Great old school Paris-Dakar video

From the time when it was a real adventure, and when Dainese dominated theAfrican desert.

of we go again

Packed all my necessary magazines, loaded the iphone with PulpMX and Racer X podcasts, got all my AGV and Dainese necessary info and off we go, I'm on for another transatlantic return trip. Going via France to Italy for the yearly sales meetings and presentation of the new 2010-2011 Dainese collection. Exciting. Are we going to "AIR" it out? ;-)
Crossing finger that the special one will be part of it this year.

So, for those who never check the internet and don't read magazines :-) the AGV Dainese guys have been doing well lately, even though, because I had to prepare this trip and take care of my clients before I left, I didn't attend 3 important race events on the US soil: the opening round of the AMA Motocross National series at Hangtown/Sacramento where AGV's Davi Millsaps score a 3rd overall with 3-2 moto finishes and a 2nd overall for Ashley Fiolek in the AMA Women MX race; the FIM Motocross US Grand Prix at Glen Helen/San Bernardino this past weekend, where both AGV/Yamaha Rinaldi riders had a challenging time with   David Philippaerts finishing 15th overall in MX1 and Gautier Paulin going 10th overall in MX2; and finally the World Superbike Championship U.S. round at Miller Motorpoark where Dainese's Max Biaggi scored two perfect race wins and took over the points lead in the 2010 WSBK series.

Instead, I enjoyed great time with the family and friends, riding my Triumph Tiger 1050 to work, spending time on the Fox River playing with wave-runners and riding our MTB's in the forests of Wisconsin. It has to be fun at times and not always "work, work, work."

Sitting in the Air France lounge at ORD right now, waiting for my flight to Nice, France, then it'll be a short one to the beautiful city of Venice and 3 days of hard, but fun, work at Dainese in Vicenza.

OK, I'll try to remain the moto-tourist that I am and will try to update as much as I can.

Cool pic of Gautier at Glen Helen, by Michael Rigdon.

Back from California

45 minutes in my American Airlines flight back to Chicago from Santa Ana. Pretty empty flight, I have my row with enough space to unload my laptop, iPhone and magzines. The flight attendant just served my orange juice and I switched on Steve Matthes' podcast with his fellow Canadian and all time good guy in MX, Allan Brown. I always really enjoy bench-racing with Allan at the races and outside.

Time to kick back for me and think about the last 3 days in the Orange County.
I had a few targets this week, one was a very important sales meeting with Denver's Fay Meyer Motorsports who are an important client for Dainese, the other was to finalize the AGV deal with one of our motocross rider for 2010.
The sales meeting went well and we scheduled more meetings in Denver later this month and in February in order to train the shop sales team. I "inherited" Colorado and New Mexico as additions to my territory and I will be spending more time there this upcoming year, especially with the AMA Outdoor National, the Motocross Des Nations and some of the Mountain-bikes events I will attend, like Crankworks.

On the AGV motocross sponsoring side, we are making good progress.
Rider X had already tried our MT-X helmet (the new AGV entry level) and we had mostly agreed on conditions but still needed to meet to finalize his helmet fitting. It is very important for us that the riders have the right fitting and feel comfortable when riding with our helmets, be it blazing through whoops on an SX track, or clocking 199 mph at the Indianapolis Motorsports Speedway.

Early on Tuesday morning, I got in my rental car and drove South from Irvine, towards Corona. They had given me the right direction but I did still get lost a little bit, after a quick coffee and snack stop at the AM/PM. I drove through a few dry and dusty SoCal hills before I found a small supercross track, with whoops very close to metal fence which appeared to be the KTM track, then another beautiful one, on top of a hill, with small palms, which was the Yamaha track. Of course I finally found where I was supposed to be and spend time with Rider X, working on things, discussing stuff and making sure he feels comfortable and happy with not only our products but working with us.

The MT-X is not the helmet we want him to mainly race with, although it will be an alternative in some cases, because we mostly want to promote our new carbon/Kevlar/fiber helmet, the AX-8.
This is a very cool new lid, pretty light, strong venting features and I would say, without being biased, although I do work for the brand :-), very comfortable (photo below)

Now, we don't really know which of the 2 helmets this Rider X will want to wear in the end, as we've noticed with James Stewart who prefers to wear the lower end Bell helmet instead of their high-end Moto 8.I believe that in the end it's a matter of what the rider feels comfortable racing and blazing through the whoops with. We are just here to make it as perfect as possible for them.

After a few bench-racing chats and checking him ride, I left Rider X and his wrench to drive (fly) back to Costa Mesa for some important office work and follow up.

Things got better for our return to MX on Wednesday morning when another rider, let's say Rider XX, agreed to work with us in the next seasons. This one is particularly rewarding for me, because I really like working with Rider XX and believe that Rider XX is very good not only on the track but especially outside, in the "real" world, where that rider has a strong following and gets a lot of (deserved) respect. I'll be sending helmets for testing to Rider XX tomorrow.

