and doing a wrong move can be costly. Not making finals means there is no TV time for you and you won’t be able to send your TV coverage to your paying sponsor. What America gets to watch on TV, isn’t the real BMX. Three years ago Taj Mihelich thought it was time to start something fun. The event he came up with needed to bring back the good times, and Texas Toast was born. Texas Toast is far from a professional TV production. There are no cameras other than those brought by the visiting media. For sure it isn’t live on TV so the schedule can be a lot looser. People aren’t charged an arm and a leg at the gate to get in to watch the mayhem and your backpack doesn’t get checked by strict security for bringing in your own food or drinks (or bombs) to the event. Texas Toast is loose and is exploding at an enormous rate.
The third edition was a massive success, because things were done right. The balance between having a contest, having fun with it, and the after party life was next to perfect. People from all over the world showed up to experience it. There was no need for an invite from the organisation to be able to ride, but it was necessary to sign up quickly as the 75 spots filled up in no-time. In the end 150 riders signed up for 75 spaces. That’s what you get when everyone wants to come over for your contest. The Simple Session in Estonia has the same problem every year and it’s hard to say no to good people who actually should be riding. 
After a cosy gathering at Empire BMX shop on Thursday it was clear that many riders had made it into town. For Friday Dirt and Street practice was on the program plus Haro’s High Air and Best Trick on the quarter pipe for all riders of 35 years and above. Legends came out right there to ride the quarterpipe. Eben Krackau, Pat Miller, The Fids, Leigh Ramsdell, Kevin Guiterrez, Greg Guillotte, they all have made covers of BMX magazines in the past and they were riding in this fun contest on Friday night to kick off the Texas Toast. The High Air comp became a battle between Pat Miller and The Fids, who hardly ever rides quarter pipes but the crowd got into it and that fired Fids up to pedal harder. But Pat Miller was cranking at full speed towards the pipe and won with a 9ft air. Things got even crazier when the focus turned towards “Best Trick”. Leigh Ramsdell’s fakie flip attempts were plain funny. The Gute did some Rock ‘n Rolls drop-ins and Fids went mental on his 540’s. He hadn’t done one since 1999 but the vibe was right and the Brit just kept going for it. Winner in the end was Jim C, who apparently is 35 years or older. The winning trick was a pulled upside down handplant. 
Next on the program was the Bell art show at the Scoot-Inn. Helmets were painted and modified by BMX related artists and up for sale during an auction that benefitted the Athlete Recovery Fund. Leland Thurman did an awesome job on the microphone and each helmet went for a couple hundred dollars. Winners here were a.o. Anthony Napolitan, Mat Hoffman, Darryl Nau, Paul de Jong, and Van Homan. They each got to bring a decorated Bell helmet home. The parties started early in the evening which was a good thing because practice the next day started at 10am. 
Saturday was reserved for qualifying in dirt and street. The week prior to the event it had rained cats and dogs so getting the dirt jumps ready was a challenge for the building crew. The jumps were finished with the help of some bags of concrete, but the surrounding spectator area was still muddy. But with the top riders present people could worry less about getting dirty shoes. Locals Chase Hawk, Aaron Ross, Mike Gonzales and Tom Dugan all entered but didn’t make it through. Other big names didn’t either but the judges did a great job and had Chris Childs in first after qualifying was over. The MC’s (Darryl, Leland, Crandall) did an awesome job keeping people entertained while running a smooth pace through the qualifying rounds. By the time the street qualifiers started, people
had cracked open the first brewski’s, something you won’t see at the X-Games but it creates a vibe that is enjoyable. People were chatting everywhere. Sponsors had put up EZ-Ups and sold some shirts or hats or other unique things. It was too crowded for all to watch street qualifying but it was going off under that roof. Many European riders had stayed around after the Dew Tour in San Francisco which took place the weekend before. In 
town were Bruno Hoffmann, Paul Ryan, Simone Barraco, Ben Lewis, Dan Lacey and Daniel Tuente to name a few of the street riders. Simone made the top 15 final cut, the others could go wild at the Markit Premiere in Shakespeares that night. 
