most of the photos were
just random snippets of gas station
moments and people some of my friends
eating food or joking around and I
was I was like this is the type of
stuff I want to try to incorporate
more and I think obviously I have
access to them because I know them
very well but the capacity of being
able to generate that same kind of
connection with strangers so that
they will open up enough to let you
snag a photo that has soul I guess
is something that I don't think I
could do now but I would I would
strive to at some point be able to
do and some of these photos in
these books and the other books
that you've been showing me you
can clearly see through the eyes of
the night you can see the soul of
these people in a way and it's
it's harder than it's I think
taking photos of people with helmet
is actually very simple
I think and I think the next level
for me is to try to take real
portraits capture emotions whether
it's through motion which I've done
a lot this year or through that new
level which is actually portraits
people faces gestures interactions
of a couple etc and yeah that's
something I want to do more about
more off for sure yeah I mean you
and I both I mean it's it's I think
it's a you know a goal or maybe some
somewhat dream of mine is to be able
to go out like some of the books I've
shown you and just hang out at a
shop or a person's place with them
knowing that I want to capture and
photograph a lot of the everyday
things that they're doing without
having to tell them like because
I don't know that if it's for
anything like yeah maybe this is
just like a personal a passion
project of like I want to go capture
this and maybe something come out of
the other end it goes back to what we're
talking about like not trying to put
all these expectations on the table to
the other people like hey I want to
come in just kind of follow you around
and photograph you for some time and
you know what I'm not trying to
not like I'm not trying to not exist
in the moment like I want to talk to
you but I'd love to just watch you
work in photography you know ask
you some questions get to know you
in that in that manner
um because at first they're gonna pose
I mean yeah you pull the camera out on
me
I'm gonna like oh how you know I'm gonna
pose for a minute but after a while we
said this last night at dinner
after a while both you and I will get
comfortable with that camera existing
between us and things will start to
get natural yeah you know what I mean
but at first yeah it's a little bit
yeah for sure you know and so that's
kind of like the that's like the
trust the process kind of thing is
that like you just kind of have to do it
and then at the my wife told me this a
while back and I might have said on a
podcast many times but I really
credited this because it was helpful
for me
of getting over the anxiety of pulling
a camera out to shoot people or things
and she just said you know we
appreciate it
yeah exactly and I'm like man that
that that's awesome because I never
thought of it that way I thought of
it
very maybe egotistical
like I wonder if they think I'm a good
photographer
I wonder if they think that
you know you know like that imposter
syndrome comes into play
right and so when she said that
it made me feel like oh well you know
like
I'm the one creating all these
expectations and this this thing this
this narrative that doesn't technically
exist
in my head and it's making me
very self-conscious about pulling
my camera out and taking pictures of
things
you know
and then I try to feel I would try to
figure out ways to do it but like
remove myself from the situation like
like I'm gonna put headphones in
so no one will talk to me
so they'll do that yeah I've done it
but I thought it you know I felt
like man like I shouldn't do I
shouldn't yeah I shouldn't cut myself
off I should just
say hey you know I did it was a
so it was an experiment I did and
once again I've already said this
under times to you
I have a whole like album of
shots I did from this but
Terry shanks is a knife maker he moved
from Dallas he's now in in Arizona but
he lives in Dallas
and I got to meet him through a mutual
friend
and he was on one of the episodes of
the Mamoa thing that we talked about
last night
and literally some in Todd Blubos
shot a lot of the film and the
and the photos for that
and some of the most epic shots of
my man just like
hitting the four like forging
these knives and beating them with
hammers and just fucking so cool right
so I got to meet
Terry shanks and we started hanging
out and we came pretty close friends
well then I'm like hey man I
really want to just come hang out
while you're working
and I got some of my favorite
photos of that interaction
but he knew that I was going to be
there taking pictures of him
and so he just did his thing
he was telling me stories
and I was shooting him
why I was telling the stories
and like I can show you the whole
album in the beginning of the album
I'm very far away
yeah and then you get through
and then I got closer
and I got some shots of him that
if I was to put a portfolio together
they would be in it
yeah you know what I'm saying
it's funny because
I was literally before you said that
piece about getting closer
my mind was going through
a similar vein of like
I used to think that
being a photographer was to hide
yourself behind the camera
and that's also like long lenses
because you don't need to get so close
to people
but I think the real
real magic happens
on the 15 to 35
when you're very close
and when you've built a relationship
that it's okay to be that close
and that you can really start
to really show the people
what they really are basically
and I never should
at 15 to 35
but I should
and I think that's what
that's what street photography is so interesting
because
it forces you to
to kind of get close to people
and ask them
to you know
take pictures of them etc etc
which
yeah
it's tough
it's it's tough
but it's also a good exercise for
you know like
getting out of your
existential
you know
recluse-ness
if that makes sense
you know
and that's what it's been for me this year
since the last podcast
last podcast we did
like I consciously
force myself
whether it's in the race world
or like
with my friends
or with people like
randomly meet
to kind of like
engage much more
take pictures
but also like
initiate friendships etc
and be more just open to people
and
it's been
it's been very gratifying
it's one of the most gratifying things
I think I've done this year
it's really just
be more open to things
and opportunities and people
and and be
like you said
the students of
whatever it is they're doing
like I met this guy in
upstate New York
who welds his things in his shop
and we spent like
30 minutes
45 minutes with him
because he was fixing something
on my friend's bike
and I took photos of him
doing it
and I was asking him
or he's doing it etc
and that was a very random
interaction
but like
I left this place being like
okay this
this was super cool
and now we chat quite a bit
and he wants to do something
from my bike
because my bike
always needs work
so yeah
it's
these connections are like
they're great
and
I'm glad that I'm
I'm doing this more
I think I missed out
on these opportunities
over the past
four or five years
but now
looking at things
quite differently
well I think it's
like a testament to you
and your photography
and
how short you
like short lived
it's been
you know
which
is a
is a compliment
because
like it's so well
and so good
and so thoughtful
I also like the fact that you
maybe you want
a lot of lenses
and a lot of big cameras
but you do it with
a modest
like
or wait no
you've
you had the
R
EOS R first right
I had no
I had the M 50
Oh that's right
that's what it was
yeah
for the longest time
my only had two cameras
I had the M 50
with a 50 prime
that was it for a year
and I had this
I had a like
small telephoto
like I think the
seven it's
the 55 to 220 or something
like a very cheap
telephoto
but it's kind of
really cool
I had that
then did away with that
and I have my current setup
which is R6 Mach 2
24105 f4
which is 90%
of my shots
and then
the 100 to 500
when it's not busted
so that's my current setup
I would love
since I've tried
your 72.7
202.8
I'm like oh
this is a good lens
well that's what
what I'm getting is like
I love the fact that
and this is
this is what I did
I mean
it's kind of good now
because I have all the
the equipment
but
I got so gear conscious
where I felt like everything
to get better
and better
I needed more and more
and so I was always
buying shit
and it was through
buying new lenses
that made me want to shoot more
but until I found that book
and started diving down
the photography books
and them
and buying the magazines
that are more photography centric
I was
I would probably
just still be trying
to buy more
shit for photography
yeah
so I have
other than the 100 to 500
that I actually consulted
with you at
about before I bought
I haven't been purchasing
any camera equipment
because I have the tools
now I need to do the work
yeah
and I think
so myself included
was like this for so long
but some of the best
photographers out there
like Tim O'Keeffe
Todd shoots
Todd Blueboss shoot
or was shooting
when we
we did a podcast
with the same
5D Mark II
that Tim O'Keeffe shot with
in 2000
fucking
24 when I was talking to him
yeah
I mean that's a
almost a 20 year old
digital camera
and they're getting
amazing things
so it's like
yeah
I need to stop thinking
that the tools
are gonna make me a better
photographer
and start being a better
photographer
by doing what we talked about
before this
getting connections
can
you know
finding a way to get access
to people and things
and that's
I think that's the part of
photography
that if we were to make a
YouTube video about it
five things
to make you a better
photographer
you need
to get close to people
and be personable
like
none of that shit
sounds salacious and fun
yeah
you know
it sounds like
an anxiety attack
yeah
so for real
it's funny
my brothers
my brother
is a professional
photographer
as always
word by size
yeah
he's
much better than I'll ever be
he shoots on a 5D
and like
that's it
and he crushes it
so I
completely subscribe
which a 5D
like you can get the
the most latest version
of a 5D
which is a full frame
Canon camera
I mean
I've seen these cameras
going for like 500 bucks
yeah
or less
and I'm like
dude at your level
you could upgrade
like you
shoot upgrade most likely
and he's like
no
I'm good
I'm fine
he rents lenses
from time to time
for different shoots
but
I agree
and I'm always looking at
you know
marketplace and lenses
and stuff
but I force myself
to not buy
anything
and I've realized that
the stuff I buy
and I haven't
I've never bought lenses
I don't use
I only have two of
three two lenses
the ones I mentioned
but I did buy the DJI Osmo
Pocket 3 recently
nice
and I don't use it
and I
must use it
because it is very impressive
it could
that thing can do a lot of things
but I'm just like
it just doesn't come natural from
I am so focused on the camera
that it just doesn't come natural
for me to
bust it
and start
filming with it
and everything
yeah
and I
it's funny my buddy Tim
from
Tim Holland
from fit from now
for an Opsi
fit for an Opsi
Tim Halley
yes
Halley sorry
did buy that same camera
a year ago
the DJI Pocket 3
and him and I
were riding in Sturgis
and he said the exact same thing
he's like
I have it
but I never use it
and I think
this idea of always
getting more gear
for more things
at the end of the day is
not necessarily
I bought it
I bought that
that same one
that that DJI Osmo Pocket 3
I bought it in like
June
April of last year
because it's a really cool camera
and it's really good
but I found myself the same way
like I just couldn't find a way
to use it
effectively for the way
that I operate
yeah
so
I actually sold it
to my buddy
Renny from Easy Rider Cycle
and he's been
actually using it
and making some content
on YouTube with it
which is
fucking perfect
because that's what
it needs to happen
with that great tool
but I found it
like for me like
like
not not a GoPro
but kind of the same thing
as a GoPro
the DJI
action
5 is what I use
I've just
like all the YouTube videos
I've been doing lately
is all with that
I've been trying not to use
my big camera
for the YouTube stuff
only use the
that camera
because you have
I remember we talked about it
like when I considered buying it
I did buy it by the way
and I don't use it
the the gimbal
the RS3 Pro
something
yeah yeah
so I will use it
it's just such a production
like I've used it
for a few videos
I've done with FXDLS Brooklyn
like we wanted to do
professional
and so I busted the gimbal
but it just takes me 10 minutes
to set it up
and it's just
did you use it or
I've used it a couple times
but like I said
the reason why
