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Moto X Phenomenon Axell “Slay” Hodges on UNLEASHED Podcast

By General Posts

  • Monster Energy’s UNLEASHED Podcast Welcomes Moto X Phenomenon Axell “Slay” Hodges for Episode 45
  • Broadcast Live on Twitch, Episode 45 of Sports Podcast Interviews 12-Time X Games Medalist /
  • Episode Now Available for Streaming on Major Podcast Platforms Including YouTube and Spotify

CORONA, California – November 22, 2022 – Get inside the mind of the most creative and progressive motocross athlete on the planet! Monster Energy is proud to welcome freestyle motocross innovator and 12-time X Games medalist Axell Hodges from Encinitas, California on Episode 45 of the sports and pop culture podcast UNLEASHED with The Dingo and Danny.

Recorded inside Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California, the special episode was initially broadcast live on the Twitch platform on November 18th. As of today, fans can tune in to the official recording of Episode 45 of UNLEASHED on all major platforms, including Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.

Episode 45 also features special guest Ash “Dirt Shark” Hodges, Axell’s brother and creative collaborator, as well as their father, Phillip Hodges.

In the episode, the 26-year-old athlete shares his creative process behind record-setting jumps and boundary-breaking tricks. “I always snowboarded and skated a bit. I had a lot of friends who skated and were better than me and had good style. I never really had that in skateboarding, so that’s where I kind of wanted to be a skater on my dirt bike and flow and have good style. So, skating and all that helped a lot on how I ride my dirt bike,” said Hodges on UNLEASHED.

Axell Hodges is a motocross rider with no need for introductions. Despite his young age, Hodges already holds twelve X Games medals, including four gold. The prodigy not only dominates competitions such as Best Whip and High Air but raises the bar with innovative freestyle tricks recorded in viral videos. His trilogy of “Slayground” motocross videos has garnered more than 14 million combined views… and counting. In the episode, Hodges dives deep into the high-stakes world of competitive freestyle motocross at the highest level.

Hear “Slay” tell the full story in conversation with the two podcast hosts, Australian action sports personality Luke “The Dingo” Trembath and professional snowboarder Danny Kass on Episode 45 of UNLEASHED. Also joining the interview, acclaimed painter, model, and UFC Octagon girl Brittney Palmer contributes questions and background information to the episode. Tune in right here.

Raised in a motocross family, Hodges discovered dirt bikes at a young age. Initially, the native of Southern California pursued a career as a racer. “I wanted to be a dirt bike racer and thought that was the only way when I was a kid. Like, you gotta race! And I did not want to do freestyle when I was younger.” But ultimately, his freestyle tricks would garner Hodges worldwide attention: “I raced from 14 to 18, and then filmed the first ‘Slayground’ video. That’s when I came out of racing and into more freeriding and social media,” said Hodges.

While also making his mark in motocross competitions such as the X Games, Hodges discovered the power of social media platforms to document his boundary-pushing tricks in his own online videos. “I never thought I would be able to call what I do my job, just post videos, and ride my bike. Just make up stuff on the regular,” said Hodges on UNLEASHED.

Fast-forward to today and the “Slayground” video series – filmed with brother and filmmaker Ash Hodges – has generated over 14 million views on YouTube. “I started the ‘Slayground’ series in 2015 at my parents’ house in Encinitas,” said Hodges. “That was my first video and what I was doing every day. Riding in my backyard and had my brother come film a sick line going through my parents’ house, and that’s where the ‘Slayground’ originated.”

In 2020, Hodges took the dream to the next level by building his own 40-acre “Slayground” facility in Ramona, California, as a place to practice and film the third installment of the video series. “This is what we did through Covid. Bought some property and built and tweaked all the jumps until we got it right then we filmed the video,” said Hodges.

For X Games 2021 and 2022, Hodges opened his legendary “Slayground” compound for competitions across five Moto X competitions as well as BMX Dirt. Aside from hosting the world elite of the sport, Hodges also pocketed one gold and two silver medals at X Games 2022, bringing his total count in the world’s biggest competition to 12 medals.

For his biggest moment of mainstream fame, Hodges attempted to set the long-distance jump record for the Guinness Book in 2019 for the ‘Evel Live 2’ event – hitting the ramp at 106 miles per hour – but suffered a life-threatening crash during practice. “I went 396 feet from ramp to ramp, but the next day I went there and ended up going down around 400 feet. I don’t really know if I hold the record or not. All I know is I went pretty far on my bike, and I’m satisfied with that.”

As his next challenge, Hodges has his eyes on more video projects. “I have a couple of things I want to check off,” the Moto X phenom said on UNLEASHED. But let’s hear it from “Slay” himself! Visit the landing page to access Episode 45 of the UNLEASHED with The Dingo and Danny Podcast featuring motocross trailblazer Axell Hodges.

