ON THE BUBBLE: JULY
Author: Brent Stallo	Features | Wednesday, 08 July 2009 10:46

As you will find out multiple times throughout our July edition of On The Bubble, we just wrapped up our coverage on Red Bud and are writing this from our 31ft. motor-home (Mighty Whitey) at our new world head quarters. Okay, so it’s a Wal-Mart parking lot in South Bend, Indiana, but it works. With the onslaught of Mammoth, Loretta Lynn Qualifiers and all the outdoor nationals June turned out to be one of our most successful months to date. We’ve been trying relentlessly to grow traffic here at Vurb and we’re happy to report that all of our efforts seem to be paying off.

We’re also happy to report that July is going to be even more insane than June. Ponca and Loretta’s kick off this month and we can’t wait to get back to the pits of an Amateur National. That’s where our roots are and where we feel most comfortable. With the state of the current economy we’ve heard from a lot of riders that they won’t be racing Ponca this year. While we understand the situation, we certainly hope that’s not the case. Ponca is one of the longest standing nationals in the country and one that we hope will keep strong numbers for years to come.

Our trip to Ponca this year will come straight after Washougal. We will sprint 1,800 miles in two days in order to make it to Ponca and then it’s off to Loretta’s immediately after that.

With everyone actually in the same place for once, we decided to take a different approach to our July edition of On The Bubble. Everyone on this trip plays a different role in the success of Vurb so instead of just listing out everything Vurb has coming down the pipe in July, we decided to let everyone tell their own side of the story and find out what they have planned in relation to Vurb this month.

Wes Williams:

Word on the street is that our movie ‘EPIC’ is set to debut very soon; in fact, in a matter of just a few days.  Once the trailer leaks onto the internet, pandemonium will hit the streets, and every single person in America is going to electronically run to our new Vurbmoto.com online store to buy a copy.  We’re upgrading our servers just to handle the traffic influx of the trailer release.

If you purchase ‘EPIC’ via Vurb you will receive a limited edition copy, complete with a hardcover case and 32-page book inside.  It’s certainly something you want to take advantage of.  If the internet isn’t your thing, we hope you’ll run down to your local dealer and support them, and us, by picking up a copy.  Copies will start shipping August 15^th. 

Just to stir a little more hype around the movie, we will take the ever-so-popular biased Vurb opinion and say that this may be one of the most aesthetically pleasing motocross movies to ever hit the market.  Couple that with a soundtrack including MGMT, Shiny Toy Guns, RJD2, Coconut Records, not to mention a few sick bands from the Volcom Entertainment label such as Riverboat Gamblers, Goons of Doom, and Pepper, ‘EPIC’ is truly going to be…epic.  We feel we’ve put together an unbelievable package, from the riders, to the music, to the locations, and finally the footage.  We were shooting for a once in a lifetime DVD, and honestly think we hit our mark. 

Luckily for Bulmer and I, we will take a much-needed break before we hit the road to Millville and beyond, as we’re heading to Atlanta, my home, this Tuesday.  That’s where the final touches will be laid on EPIC, and then the rest will be history. 

I hope everyone has been enjoying the Racer X Motocross Show on Allisports.com, as well. This is our third year producing content for the guys at Racer X and we couldn’t be more pleased with the way things are going.  We’ve been working hard to make it as entertaining and enjoyable as possible.  And if you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and check out Travis Steward in every edition of “National Security” and “National Super Fans”…you won’t be disappointed.   

See everyone at Millville… 

David Bulmer:

I’m also sitting in a Wal-Mart parking lot in South Bend, Indiana. Wes has his ‘edit face’ on, Ryan is sleeping, Travis is talking about all the racers he knows and Brent is talking about how great he is at all sports. However in about 12 hours from now we’re all splitting up and flying out to our respective ‘homes’, everyone except me that is, as I’m traveling with Wes to Atlanta, Georgia where I’ll be sipping on some sweet tea, eating at Waffle House and hopefully meeting Ludacris (whoever that is?)