I have to stick with the DJI
like the GoPro style
camera to make videos right now
is that
I can get so
deep
and nerd out
on trying to create
cinematic stuff
with like
the equipment that I have
that I lose context
of the point
yeah I can see that
so I have a cool shot
that has no
nothing to do
with anything going on
yeah right
so
in my opinion
it's like
I'm still in such a learning phase
of doing youtube videos
I'm trying to be better
with speaking on camera
I'm trying to get better with
articulating
my ideas
as concisely as possible
so that
I'm not tripping on my words
and saying like
and um
and you know what I'm saying
and fucking
you know what I mean
like
getting it out there
saying it
and I feel like
once I get better at that
because I know that it's a
it's the other end of
time plus effort
equals results right
so I'm trying to just do that
and stay making
some kind of videos
and
not get so hung up right now
on like
what I could do
yeah
you know because in my head
I know that I could
do it
but
I don't think it's going to
make or break things
right now
and I think I need to be a better
I need to be better on camera
before I
start nerding out so much
I'm trying to make it look so
perfect
yeah I think that makes sense
I mean you got the most
important part that
the most important part
dialed in
you have the sex resort
and all of that good stuff
so that's
that's what the viewer won't see
is like
I think the videos were pretty
cool because they were very
of
like
they were seemed very
I mean they seemed I guess
they are
very genuine and authentic
to the trip
like it
I think it didn't look
mass it didn't look very like
it looked very much like
genuine to what was happening
in a way
yeah there was no staging
I mean
yeah exactly
that's what I'm trying to say
like
sometimes when you produce things
you lose that kind of connection
authenticity
everything looks very staged
I mean your videos looked very
like exactly how a trip
is supposed to go
which I think
has a lot of
interest for me at least
it's always a tricky thing
like when you try to
overproduce things
then
everything becomes a little bit
like for me
every time I see a beautiful shot
of like some dude doing YouTube
at a higher level of edits
for example
and it's like
the camera is already in the hotel
room
and he's opening the door
and getting into the hotel room
every time I see this
I'm like okay this is kind of cool
but also it's so very very staged
for example
and like or
the same shots of like
him writing on an empty road
and you know like
there's a lot of stuff
that makes me think
okay it's very set up
and it's less often
it's to me it loses a bit
of the authenticity
I think it's a fine line
obviously to to walk
but also I don't do YouTube
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we had that concept
that whole setting up the shot
and
like you said
putting the camera in the hotel room
and then walking in
and throwing all your stuff down
like it does create
like context to a video
but at that point you're acting
exactly
that's exactly
you know
and so that for me
which I think
I've done that
I mean literally
earlier this year
or like the end of last year
or earlier this year
I did a video
I did two videos
and these two videos were
all big cameras
I set up my
big camera in my van
and I'm driving to work
telling
so today we're going to do this
blah blah blah
and then
I got to work
I took the camera out
and set it up
and then
drove the van off
and then came back
and pulled into the thing
and then
stuck the camera in the shop
and opened the door
and it's like
all these different things
for like a
20-second
like sequence
which
looked cool
but
I don't think that the videos
I'm making right now
that fits into that world
right now
like the type of videos
I think connect to
like what I'm doing
is
is like
it's just a diary
yeah
you know what I mean
exactly
yeah
you know like
the one that I just put out
like
with
you know
working on the bike
trying to get it done
like there was a lot of ups
and downs in that process
and so on the downs
I didn't record
you know
so I had to find a way to
convey the
the emotion in a recap
and use what I had
and kind of piece together
stuff
I looked at that whole video
the one I just put out
is more of a learning curve
of like how can I
how can I salvage
an unfinished video
and I think that
FXDLS Brooklyn
like when y'all did that video
with me last year
in surges
I thought it was
uniquely
nice to see
how
you guys
put content together
and how he created that video
with the context
about me
and things like that
yeah
and you know
I'm like okay
that that actually made me feel
more like
okay I could
I see
I saw how that sauce was made
so now I kind of feel like
okay I'm more open to doing
different things
and not feel like
I have to be Peter McKinnon
yeah
you know
or stuff like that
so
I love making videos
but I love
taking photos
and I find that I have a hard time
doing both
yeah
at the same time
that's what I've realized
because I intend
at some point
to do video
more video
and I've started to double with it
a little bit
and
FXDLS Brooklyn
has been really pushing me
to start a YouTube channel
which the channel exists
but he has five shorts on it
and that's it
but hopefully
in a year from now
they'll
I'll have done a few things on that
and if I haven't
send me a DM
to say what the fuck
but
I think
yeah it's
my intention was to do video stuff
on this trip
and I didn't do any
yeah
I just
it's hard to do both
and I feel also
that when you do video
you really have to think more
about what
like photos
you can always patch together
and find some kind of red thread
to a story you're telling
yeah
I think video
like if you're not intentional
in what you shoot
and how you shoot it
it's very hard to
to have a cohesive approach
at the end
and at least
for my few experimentations
I will
I've never been happy
with really what I have done
so I never end up using it
yeah to shoot everything
yeah exactly
yeah
which can kind of suck sometimes
because it feels like you're being
like you're
you're hijacking
maybe a great moment
yeah I can see that
you know like say
last night we were at dinner
and Ramon shows up
and we're all sitting out there
if I just whipped out the camera
all right guys we're here
another espresso martini
it's a good time
and you know
like
even though
maybe there's not a lot of context to that
but it
it's still given
like when I come back to edit
now I have something
in that space to kind of
yeah
contextual
continue to
the story down the line
so like the
the trip I did
I had to
go
I had to be that way the whole time
be conscious of that
yeah
if I pulled the camera
out to shoot something
I had to
hey all right so
I found this great spot
on the backside
of the Griffith Observatory
I got a good shot
to downtown Los Angeles
I got the 100, 500
I'm gonna go try to get some
shots out of this
so you have to be mindful
to do that
shit
and then
you know
shoot the photos
yeah
and there was plenty of times
where like
I'd like
didn't record something
and I
and I was like
man I wish I would have
recorded that
yeah
you know
I'm glad I got the sex motel
that was
money
the but
you know like I said
you have to think about it
like you said it's
it's
to your point too
what you just said
was something that
it made me remember
I've got a
I'll show you my toolbox
at home I've got like
20 fucking go pros
well not 20
I got like
six go pros
I would buy a go pro
every year
this year
I'm going to start doing
a youtube channel
from 2018
until 2023
because that's the first year
I actually finally made
a youtube video
I would buy a go pro
and I would do a bike trip
and I would start filming
and then the second day
I stopped
yeah
and I would never do
anything else
and then
you know
just
you have to
when you go make a
bike trip
or do a bike trip
or do a bike thing
with the expectations
to capture it
you
you kind of
have to have an expectation
you know
that's where I give
like
people like
FXDLS Brooklyn
or even Cody
from the Iron Pony show
that I was writing
with a little bit
a lot of credit
because like
they're super consistent
that they're captured
like Alex FXDLS Brooklyn
like I've obviously
read a lot with him like
since the day I've met
he never let go
like he's always on it
he's always like
thinking of
what do I need to capture
and at first
to be honest
I was like
wow that's a lot
but like
to your point
that's what
if you're gonna do this right
that's what you need to do
and at first
it was very foreign to me
I was like
we don't need to
film ourselves eating pancakes
well actually
it makes some good footage
yeah
so yeah
it's just a very different mindset I think
when you're around people
that's also either
playing into it with you
or they're also doing
a version of it for themselves
it does kind of get a little bit
easier to be the person
to pull it out
yeah
the camera out
but at the same time
like that's
if you if
if I'm going on a bike trip
across the country
and some friends are going
but they don't do
anything like that
I just tell
like look
this is what I have to do
and I would appreciate it
you know
if you guys want to be a part
of it to
to go with the flow
if I need to stop
and get these shots
you know
I appreciate it
if you didn't get pissed
you know
so finding the right people
to stay in that groove
with is important too
but I
I wish that
sometimes I had more
careful what I wish for
there's times I wish
I had someone here more
at the shop
that I could bounce
video stuff with
like today
so and so and I are in the shop
we're going to mess with this
and like
he might film me
a little bit
while I'm doing something
and it's kind of what
thrashing does
they pass around
one GoPro
and everybody films each other
and then they get these
this footage right
or the same thing
with like cruisey
and and
Trent out there
but like
I'm alone all day long
so I gotta
I kind of have to set the tripod up
and well guys
it's Tuesday
so
you know what I mean
yeah when you're alone
everything becomes much
much harder
for sure
especially for videography
I think
yeah it's difficult man
but it's
it's also like it's
it's difficult
but so many people do it
and a lot of people do it
very well
and if they can do it
I gotta figure out how to do it
fair you know
and so
there's
I think that we're all looking
for that cheat code
yeah
this has got to be easy
and it's not
but it does get easier
the more you do
you know what I mean
and that's kind of where
where I'm kind of
I'm trusting the process
like I know that if I keep doing
this
it will get easy
so like what's the next big
video for you
like
I mean yeah
getting this chopper done
for Born Free
I have
I filmed
and this is the problem
I filmed all with a big camera
us doing the
hardtail on this bike
and my buddy Devin
loudmouth Devin
he helped film
B-roll shots
and so when I got home
and I put all the files
in the computer
to start looking at
like what I had to do
to make the video
I was just overwhelmed
with with clips
yeah
so
I just kind of like
I got the
there's a
there's a complete story there
I just need to
really separate everything
and organize
all the video footage
go through and listen
to all the dialogue
and figure out what works
and doesn't work
and put that out
that's the next video
and then yesterday
when I was at Corey's
and we were doing the gas tank
we filmed
I filmed all that
obviously it was just the
the little GoPro deal
so I want to put
a couple videos together
or at least one or two
or three
of the process of building
this chopper
the same way I just did
and I'm not trying to keep up
with a weekly drop
I'm just trying to
I'm just trying to do the
work on the bike
and then capture it
and then put something out
on it
but the
the project I want
is the trip
after Born Free
that I've talked to you about
that's the one
that I really
in a perfect
what would be on that chopper
that would be
right now that's kind of a
bucket list thing for me
and it's the more I talk
about it the more it's like
I feel it boiling me
like I'm so excited to do it
you know
and do you think that by then
you would still do it
like GoPro iPhone style
yeah
I would do it GoPro
the foot it's just easier
to capture the footage that way
like it's hard to carry
a big camera around
and video yourself
as opposed to the
the GoPro style
you know what I mean
but I would probably try to mix
some of the
some more cinematic shots in there
of not cinematic shots
I would
what I want to do
with all the videos
is figure out how to
incorporate my photography
and what I do for a living
as far as like the paint work
and the customizing bikes
and some lifestyle into it
so it's all
like you feel like you're getting
a glimpse inside
this world or whatever
and some perspective
you know
the YouTube video is the teaching
yeah
even though I don't want to be the teacher
I just need to be the
