Picturesque Sunset Terrace, just outside of Las Vegas in sunbaked Henderson, Nevada, looks pretty much as you'd expect given the name: lots of well-kept Spanish-style houses, rugged rock gardens and neighbors straight from the cast of The Brady Bunch. It's the sort of neighborhood where women walk pedigreed dogs while men compare golf swings, where the thwack of yard sprinklers and the willowy strains of new-age music are occasionally drowned out by the howl of a Suzuki four screaming though its Blueflame exhaust.
That's right for two years now, professional stunt rider Derrick "D-Mann" Daigle and his wife Vanessa (a former military police officer and an accomplished freestyle rider herself) have made a home for themselves out here in Ward Cleaver Land, and both will tell you that life is pretty good in the 'burbs.
"Our neighbors are totally cool with us and what we do," D-Mann says. "A lot of their kids have dirt bikes and they come by to check out our gear. It's like having Evel Knievel living on their block."
D-Mann was a founding member of Las Vegas Extremes (LVX), but he split with LVX shortly after the release of their first video in order to concentrate on his own career. After taking some time off and returning to his native Chicago (where he worked briefly as a paramedic instructor and firefighter), D-Mann collaborated with Todd Colbert's Team X-Treem on the video Moving Violation before he and Vanessa decided to return to Henderson and, um, settle down. Only "settling down" for them involves stuff like being profiled on Fox's extreme sports program 5-4-3-2-1 and producing the first-ever husband wife stunt video, Cross Country D-Tour: Land of Freedom.
So, you think stunt riders live just like decadent rock stars, only worse? You'd never think this after entering the Daigle compound. The entire house is hospital neat, and the white dining room is even blinged-out with a crystal chandelier and glass-top table. A cat or two might romp through the sunny living room filled with wedding photos and a working fireplace, and the fridge overflows with sports drinks and MGD. Only in D-Mann's office do you see any evidence of the motorcycle lifestyle this couple subscribes to: The office is a virtual shrine to the freestyle gods. A 2002 Extremmy Award that D-Mann accepted on behalf of his buddy Evel Knievel is parked on a desktop ("I'm gonna drop this off at his place someday soon," he says with a grin), while posters and photos of Vanessa doing knee-downs during a track day at nearby Las Vegas International Speedway cover the walls.
As you might expect, the garage is nicely turned out, looking for all the world like something you might find in the NASCAR paddock at LVIS. Rows of helmets and crash-scarred leathers line the walls, while stacks of tires--many bald down the center, others brand new--are piled in corners. Shelves are rippling with replacement bodywork, and thousands of dollars worth of tools stand at attention, should any of the Daigle's six bikes--including a pair of stunt-ready GSX-R750s and Vanessa's Ducati 996--need any care. All the Daigle's bikes are kept well-oiled and ready to roll by their personal mechanic, "Slick." A former member of New Mexico's 702 Boyz freestyle team, in addition to tweaking the Daigle's bikes, Slick will compete in the XSBA Championships this year.
All in all, these are pretty upstanding digs for such outrageous performers. This is as it should be, Vanessa says. "People need to see a professional face on street freestyle. If we run a tight program at home, it helps that much more to put a good face on the sport."