Heat, Humidity, Classic Golf Carts, and His Wife’s RV

What’s going on, everyone. My name is Wade and I might be a bit of a fresh face around these parts, but I promise I am here to bring you absolutely mediocre content. If you’re from the mid-Atlantic area, chances are you may have seen me running around your local tracks such as Budds Creek or Tomahawk with a camera a time or two.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I am writing this and why does it matter. Well, I spent all of last week running around Tennessee with the Vurb boys and I wanted to give everyone a glimpse into that experience. To set the stage my family and I spent the week before Loretta’s at a beach in South Carolina with our RV (Slaw edit: His Wife’s RV) and decided it was a good idea to drive the 10+ hours to the Ranch with the RV in tow. I got a bright and early start Saturday morning at 9 a.m. to get on the road. The trip was smooth overall other than the 5+ accidents and three detours I took on the way there. It turns out that not a single person that drives Route 40 West knows how to drive. Ten hours turned into about 12 and I arrived at the Ranch around 9 p.m. just in time to set the camper up in the dark. None of the Vurb boys had gotten into town yet so I was on my own. Thankfully Mike Burkeen was there to give me a little bit of assistance getting into place and a few moments later our neighbor for the week, Mike Emery, shows up too. I got the camper setup finally and called it a night around 11 p.m.

Sunday came around and I didn’t have a lot on the schedule for the day. I woke up and found my way to my favorite breakfast spot called The Rusty Rooster in Waverly. I ate way too much and headed back to my camper (Slaw edit: His Wife’s Camper) to shoot some B-roll for Yamaha before Mike Vizer got to town. Once Vizer got in we decided to head over to Loretta’s house to shoot some B-roll of the steps, creek, and other surrounding sights. We wrapped up and headed back to the camper when my classic 1980’s golf cart decided to break down for the first time of the week. Thankfully there were a ton of people around and we got a tow back to assess the situation. I checked some connections, tightened the batter terminals and next thing you know we were back in business. After that Mike and I headed to the local Walmart where we proceeded to buy 6 to 900 hotdogs which are still in my fridge.

Monday, we got up early since it was practice day and the first day of bikes on the track. All media is not allowed to go in the infield of the track, so we were trying to get creative shooting from the fences. Vizer is a legend, so his shots were great while I did my best to get mediocre shots from the fence. A few hours later Blake Keith decided to finally show up after hanging out with the Lawrence brothers for a weekend and we got to it. Another few hours go by and Chase shows up and we get the Vurb booth setup and ready to rock. #TwoFur50.

As the day was wrapping up, Blake and I decided to try and capture the vibes at Loretta’s. We grabbed a few beverages and headed out on the golf cart to film some kids jumping off the rocks and stopping anyone who we came across. We grabbed a gentleman who was riding around on a quad with a cooler full of arguably the best pickles in the world and he told us everything we needed to know about pickles. Turns out he was the popcorn guy as we later discovered. Who knew.

From there we took off on the golf cart to see what else we could find where it proceeded to break down for a second time. We waited a few minutes to see if anyone came by, but things were slowing down some. I tried the golf cart again and sure enough it fired right up so we headed back to the camper to edit our Loretta’s First Look video. We called it a night pretty early because we knew Tuesday was going to be a busy one.

We all wake up and proceed to put my single serve coffee maker through its paces and head out to the track. Blake and I were on our own to film the early motos because VurbWes, Jason Monroe, and Brandon Carlisle were also hanging out with the Lawrence brothers. Blake and I form what could only be described as the dream team of moto media and we crush out the first few motos. Wes and the gang show up around noon, next thing I know we crank it to 11 and get to work. We shot the remaining motos and got our editing bay setup, meanwhile Mike Vizer continues to grind out on the track. We are actually not sure if he ever rests or eats. We wrap up the first day of racing with a few beverages and editing until way too late then proceed to pile six dudes into my RV (Slaw edit: His Wife’s RV).