I just need to show you
what I'm doing
I'm not trying to say
it's the right way
or the wrong way
or the only way
just this is what I'm doing
yeah
you know
but that's the plan
what about you like what's
for you I mean
as far as just in general
like I mean
what are you hoping to
I mean
I mean you got some great
opportunities with photography
right now
yeah
you know
shooting some Harley stuff
some other brands
Lindahl I think is one
you know
the photography thing has been
I'll start with the photography thing
quick
yes there's been lots of amazing
opportunities
I'm super grateful
definitely the racing world
is where I want to do much more
and keep focusing my efforts on
like I think just to me
back when we talked a year ago
I had never been to a racetrack
and I ended up going in
the last race of the last season
2024 in New Jersey
and that completely blew my mind
it like felt like
it felt like the day I discovered
metal
like it felt like the first time
I listened to Metallica
Oh the first time you went and
shot racing
yeah I was just
just blown away by like
everything
everywhere I looked was amazing
everything looked so cool
so rad
and so
I've really
it was one of my big objectives
this year to kind of
find a way to get
to get into this world
and to shoot that world
a little bit more
at first I just did it on my own
and now I've been lucky that
the Lindor M3
Tobacco Harley team
has been like cool with me
to be like yeah you can come
and shoot with us etc
so now I'm kind of working with
them for the last few races
of the season
so I'll be in Coda
and I'll be back in New Jersey
with them
and I think
really like that's been
super gratifying
just to shoot more motion stuff
shoot like all kinds of
different things
like the paddock stuff
everything it's been
it's been a great learning
opportunity
and a great way to discover a
world from the inside
with the people that are
making that world
come to life
other than that for photography
I think it's like we said
more portraits
more people and everything
videography wise I've really
I have this commitment to myself
that by the end of this year
I will have put up a couple
of YouTube videos
and they will probably not
perform
I think what I want to do
is not what would perform
the most
yeah we'll do it for yourself
yeah exactly
and that's
that's kind of my mantra
is like
I want to try to do like
take a song
that I really really love
yeah yeah
and and and overlay images
of the motorcycle world
but not only that
also maybe also
like other things
and cut like a music video
that would be the best
of what I could do
with my limited knowledge
of editing for video
but I know a few things
and I would like to do that
consistently
like if I could put like
once a month
like
five minute
music video
to a song that I really love
and being able to capture
the emotion of the song
through the footage
that I'll put together
and illustrate that song
through the
through the footage
I'll put together
I would consider this
a big victory
and achievement for me
I think
I would talk very briefly
about
no filmmakers that I love
so
Terence Malik
Darren Aronofsky
these guys
that have a very visual universe
where sound and images
are intimately intertwined together
I think that's
the type of things
I would strive for
on YouTube
so very very far
from the typical
motor vlogger
or the typical
motorcycle thing
I think motorcycle
would definitely be a part of it
because it's my center of interest
and it's how I
von Gasfeld come to life online
so it would be the
through line of everything
of course
but
deeper than that
I think it would be trying to vehicle
to bring to life
that raw emotion of that song
in a visual way
that would be enticing to me
and that
probably realistically
don't have the skills to do
what I aspire to do
so I think the first few videos
will not be that great
but as good as I can be
I have
I see them in my head
I know the songs
and I see
I know what I want to do
question mark on whether or not
I'll be able to pull it off
but I
when I come home
sometime in September
that's
I want to dedicate time to this
and really like
spend the time
don't take the camera with me
my traditional camera
take the DJI
or whatever I end up doing
and try to
and maybe I'll shoot with my camera
actually because it's a great camera
for shooting too
and try to start putting something
like this together
it's probably
it's very ambitious
versus
the level of my current skills
and so
knowing myself
and never being satisfied with what I do
there's a high likelihood
that I won't put it out
because I will be like
this is not
as good as it must be
to be put out
but I think that's where I have to force myself to
actually put it out
but yeah
we'll see
but that's
for me that's the next frontier
I almost like I said very
conscious that this is not
typically the type of content
that performs on YouTube
but that's the content I want to make
so
we'll see
well yeah
it kind of
goes hand in hand with the
I think the first conversation you and I kind of kicked off
when you got here to town was
if we only do the things that perform
then how would we
how how will evolution ever take place in our
our deal because
you know like we
we were saying this before we
it's like
it's like in order for culture to shift
whether it's like photography
or
videography
or capturing
YouTube being on
motorcycling
something has to
someone has to do something different
and it's got to feel foreign
and almost like
it's almost like people
might not like it at first
because it's not what they're used to
but it's kind of every time
iPhone comes out with a new
like
things are different
like the
the shit doesn't work the way it worked on the old
operating system
and then
you quickly adapt to it because
it does end up being better
it becomes the evolution of what it was
whether it's better or not is completely up to the user right
and they're
experienced with it
well that's the thing about like creating stuff
but if all we do is always make the same
shit that everybody else is doing
but we're doing it different because
we're
we're all different
you know what I mean like it's not going to
move the needle
and people aren't going to grow
so
I agree
you know what it's funny because when I think of this
emotional motorcycle music videos
there's one that actually
comes to mind
which I don't know how well known that video is
but it's
a video that Kirk Pierce actually put on YouTube
like 10 or 11 years ago
and it's just that one song that is very monotonous
I think it's called Ride the Locust
and he just cuts footage on it
and it's not really overproduced or anything
but
it has such a strong vibe to it
and it has just such a strong emotional intensity to it
that I don't know
I don't think this video did really well necessarily
but I just remember when I first saw it
I was like
oh wow that is very different from what everybody has done
and I would not do it this way
I would have some time of different types of edits
and everything but
I think like
trying to convey emotion
through motorcycle related footage online
would be would be really cool
not that it doesn't exist
some people already do it very well
like I don't mean to say that no one does
emotional motorcycle content
because there's a lot of great emotional motorcycle content online
I think to me it's just the balance between
music
and visuals
and how integrated both can be
that I would love to really focus on the most
if yeah
yeah we'll see
we'll see it's a bit
it's it's it will take some of the
I actually want to shoot a few things in Dallas
because there's a few monuments in Dallas
that I would like to have
we talked about the Thanksgiving Chapel
which is one of the most beautiful monument
I think in in Dallas
but yeah I think if you ever look at a
Terence Malick movie
specifically
Hidden Life
The Tree of Life
or the Fin Red Line
that is also very famous
you'll see his type of editing is insane
and I would never obviously
remotely even think that I could be
five percent as good as he is
but I think that type of editing
like thousands of different cuts put together
in a very flowy way
and a very ethereal way
almost is the type of things
because I think you need to accumulate
an insane amount of footage
yeah
to then just be able to do a massive patchwork
that somehow is going to become coherent
but at first may not be coherent
and I think what brings the coherence
is also the music
and the emotion of the music
and you cut it
like he has this amazing scene of
he takes the Moldau by Smetana
who is a very famous classical song
and he overlays footage on top of it
that flows the way the song flows
it's a very flowy
I mean I don't know how to describe it
anyways
it's just insanely beautiful
and I would love
I would strive to recreate
at a very different skill level
something like that
that would be awesome
oh that's awesome
yeah I mean
that's being inspired
yeah
wanting to go out and
and channel that inspiration
but through like the way you see it
yeah
and with your experience
and to the music you love
yeah that's dude
that's that's classic textbook inspiration
yeah
being inspired by something
and wanting to be proactive about
being a creator
yeah
of some you know
sort
you know what I mean
yeah
like I've noticed this about you that
that like uh
I thought that I actually think is cool
like you you
you you plan big
yeah
you know
like when you were telling me about
the ideas of
shooting the urban cowboys
yeah
you know I'm like
you're like well I want to get
I want to do this on like a
massive street
and block everything off
and get the bikes and
the cowboys and have them like
you know flank each other and
and I'm like
that's I mean I'm seeing in my head
like you're explaining to me
I'm like yeah that's going to be sick
I'm like but then the
the practical side of my brain is like
how are you going to get
like access to the street
how are you going to get this
how are you going to get that like
and it's overwhelming to me
I'm like I ain't going to fuck with it
but I love that you think that way
I plan big but I don't always deliver
to be honest
like my I shoot very high
and then I end up sometimes
missing the mark
but at least it's as high as it's
going to be
I think specifically
for that specific idea there's
at first I wanted to do it in New York
and like
I looked into the complexities of
bringing a horse into Manhattan
and just that
it's already overwhelming
like you do not bring a horse
into Manhattan easily
and so then I
where you park a horse trailer
yeah exactly
and because my idea originally
was to do it in Grand Central
I was like
like Grand Central
the horse riding
the bike flanking
and I was like
it's going to be the sickest shot
but then I was like
I don't know
so it may end up that idea
and it will just be like
in a field
but it will still be cool
I like
that's one of my strength
and one of my weaknesses
I dream very big
and sometimes I struggle to achieve
the vision
and then I get like
underwhelmed by
whatever I put out
and I end up not putting it out
and like there's a lot of stuff
that I have on my computer
that will never see light of day
because
it is not what I thought it should be originally
and maybe
I should have a little bit more grace with myself
and just release more things
but you know
it's kind of like
even when I was playing a lot of music
and everything
like
it's just releasing something
was always a big deal for me
and so
it's a huge vulnerability
yes exactly
and especially when you spend so much time on something
like a photo is a photo
it's fine
like a track, an album, an EP
is maybe for you a paint job
like we're talking like hundreds of hours
or like a significant amount of time
for you to release something
that takes that much of you creatively
in the world is a big vulnerability
and there's a lot of demos and stuff
that I never released for that exact reason
not that I don't think they were great
but just
I was like
I don't know
and
it's always easier in a band
because in a band there's more of you
and therefore there's the collective force of the band
and so
when you play in a band it's easier
but
a lot of the stuff I recorded
was like what you would call one-man bands
and therefore it's me doing everything
and that is where like the true vulnerability piece comes
because it's 100% you
everything is you
for better and worse
yeah you can't deflect any of that
failure
or perceived failure
onto anybody else
yeah
like it's the grunt of your
like you have to take all that
exactly
no 100% that's
I mean that's kind of what it feels sometimes
like when you
I think you make a YouTube video
like
you
I mean
for me at least
because I'm not
that good at it
like as far as editing
and
and even shooting
and a lot of stuff
you'll do a video
where you spend
like I did two videos
earlier this year
and those two videos
like one of them