It will be quite nice to get out of this motor-home especially as we’ve got a jam-packed month ahead of us. I’ve been on the road for over a month now and can’t wait for a little R and R. In this off weekend, we’ve extended the Pro Batting Average so that we’ll see who the best GP rider is. We’ve also put the Supercross results into the formula and decided who won the 2009 Supercross season (clue: it’s not who you might think).

Other than that, there are going to be a couple more riders annoyed with us as they get the Strong Side/Weak Side treatment, the actual teams come under the microscope as we grade them and of course, our ever popular Studs n Duds on Vurb Insider from Red Bud will be showing up this week.

On a more personal level, I’m going to continue running my laps for charity (http://www.ayearinmx.com/keepontrack.html) and although J-Law may have got wind of me beating him (until Red Bud I had completed more laps than J-Law), I’m still going to be jogging around Millville, Washougal and maybe even Ponca and Loretta’s, seeing as Vurb has all these amateur roots. And I’ve just received word that GK Films will match donations made, so get out your wallets and support these two worthy charites – RiderDown Foundation and Wings for Life.

I’m actually really looking forward to this month as we cover some of the most beautiful driving scenery in the north-west and I finally hit up my first ever amateur national and of course, you’ll be able to read about everything and more, right here.

Travis Steward:

Hey, this is Travis. I am also in a Wal-Mart parking lot in South Bend, Indiana with four other dudes. We all have similar schedules over the next few weeks but I’ll do my best to fill you in on my part. I fly home Monday morning at 5:45am for about a week to get all my stuff organized before we start one of the gnarliest treks of the year. I fly back out to Millville, Minnesota on the 16^th where I will most likely be stuck in the airport for upwards of 6 hours waiting for Wes and Bulmer to finally pick me up. At least that is what happened in Denver.

Basically, besides the Racer X motocross show I have taken full responsibility for most of the video content flowing through Vurb Insider. We have started up with a few cool new video ideas that have gone over very well. We now feature a “Redux” video following each round of the 2009 Lucas Oil/AMA Pro Motocross Championships on Vurb Insider and have gotten great response. This is basically an artistic take on the Nationals that we have not taken thus far. For the first time ever we got Ryan Dungey to sit down at our “Vurbmoto Square Table,” which put him face to face with fans of all ages and states of mind from RedBud. You can expect to see that on Insider this week, as well.

Make sure to stay up to date on both Vurb and Insider. It is off to Ponca and Loretta’s after Washougal and we have many fresh ideas to keep everyone happy. The next leg on this trip clocks in at about a month and a half of straight from the road content. We also have a few surprises in store for those of you that like our hidden camera videos such as National Security, and National Super Fan.

Ryan Walters:

Coming into this summer I had no idea what to expect. Although I had already been doing videos for Vurb for quite some time, when the opportunity was presented to me to become part of the Racer X Motocross Show on Allisports.com, I was ecstatic. I have never been much of a traveler, and hadn’t been to any national tracks outside of California, so becoming part of the Vurbmoto Road Trip was certainly a once in a lifetime chance. Being on the road with four guys in a motor-home has definitely had its ups and downs, but seeing as I’m usually either sleeping or editing, I don’t seem to get in the way too much. Because of those two attributes, I also seem to have little to no responsibility to clean or drive, which is also a plus.

Nonetheless, even with the upcoming release of EPIC, I’m going to release my brand new DVD this week entitled ‘The Golden Era’. It’s a movie centered around amateur motocross, specifically relating to many riders and cool riding spots in California, but also has the vibe of the east coast with riders like Cianciarulo, Bell, and Barcia. Keep a look out this week, as I’ll be launching the trailer, and it’ll be available for purchase for 20 bones right here in the Vurb online store.

We have Ponca and Loretta’s coming up here in a few weeks, and after covering Vegas and Mammoth by myself, I’m pumped to get back to the amateur nationals with the rest of the Vurb crew. We have some really cool ideas, and with all three of us on our A games, you can definitely expect to see some wicked good content. I encourage you to stay logged on to Vurb for as much time as possible over the next few weeks.