Yesterday, I worked in the office, following up on some of my accounts and clients, Getting things set for 2010, following up on orders and deliveries. Steve Rapp, one of our road racing rider and a good buddy of mine, and his girlfriend Circee, flew in Santa Ana, in his Cirrus single-engine airplane for lunch. They took me to a pretty good Mexican restaurant in Irvine, right by the airport. Good bench-racing lunch, talking 2010 and what options are there for Rapper. After lunch I took them back to the airport and walked with them to the plane, sat in the Cirrus, checked the equipment, held the stick, missed flying again. Well, later, again, for sure.

A very positive trip to Southern California indeed, and it got much better when I received an email this morning as I was going through security at SNA. It was an offer for another rider (let's call him Rider XXX because he is a real big part of the sport). I am not sure that we can do it and work with him in 2010 (and beyond) but there is no doubt that in the next 3 days I'll be scrambling, lobbying and doing anything possible to find the right budget to sign Rider XXX.
This is the kind of offer that any sales & marketing person and action sports company owner cannot pass on. So you can bet that I won't be sleeping for 3 days but scratching my head and pulling the last bit of hair I have left, to make it work.

Hopefully one day I will be able to tell you who are Rider X, Rider XX and Rider XXX but I can tell you that it's not Josh Hill, with whom we came very close to a deal that unfortunately didn't materialize because he was signed head-to-toe by a fox head... :-)

Off to Dallas during SX silly-season

I'm in a plane to Dallas, blogging at 35,000 feet on Mi iPhone. Actually not that easy to write so much with a finger, yes, I admit that the double-thumb typing is not a skill I have mastered.

So off to Dallas, for less than 24 hours, to represent AGV helmets and Dainese apparel at Moto Liberty's annual Midnight Madness sales bash. One of my best clients and voted Best Texas Motorcycle Accessories & Apparel Shop 8 years in a row, this is one of their events one can't miss. Caught my flight out of O'Hare at 11am, landing around 1:30pm, rental car then off to the store. Work all afternoon and night, the event usually ends around 2am, then off for a quick sleep before carving my 10am flying bus back to Chicago where I hope the Bears will take one over the Eagles.
The weather was great - yes chilly too - when I left and I hope that we'll have the sme tomorrow because I really want to take Taao and Tanner for some shredding at the Elgin BMX track.

The 2010 SX season is closing in pretty fast, and even if some riders are still racing at the four corners of the world, from The Madrid SX to the Australian SX series via the Lyon SX, Genoa and Geneva. Teams and riders are getting ready, programs are bring finalized although things are really late this year, especially in the gear segment. I am still in talks with 3 riders in the US and know that 3 or 4 more interesting guys are available for helmet deals.
In Europe, It looks like we will concentrate in the MX2 Motocross World Championship with 2 riders, including one that I really would want to make sure we sign because I believe that he has a great future and has a very cool personality. He would spank me on the bmx track too by the way. So crossing fingers, and lobbying strongly, so that we sign him.

Of course I'm not allowed to give banes right now but after a few good weeks of talks and lobbying, we finally gave our word to a rider that I believe in. Someone that could have a break away year and bring us a good amount of exposure. I believe ge has the ability and the speed to be a regular top 7 in SX in 2010, even if the competition will be pretty strong.

Of course we are not going to see an AGV helmet on Bubba (still under contract with Bell and for sure way too expensive for us, we already have Valentino and Marco at that level), not on the Factory Kawi Monster Energy Thor Parts Unlimited boy, Reedy and RV2 (those lads belong to Thor forever I would think), not on Mike Alessi neither and although there was a very short discussion/interest on our part, the #800 was to expensive for our budget and for the exposure we thought we would get from him; over $60,000 for a helmet deal for a racer doing the AMA Nationals only and no SX or no X Games isn't really someone we would want right away. Not until we build on our sales and have a stronger sponsoring budget, in order to afford to grow the team. I do think that Mike has a good amount of exposure, can win races in 2010, but I'm not sure we are rich enough to afford the controversies that usually follow him and we know that riders' endorsements are not a strong impact on products sales, the Alessi Broz and DV didn't really boost the Shark MX helmets sales in the US. Riders are a very strong part of marketing and exposure for sure, but as part of a whole strategy, not as purchase influencers.

That's why I believe that our choice of riders for 2010, will help us re-enter the already saturated off-road market. They will bring us enough exposure to back-up the rest of the marketing effort.