doing the shop tour video
I
wasn't really great
at my
delivery of
talking about
the different things
so
in order to
get past
all my insecurities
about the video
try to make the best
piece of work as like
I could
and then put it out
is like this massive amount of
vulnerability
you know
and
fortunately
like I feel like a lot of
at least in my world
because I don't want
like put
things out there
as a like
a matter of fact
I try not to be
so
poll
polarizing might be the wrong word
I'm not trying to like
make statements
this is how you do it
you
we run this here
yeah
you know
I don't want make
I don't want to make people
feel like they
they have to choose
my side or another
I just want to expose them of
what
what is
here right
so I don't get a lot of
negative
comments and feedback
on my youtube
unless it's literally just
some stupid shit I said on a
podcast
or something on a podcast right
so
fortunately that vulnerability
of putting something like that
out there
it's really only met
with positive reinforcement of
like with the comments
and the people that did
watch it
but then there's always that
that
that number
that
that view count
or that like
or that whatever
that has so much power
psychologically over us
to our worth
for sure
you know
and that's where
remember I asked you
I don't know if it was
last time the night before
like would you rather
Harley
repost your work
would you rather
Harley
like
do a
showing of your work at the
art museum
or the
the Harley Davidson Museum
I mean
it wouldn't be a question
like a thousand percent
I would rather they have it
at the museum
you know so there's like this
this point where like
I think that's
it goes into a lot of the
conversations that you and I
have had over the last two
days which I'm sorry guys
we're
we're referring to that
a lot here
but
that's why I'm
so like really wanting to
find ways to
show the world the things
that that
I create or you create
or anybody creates
without
with removing that
the screen in front of you
and the fact that
you can only see at this size
I mean like you sitting here
in the studio
and seeing this photo behind
me and the one behind you
it's like
I mean you were like
staring at the one behind
you of Curpias
and looking in the reflection
of the
of the primary
and I'm like
and you all you can see
you I was like
I never even noticed that
but
to me like seeing it on that
scale is like so much better
to me
that's why my house is full
of big pictures
you know
hell when I piss every day
there's that
I have that six over poster
and the reason it's there
is because there's three
photo shots
that I love
and they're all photos
that I never would
think to take
yeah that poster is great by the way
yeah super cool
and I don't I don't know
what the movie is about
or anything but
the same guy that made
21 days under the sky
he made that first
and it's kind of a
it's really hard to watch
because it's not hard to watch
like it's not good
it's hard to physically
find
find it
because you can't buy it
and
Dice magazine kind of
owns the rights to it
and every once in a while
they'll release it
in a way you can watch it on
like
YouTube or whatever
or something
it's it's complicated
I
it used to be on like
Prime and Netflix
or something like that
a long time ago
but
it's a really cool
documentary too
really cool
tell me
whenever
yeah
whenever it's available
if I could ever
get my hands on it
I will
I'd spend
I'd spend over 100 bucks
to get it
like in one way
or another
because I do love it
I own the
21 days
which is also hard to get
yeah
so I
like they
they sold it on Amazon once
like on a Prime
yeah you bought it at the time
yeah
yeah
it's marked
but yeah
so like
finding a way to
to get to where people can
interact with like
whether it's the motorcycles
or the photography
or the art
or just the interactions of
people like without
that value
added to
like some counter
next to a video
or a picture
or song
or whatever
you know what I mean
because if it's
it's where you're gonna have to
put this heart together
yeah
well you're gonna probably have to
help now
because you already offered
I would help
for sure
I would love to
that would be super cool
no I mean
it's funny because I've never
printed my own
things until recently
actually
and we've talked about this
last year
like through your input
actually
the year where the
driving force
that got me to actually
start printing anything
based on one comment
that you put on one photo
once
and since then
I've printed a fair amount
and since then
people have hit me up
and say
hey could you print for me
that photo you took of me
and I've realized
recently actually
I've done quite a few
of these one-offs
where like
just someone likes the photo
and
and then they send me photos
of my own print
in their living rooms
etc
and that's
that's very
that's very rad
and almost humbling
in many ways
that's really
you know your photo is
in somebody's living room
spoiler thing
two of my prints
are in FxDLS
parents living room
which is also
always makes me smile
it's the
most gratifying thing
you could really think of
I am in
actually one of the photos
so really
I am in their living room
which is insane
but like
yeah
it's
we've been really
forced to look at
photography
through such a narrow lens
vertical shots
Instagram
like
it would be great to be able
to break that apart
a little bit
and go back to
actually just horizontal shots
to start with
I think like recently
I was shooting stuff
in Sturgis
with a
Justin
Warfork bike
and Jason
who owns the
Glencoe Camground
they have both had like
a Panamerican
and a 1942
a WLA
and so they were both bikes
together
like it was cool shot
and I was like
none of this looks great
in
in vertical format
like everything should be
horizontal
it would look
so much more cinematic
and so
I ended up shooting it both ways
but obviously
everything that we ended up
putting on Instagram is
is vertical
it's a shame because
as I was shooting it
I was like
I should shoot
much more in horizontal
and I barely shoot
anything in horizontal
because I'm so formatted
to think vertical
whereas my friend Olivier Touran
who is obviously
a professional photographer
and that is
lips and bound
better than I'll ever be
shoots everything
horizontal
yeah
because he's been
trained this way
and he knows that it just looks
better from a composition
standpoint and everything
and then he will end up
cropping things
if he has to
yeah
so I don't know
I think we're
I speak for myself
no one else
but I think I am
somewhat
I came to photography
through the era of Instagram
and therefore
everything I know
about photography
outside of the books
that I own
is taught to me
through the lens of
social media
and I think
I like what you do
of having all these old books
etc
to look at
a different way of
photography
like
I have a lot of books
on war photography
because I ended
I'm very interested in history
and so
I look at these photographs
of Kappa
as we were talking today
or
a few other guys
and
and I realize
none of them are vertical
for example
and and the way
they shot is so different
obviously the surroundings
are excessively different
but so
I think it's good
to be inspired
by other things
and
an art show
or something else
goes in that direction
as well so
hmm
yeah vertical shooting
like
tends to work well for like
like
I mean think about it
like a lot of like
Instagram shots
like you want to fill
the space
with
the the bike
or the product
or the thing
right
so
if you have a vertical shot
or a horizontal shot
I'm sorry
they kind of
fit like
gives you a perspective
of of the environment
exactly
and the subject is super
small
it's not impactful
but if you see that
like
on printed
it's very impactful
because you see a scale
and you see
you're immersed in
a different way
and um
you know
like don't be wrong
I'm the same as you
like Instagram
is what really
I mean I'd always had a
love for photography
but I never
would try it
I just
lie like
it's cool
I like
that exists
I used to have all the bikes
that
I would build back in the day
would get shot for magazines
and I would always be friends
with the photographers
but I never would like
would pick up a camera
and do it
you know
but Instagram was kind of
an inspiration
among many other things
that I've talked about
on this
on these
episodes before but
and so you get kind of conditioned
to like
I'm trying to shoot stuff for Instagram
and
then over time
you
you uh
you know
like
like I'm proud of it
but now like
I want to shoot for something else
yeah
you know
I want to shoot for a different
thing
I want to experience this
in a different way
and a lot of that came
when
I got to go to
Michael Lichter's house
and see
photography printed
and photo books
and things like that
and it
changed my perspective
yeah
and um
and then like
if if I only consume Instagram
for inspiration
then I'm only going to be
regurgitating
the same thing
over and over again
I'm not going to be able to look
at something
or bring a fresh idea
even if the idea
is old as hell
yeah
you know
but I'm
I found inspiration
from a photo from 1940
that I'm finding a way
to use in my
current way I'm shooting
to show
motorcycling
in a different light
yeah
you know what I mean
like you got to look outside
to to reinvent inside
or something
you know
that's very true
I think for me
it's also been
able to kind of
to your earlier points
be a little bit more okay
with
letting go of numbers
and letting go of
you know
criterias of performance
and giving myself
the room to be like
I know this is not going
to perform necessarily
because it's not front and center
on the bike
but
this is still a cool shot
and that's what I'm going to do
and that Anna like it this way
I used to be very drawn by
especially when I started
so five six years ago
I was like very like
looking at my analytics
and my numbers a lot
a lot a lot
over the past
I would say two years
a year and a half
I've
tried to tune that out
a little bit more
and now
I try to shoot things
that I know will not perform
but that I think are very
are cool to me
and
it's been creatively
I think it's giving me a lot of
also room to reinvent
things a little bit
especially focusing more
on surroundings
rather than necessarily
just motorcycles itself
and
trying to paint a picture
that has a little bit more depth
than just focused on the bike
but just try to
to show more things itself
or adding more motion
to things etc
and
it's been great
I think
it's a little step
in a bigger step
that is deconstructing
what social media
does
to the way we look at photography
and like
one thing is
the numbers
another thing is
how do you think of
what a photo should be
and it's
I think it's a
long form
it's a process for me
that I am going through right now
but
it's a good one
do you think printing
your photography
made you
helped you see it
in a different way to where
like I've had photos
that I think look
really great
on Instagram
but they don't
I don't think they would look good
as a print
I don't think I've had that
because I haven't printed
so many of them
I've maybe printed
maybe like
20 to 30
as a whole
most of the ones I've printed
I was
very happy with
well I mean like those shots
like the print
that I have from you
the Brooklyn bridge shots
oh man like
that was a
but that's kind of
what I want to do more
is like this kind of
and we talked about this a little bit
like the
to paraphrase Peter McKinnon
it's from like
taking a photo
to making a photo
and trying to
think more of a production
and an idea
and like make it happen
rather than just
snapping away
on a regular Tuesday morning
right or whatever
and like that
that shot of
the burnout on the
the bridge
was the first time that
I was like okay
let's try to
think of what we're going to do
before we do it
and let's try to
produce it
to the best of my abilities
and there's been a few more
that I've done since
that are in that direction
but not enough
and I really want to try to
to transition to something like this
and maybe that means I'll post
less things
because it will take me longer
to produce them and
and put them together
but I would really really want
I'm very inspired by like
the work of like
people like
you know
the iron brim all of the world
etc
because you can tell that
they thought of what
they're putting out there
yeah
and I think
that is the next level of my
one of the levels of evolution is
transitioning from
taking something on the go
to really thinking of the story
you're going to tell and
bringing it that
that could be
that could be very
putting yourself in a box as well
fair
and that contradicts
some of the stuff we discussed
earlier on spontaneity
and everything
but I kind of went through a similar
like
conversation in my head
you know
I can't remember if it was a year ago
or two years ago
or you know
I know it was a couple years ago
both styles of photography
have their place
