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From Whittier, CA, 21-year-old Jake Isaac is a professional Supercross and motocross race mechanic for the factory TLD/Red Bull/GasGas Racing team, spinning wrenches for Pierce Brown. Prior to landing his current job with TLD/Red Bull/GasGas, Isaac was working with Derek Drake on the small, satellite team, Bar-X Suzuki.

In today's episode with Jake, we dive into his early years growing up in Whittier, CA, his flat track racing career winning junior national championships, how he discovered his love for working on motorcycles, a school project he did about the factory Kawasaki team, a hilarious story about an interview he had with Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Mitch Payton, how he finally got his opportunity as a race mechanic for Derek Drake, transitioning over to the TLD/Red Bull/GasGas team, and so much more.

This was such a fun and insightful conversation with a very charismatic and outgoing human. Jake is very candid in sharing his perspective on life, the ebbs and flows of how he got to where he is today, and so much more. For anyone looking for a job in the dirt bike industry, especially how to become a factory race mechanic, this episode is for you. I hope all enjoy this one!

Follow Jake Isaac on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeisaac16/

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Originally from Budds Creek, MD, Kenny Day now resides in Southern California, working at Fox Racing as the Pro Athlete Manager. Kenny works alongside athletes such as Christian Craig, Adam Cianciarulo, Ken Roczen, Max Vohland, and the entire Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team. However, prior to his position at Fox Racing, K-Day was working at Aplinestars and also Traders Racing before A-Stars.

In today's episode with K-Day, we dive into his early years in Maryland and growing up at Budds Creeks, the Amish community,  his attempts to qualify for the outdoor nationals and a handful of Supercross races, working in manholes, being a mechanic and then team manager for the Traders Racing team, the highs and lows of the race team, his time at A-Stars, the opportunity at Fox Racing, exactly what his job entails at Fox Racing, and much more.

K-Day is truly a kind soul with some wonderful insights about his journey and never giving up on yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation that covered such a wide array of topics and insights. I hope all enjoy listening as much as I did having this conversation.

Follow Kenny Day on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kdayinthelife/?hl=en

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Follow Kyle Cowling on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylecowling/

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A New Jersey native, Tom Journet is a content creator within the professional Supercross and motocross world. Tom got his start with vurbmoto before helping to start Evergood Co. From there, Tom went onto handle all of the filming needs for Team Fried (Jason Anderson's creative outlet). Today, Journet is working for Racer X Illustrated as well as Hunter and Jett Lawrence creating weekly video content creation for Web and social.

In today's episode with Tom, we dive into his early years growing of growing up in New Jersey, originally shooting music videos, wanting to become a teacher, how he got into filming dirt bikes, working for vurbmoto, Evergood Co., Team Fried, as well the mental health aspect of the creative world, the struggles of social media, and so much more.

This was a rad conversation with an individual many look up to in the moto filmmaking/content creation world, and it was a pleasure hearing Tom's journey, struggles, and longterm goals. I hope all enjoy.

Follow Tom Journet on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/filmguytom/

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Born and raised in Seal Beach, CA, Katie Hayes is a public school teacher working in the Southern California school system with an emphasis in special education. She has been teaching for 10-years. Originally, she started teaching in private schools; however, she eventually transitioned into teaching in the public school system. 

In today’s episode with Katie, we dive into her childhood and what it was like growing up attending private school as a student, how and why she decided to become an educator, why she transitioned from private to public, the issues with the current education system, the cons of sending children home to do homework, the effects home life can have in the classroom for a student, the lack of resources in lower income communities, why not all children are made to be test takers, why she chose special ed, challenging parents, and much more. 

I am probably not suppose to openly say I have a favorite episode of the podcast. But, I will say that his particular episode, similarly to episode 16 with police lieutenant, Kelli Crigler, is up there as a top favorite for me. The topic of education in the United States is very interesting for me (especially since I was a shit student with learning disabilities), so to be able to sit down with Katie and dissect the “how’s” and “why’s” of the education system and all that she has to do day in and day out in the classroom was very interesting. And, Katie was very candid and open in sharing her 10-years of experience in the classroom.

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Ricki Bedenbaugh is a professional cinematographer based in Southern California. Originally born in Tennessee before moving down to Florida, Ricki grew up in the skateboarding world with dreams of becoming a professional skater.

While Ricki didn’t end up as a professional skater, he did end up as a professional cinematographer in the skate world. Ricki has been apart of some of the biggest skate parts in the industry, working at 411videomagazine, and is also responsible for shooting two of the biggest kickflips ever done in skateboarding: that of Dave Bachinsky at El Toro and Ryan Sheckler at the Costco Gap.

We dive into all of this, plus Ricki’s transition out of skating and into the dirt bike world working for Fox Racing and shooting projects with Adam Cianciarulo, Josh Hansen, Ken Roczen, Hunter Lawrence, Jett Lawrence, along with the struggles of learning a new action sport that wasn’t skating, his new freelance career and working with Sony Cine on the new movie, Gran Turismo, to shoot the Sony Venice 2 with the Rialto 2 in action.

This episode has a lot of rad stories, insights, and laughs about Ricki’s long and very impressive career behind the lens. And, it’s all thanks to the skateboard. This was a fun one and hope all enjoy!

View Ricki’s portfolio: https://www.keeponpushin.com/

Follow Ricki on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rickithedude?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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A Huntington Beach, CA native, Sean "Borky" Borkenhagen, is a former professional Supercross and motocross athlete now working full-time with Kawasaki Motor Corporation in Tech Services.