Of course there is one more rider I'm trying to sign but I'm not sure we have the budget. I have to say that I really would love to find the budget because that is one of my favorite rider; great exposure, great personality, no controversy, great family and easy to work with. Not an AMA SX winner but a definite MX race winner. I'm crossing fingers on that one and lobbying my mangenent ro find the extra ressources, because that would be a good match.

1 hour left on our flight. I'm going to go back to reading the latest Racer X issue. I really love the new look they gave to the magazine. Great editorial by DC and especially by David Bailey this month. Also liked Cox and Ping's columns, and Steve is right, it is time we get involved in concussion management and prevention.

I'm going back to finish the 'zine, but I think that 2010 is going to be a great racing year in AMA SX/MX as well as World MXGPs.
From Anaheim 1 to Sam Boyd Stadium, we should have a very good battle and although I believe that the 3 podium spots will be squatted by James Stewart, Chad Reed and Ryan Villopoto, we should have all out dash for cash races with Josh Hill, Josh Grant, Andrew Short, Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco (on which bike or team?), JB114, Ryan Dungey, Dan Reardon and Kevin Windham.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Valentino Rossi Airing it!

It's always been known that Vale is a fan of motocross and practices very often. He says it's for fun and also for training, for slides, better bike control and endurance. It was during one of those sessions riding together that Marco Simoncelli broke his wrist right before the season opener, a small mistake that costed Supersic the 2010 250cc title.

Notice on the above photo the AGV motocross helmet painted to the 5 Continents colors. No MX boots for Dainese so it's Sidi for him and the pants are One Industries brought to him by the Monster Energy guys.

Here's Motocross Action's article on Vale's Motocross dei Campioni race last weekend:

IS VALENTINO ROSSI SWITCHING TO MOTOCROSS?

Motocross dei Campioni

If there's definitely an MX safari I missed this Fall, it's the Motocross dei Campioni (Motocross of Champions) organized by Valention Rossi as a fundraier for kids leukemia, 30 years after his dad Graziano and friends organized theirs.
All of Vale's friends and more came, along which Marco Melandri, Marco Simoncelli, Kevin Schwantz, Andrea Dovizioso.

Very cool little video by Gianluca Alessandrini:

Times 9 for Vale!

Anti Days of Thunder teaser...

Pure fun, joy and exctasy!!!

Intermission

Well, another very slow time on this blog. I have been very good at not writing recently, despite traveling a lot. From Parts Unlimited's NVP (the dealer showcase where they introduce most 2010 products) where I had the chance to meet Jeremy McGrath, to the Indy MotoGP to traveling around the Midwest and California, for sales, I have been on the road a lot.

This makes time spent with family and friends very valuable and enjoyable. At least I have been riding my Triumph Tiger as much as possible for my dealers visits recently, and been trying to get on the mountain-bike as often as I can. I introduced Tanner to BMX tracks and we've been having a blast together, learning things on the dirt. I am riding with my 26" MTB which is very cool.

Next week I am off ot Vegas for Interbike 2009. The big celebration of all things cycling. It's the 4th time I am going there and it's one of the best trip of the year. We are introducing the new Dainese mountain-bike and road cycling lines, which is going to be kick-ass.

Laguna Seca MotoGP weekend

Landed in San Francisco last night for the Laguna Seca MotoGP weekend. Will try to keep updates up.

Supercross Anaheim 2, thoughts

My trip to A2 definitely didn’t go the way I had planned it. Trusting American efficiency once more, I had booked a morning flight into SNA arriving at noon, right on time to jump into my Avis car and drive to Angel Stadium. Unfortunately a very efficient coalition of very bad Midwestern weather, United Airlines maintenance schedule and a mechanical failure on the Airbus A319 that was commuting me to SoCal made it all possible to change my day’s agenda. I ended up taking of 3 hours later than planned from O’Hare and landed at LAX instead of Orange County’s john Wayne Airport.

I arrived at Angel Stadium at 6:45 p.m. :-(

I tried to do a quick round of the pits before the intro ceremonies, trying to see if I could catch anything interesting before the night show. I very quickly realized that I wasn’t really in the mood for shooting, not doing the right thing, getting the wrong settings on my camera and decided to just enjoy the night and Supercross and stick to a few snapshots of peoples instead of trying to do some photography.

I love being at the races and enjoy a lot of what’s happening on a Supercross weekend but some of my favorite times, apart from the racing itself, are the early mornings when the SX circus wake up and crews are opening the pits, doing the track walk with riders who are discovering it for the first time and watching the mechanics working during the practice sessions. But my preferred moment and place is the tunnel before the opening ceremonies. I love the atmosphere down there, seeing the way riders behave differently, who’s really focused, who’s relaxed, who’s socializing, the anxiety of some wrench guys and team managers, the Feld guys trying, usually looking very serious and a bit stressed, trying to run everything as planned as possible, etc, etc… It is a very cool place to be and observe.