right
I would think that
if you have an idea for a shoot
making that photo as you said
is 100% the way you got to do it
I mean that happens
but then
going out there
and being able to see
and capture things
is also very important
because you have to be able to
recognize
photography everywhere
it might be
yeah yeah
you're right
I don't think one excludes the other
because you know
when you go cat
when you go
like photograph an event
you know
for brand
for Harley
you're not making that
you're capturing something to exist
yeah
and so that muscle needs to be worked out
when you go
and Harley's like
hey
ride this new roguelide
take some cool creative shots
you have to go make photos
yes
there
that's true
right
and even photography
is much harder than I thought it would be
and I've done a few this year
like
for Harley or even just to
entertain myself
in local bagnites
in Brooklyn
and
it is hard to make anything look good
because there's just busy events
there's just so many people
it's a great muscle
to your point
and it's a great thing
to exercise yourself
and
I really
I really
have respect for people
that are able to take
like
even waiting for those
I mean waiting for those
you know
it's a whole different game
but like
making these kind of big events
look cinematic
and cool is just
is
it's much harder than I thought it would be
and I think that's where the whole idea of
of like
practicing like you said
to go out to there
and start to recognize
and like
immerse yourself in it
to where it's like
what is it about this
that makes me
like
like how do I make this feel
like
yeah
you know
like
Lictor was good at this
or is good at this
and some of his early work
like capturing
like the crowd
at the Buffalo Chip
while the light
like the light
photos yeah
you know like those kind of shots are like
and he's like
we were on the bridge
and we're thinking about
jumping out on the side
to get this angle right
you know
Lictor's always looking for that perspective
that's different
to show scale and
and emotion
and fucking shit like that
and that's where I think
that's good to do that
but it's also good to be in a studio
and know how to
sculpt light
make it work
do this
like there's so many facets of photography
that you can kind of
go in
and I
I think that
maybe if I
like you were just saying
if
I just stuck to
making photos
or
taking photos
like going out and just
you know
capturing whatever is
like
you could probably
grow in that space better
but I like the versatility
of being able to take my camera
everywhere
and walk away
with something usable
yeah
something that
can tell a story
you know
if
if I need to
showcase this new
Arleness part
or custom dynamics light
then I have the ability to shoot it
for them
because they need to use it for marketing
but I can also like
go out
in Sturgis
walk around
and see their products
on someone I don't know
and find a way to capture it
in
an everyday use scenario
where it's also valued to them
yeah
you know what I mean
yeah I think versatility
especially these days in age
where things are changing
very fast
I think
in the photography world
like
versatility
will be even more needed
and I think
to some extent
the field of photography
that might actually have
the more
of a
obvious future to me
is probably
the one that has to do with
authenticity and event
rather than
mass
very produced shots
where AI
will be able to do it
much faster than you can
whereas an event
a bike night
or an Indian Larry
block party
you're always
most likely
need someone
that is able to capture it
in a good way
so
yeah
you need to
have both
and
it used to be that
for me the most exciting part
was always like
the produced thing
but I think
this year
because of the race stuff
and then because
I kind of forced myself
to go to these events
and try to see
what I can get out of them
I've definitely started
to grow that muscle
of like
trying to bring
a polished version
of an event
or something that I think
looks good to my standards
in my own ways
to life
and it's been
it's been a good
it's been a good evolution
at the end
if you look like
and I think
I've done right
on one of things
that I said
last year on the podcast
which was
my Instagram
will not so much be
about me anymore
yeah
and I think
I'm proud
I'm proud
I'm happy that
I was able to take
that
that
that departure
from what I've done
for so long
which was solely about me
to now
almost not
so much being
about me anymore
and more about the people
I meet
the events I go to
the places I see
and I've grown a lot
through that
so that's
it's been a good process
yeah that's what I
I mean I
I definitely
can attest to that
because when I
started shooting
you know
yeah
I wanted to shoot
my own bikes
and my own projects
and my own stuff
but like
man it's just something
about shooting
everyone else
and everything else
and
that's why I had to start a
separate page
because
I didn't want to confuse
people
if I shot
a bike
that someone had
that was really cool
but someone else
built it
or painted it
I don't want to put that
on the fast side garage
yes
and it seemed like
I'm taking credit
for someone else's stuff
so my
photography page
became this catch-all
for photography
that doesn't have anything
to do with my brand
sometimes it does
but for the most part
it's just
it's the world
that I get to be a part of
you know
what are you doing now
like
like what's some of the
maybe a
a plan
or an idea
for like
once the bike
gets back on the road
like what is something
you want to do
with the road glide
the street
I'm street glad sorry
I think I'll do
what I wanted to do
with it originally
which is driving it cross-country
I'll probably drive it
differently than what I
I think my original plan
was to crush
highway miles
and all of that
and I think
maybe when the bike is fun
well actually
sorry
let me backtrack
most likely
the first thing I'll do
is to try to
which goes against
a lot of things
I said earlier
the first thing
I'll probably do
is try to beat
my cost to cost record time
with a friend of mine
with it
which would most likely
happen in October
or November
if the bike is back
together by then
I've mentioned
last time we did the podcast
I've I've done the Florida
to California
cost to cost in 46 hours
that was my best time
then my friend Kevin
destroyed this
by doing it
I think in 42 43 hours
I can't remember
that he did
way much faster than I did
this is like Jacksonville
to San Diego
Jacksonville to San Diego
I did mine by
and I slept
on the 46 hours
I slept seven hours
and I had a
whole lot of mechanical issues
with my gear shifter
so I feel very confident that
I can bring below 40
and I know Kevin feels
how does that
like
run me through that
what is it
so you
what time do you leave
like Jacksonville
yeah
so when I did it
I left Jacksonville
at like
five a.m.
kind of thing
maybe even four
like it was early for sure
I was in Texas
I was in Houston
for rush hour
which was not fun
um
and I slept in
Ozona, Texas
basically in the middle
almost a little bit further west
than Austin
maybe two
after between Van Horn
and Austin
I slept there for six
seven hours
and then I finished the rest
basically and I arrived
in San Diego
with the time difference
the three hour time difference
I was in San Diego
by 10 p.m.
I believe the next day
the next day
so 46 hours all in
like I said
if I didn't sleep
and if I didn't have mechanical issues
I think it would have been much faster
but at the time
my goal was to do it below 48
I didn't really have a goal
to go faster than anything
I was just trying to do it below 48
so it was a fun ride
actually
it was just very cold
because it was in January
but he did gear
and it was fine
so Kevin did much better than I did
on the dyna as well
so I did it on mine
and we both did it on 2016
low rider races
and so the goal this year
would be to do it together this time
because we ride together often
I mean as much as we can
it is in North Carolina
and to do it below 40 together
would be the objective
and most likely that will be the first bike
the first ride I will do on the street light
if it's done by then
if it's fixed by then
from there
I would most likely resume
the original plan
which was to bring it
to a lot of cold locations in the US
and shoot all the great content
and all of that
but I think I would do it differently
than what I had originally planned
through the lens of the trip I just
I am currently on
which would be probably less
stakanovist
when it comes to miles
more back roads
less highways
more time
more everything
so I think that would be the plan
just try to ride it as much as I can
it's unfortunate because I'm I
I really want to bring the dyna to 100,000 miles
right now I'm at 85
so I still need to put 15 miles
15,000 on it at some point
and if I switch fully to the street glide
it's going to have to take a back seat
but it is what it is
yeah so
I ride it across the country
ideally I would love to ride it to Canada
if I can
but yeah basically riding it
riding it until it breaks
is probably the plan
yeah
yeah that'd be cool
so what you did
a street glide
you did you did a big motor in there
didn't you
yeah with the 135
which is absolutely not needed
when you live in New York City
actually
but it's it's it's a
I mean obviously it's a great motor
and like it's funny
because I've never felt like
like my dyna
which is a 110
was underpowered
but now like I'm like
oh wow it is
it is a leap
of difference between both
the 135 is much smoother
and reliable
than I thought it would be
I was a little bit
like on the fence personally
about getting the 135 on this
like FxDLs Brooklyn
was really the one driving it
because he had a 131
and so he wanted a 135
I personally wasn't so much into
necessarily doing this
but then I was like okay why not
and I must say
I was very pleasantly surprised by
how the motor handles
again I don't have that much time on the bike
because I only barely did
maybe 2.500 miles on it
so far
but these 2.500 were very smooth
so it's been it's been fun
it's a fun motor
especially in sports mode
like I didn't realize
how much of a difference
the modes do to the way the bike reacts
but just switching it from like
the whatever the highway mode
to the sports mode
like it becomes a very fun bike
to ride
I think I've only ridden
the newer bikes in sport mode
and I think that the own
like my biggest gripe with it all
is like I don't like how loose the throttle feels
like it's it's too
there's no resistance
yeah there's none
yeah for sure
I don't know
like that part I don't like
but that's why I like throttle cables
because you feel it pulling back
and so it's like you're fighting it
yeah yeah yeah
which 100%
comfort over long haul
and you're like just holding that
I get that
but that like when you're like
trying to ride hard
like I feel like I need
some kind of a
I'm tense
yeah you know
like I want to fucking fight something
you know
not like
I hit a bump in my arm
like the weight of my elbow
like gives a gas
yeah I mean
but no I'd
like I said I'm still in that boat too
where I
I know that next year
next spring is probably going to be time
to jump back on a new modern bike
I don't know yet
if it
I'm kind of more leaning towards
like a low rider ST
the newest version
that that's been really appealing to me lately
I've already had one
but I haven't had one with like the new motor
yeah
that which
the high output thing
yeah the how
the high output motor is just so much more appealing to me
because of how much power it makes
and
with the new the
I think it's an oval port head situation
that's like making a lot more power
and I don't just interesting me
I want to be able to have that
130 horsepower range
with just a cam
that way I don't have to worry about
the heat and all the crazy shit
not that I ever had any issues with my 131s
when I had them
I love the motors
but
when you have a big ass motor in your bike
they're still like you're leaving
every time you go on a trip it's like
should be good
that's that's exactly how I felt
and obviously I mean I can't really say much about it
because I only did a few thousand miles
but if I look at FXZ as Brooklyn
he just did 10,000 miles on it
and he had zero issue
yeah that's so that's so fucking cool
that's pretty awesome for you
the um
yeah but you were also talking about maybe an FXR
I mean that is I used the word new frontier a lot
in this past hour we spent together
but that is a true
so yeah the backstory on this is
my friend Wilson
who was the the blue FXR
built by Badfoot in New York
sent me one day a story of
Rob world-class dirtbag on Instagram
who was looking for a photographer
for the east coast FXR jam
yeah and I don't know anything about FXR as much
but I just said hey I'll do it if you want
and so him and I really heated up
and like we became good friends
I've spent time with him afterwards
and so I had like a really really like a true