Episodes of UNLEASHED are filmed on a special set inside Studio M at Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California. The podcast is hosted by the dynamic duo of Australian action sports personality Luke “The Dingo” Trembath and professional snowboarder Danny Kass. Known for their deep roots in action sports culture, the two starred in the beloved cult TV show ‘The Adventures of Danny and The Dingo’ on Fuel TV for five action-packed seasons in the early 2010s. Both hosts have walked the walk as pro snowboarders and possess the interview skills to find common ground with guests from any type of background – sports and pop culture. Always look out for new episodes dropping bi-weekly on Mondays.

The UNLEASHED with The Dingo and Danny Podcast is here to celebrate the personalities behind the Monster Energy lifestyle. With each episode dedicated to a unique guest or topic, listeners learn about living on the edge and advancing the state of the art in the world of high-energy sports as well as music, games, and pop culture from individuals at the top of their game. More than a drink, Monster Energy is a way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers, and fans – and the podcast is an extension of this unique DNA.

For more on Monster Energy and the UNLEASHED Podcast, visit www.monsterenergy.com. Also follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for exclusive content and athlete features.

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Debate: 20 myths about fossil fuels, refuted

By General Posts

In Fossil Future I refute literally hundreds of myths about fossil fuels. Here are 20 myths that 11,000,000 people heard on Joe Rogan’s podcast this year from Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist/activist who misrepresented himself as an energy expert.

Tonight Andrew Dessler will be debating physicist Steve Koonin, author of Unsettled, whom Dessler unconscionably smeared on Joe Rogan as akin to a tobacco lobbyist. The debate will be live in NYC and streamed.

Order your tickets: Click Here

Myth 1: We can rapidly reduce fossil fuels at very low cost.

Truth: Fossil fuels are a uniquely cost-effective form of energy, which is why they are 80% of global energy and still growing. Rapidly reducing fossil fuels, in a world that needs far more energy, is catastrophic.¹

Myth 2: Solar and wind are cheap.

Truth: Solar and wind are unreliable, parasitical sources of energy that add costs to the grid.

Claims of “cheapness” are based on ignoring the full costs of solar + wind—above all the cost of a reliable grid that gives them 24/7 life support.²

Myth 3: Solar/wind is cheaper than fossil fuels because Lazard’s “Levelized Cost of Electricity” (LCOE) is lower for solar/wind.

Truth: LCOE, by Lazard’s own admission, doesn’t include many costs of solar/wind—above all the cost of a reliable grid needed for 24/7 life support.³

Myth 4: Solar and wind are “winning in the marketplace,” outcompeting fossil fuels and nuclear with superior economics.

Truth: Unreliable, parasitical solar and wind are only “winning” when given massive preferences—mandates, subsidies, and no penalty for unreliability.⁴

Myth 5: Renewable energy is projected to exceed fossil fuel energy by 2026.

Truth: This projection is of electricity (20% of energy) not all energy—and just refers to when sunlight and wind are at their peak, not most of the time. And it depends on massive political favoritism.⁵

Myth 6: We can have a grid with 75% solar and wind, with just 25% of hydro, geothermal, or nuclear.

Truth: No one has come close to even 50% unreliable solar/wind without huge dependence on reliable neighbors. And without the flexibility and scale that only natural gas provides.⁶

Myth 7: Anti-fossil fuel activists just want the most energy for the least CO2.

Truth: Anti-fossil-fuel activists are hostile to hydro and nuclear. E.g., Andrew Dessler said this year “I agree that hydro is not something to expand” and has attacked nuclear for years.⁷

Myth 8: Nuclear is too expensive, so we should use solar/wind instead.

Truth: Solar/wind can’t provide reliable energy; nuclear can. And nuclear is only expensive because it has, with the help of many “green” activists, been falsely labeled unsafe and effectively criminalized.⁸

Myth 9: Academics know how to cheaply power the world with mostly solar + wind.

Truth: All their untested schemes involve many ruinous, unaccounted-for costs—e.g., a crash program of unprecedented mineral/infrastructure development in an anti-development political environment.⁹

The academics who have supported fossil fuel restrictions based on the false promise that their untested schemes full of false assumptions could replace fossil fuels in a world that needs far more energy, are irresponsible cranks who have brought about a global energy crisis.¹⁰
Myth 10: The TX winter blackouts were a failure of fossil fuels, especially natural gas.

Truth: Fossil fuels perform beautifully in far worse winter weather than Texas had in February 2021. TX blackouts were caused by defunding reliable/resilient power in favor of unreliable solar/wind.¹¹

Myth 11: Hugely varying estimates of “the social cost of carbon” mean that economists warning about the costs of reducing CO2 can’t be trusted.