Final day. Once again warm up started at 10am on Sunday. The private lumberyard got more crowded by the hour. The sun was out, time to kick off the Dirt finals first. Chris Childs was the surprising first place qualifier from Saturday. Not known as one of the Dew Tour riders, Chris sure had the moves it took to impress the judges. Also on Sunday he was on point and rode straight to first place beating Dennis Enarson, Hucker, Nyquist and Mulville in the process. Childs’ 360 on the last jump backwards sealed the deal. Nobody complained. Next up was the Gauntlet of Death contest. Whoever made it through the obstacle course first would take the win. Bike skills were required. Balance, control, finesse, precision, speed, you needed all of it at some point. Maxime Charveron was the first to do the curved wallride to curved wallride in practice but Gary Young snaked him when it mattered.
Mat Hoffman financed a vert ramp to be built up at Texas Toast for all who wanted to session it. Simon Tabron had made the trip as well as Jimmy Walker, Coco Zurita, Zach Warden so lots of medalists were around to put on a show. Hucker fell straight to his face but was wearing a full-face helmet. He was out for a bit, but got back up. Another sideshow was the flatland session of Matthias Dandois and Viki Gomez. Both in town for the NORA CUP that would take place that night. A bit of asphalt was cleaned and the session started. Everyone including Dennis McCoy enjoyed watching the best flatland on earth at the Texas Toast.
Freegun had put up a check for the person who could bunnyhop the highest. With so much talent around the win wasn’t going to be easy. 50 inches was the highest cleared height and the check went to Broc Raiford. Extra money in the bank. 
The street finals were still on the program and with 15 riders in the final it looked like Texas Toast was going to wrap things up on schedule. Sponsors could create an obstacle and together with the orga crew a street course was created that worked well. DIGBMX brought the satellite dish, Shadow brought rails, Subrosa took care of a flat banked double, RIDE made a bank to wall, HARO brought a quarterpipe, the Bakery brought a rail and the wethepeople obstacle had stairs and a concrete ledge. The Redline wall was tight and the Toaster was original. With the BMX industry supporting the event there was no need for many outside sponsors, but Pabst Blue Ribbon is always welcome. Trey Jones was on fire and used all obstacles in an original way with loads of speed. Third place was the result. After winning the Gauntlet of Death and riding the Dirt finals, Gary Young was well warmed up for the street final. The man is in shape and pedals like a maniac. 
Pocket airs, triple jumps, huge tables out of the satellite dish and tricks on top of the Ride wall were some of the moves that the Sunday rider brought to the table after a long day on the bike. 2nd place for him. Dennis Enarson got 2nd in dirt, and then won the street comp. His Markit video was well received by the BMX crowd the night before and it got Dennis buzzing. Those who were there in the flesh saw that the Haro rider doesn’t need 7 attempts to pull something big. He is just that good. His 180 whips to fakie were huge and he’s got those footjam to fakies down as well. The results were actually announced at night before the NORA CUP started. It set off the night well and ended the BMX weekend the right way. Much props to everyone involved in the event. It was an awesome experience and an example that BMX can be big and fun at the same time without all the TV cameras and security guards. Mad props.
BdJ
PRO DIRT RESULTS Texas Toast 2013.
1. Chris Childs
2. Dennis Enarson
3. Mike Hucker Clark
4. Ryan Nyquist
5. Mark Mulville
6. Clint Reynolds
7. TJ Ellis
8. Brandon Dosch
9. Chris Doyle
10. Leandro Moreira
11. Gary Young
12. Ronnie Napolitian
13.Pat Casey
14. Colton Walker
15. Rickey Moseley
PRO STREET FINAL RESULTS.
1. Dennis Enarson
2. Gary Young
3. Trey Jones
4. Stevie Churchill
5. Kevin Peraza
6. Simone Barraco
7. Broc Raiford
8. Chris Childs
9. Justin Spriet
10. Van Homan
11. Zack Gerber
12. Brandon Van Dulken
13. Chad Kerley
14. Ryan “Biz” Jordan
15. Shawn McIntosh
Gauntlet of Death: Gary Young
Freegun Bunny Hop: Broc Raiford
Pics by BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.