initiation to the world of FXR
of these all this time I spent with him
within the FXR jam first for three days
where I met the whole community
shot everybody portraits of everyone
da da da
and then even more so when I stood at his place
during Laconia and him and I just rode around
yeah kind of shit
and I must say like
it is a very endearing culture
and so different from the
I mean I maybe not so different
but different from what I know of the
more sacred culture until then
like the amount of dedication
and obsessiveness of these guys
when they build these bikes etc
was super cool especially Rob
who is so knowledgeable
like spending time with him
who was explaining me
how this period correct thing works
versus this and how he's trying
to source all the right parts
of the right time and
I don't know it was just super cool
and he made I met a bunch of
his friends and anyways
he was like at some point he's like
oh maybe you should get an FXR
and we should do the
what they call the triple crown
which is this idea of
you have to build your FXR
or at least you have to have
not build you have to have an FXR
and then you have to ride it
to three different rallies
over the course of the same year
so that would be the east coast
FXR jam in New York state
Sturgis
and then the west coast
FXR jam in Lake Tahoe
and if you do all these three
within a year you become
a triple crown finisher
or yeah and there's only a few people
that do it because obviously
it's it's a rough ride on FXR
my friend Wilson just did it
Rob has done it
and so he was like oh maybe
you should consider it
and I actually am considering it
because I think it's it would be
such a different way to
look at motorcycles and adventure and
oh yeah so I don't know
I mean nope like I said
no financial position to buy
another bike but maybe
maybe I'll sell the sport store
that is not getting a lot of miles
and maybe I'll try to find a cheap FXR
and see what's great what can do
I think what I find really enticing
was it more than the idea of the ride
is the idea that it would force me
to finally become more knowledgeable
on mechanics because obviously
I mean I've had a lot of issues
on my dyna but
I'm not the one that fixes
the dyna most times
I mean I can trouble shoot a few things
and I can get it to the dealership
or the shop that's gonna help me fix it
but I don't necessarily have the knowledge
to you know fix it myself all the time
I think if I was on an FXR
I would just have to learn much more
just because it would probably break
more often and I would have to know
how to bolt stuff different
like I would have to know a lot more
about my own bike in a way
and that's something that has always
been on my on the list of things
I should do but I think I always
kind of put it on the back burner
a little bit by convenience
so by whatever
and so I think that would be a
welcome development to be much more
knowledgeable about
about my own bike basically
like I said I think I know my dyna
fairly well but
I think there's a difference between
knowing and knowing how to fix
having all the tools with you
etc etc so I would welcome that
because I think that would be a good
way to think of travel differently
be more self-reliable of like etc
so we'll see it would be fun
it would be really fun and
it would be different
so for sure
like you were saying like
when you're gonna have your chopper
you're not gonna try it
you're not gonna do 110 on the highway
and that's fine it's not built for that
I think if I have an FXR same
I mean you ride fast on your FXR
maybe I will ride fast I don't know
but I feel like it would be
I'm only riding fast I thought
you wanted to ride fast
I feel like it would be a different
type of
maybe it would be a different type of
riding a different type of trip
and Rob is a really great guy
that I really came
come to appreciate a lot so
I feel like I've met him but I don't know if I've really
I've met a lot of really really great dudes
in the FXR world and it
like the ones that I've just kind of like
become more friends with
have been like Chris Harry
and you know Joe Kidd
and you know the Clems guys
and so like there's a lot of dudes
out there that I think are
straight fucking ambassadors of FXRs
that I would love to get to know more
bring on the podcast and stuff
but I don't like doing phone podcasts
yeah I mean yeah and
I've been wanting to go to the
I think the hardest thing
I think what's hard about the
the Triple Crown
is the spacing of the events
yeah it's not easy for sure
because literally in the course of two months
you almost
depending on where you're at in the country
you almost have to do three
cross-country trips
yeah I agree
it's not it's
it's a time commitment
and depending on your work or anything
it's hard I just hard to take the time
to do it
yeah that's very it's almost like
if you lived by the west coast jam
or the east coast jam like you
you're in the best position
yeah but if you're in the middle
it's tough
yeah so for you to go to new york
is not or to go to the new york
or the east coast jam in new york
is not too bad
to go to the west one
is the biggest undertaking
and then to go to Sturgis and back
is also a big undertaking but
it's two out of three
versus
the closest one to maybe me here
is 1,100 miles
yeah you're really out
you're I mean
and then it's like
1,800 miles to each of the other ones
the only worst place would be florida
but
yes that would be the worst
so there is
there is worse
but yeah no you're right actually
it's I I I agree
it's it's it's not an easy
I mean it's not an easy thing to pull off
I think that's probably why also there's
so few people that
and that's what makes it cool
like I'm not
I'm not saying that
like I think it should be easier
I think doing
we've talked about this a lot
that
having
doing hard things is very important
and I feel like we should all be trying to find
ways to
accomplish harder things
you know whether that is personal goals
of like trying to
learn something or develop more
or
how to bike that's not easy
you know like
it's so rewarding
you know what I mean
hard things is
and it's kind of like the underlying thing that
I think it is Brooklyn and I have
talked a lot about as well
and like that
we're trying to bring to life
we've cursed this brand that we've created
which is all about like
doing the hard shit
and going through the hard things
instead of trying to find a detour
to make things easy
I agree
and that's also the appeal maybe of
you know
FXRs and things like that
I always felt like that
like what the writing I do was pretty hard in a ways
because I get rained on all the time
and I'll do all these kind of cost to cost stuff
but
it definitely is like
it is but I think
what you're about to do on a chopper
is probably all of the version of it
like I think it's good to
to see different sides of
what more adventures on motorcycle can look like
and I think that
that would be a good evolution
well you
I think maybe the chopper you can't
if you have a modern bike
the suffering isn't long
yeah
you know what I mean
like you can just turn the throttle back
and put more miles down the day but
I don't look at any of his suffering
I just look at it as a challenge like
you know
I want to experience
things on every
you know on a motorcycle
that is appealing to me
at the time
you know
and right now it's a chopper
to to see what the road feels like to
you know
you're going to see hard feelings
oh yeah
honestly I'm not
the riding part is not what bothers me
it's the fact that like
this is only going to have a kick start
there's no starter
so
you know
I'm hoping that
I can learn enough
and dial this thing in enough
so that
it starts
yeah
every time
the bar is very low
the
yeah
get the motorcycle to start
yeah
I think that makes sense
for sure
and and you know
like that's kind of where the challenge is
because it's a very unfamiliar place to me
and to learn how to
operate or
push myself through that
that part of it is
is the hard part
you know
like
the riding part is the easy part
no matter what it feels like
yeah
that's easy
that's familiar
I've done that a million times
yeah yeah yeah
yeah it's probably going to be
there'll probably be other ways
that are more uncomfortable
but the same thing like
if you ride that bike
that I have downstairs
I just finished
and then you ride my FXR chopper
I think you might find that
my chopper is more comfortable
really
yeah
it's
I mean we're kind of
the similar height
it's just
everything's in the right spot
yeah
and when you sit on it
you feel good
you know
and it just
it just works
like I literally
I could ride my FXR chopper
anywhere
really
well you did
actually
there are times
like it
like pushing it to a thousand miles
in a day is
pretty tough
like I think the most I've ever done
on that bike is 800 miles
in a day
I mean on that bike
it's already
yeah
a lot
on a bagger
it
baggers are more comfortable
then we were
I think that
maybe this FXR down here
is technically more comfortable
but
I feel more comfortable
on my FXR chopper
like the riding position
the seat
all that stuff
you know
but I'm also probably just used to it
yeah
it's making me get used to like
sucky bikes
traveling on so
when I do ride the chopper
hopefully Lord willing
that I'll be able to
I'll already be used to it
I'll be acclimated to the
the pain
if you will
well you'll do back roads and stuff
I mean it's a different kind of trip
I guess
you'll have to do it
and
you know the scariest thing
about doing a jockey shift
and no front brake is
is going to San Francisco
oh yeah
with the heels and everything
dude
that's what I
I don't know why I want to do that
I mean seriously
you're looking for trouble
yeah
because you're going to do no front
oh yeah
that's insane
good luck
it'll be fun
there'll be some good content
no matter what
you know
I'll be sitting sideways
and in streets
yeah yeah
while I'm waiting for the light to turn
and then I'll turn back up
but
I mean like that's the point
it's like
that
it's just
it's cool to do
and
doing hard shit
the same way it
feels cool to do a thousand miles
or to do
cross country and
under x amount of hours
like those are
those are just challenging things
that I think that we
all are different points
where we find
what challenges us
and what's calling us to
you know
conquer
and
for me it's a bike
and
maybe for you
it's that
that time frame
you know
yeah
finishing that
that challenge
we'll see
yeah
it's very
what would be really challenging
would be to do
the cross country
on the FXR under
in under
46 hours
that would be a real
challenge
but
I won't do that
but yeah
we'll see
we'll see how it goes
but
I mean
talking back to
your point about
the podcast
like
I hope
that you meet with Rob
he's coming to born 3
born 3
and he's building
he's being a really cool
he's doing the FXR tour yeah
the problem is he needs to come here
I'm sure you
yeah it's like
like I don't do podcasts
at events
I mean we did it
last year at Sturgis
but it was like before
the rally
it's just hard
like
there's nowhere at
Born Free Texas
to sit down and do a podcast
yeah
you know
and I'm running a booth
he's going to probably run a
booth as well for
you know
the booth that he gets for Born
Free
and so
it's just not the place to do it
yeah
you know
but
you know
like I
I try to be
the thing is
I just don't know enough people
going east
to couch surf
like I do when I go west
because otherwise I'd go to New York
all the time
yeah
we'll have very tiny
apartments also
but yeah
that's the thing is like
it's not even that it's not
it's not that you wouldn't
love to let me stay there
it's like
there's no room
you're welcome to stay on the
couch
if you want
but like
and I know like
actually you know
like I'm sure we could find
something
like between like
the group we have of
our friends
like that wouldn't be an issue
I'm sure
but yeah it's
yeah it's different
very small footprints over there
but usually
it's the last
in generalary blog party
yeah I'm
I'm going to try to fly out there
they fly out there
yeah
it'll be a good time
like I'm excited
like it's
it's such a cool event
like
last year was like
insane
like it was just
so rowdy
and everything
it seemed
I mean
last year
was coming off of the year
that they did the burnout
on top of the
uh container
yeah the container
that was also pretty
I didn't know if you could top that
yeah no last year they had
east coasting
they had like
burlesque dancers
doing like
a burlesque show
while the east coasting guys
were doing rolling burnouts
next to them
and wheelies and everything
that's crazy
it was like
it was very very cool
like it's insane to think
that something like this
can still happen in New York City
like it is such a controlled
environment
like I get kicked out everywhere
when I try to take pictures
unless it's a Sunday morning
at 6 a.m.