Truth: These variations show that little definite is known about any net harm from CO2. But the huge harms of reducing CO2 are certain.¹²

Myth 12: Replacing fossil fuels with solar/wind will make us more secure because we’ll depend less on hostile countries.

Truth: Not only are solar/wind incapable of replacing fossil fuels, but the control of their supply by China dwarfs any nation’s influence over fossil fuels.¹³

Myth 13: Climate changes from rising CO2 levels will require ruinously costly adaptation.

Truth: Speculated climate changes would be slow and thus affordable to adapt to—while rapidly eliminating fossil fuels would make billions far poorer, including more endangered by climate.¹⁴

Myth 14: Continued CO2 emissions will cause “irreversible” climate change.

Truth: At some point future technologies will enable us to reverse the rise in CO2 levels if we want. But nothing can reverse mass-death caused by trying to rapidly eliminate CO2 emissions.¹⁵

Myth 15: Because we could reduce CFCs without disaster, we can do the same for CO2 emissions.

Truth: While it’s sometimes non-disastrous to rapidly reduce something, it often isn’t. E.g., “green” attempts to reduce DDT and nuclear radiation killed countless millions.¹⁶
Myth 16: Rising CO2 levels will be bad for agriculture.

Truth: Rising CO2 levels will continue to come with the huge agricultural benefits of oil to power equipment and natural gas for fertilizer. And with GMO technology, higher CO2 can be leveraged to make crops grow even more.

Myth 17: We should be terrified of a 5°C temp rise, because that’s ½ the distance from an ice age.

Truth: Global temp rises are not the same kind of threat as global temp decreases, because human life, like most life, does better when it’s warm.

And 5° is extreme speculation.¹⁷

Myth 18: Melting permafrost could be a terrible “tipping point” that will lead to rapid, dangerous warming.

Truth: Significant methane release from permafrost is a very speculative and slow-paced potential impact that a more advanced world will be able to deal with if needed.¹⁸

Myth 19: Fossil fuels “kill” millions of people a year via air pollution.

Truth: This claim

1. Ignores how fossil fuels extend every life on Earth

2. Uses pseudoscientific speculation about pollution deaths.

3. Ignores the fact that fossil fuels can be burned very cleanly.¹⁹

Myth 20: The anti-fossil-fuel movement is leading to better sources of energy.

Truth: Anti-fossil-fuel activists like Andrew Dessler are responsible for artificially restricting the supply of fossil fuels and thereby causing a deadly, worsening global energy crisis.²⁰

Not only were 20 myths about fossil fuels dangerously spread on Joe Rogan to 11 million people by Andrew Dessler, Dessler has not corrected even one of them. This despite the fact that I have publicly refuted most of them in debates with him. (See the footnotes.)
Tonight Andrew Dessler will be debating physicist Steve Koonin, author of Unsettled, whom Dessler unconscionably smeared on Joe Rogan as akin to a tobacco lobbyist. The debate will be live in NYC and streamed. Order your tickets here from The Soho Forum.

While you’re waiting for the Dessler/Koonin debate to happen, watch my two debates with Dessler and see why neither he nor any other leading anti-fossil-fuel activist will agree to a long-form debate with me in a major forum.

Today’s energy crisis, which is threatening Europeans with freezing and industrial collapse this winter, and threatening 10s of millions with starvation, is the fault of the global anti-fossil-fuel movement. I will continue to debate/defeat these people until they are stopped.
If you want to learn the full truth about the future of energy, read my new book Fossil Future. It’s been out for 2.5 months and despite its phenomenal success not one advocate of fossil fuel elimination has even attempted to refute it. (They’ve just smeared or straw-manned me.)

“Energy Talking Points by Alex Epstein” is my free Substack newsletter designed to give as many people as possible access to concise, powerful, well-referenced talking points on the latest energy, environmental, and climate issues from a pro-human, pro-energy perspective.

Harley-Davidson LiveWire Got Pan America Tweaks for Long Way Up 13k Miles Trip

By General Posts

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com

You might have already caught the first episode of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s new adventure called Long Way Up. The duo decided this time to travel over 13,000 miles (21,000 km) from the city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, all the way to Los Angeles. They did so riding bikes, as usual, but not just any bikes: they used electric Harley-Davidson LiveWires.

A close look at the images already shown reveals that these were not your regular LiveWires, the ones you’ll be able to get from the neighborhood dealer. They were modified for the task, and the bike maker admitted as much this week, when it announced the launch of a six-part podcast documenting the changes. And with the announcement came, of course, the first details on these modifications.

Harley says it established a special team to handle the task of converting the LiveWires to machines that could withstand the rigors of such a journey. And they nearly nailed it, we reckon, as we’re told the job was ready in just a month, and the results are as real as they get.

