2XL Games Releases First Trailer of “ATV OffRoad” for iPhone

***UPDATE*** The game should have been available on the app store last week but we had some minor set backs with apple. The issues have been fixed and we are now waiting for apple to review the game again, and hopefully put it up for sale this week. I also added a new video to this post, check them out!

2XL Games, the creators of the very successful “2XL Supercross” app for iPhone and iPod Touch, just released a brand new trailer of their new upcoming game, “2XL ATV OffRoad”, on the same platforms.

If you liked 2XL Supercross then you will love 2XL ATV OffRoad! It’s bigger, faster, has impressive graphics and gameplay, and finally tons of TRICKS!!! You’ll be racing on Motocross National tracks, Supercross courses and big Free-ride areas, add Multiplayer to the mix and you’ve got an awesome off-road racing game in the palm of your hands.

2XL ATV OffRoad Trailer

Trip to France – Photos from Crest

It had been 4 long years since the last time I was in France! Carlie, Luka and I were way past due for a trip there and we took it 2 weeks ago. We stayed at my parent’s house, in a small village lost in the mountains of Tournon (which is 1 hour south of Lyon) and it was so awesome to be there, breath some fresh air and let Luka run around outside like a mad man all day…my parents were so excited to see him!

We did lots of things while we were in France, for example on Wednesday we went to a town named “Crest” not too far from where my parents live. One of my favorite track I used to practice on a lot is in Crest, it’s got that gnarly downhill that’s almost vertical! We didn’t go to Crest to check out a motocross track though, but to go swim at the river and then go see an old tower which used to be a prison a long time ago. The river was fun and I got to swim with my dad, my little niece Kimberley and Luka decided to join us later on. After that we walked all the way up to the tower, through some really old buildings and tight little streets, and up 2000 steps (I’m exaggerating but it sure felt like it!)

After about 30 minutes of stair climbing in 100 degrees weather, we finally reach the tower…and we get ready to climb even more stairs! Carlie was getting ready to give up lol…she wasn’t feeling good though so she had a good excuse. So we climb all the way up to the very top of the tower, through some amazingly tight stairways and steep stairs – the photos below don’t do it justice! – and I forgot to mention that Luka walked all the way up to the tower and also inside the tower on his own! Kids have way too much energy…

Enjoy the photos, and come back soon if you wanna see more pics of all the other cool stuff we did during our 2 weeks vacations in France, as I will post more photos and stories throughout next week. Read the rest of this entry »

Lucas Oil Off-Road race at Lake Elsinore – Wear pants or go home!

So I got a funny story about last weekend’s trophy trucks race, which took place at the Lake Elsinore racetrack in California…I got kicked off the track for wearing shorts instead of pants!!! You see, they have certain “rules” in the Lucas Oil Off Road series, to be more specific, they pretty much tell you what you have to wear if you wanna be on the track, whether you are a photographer or a crew member! The rule is you can’t wear shorts, you HAVE to wear pants…110 degrees outside and they MAKE you wear pants. Read the rest of this entry »

HDR Photo Test

HDR photography is still pretty new and not many people know about it, and even less do it right! I’d like to think that I am part of the small group of photographers that can produce nice HDR images without over-doing it, but sometimes I love to over-do it! Sometimes making an image look completely unreal by pushing the HDR settings all the way up is actually rewarding, depending on what you’re trying to achieve of course.

While I was shooting the Colorado national race in Lakewood a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but to snap a few HDR images of the amazing sky and hills around the track…the only problem was that I didn’t have a tripod with me, so the images aren’t perfectly aligned, but still worth processing. A few of them turned out pretty good, and I couldn’t decide between the different versions I made, so I decided to show them all to you guys and girls and you can tell me which ones you like the best in the comments section at the end of the post! Read the rest of this entry »

Battle against addiction

I received an e-mail recently from a 23 years old man that almost brought tears to my eyes, mostly because it brought back very bad memories for me, and secondly because I know how hard the road ahead for this young man is and I can’t help but wonder if he’s gonna make it or not…

I know this sounds horrible, but I’m speaking from experience, because I almost didn’t make it myself. I am so thankful today that I had great friends and family around me who loved me enough to stick around and help me the best they could during my journey through hell, and I pray that this person is as lucky as I was. Read the rest of this entry »

The privateer’s life in Supercross racing

Supercross racing is hard, it’s very hard. It is both physically and mentally difficult, and you need a good bike to go fast, you need a factory bike, a bike that will keep you on top of a whoops section and not drop your front wheel in between 2 whoops, a bike that won’t bog on the face of a gnarly triple or half way through a rhythm section, you need a bike with suspensions that won’t throw you over the bars when coming up short on a steep landing. In Motocross, you can get away with it, but not in Supercross. Most people will never ride a race-like Supercross track in their life, so they will never truly appreciate how hard it can be. I am writing this because I want to mention privateer riders that race Supercross. I was lucky enough to ride for a great team (Honda of Troy, which became Yamaha of Troy in 1999) during my first year racing the US circuit back in 1997, so I myself cannot truly appreciate how much work it is for them and what they have to go through each race, but I have a good idea and wanted to share it with you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Five Reasons Why You’re OverTraining

I found this interesting article by Robert Saladino while browsing where he talks about over training and the reasons behind it. Over training is a problem that many athletes face and can ruin your season…

Five Reasons Why You’re OverTraining by Robert Saladino

The word over-training springs fear into every resistance training enthusiast. Experts in the field of exercise define over-training as the imbalance between training/competition, versus recovery. Basically, it is too much training or competition combined with too little time for repair. Read the rest of this entry »