Of course it was a privilege to see McGrath, Carmichael and Bubba all together, waiting for the show to go on. I mean, how many times one can see so many Supercross/Motocross victories and championships like that in one place. There is a lot of respect and a bit of complicity between these guys.

Before the race I had talked to some riders and team managers who said that they didn’t like the track saying that it was too dangerous, especially the way the landings of some jumps were built and I thought that the races would see some big crashes and first turn pile-ups, but it really went well. Nothing bad happen and we got some very good racing, in both classes.

James Stewart managed against all bike odds to win the 450 class but there is no disputing the fact that Chad Reed is the fastest rider on the track right now (the only one to go down to 58” a lap during the race). Reed looks smooth and comfortable on his Suzuki and turns it like a BMX. He reminds me of MC on his Chaparral Yamaha when he came back to take the title from Emig.

Outside of the bike, the Chad Reed 09 is a different person too, with a very positive attitude and approach on things.

Of course I think that any other rider who would be racing the #7 Yamaha would often be on the ground and only an outstanding rider like James Stewart can ride it and save it like he does right now. I saw him casing more jumps at A2 that I did all of ’07 and believe me, I case a loooot. After he passed K-Dub in the Main, James saved it a-la-Carmichael when everyone in the press box thought that he was going to hit the dirt. Unbelievable!

Like others, I don’t think that Bubba is going to be able to do that every race. If the bike settings are not sorted soon, James may crash hard at some point, especially if Chad Reed has a good start and is right on his tail.

Chad came back from the back of the pack after a first turn crash to pass Kevin Windham for second, in the last lap. We can speculate that if the race had 25 laps, CR would have won it. And the same would have happened in Phoenix the previous weekend.

Anyway, the racing is good right now. 2009 is on the gas.

K-Dub finally got back to speed and rode awesome, leading the Main for 11 laps. He looked like Mr. smooth again, more comfortable than at the first 2 rounds. RV rode very well too, fighting for 2^nd most of the race. His first podium is close.

Short rode well again and seems the most comfortable on the new Honda. The #29 should make the podium again this season.

And what about Josh Grant people! The guy is legit and after 3 very good Supercross races, I really believe that he is there to stay. I am not sure whether he is going to be able to secure a podium overall but I repeat myself and he is definitely Top 5 overall at the end of the season. At A2, he tightened up towards the end but was once again racing for the podium and rode good to a 5^th. Had he managed to pass Kevin Windham early in the race, I think that he would have secured a podium spot.

Ryan Dungey took his second win of the season in the West Lite series and we should expect to see him ride smart to secure his first title this year. Again, the PC boys were strong and rode great, Morais being very surprising and edging Jake Weimer again for a PC 2-3 podium result. The title chase is still very close right now, but Morais is definitely not where I would have thought. Great effort and a good surprise for sure.

Jason Lawrence is not riding as well as expected right now. His heat race was bad, out of control and sent him to the LCQ again. Hopefully for him J-Law gets things back on track at Houston and makes more podium but for sure, the title is out of reach for him unless something crazy happens.

Brayton and Sipes looked good. Dan Reardon rode well too and should get more Top 5 before the end of the season. A quick shout out to my buddy Mike Sleeter for making the Main again, coming out of the gnarly and very difficult LCQ. Mike has been going to the races on his own this year and is grateful to get some help from One Industries and KTM.

A quick info about French rider Cedric Soubeyras: He was racing his last US SX of the year at Anaheim 2, before going back to Europe, to race the World Championship in MX2. Cedric was coming form a great performance at Phoenix but crashed really hard in practice and ended up at the hospital with a collapsed lung and broken ribs. A bit banged up but he’ll recover quickly and get ready on time for the MXGP’s. Hopefully team MD Racing and Soubeyras will come for a full West Lites season in 2010. Cedric is one of the very few pro riders who wear the RXR chest-protector.

My MotoXdream fantasy team wasn’t very lucky this weekend, especially my Lites team where I had Soubeyras :-(

On another note, Monday was important for me at work as we had the first annual Dainese Media day at the Dainese D-Store in Costa Mesa. We presented the company’s new structure in the US to about 35 members of the press who were treated to a fashion show presenting our 2009 collection. While my colleagues-buddies Mark and Allan presented the Dainese products the models had, I was taking care of the AGV helmets introduction. It was a successful event thanks to everybody involved, from Supercross.com’s Amanda who was hosting, to the models, the editors and journalists present as well as the full Dainese crew. We should see some good exposure coming our way soon along with new sponsorship announcements as we are trying to get much more involved in road racing in the US.

So, it’s back home for a day for me and back on the road, off to Houston on Thursday and SoCal on Monday.

By the way, who will win the 2009 SX series? Ha! Right now I believe that Chad has everything lined up for it. 2 more races like that and Chad will have it secured.