Borky is a longtime friend (we grew up riding and racing together), and this conversation was a lot of fun being able to walk down memory lane and hear his journey. We dive into his Huntington Beach, CA roots, his amateur career, winning a Loretta Lynn's championship in the 250 B class circa 2006, earning factory support from American Honda Motor Co., suffering an almost career ending injury shortly thereafter, landing a ride with the Red Bull/TLD/Honda race team, and so much more.

Borky maybe one of thee, if not thee kindest soul to ever race Supercross and motocross at the levels he did. And, while he admits he didn't achieve certain goals in his professional racing career, he was able to walk away from racing on his own terms and find a career he loves with the Kawasaki Motor Corporation.

Follow Sean Borkenhagen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanborkenhagen/

The Failed Experiment on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheFailedExperiment

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Fun fact. After recording this episode with Stu Alfano, he was shortly thereafter promoted to Art Director at 100%. Maybe we need a part two with Stu to talk about the promotion and what the role of an art director entails? Not a bad idea. Anyways, I digress...

Originally a North Carolina native, he eventually made his way out to Southern California (specifically San Diego, CA) to chase an internship opportunity with Nixon. After a summer of beach life in Encinitas, CA and interning at Nixon, Stu made his way back home before again making a full time move to San Diego, CA. This time, with only a one-way ticket, a duffle bag of clothes, and nothing else. Yes, it worked out for him.

We dive into Stu's journey from the east coast to the Whale's Vagina of San Diego, CA (per Ron Burgundy), almost working for a skateboarding company before the opportunity at 100% came about, living on a couch, having no method of transportation, no clothes other then what was packed in his duffle bag, and how he made his dreams and passions a reality despite the struggles that laid in front of him.

Stu is an incredibly talented designer (now art director), stills photographer, and one of the most low key humorous humans I have ever met. For all my creative friends out there, this is a wonderful listen about pursing your dreams and not giving up despite the lack of necessities in the moment.

Follow Stu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoo/?hl=en

View Stu's portfolio: https://www.behance.net/stuart_alfano

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A Boston, MA  native, Allison Keddie is a former private school and public school educator. Working in the education system for six years, Allison’s emphasis was within the special ed area of education. However, after six years in the education system, she walked away from her career to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional stills photographer.

In today’s episode with Allison, we dive into her journey to the education system, the good, bad, and ugly of that world, why she walked away from it to pursue a career as a creative, her passion for still photography, how being in the early stages of her photographic career is going, her accomplishments, goals, and struggles of living in the creative space amongst much more!

It was a lot of fun to sit down with Allison and hear the journey and also her perspective of the creative space as she’s only been in it since 2019. I hope all enjoy her insights and, if you don’t already, give her a follow on Instagram and view her work. She’s got an incredible eye and a bright future ahead of herself.

Follow Allison on Instagram: https://instagram.com/allisontulkphotography?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Visit Allison’s Portfolio: https://www.allisontulkphotography.com/

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Kelli Crigler is a Police Lieutenant working within the Southern California area. Kelli has been a police officer for 18-years; two of those years as an unsworn police officer aide. For almost the last four years of her career, she’s been the Police Lieutenant of her current department.

This episode is a big one. We dive into everything from Kelli’s early years growing up, childhood trauma and removing her mom from her life, to how and why she became a police officer, and the struggles of women in law enforcement (especially one in command).

We also dive deep into the poor light shined on law enforcement because of excessive use of force, the defunding of police departments, how officers can change their public perception, over populated prisons, community policing, budget cuts, and so much more.

Regardless of your viewpoints on police officers and policing within the United States, I hope all will give this entire episode an unbiased listen to hear directly from an individual that has been on the front lines as a police officer for nearly 20-years. I wanted this episode to be as unbiased as possible and, hopefully, the questions and conversations had here can shed some perspective on policing and how both sides (civilians and officers) can improve the relationship and close the divide.

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A high desert rat from Hesperia, CA, Kris Keefer is a former professional Supercross and motocross racer who is now working as a full-time test rider in various capacities. At his company, Keefer Inc, he tests motorcycles and products within the dirt bike world and does editorial and video reviews for the consumer. He is also a  podcast host of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Keefer Tested podcast where he tests bikes, gear, accessories, and hard parts, as well as a test rider for different motorcycle manufactures where manufactures hire him to do private testing on not yet released dirt bikes to help the brand improve overall performance.

In today's episode, Keefer dives into his formative years as a kid growing up in the high desert, being bullied at school, taking care of his ailing mother, how he got into riding and racing dirt bikes, not riding his first-ever Supercross race until he was 27-years old, leading the heat race at Anaheim 3 in 2004, mental health, how working for Yamaha Motor Co. destroyed his marriage, realizing it was time to walk away from his editorial roots at Dirt Rider, testing the Alta, the electric bike movement, our fandom of Tom DeLonge and Angels & Airwaves, and many laughs and off the rail stories.

Keefer is one of the good guys in the dirt bike industry, and our conversation was illuminating, honest, genuine, and filled with insights and wonderful stories I hope all that are passionate about the motocross industry will enjoy.

Follow Kris Keefer: https://www.instagram.com/kkeefer120/

Visit His Web site: https://www.keeferinctesting.com/

Listen to his podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rocky-mountain-atv-mc-keefer-tested/id1245516386

The Failed Experiment on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheFailedExperiment

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