and the fact that they're able
to pull that off still
in the neighborhood
that has been gentrifying
that quickly
and that level of
readiness
even though it's a little bit
more guarded
than it used to be
I think there's a little bit
more security
and everything
it's just
a really good time
and he almost feels
anachronic in a way
versus the way the city is
and what they're able to bring
it just feels like
I never
I didn't live in New York in the 90s
but like
it just feels like
you bring a little bit back
of that sense of greediness
and danger
which I think is super cool
and that's why
it's such an enduring event
and I say it's gonna be the last
it's just a rumor
who knows
maybe it will be
maybe it won't be
but it's definitely like
something to attend
if anyone can
it's a great event
yeah I've only been once
and that was in 2020
and it was a
I mean I don't know if
it can be topped
because of being in the city during
during covid
but before
vaccine passports
yeah
you know what I mean
that was the year
where they had like
the whole
you remember like
what they wrote on this
on the sidewalk
like the massive thing
that they wrote
that you could read
from the drone upstairs
yeah that was insane
it was wild
but you know
you know like I said
we were talking
you know me and the wife
were thinking about flying out there
and
having a day or two
to have to us
just to explore new york city
but also do that
and
it's all
will it's all
based on the fact
that how far I am
along
that's why it's kind of
scary to buy plane tickets
now
yeah
when I don't know
what kind of time
I'm gonna have
at the end
you know this is like
middle to end of
September
which is gonna be
like literally
when
any other block party
goes on
it will only be
a month left until
born free
and if it was just like
building the bike
the chopper
and that's all I had to do
till now
oh yeah fine
but
you know
I gotta paint bikes
helmets
I gotta
get all of our stuff ready
for our vendor space
new t-shirt design
things like that
they're
it's just difficult
and I try not to get
on these podcasts
or in social media
and just talk about like
oh it's just me
but you know it is
and it's like
it does get difficult
sometimes to do it all
and
once again
we've had this conversation
when you came out here
it's like
too much of my stuff
is things that I personally
have to do
or that I feel like
I need to have to do
because I haven't
got someone to do it
to the level that I
need it done
or that I know
that I can do it
you know
and so I end up
just doing it
yeah
and uh
it's a lot to manage
yeah it's like
you know we leave here
we're gonna go
spend the rest of the night
shooting photos and
you know whatever
and then tomorrow
I come back in here
I start working
and then tomorrow night
I get off
and I go back home
and I start editing
photos and podcasts
and start working on
the next YouTube video
and next day you know
it's three in the morning
and then you wake up at
eight
back at work at nine
what's the hardest thing
for you to do
like the editing
the podcasting
the YouTube
the podcasting is the easiest
the YouTube is
maybe the most
engaging right now
because it's the newest
the paint
is the thing that needs
the most attention
because it's the thing
that really does
it's my livelihood
yeah right
and
it's also the thing
that's more like a job
so I have to
really find ways
to be motivated in it
you know
like uh
like ever like
I mean I guess
if you work somewhere
it probably makes sense
but like
I've worked for myself
my entire adulthood
right so
I don't know what it's like
to be at a job
and only want to
go work
on something else
but you can't
until you get done with this
yeah yeah yeah
other
I mean I do have that same
feeling here sometimes
but I
genuinely try not to
think like that
or have that
feeling because
I need my
I need that positive energy
in me to be on
whatever project
I'm working on
so
it does get difficult
sometimes when you
really want to go work
on a YouTube video
but you also
got to do a helmet
yeah
and the helmets
not really calling you
the same way the YouTube video
or the podcast
or a photo shoot
or
you know
or some
something else is calling you
so
I try to
I try to just
maybe
if it's
that overpowering
I might just go do the other thing
because I
do want to put
like real
passion into everything I do here
and uh
yeah sometimes it happens
like that
that's why I can only paint
like
20 helmets a year
you know
instead of like
like Poland
who is one of my favorite painters
paints like 80 something helmets a year
plus a couple motorcycles
like I paint maybe
seven maybe 10 bikes a year
maybe
and then I'm
probably do 20 helmets
that's that's it
you know
and so
I don't know
like less is more for me
and I'd rather do less
but have
more work that I'm proud of
than produce more
not saying that
Poland's not
putting out bad ass paint
jobs every time he does it
I'm just
I couldn't
produce that
that
amount
yeah
you know
and travel
and paint
and do this
and
try to put an art show together
and
keep a bike night going
and
fucking
you know
be a husband
and
you know a dad
how's the back night going
you think
like it's been for years right
because I remember
it's been years
yeah
it's a
it's operating
and it's good
and we got people there
but it's kind of
it's still right now in my opinion
like for me
I'm kind of bored
you know
and I don't know what it is
that needs
I don't know what it needs
but
we have a great location
and we have great people there
but I just
I don't know
like I don't
something's missing on my
like
maybe something I need
that I don't know what that is
so when I'm saying that
I don't want people to take that
is
it's something
it's someone else's problem
it could be my own
my own thing
like my own
shit
you know
so I got to figure out what it is
that
that
I need out of it
or
perspective
you started it in what 2019
2019
the beginning of 2018
oh yeah
yeah yes
it's been a long time
and it's every week
yep
that's impressive
people show up every week
every week for seven
seven years
that's rad
I can't think of something
I mean actually
there's a
something similar in New York
it's called
two-wheel Tuesday
but it's not really
it's not very
Harley centric
I mean there are some
Harley's
but it's more like
a lot of
other bikes too
like a lot of
I mean a lot of everything
yeah
but in general
I rehosted one recently
so I went
and that was kind of cool
actually
but yeah
that's an impressive longevity
at the very least
well the
goal was always to
create something
that was
that just happened
and like
it could happen
whether I exist here or not
you know
like it'd be so sick if like
I moved away
I moved to New York
for 10 years
and then came back to Dallas
and the bike night
was still going on
you know that
to me that would be like
that'd be sick
yeah
you know
like and
not so I can come
and go I started this
yeah
just to
just to see that an idea
and a premise
could
could outlive
like
you know
the creators
of it or whatever
you know
and right now
I feel like it could
I mean I think that
the people that come along
that you know
we've had
iterations of people
that come to bike night
some kind of like
the high school thing
I was talking about
like
freshmen
you know
sophomore senior
and then
they're gone
and some
some stick around forever
some don't
you know
like I'm the only really
the only original dude
that started bike night
that still goes to bike night
yeah
it's like the black metal bands
like there's only one guy
from the original band
and then everything
but that's normal
I guess in any case
like
would you say
most people stay for
what's the average length
of a stay of like
it's like a few years
or like is there like
is there an average
if anything
yeah I think
I think that for most people
in motorcycling in general
it's
like five years is that
is that threshold
if you can do
motorcycling
for more than five years
I think you
it tends to be more
like embedded into your
your life
not to say that
you can't fall out of love
with it after five years
but I think
it you tend to be more
a for life guy
if you can manage it
for five years
stay interested for five years
but also
I think a lot of that
has to do with
like
the intentions of
why you're into motorcycles
and
you know
and and the right
combination of
of like
finding people
to enjoy it with
yeah
not saying that
there aren't people out there
that have no friends
that ride
and no other connection
to humans
but also
absolutely love motorcycles
and travel
and do all kinds of
shit
I think that when you
find a good
good group of people
when you start pushing
yourselves
and you know
having goals
within yourselves
to do bigger things
like the cross-country trips
or the
you know
36 hours
coast to coast
or some shit like that
you know
like those things
build bonds
yeah
and it helps people
stay more connected to it
like
me and my boys
up there on the
on the wall
like
we traveled a lot of this
country together
you know
like
some of the dude
all the dudes
are still into motorcycles
but they're all
like
most of them
are in different spaces
you know
so we don't have
the connection
that we had once
but
I cherish those moments
that we did that
together you know
and the group of the
back night people
like you guys
like you meet every week
but do you ride together
or it's just
we meet for drinks
and everybody goes
I don't
we just kind of
meet at bike night
bike night is not
bike night is just
a place to congregate
and I think it's
a place to go
and make plans
right
yeah
you know
there are people
that have
like oh
why don't we
meet a bike
and go ride it
where it's like dude
it's
it's 7 p.m
we live in a
major city
like
we're not
this isn't the back roads
where we can go
have a nice cruise
every once in a while
we might cruise across
some of the bridges
at the end of bike night
and then I'll go
our separate ways
on home
but man
like I don't
that that's
that's
or that takes
organizing orchestration
yeah
you know
like
this is where we're gonna be
at this time
come go
as you please
it's happening every week
easy peasy
that's cool
we're not doing giveaways
there's no band
there's no fucking
there's no vendors
it's just a
it's just a place
that people
you can know that on Tuesday
there's gonna be
other bikers there
yeah
you know
and
it's simple
you know
now
we don't have
like some massive numbers
it's not like
bike night consists
of like
a hundred people every time
sometimes it's
there's times
when it's four of us
and those are the best
fucking times
yeah
yeah
this is the best
and there's times
where there's 80 people
there are
30 or 20
it's like
I always tell people
that
that
that would hit us up
about wanting to do
a bike night
it's like
don't
don't
make bike night
in your head
a success
or a failure
based on how many people show up
make it a success on how
you feel being there
and how the people
that did show up
feel being there
and if people love it
and they keep coming back
and it's a part of them
then that's like
that's success
but if you're trying
to build a party
you're trying to build a vent
then
say that
this is an event
this isn't a bike night
yeah
I see what you mean
you know
like if you need
200 people
to show up to this event