We’re told the LiveWires used for the adventures used the stock Rechargeable Energy Storage System (RESS), the stock chassis, and the stock Revelation powertrain. What wasn’t stock were the rotors, wheels, and tires, with these last two pieces of hardware taken from the upcoming Pan America. There were also custom windshield, rear shock, and triple clamps.

We are not being told, at least yet, whether the range of the two-wheeler changed as a result of the upgrades.

“Harley-Davidson stands for the timeless pursuit of adventure,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO, Harley-Davidson.

“This podcast series is a premier showcase for how Harley-Davidson’s talented staff of engineers and designers go above and beyond in their mission to create motorcycles that unlock adventures wherever they may lead. These efforts can be experienced in the 2020 LiveWire – a shining example of how Harley-Davidson innovates to lead in the electrification of motorcycling. It’s an experience that can only be truly understood after riding it.”

Harley’s podcast will be available on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

International Motorcycle Shows Launches ContinueTheRide.com Featuring Digital Products Spanning Podcasts, Video Series, And More

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from https://motorcycles.einnews.com

Hosted on ContinueTheRide.com, IMS’ expansion into digital products takes a dual-pronged approach: providing in-depth analysis for industry-professionals and offering a hub for enthusiasts to be entertained, educated, and inspired year-long.

 Today, the Progressive® International Motorcycle Shows® (IMS), the industry leader for connecting powersports’ top brands with enthusiasts and buyers, announces the pre-launch of ContinueTheRide.com, a platform that will host a slate of new digital content all designed to reach and support industry-facing professionals as they address industry challenges and opportunities, as well as educate new and existing enthusiasts inside the world of motorcycling, powersports, and all things two-wheeled conveyance. ContinueTheRide.com will officially launch July 24th and will include:

 

EIN Presswire does not exercise editorial control over third-party content provided, uploaded, published, or distributed by users of EIN Presswire. We are a distributor, not a publisher, of 3rd party content. Such content may contain the views, opinions, statements, offers, and other material of the respective users, suppliers, participants, or authors.

Video Podcast: Life Lessons from Racing the Dakar Rally

By General Posts

TMFF Talk – Racing Dakar
55 minutes – Free to watch

Lawrence Hacking has been a motorcycle racer since 1971, he has raced the 21-day long 2001 Paris Dakar Rally and was the first ever Canadian to complete the toughest off-road race on earth. Since then, Lawrence has written a book “To Dakar and Back” and manages Overland Adventure Rally held each year in Ontario, Canada.

Christophe Barriere-Varju started racing motocross at the age of 14 and lifelong motocross racer, he has competed in the Dakar Rally 4 times, twice in Africa and twice in South America. His last Dakar Rally race has been captured in 10x Award Winning Film, Dream Racer — the timeless story true to all of us, one’s pursuit of lifelong dreams, whatever those dreams might be.

Lawrence and Christophe were interviewed by Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival Director, Caius Tenche in a fascinating 55-min video interview.

This interview is for all of you wondering what it takes, and what it feels like — to race the almighty Dakar Rally, and how this event can alter the course of one person’s life.

Sit back, and enjoy great life insights and personal stories from these two racers whose lives changed course after racing the world’s toughest motorsport race, the Dakar Rally as privateers.

An Interview with Lawrence Hacking, Dakar Rally Racer

https://news.dreamracer.tv/motorsport/dakar-rally/an-interview-with-lawrence-hacking-dakar-rally-racer/

Interview excerpt:

DR. How did it feel racing that last stage on Lac Rose and crossing the same podium as these legends?

LH. That day was a highlight of my life, it was January 21, 2001, we rode from the hotel on a liaison to the beach where the special stage started. Hubert Auriol made an emotional speech, we the riders talked while we waited. That moment was what I worked an entire year for and crossing over the podium was pure euphoria. That feeling is so addictive and so difficult to achieve that the quest to relive that feeling is life changing. You start dreaming about ways to recapture that feeling and it is nearly impossible. It is almost dangerous.

DR. Ok, time to reflect now…what would you tell or recommend to anyone wanting to race the almighty race?

Many think in their own mind they have what it takes but soon find out they don’t. It is a hard pill to swallow. In the Dakar there is no hiding in the shadows, everyone in the World is watching how you perform under the most difficult conditions, you have to be prepared to accept whatever happens. One of the most important things to remember is that it is far less difficult to live with 2 or 3 weeks of extreme hardship than a lifetime of disappointment.

Some of the most inspirational films are available on Dream Racer TV.

Our films serve a purpose that go beyond entertainment — they are truly inspirational, show ordinary people can achieve extraordinary feats – and inspire others to achieve their own dreams and life aspirations.

To watch some of these amazing films, please visit Dream Racer TV at https://ondemand.dreamracer.tv