Brian, thanks for taking the time to sit down and answer some questions for us📷, we know you are busy getting ready for the Monster Energy Cup on Oct. 14, 2017. Some questions that our readers would like to know are:
How and when did you get started in Motocross? 3 years ago my daughter Bailee Garner started racing locally with our good friends the Greens. Just started out as something to do with our friends and quickly escalated. What went from a race very few weeks turned into every weekend traveling somewhere to catch that next race.
What was your journey from that to owning a Team at the professional level? Well it wasn’t really planned out, it just happened. My daughter was really getting serious and I like to pay it forward and started helping a couple kids with a fewodds and ends and found myself helping them out alot more and really enjoying the sport. The time spent traveling with my daughter is amazing. The people we have met, the places we have gone and the whole atmosphere in a whole has helped her to become very independent and respectful young lady. We went from a pickup truck and a fifth wheel with 3 kids in 2015,upgraded to a rig with stacker and motovan with 6 riders in 2016 and running west coast SX and then on to 10 riders in 2017 with 8 of them making lorrettas. We now just added another race rig to the fleet and will debut at MEC 17. So the journey has been fast for sure but I do believe it is worth it and I sure do enjoy promoting these riders.
Obviously it takes a ton of work to make it in the motocross world, what are the top 3 things that an amature rider can do to improve themselves? First is their health, eating right, and the correct training program for their level of riding and knowing themselves, their heartrates, and metabolisms are just some of the basics. It’s amazing how much these athletes can burn off in a day and not realize it. Second is the mind. I see kids that have amazing talent but are such a head case when they get to the gate they just fall apart. That, or the mom and dad are out there giving them the air throttle and I just have to sit back and see the fear through their goggles as they pass by. Theres alot that needs to be processed by these young riders and how to keep their mind in the race and how to stay calm with everything going on around them. But the last thing the mind forgets is to breathe, we may think its natural but its not, breathing is a big job out there. The third thing is social media, wow, where do we begin, just had this conversation two days ago with a couple riders and I said that I wish there was a manual to social media. One of our pro riders said, but if there was it would be easy and everyone would be doing it right. Thus said it is a very important part of young athletes today and can make a big impact on their career in positive and negative ways, this is why it is very important to take care of it and learn about it and the potential it can have.
How long does it take to get a bike prepped for a Professional event? Great question, on average our bikes are framed( meaning tore completely down)before major events and necessary improvements made at that time, on a average about 35 hours to get all upgrades and improvements done and the bike put back to proper specs and race ready.
Keeping the bike maintenance on track has to be a ton of work, what are the service intervals for oil changes, air filter changes, suspension service, and engine rebuilds? Is all of that done in house or sent out? It is such a small piece of equipment but is really alot of work, our oil changes are scheduled at 2 hr intervals with air filter changes every ride, no questions asked!! Suspension is serviced at regular intervals pending rider preferences. Engine rebuilds are normally every 20 hours on big bikes and 12 hrs on the two strokes, with rings in between. Suspension and engines are all sent out to our sponsors to be rebuilt while general maintenance is always done in-house.
When traveling on the road, how do your riders keep their diet and training in check? While you would think this would be easy, its not!! Each rider has her/his own tailored diet plan and shall I say are very picky eaters. There is alot of planning going on behind the scenes to ensure they eat healthy and yet still all are happy at the end of a meal. The cupboards are definitely full before we leave as sometimes we have deadlines and cant stop, such as Muddy Creek this year was a 28 hour trip only stopping twice for fuel. Training on the road is hard but our riders are very disciplined and self motivated, there is a stationery bike in motorhome garage they use and plus being able to stretch throughout the trip helps.. Plus I think its safe to say there is an occasional ruff house match over a tv remote, of course these are heart rate monitored.
What types of warm-ups are essential before getting on the bike? Absolutely, stretching the body first is a must. Some of our riders like the stationary bike as a warm up while some of them prefer the rowing machine, not only is this a must but it definitely helps to reduce stress and the jitters at the gate.
What is your favorite tire combo? One word, DUNLOP !
What is the first “mod” that you do to a bike? Silly as it may seem the seat. Moto seat has been on our bikes from the beginning, its just very simple to me, no matter the power or size of the bike if your butts not gripped to the seat your falling off.
When going up against the big “factory” teams, what’s the key to stay competitive? I will put it as straight forward as possible , MONEY. It’s very hard these days to compete with the factory teams r&d . We could be on this subject for hours but I think we all know about the word FACTORY, “laughing”, but I’m just going to leave you with this, of course we don’t have factory backing or a huge title sponsor, its just me and some tow trucks paying the bills, but I will say this, my girl and all the guys appreciate this sport, appreciate their competition, appreciate their sponsors and have the biggest hearts and passion I have ever seen and I believe that out weighs the money to stay “competitive”. So what ever I can do to help them, isn’t even a question.
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