Wednesday rolls around and we all get up early for the 7:30 Supermini 1 moto that Jeff Simpson put on our schedule from the comfort of his couch. Thanks, Jeff. We put my single serve coffee maker through its paces once again and head out to the track. Even though it was 7:30 a.m., the humidity was already at 1000% and I was drenched in sweat before the end of moto 1. Wes decided to head over to Area 3 to grab some camera equipment that was sent to us when the golf cart breaks down for the third time. At that point we decide to abandon it where it was and come back for it later forcing us to walk everywhere.

The first 250 Pro Sport moto came around and we were all hands-on deck. Wes, Blake, Monroe, Vizer, and I set out in the blazing mid-day heat while Brandon continued to grind away in the edit bay. Gavin Towers ended up winning moto 1 and Brandon decided he was going to work his magic with all of our clips to create an instabanger so good I almost quit on the spot. Seriously it was so good I had to reevaluate my life on the spot. I decided I needed to learn After Effects immediately after that week. (Still haven’t had time). We wrap up Wednesday with a team building activity at the beer tent with the other members of the elite moto media who will remain unnamed. There was also a man wearing a disco ball helmet running around having a good time who will also remain unnamed. IFYKYK.

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Thursday was another 7:30 moto we had to shoot with 250B Limited. Thanks Jeff. At this point my coffee maker is at max capacity and starting to struggle which worried all of us in the RV. We lost Brandon Carlisle at some point as he had to fly back home so we were down an editor. We were wide-open all-day Thursday which was also incredibly hot and humid. Tired and overheated Blake and I headed down to the creek to cool off and get ready for the rest of the day. We finished up the last few motos on Jeff’s vigorous schedule and sat day in the edit bay for a long night. We grab a few beverages and edit until around 11pm-12am and called it a night because we had another 7:30 a.m. moto. Thanks Jeff.

Friday, my coffee maker had enough and finally started giving us trouble and decided to take five minutes to make one cup of coffee. I got a bit of a late start Friday and decided to head out on a B-roll mission when I bumped into Garrett Edmisten and his KX500. We chatted for a few and once he told me he was racing the #27 for his late friend Jeremy Shuttleworth I knew I stumbled upon something good. 30+ was the first Championship moto which Garrett happened to be racing. I got Wes on board to shoot Garrett that moto while we were filming our 30+ Uncut and it turned into my favorite video of the week. The first champions were crowned, and we were there to catch all the excitement. Vizer was there for every single podium somehow. We wrapped up Friday with the 50 classes and all of us hit the creek for some beverages and a Barry Carsten style shower. We headed back to the edit bay for a few hours and decided to have another team building activity at the beer tent before our last day of racing.

Saturday, we again waited the 5+ minutes for one cup of coffee as my coffee maker was somehow still working before our 7:30 moto. Thanks Jeff. We were all feeling the effects of our Team Building activity the night before and thankfully Saturday was the hottest day of the week. Saturday also produced some of the best racing I had seen so far with the Supermini 1 third moto and Open Pro Sport which was my personal favorite of the week. Shoutout Cole Martinez. The last moto of Loretta’s rolled around at 4 p.m. with Supermini 2. All of us were on the track to witness the last moto of the week. We finally saw Mike Vizer for the first time of the day as he was packing up his Dart to head back to ClubMX.

From there we headed to the creek immediately to unwind and relax. We proceeded to annihilate 18 beverages rather quickly and headed back to the edit bay before hanging out with the Racer X and MX Sports crew to wrap up the night. Blake and I tried to wrap up the week but I’m not sure that footage should ever see the light of day.

Well, that about wraps it up. Sunday marked my eighth day at the Ranch. The boys and I packed up the rig and I was on the road. Another long drive as I also learned that no one in the state of Tennessee knows how to drive either. I got home at around 1:30 a.m. EST in enough time to grab about 4 hours of sleep before heading to my job that isn’t filming dirt bikes all day. Lame.

Shoutout everyone who made last week as good as it was. I would love to list all of you, but this article is already way too long. You know who you are.

Main image: Mike Vizer