Hey everyone. I just wanted to post a quick update on a few changes for 2011. I’ve been getting a lot of email and phone calls and texts and the likes asking me “ZOMG, IS IT TEH TRUES!@!>?”

Yes, it’s true.

4theriders is no longer shooting for Zoom Zoom. Why? Simply put: we’ve just got different ideas and are headed in different directions. :) We’re still friends. There’s no bad blood. Dito of GotBlueMilk will be shooting for Z2 instead.

Also, something I’ve not yet announced publicly until now: 4theriders will be the official photography company for Reno Fernley Racetrack! Whooooo hooooooo!! For those of you that know me, you know that I freggin LOVE RFR. It’s my favorite track!

And as icing on the cake, RFR has told me that they’re making some big changes to their infrastructure! I hear that there’s going to be new pavement in sections and some other goodies that everyone will love. I don’t have “official word” on what’s been done yet, but I’ll definitely keep you guys posted when I know. :D *STOKED!!*

How about a 24 shot panoramic view of RFR as seen from the bowl? Click for the big picture…I mean BIG!

reno fernley raceway racetrack panoramic
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This may have been written about already, but it is something I feel strongly about. I truly believe the word “passion” is thrown around too freely these days. Over-used, and its true meaning lost.

Passion. Simply defined as boundless enthusiasm. The object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm.

passion on a bike between 2 men

People often say they are passionate about many different things in life. To me, there is a big difference between enjoying something, and being passionate about it. To me, there is a HUGE difference. True, raw, unfiltered passion is what separates that 1% from the other 99%. It is that primal, unfiltered desire to do whatever it takes to pursue what you want, that is true passion.

I’ve had a lot of interests in my life, and paths I’ve persued. Like some, I took up music and started a band. I enjoyed creating music, touring, and all the fun that came along with it. From playing shady bars in Fresno, to singing live with my favorite band on stage at The Warped Tour, I had a blast.
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Everyone else is doing it…I guess that means I gotta do it too. ‘Cept…I’mma do it in typical Joe-Fashion, and totally OVER do it. I’m not just gonna pick my top 10 images from the year. I’m gonna go through the year and pick whatever the hell I think represents 2010. Anything memorable; From our zany adventures around the Western United States to our unspeakable acts in other countries. *shhh!*

So hide yo kids, hide yo wife, cause I posted up at least thirty seven thousand pictures up in here.

“Whoo hoo! to 2010. The good times, the bad. The ups and downs. Whoo hoo, I say! Whoo hoo!”
4theriders
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Somehow, someway, Toe has made the cover of Super Streetbike Magazine with the FAIL bike. I mean, I knew that the idea behind the bike was totally rad…but the cover of a magazine? AWESOME! Look for it in the February issue of Super Streetbike Magazine.

For those of you who know not what the FAIL bike is…well, here it is with Josh Herrin schmobbin on it…
josh herrin riding the fail bike at thunderhill
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I try not to look at them honestly, its kind of embarrassing. The scooter riders, the little throwback modders, and old women with bicycle helmets, the hipster kids with “ironic” mustaches, the kids on pit bikes and mini bikes. All of them, I tend to just close my tinted visor, and ride through the fog that inevitably fills the inside of my face shield this time of year. Better survive that little bit of blindness then make eye contact with them, and god forbid, what if they WAVE?! Those silly, small, impractical motorbikes with engines too small to get out of trouble, tires that won’t hardly stick, and brakes on either handle. Its idiotic, dangerous, and back to the big one… Yes, embarrassing. Mostly embarrassing.

I wouldn’t get within 100 feet of this guy for example.

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It started off awesome and ugly all at the same time. Toe, Dove, and myself showed up on Friday around 11am for the first of three days of RFR’ness. The track wasn’t to go hot until noon anyhow. There were 9 people there.

Awesome. Ugly.

From a selfish riding standpoint, it was epic; open format at RFR! My favorite track around! From a financial standpoint…ugh! I was gonna take a serious financial hit!

Regardless, we were there, we were gonna make do best we could.

First thing’s first.. we had to give people a chance to get warmed up and whatnot. We unloaded everything, got the computers all set up, and geared up to ride. :) I did 4 laps and suddenly felt bored. I just wasn’t feeling it like I thought I would, I guess. I pulled off the track, changed back into my photo-clothes, and headed out to shoot for a little bit. Toe and I went out and shot for about 45 mins… running all over the track, covering a TON of ground in a very short amount of time..I mean, there were NINE people on the track.

Bored. But hey, there were birds…

pelicans birds of some sort
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So, several weeks ago, Yamaha contacted me asking if we could attend and shoot the Miller Motorsports Park Yamaha customer appreciation days.

Uhhh…yeah, of COURSE we can! Whoo hoooooo!!!

Now skip forward to Saturday, September 25th… Toe and Dove are with me, and we head out. I wanted to get an early start, so we weren’t rushed. It always seems like we’re rushed somehow, someway, somewhere… I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time on our ~671 mile journey to MMP. I’d charted our course to take hwy 50 all the way out to 36. And I’d plotted our return course to be on hwy 80…who likes to see the same long, boring drive twice in a row? This would give us some variety.

This would also lead to much commotion.

Over the course of the trip, we saw a TON of these…
rallement element gas tiltshift

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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t even a little bit depressed.

This weekend was a lot of fun. Back to back trackdays with SBK775 up at RFR where I got in a lot of kickass riding with fast guys and good friends. Sunday ended up being some great racing…especially watching the first timers go out and battle each other. Watching Mike morph from a C-group-panty-waist into a full fledged A-group racer-boi was pretty awesome.

It’s weekends like that that I cherish and don’t forget…This weekend won’t be muddled up and lost in memory as so many of my weekends do given that I’m at the track so much. Toe even got a few shots of me that are now my favorite pics ever!

joe reno fernley gsxr fast

But Monday… Monday had awesomeness written all over it until I had to go and be the dumbass I sometimes regret being… Toe, Han, Kyle, Rob, and myself decided to go shred the gnar in downtown Sacramento on bicycles. I kinda led them around to a few places where Matt and I like to get jukie wit’ it… but since it was only about 6pm and not the usual midnight runs that Matt and I take, we kept getting kicked out of places… finally, we end up by the Pyramid Building where we haul ass down a steep hill and try and drift at the bottom.

Toe set a pretty impressive mark… so I tried to top it… and I did… with about a 25mph highside onto my scaphoid bone wearing only dirtbike gloves for “protection.”. *sigh*

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