Photo: Angie Marino
With the start of 2014, there were a lot of surprises when it came to sponsor changes and announcements. One of those changes that really caught us off guard was Dan Foley’s decision to step away from the Premium team after a few years with them on his own. We figured it has been a while since we’ve caught up with Dan and were curious what lead to his decision, so we got ahold of him to find out the story and see what else is new with him! Check out what he had to say!
Name: Dan Foley
Photo: Stephen Lilly
Location: Greenville, NC
Years riding: 15
All right, so what’s new Dan? It’s been a while since we’ve caught up!
It has! Not too much really. I’ve gotten older and graduated from college, that’s about it.
You recently made the decision to part ways with the Premium team shortly after they made some surprising cuts for 2014. What lead to your decision to step away from the team? Was it a difficult decision for you to make or did it not really change much for you? I feel like stepping away from the travel budgets and pay checks could make it a little tough.
Well I was kind of thinking about it as 2014 approached. They definitely did a lot for me while I was riding for them and I am truly grateful for that. I just felt like there was no personal growth happening and that the time to move on was approaching. Premium was starting to feel slightly like a dead end. I rode for them for a little over 4 year, and it seemed like over the past couple of years or so, nothing had been going on. We weren’t going on any trips and I felt the team, as a whole, was not really being utilized. Last month, I was really on the fence for a couple weeks trying to figure out whether to commit to another year with the company or not. Then, they cut Josh Harrington in a way that I didn’t agree with at all. At that point it was an easy decision. Stepping away from a travel budget and paycheck sucks for sure. It really was no longer worth it, to me, to keep that stuff, yet ride for a company I didn’t feel was the right fit for me anymore.
Photo: Josh Harrington
What’s your plan now? Have you had any offers for a new bike sponsor at all? Will we expect any good news announcements soon?
Right now, nothing really.
You have been riding for G-Sport for about a year now. How has that all been going? Do you have any plans for the year yet as far as trips or anything goes?
It’s been pretty sweet. They’re a company that puts so much thought into every single one of their products and they are always keeping my bike rolling the way it should. As far as trips or plans for 2014, I haven’t heard anything, but hopefully something will pop up.
Any other sponsor news you can tell us about?
I can’t say that there is.
Have you been working on a fresh edit for us to all enjoy anytime soon? I feel like there’s never enough Dan Foley footage floating around.
Thanks! I am in the process of filming one now. I should be done with it sooner rather than later.
What are your travel plans looking like for this year? Any trips coming up you’re getting excited about? Simple Session or anything like that?
I have none at the moment. I would love to get to Simple Session, but I’m really not sure if that’ll happen this year.
Photo: Justin Kosman
Over the course of the past few years you have started turning your attention towards the filming side of things. What do you have cooking for projects these days? Any thing coming out soon we can expect to see sooner than later?
Right now Rob Darden and I have been working on an edit that we should be wrapping up pretty soon. I’m excited about that one for sure. I’ve also been working on a personal edit that should be done in the near future. Aside from that, I don’t have much going on. There’s stuff that pops up here and there, but it’s been kind of slow lately with the season.
Have you been doing much film work outside of BMX at all? Seems like weddings and what not tend to be pretty good money.
At the moment I haven’t been. I’ve done a couple weddings in the past, but it’s been a while. I always kind of avoided getting too into that stuff because I wanted to focus more of my time and energy into riding and filming bmx. I still want to focus mainly on bmx, but I could definitely see myself getting more into other video work soon and I don’t really have a problem with that.
Photo: Terrell Gordy
What kind of equipment are you working now days? Are you pretty content with what you have or do you have a dream setup you’re trying to get your hands on?
My set up is pretty basic, but does the trick for me right now. I shoot mostly with a Panasonic hmc150. With that, I use the smaller Century fisheye, as well as an Audio Technica mini shotgun mic and a wireless Sennheiser lav mic for interviews. I’ve got a GoPro Hero 3 that I mess with a bit for second angles and time lapses. I can’t forget my Manfrotto tripod either, an essential tool for stable shots and selfies. As for the editing part, I still use Final Cut 7 and just recently signed up for Adobe’s new Creative Cloud Suite primarily for After Effects. I’d like to make the switch over to Premiere soon, but I haven’t really messed with it yet. What I have definitely does the trick and I am content, but it would be nice to have a legit second angle camera and a faster computer. It would also be sweet to upgrade to the huge Century fisheye too.
What’s a typical day like for you these days? Are you working at all?
A typical day usually consists of riding, filming riding, hanging out with my girlfriend and friends, and doing random stuff on the computer. Usually that involves editing, watching videos, reading random stuff, or listening/looking for music. I’ve got a drum set I try to play every day, so factor that into the equation too. I’m not working outside of bmx at the moment.
Photo: Josh Harrington
With the new year just getting started, have you set any goals or resolutions for yourself that you are hoping to accomplish?
I’m not really one to go along with the whole new year’s resolution thing, but I have set recent goals for myself. Obviously one is to keep progressing in my riding and video work. That will always be a goal of mine, as long as I’m doing those things. Eating healthier is another one, but I always tell myself I’m going to work on that and still haven’t really made much progress. I’ve been trying to dial in my drumming lately. I went years not having drums to play due to living in an apartment with no room for them. Now we have room at our place so I’m trying to make up a bit for lost time. Also, I need to figure out opposite tailwhips past doing them flyout. I naturally do tailwhips goofy footed, so I figure I’ll learn them regular so that everyone will think my normal ones are “switch.” Genius, right?
What’s the last song you heard, movie you watched and website you visited?
Bosnian Rainbows – Turtle Neck is currently playing on iTunes. The last movie I saw was “Her”. The last website I visited was The Come Up.
How can people keep up with you these days?
I have both Instagram and Twitter.
@danfoley on Instagram
@danfoley_ on Twitter.
Follow me! I don’t post a bunch hashtags, pictures of dogs, or pictures of food, I promise. I also make sure to choose the best filters.
Photo: Josh Harrington
Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
Thanks to my parents for everything, my family, my girlfriend, and all of my friends for the love and support. Thanks to anyone who has helped me out or supported me in any way at all, and thank you, Kurt, for this interview.
Anything else you want to say?
I’m sure I’ll think of something as soon as I send off this interview.