so that it could be successful
that's an event
you know
a bike night
is just a hang
it's just a connection
it's a
I've seen bike nights
take place in gas station
parking lots
it's all
it doesn't
you don't need anything
you just need the ability
to connect to other riders
and then
from there
you guys can
conversate
maybe have a drink
maybe have
a sandwich
or a taco
or whatever
and
plan bigger things
you know
whatever
hey
this weekend
what are you doing
I'm free
man
I've been wanting to check out this
this
this bar
this restaurant
or this
this place
I saw on
on
you know
some riding app
or something like that
bam
bike night
was now successful
yeah
it created something
it brought two people together
to do a bigger thing
on a motorcycle
you know
it's a good way to put it
I mean
you know
riding on the bridge
of the data skyline
was one of my first
like
spiritual experience
on motorcycles
like because when I lived here
I started riding there
I remember the first time
I ended up on that
on the bridge
that goes towards
the design district
I think
yeah
and
looking at the skyline
I was like
oh wow
this is
this is why
I got into riding motorcycles
just to be there
at night
the wind in my hair
I mean
not hair
like the wind
and then
just looking at the skyline
and it was super cool
I remember that moment
quite vividly
like it's
it's such a beautiful city
and this
it's been great to be back here for
so I used to live here 10 years ago
for two years and a half
and I really really loved
Dallas as a city
I really love Texas as a state
specifically Dallas as a city
because I felt there was
such a momentum
of people working together
to bring Dallas
on the map
of culture
of culinary
for restaurants
of arts
I think Dallas Art Fair
does a lot of great things
I think
even from
I don't know
it just felt like
everybody was proud of being here
and wanted people
to see Dallas
as a city that is the equal of
an LA or Miami etc
from all these perspectives
and I
because of my work
ended up being part of this
movement
for a few years
and then I moved to New York
and I
obviously did not see the same thing
there because
it's much closer to
big cosmopolitan city
like Paris
and everything
with a lot of infighting
and a lot more differences
and it's already on the map
so
there's no common drive
to put it on the map
it's already there
and I always miss that dynamism
that I found for a couple years
in Dallas
that I found so refreshing
and being back here
for the past couple days
I have been back for work
a couple of times
but like this is the first time
I actually
spend time hanging out
instead of working
and I got to
be back in Fort Worth
with you
we rode through Dallas
and just seeing how the city
seems
the both cities
seemed to have blossomed
as much as road work
seems to be blossoming
oh yeah
yeah
it's kind of cool
to see like that
you know
everything is growing
and
it seems to be successful
and everything
these are
such a great place to be
yeah I think
there was a recent post
like on
on instagram
thing about like
someone like
seemed like a bullshit post
but it was like
like
Dallas is a new great
destination for vacationing
we're all like
what?
I don't know about a vacation spot
I wouldn't come to me
as first but
yeah but if like you
it's a great travel spot
yeah
like if you want to go travel
somewhere
and this is a place
it's a great place to stop
through
on your journey somewhere
but I wouldn't fly here
you know what I mean
there's a lot of great things
to see though
I mean I just from a cultural
perspective
as far as
my info are probably a little
bit dated now
but I just remember like
the museums are great
the restaurants
were definitely getting much
better
like
I think if you look at what people
are expecting now
from vacations
I think there's a lot of box
you check with Dallas
like
we just don't have any nature
you don't have nature
you don't have the scenery
yeah
but you do have
I think first
I think Texas
Western culture
you could all do
Dallas is not really Western
in the sense that
for worth it
for worth it
yeah yeah
but I think that
culture
is having a moment nationwide
if not worldwide
because of the shows
and Yellowstone
I think people
want to come to Texas
to to see this
and everything
so I think
yes there's no
no nature
even Austin has much more
to offer
yeah
Dallas when it comes to this
but I think
it's an easy city to travel to
it's easy to get from
and to anyways
and and there's a lot of
great things to do here
so
I don't know
I could I guess actually
I could see why people would say
Dallas is a place to vacation
even though I agree
instinctively
I wouldn't think of it this way
yeah
but maybe actually
if you like to get drunk
and eat
and shop
we have all that
I remember back
when I moved to Dallas
so that was 2014
I remember seeing the statistics
I don't know if that was true
that Dallas was the city
that had the most restaurant per
capita
in the United States
if not the world
I don't know if that was true
but I remember it like what
that was really surprising
I always remember like
like
we always had this great patio
culture
in restaurants
and like bars
and like it was just something
that like
I was like man
this is awesome
and then when I would go to New York
or
not New York
but like LA
and San Francisco
I was like
where are the patios at
and like
they don't have that out here
and it's
so I mean they do
but not like
what I feel like we had
I think it's
I think it's definitely come a long
way and I see it
like Phoenix always had good patio
culture
like restaurants and bars and stuff
I don't know
it's just
but also
I have a limited perspective
because it's not like I'm
everywhere in LA to be
be able to say
we have it all
here in LA doesn't
you know
but
we have
we have just easier
it's easier to navigate
this city
because it's not as big as
the Chicago
or New York
or in LA
or San Francisco
or even a Houston
but
it's easier to navigate
and go from
you know
one place to another
and find good food
you know
there's
there's just more
access to that
when in New York
I'm sure that if you live there
it's
it's probably easier
because you know the spots
but
if you're on the outside
looking in
you're in New York
like let's find a good
restaurant
like let me look something
up on Yelp real quick
and on the block
you're at
there's 400
fucking restaurants
yeah
you know
it's overwhelming a bit
it's overwhelming
it's hard to kind of
pick
it's just so much
it's like
I don't know
it's like
I mean
then again
I also had some of the
best Italian food I've ever had
at a fucking
bar
in like
Long Island City
or something like that
oh really
it's just random
I think it was
Long Island City or something
like
what
it's Williamsburg
and then there's like a
yeah yeah
that's Long Island City
yeah
I'm not even gonna ask
what you were doing there
but
like
what were you doing
no it's called
no offense
I mean actually
Long Island Cities
is definitely booming
has crazy cool views
of the skyline
you've done a lot of shots
there
they're supposed to be great
and the fact that
there is a Michelin star restaurant
in Long Island City
says a lot about
how far Long Island City
has come as a city
so that's good for them
I think
the same way that
the fact that
you know there's
now luxury resorts in Dallas
like Aubergh and everything
like we were talking
about a couple days ago
really our proofs
that the city is doing well as for
if it's on the map
of these types of groups
there are no invested
serious amounts of cash
to build these properties
well we have a
universal studios coming here
oh you mentioned
and like in Frisco
so Frisco like I was saying
is like just such a booming place
and there's still
even though it's
definitely overcrowded
up there now
compared to what we're used to
there's still a lot of vacant land
that can be developed
into these
like major attractions
so
you know
we've always been a sports town
with the Cowboys
and baseball
and basketball
and hockey
if you're into those kind of things
and you know
like with all the studio stuff
they're doing now with
the Tyler Sheridan dudes
like opening a big film studio
in Fort Worth
and you know
the universal thing coming
I think it's just going to attract
more of those type of things
where
if you really think about Orlando
it has nothing to offer
but then you flop
Disneyland there
and then you throw
universal studios there
and all of a sudden
it's one of the
vacation spots
the most vacation spot in America
for you know
families and stuff
you know
so
once we have enough attractions
it becomes that but
you know
I don't know
I don't know
I hope the city doesn't go that
that way
I don't want to be a vacation spot
I want to be a
I want to be a
a vibe
it's a vibe
yeah
I don't know
I mean the Texas
Texas vibe is definitely popular
these days
and yeah
I don't know
I mean
I'm very happy to be back
and I'm very happy to see the city
doing so well
I just find it
very
endearing
I don't know if that's the right word
but like
it's cool to see that
basically the
the plans that I was hearing
about 10 years ago
came to fruition
and were
delivered so successfully
that's cool
I'm
stoked for it
like
for sure
all right
we need to
we need to go ride some bikes
and take pictures
before it gets dark again
on us
about right
yeah
well
I've enjoyed you coming out
here in stand
and you know
you're more than welcome
to stay as long as you need
yeah dude
it's been awesome
like
I do feel like
we should have just started
recording our
our conversations
as soon as you got here
though
I would have been a 15 hour
podcast
yeah
yeah thanks for having me
it's always an honor
like
I mean
truly
and
yeah
I mean
yeah
it's another
thank you
well thank you
bud
let's go
let's go play motorcycles
all right
well I hope you
enjoyed that guys
I had a great time
spending the weekend
with
von Gasfalt
and
very excited about
all the things
that he has going on
and
the way he's pushing
the boundaries and
photography
in a great way
yeah
I'm a
I'm a big fan
glad to
call him a friend
and I hope you guys
enjoyed it
if you guys
want to support this
podcast
you know
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also please
take a moment
to check out our sponsors
they help keep this show
alive and going
and I really appreciate them
and you
for listening to these podcasts
so
got another great one
coming for you guys
next week
with my buddy
Cody Childress
talking about
his born free
Texas build
and speaking of
born free Texas
you know that
shit's coming up
and I hope you're
trying to make it
down there
because it's literally
one of
my
absolute favorite
events of the year
and it's one of the
best ways to
end the year
if that's
gonna be your last
trip
you know
so
born free Texas
October 16th
through the 19th
I believe is the dates
we are also hosting
the pre-party
for born free Texas
here in Dallas
Fort Worth
at the legendary
Strokers Dallas
that will be on
Wednesday
kicking off around
four or five p.m.
we'll
we'll put more
detailed dates
out soon
anyway
hope to see you in there
and uh
yeah
I got a chopper to build
amongst a lot of other
shit
so
we'll see you guys
on the next one
you have a good one
peace
you
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