For this episode of ODSY Vision, we bring to you our favorite clips from the Texas Toast Jam and a quick trip with George Boyd. He lives a few hours north of Austin so we met up with him a couple days prior and filmed a handful of clips along the drive.

Thanks to everyone who flew, drove, walked and pedaled to the Texas Toast Jam. You guys helped make it a good time with plenty of fun in the sun. Hope to see everyone again next year!

For a full, comprehensive look at the Texas Toast Jam, make sure to click HERE to view all of the photo galleries and videos we have gathered of the event.

Full Factory Distribution has their batch of photos up!

RESULTS:

Gauntlet of Death Champion: Scotty Cranmer
Odyssey’s Dragon Slayer Best Trick: Scotty Cranmer
Failure’s Bearded Leap Frog Highest Bunnyhop: Broc Raiford (49 inches)
Shadow’s Grind Box / Rail Jam: Dan Foley
Sunday’s Icepick Challenge: Matt Houck (50 feet, 8 inches)
Empire’s Curve Wallride Best Trick: Gary Young
Pro Dirt Comp Winner: Gary Young

Thanks to Taj and all of the sponsors for helping make this event possible.
Empire, Oakley, Sunday, FOX, Vans, Mutiny, Pro-Tec, Fairdale Bikes, Failure Bikes, LiveStrong, GSport, FBM, Liquor Bikes, Quintin Hats, ProBar, Vclub, Tree Bicycles, Shadow, Blacken, Subrosa, KVRX, Do512 and KNOG.

ESPN dropped by our OTX Office to talk with Taj regarding our Texas Toast Jam (May 27-29). Watch the video to check out sneak peeks of some of the obstacles we’ve been cooking up for the Gauntlet of Death.

We’re having a ramp painting party this weekend and if you live in the Austin area and want to help sling some paint around, send Taj an e-mail: texastoastjam@odysseybmx.com.

You’re definitely going to want to come to this event. Click HERE for full details.

Taj Mihelich has an interview up on ESPN. He talks about what he’s been up to lately and discusses a little bit about the direction and progression of Fairdale. For those who don’t know, it began as ‘zine and quickly evolved into a new venture. Read the interview HERE and then add Taj on Facebook and Twitter.

Taj Mihelich has been keeping himself pretty busy lately. Aside from keeping his Fairdale Zine updated with plenty of drawings and awesomeness, he’s also been working hard on getting some bikes made!

It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years and years and I think even my hardcore BMX-only friends will be able to relate to some of the motivation behind it.

Fairdale is the brand for all my friends who ask me what kind of bike they should get just for riding around town. In the past, I always struggled to find a good answer for them. So many bikes are too focused on racing, extremeness, trends, are dorky looking or just bogged down with too much flakey technology. On the other hand, BMX, with its simple functionality, has taught me that the technology of a bike rarely increases the fun of riding it.

Click HERE to check out the latest samples and then hit up ESPN for a quick write up!

Taj Mihelich has an interview and retrospective photo gallery up on ESPN. It’s been a long journey and we’re psyched to have him be party of the Odyssey family both as a rider and a co-worker. Click the photo to read the full interview!

Fairdale is a new zine that’s been cooking here at Odyssey. It’s master-minded by Taj Mihelich with a little help from Roscoe. Though it’s only been up for a few days, it already has an eclectic set of articles under its belt. Roscoe and Taj basically have free reign on Fairdale so make sure to bookmark it and sign up for its RSS feed. It’s hard to predict what those two will come up with!

You can also connect with Fairdale through Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

It’s wild to think that this video is over a decade old. It dates back to 1994 to be exact and it features a very young Taj Mihelich after he had just made his move to Austin.

Ride BMX just got done with their latest issue and it’s a good one! Tom Dugan scored the cover by dropping from the sky with a boosted transfer. Inside you’ll find a write up from Taj about living in Austin and photos from the likes of Chase Hawk, Tom Dugan and other Odyssey dudes. Go out and pedal as fast as you can to the nearest magazine rack and pick one up!

Some time last week, Taj got sick and started taking drawing requests to help pass the time. The concept was simple; suggest an animal doing a trick on a bike and then Taj would then spend a few minutes doodling it out. A lot of you guys chimed in and above is the end result from the experiment. For details on each request, flip through it on our Flickr page.

To wrap it up, Taj even put together a pictorial on How To Draw.

Thanks to everyone who participated. If you don’t want to miss out on the next time we do something like this, make sure to add us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Taj is resting at home right now and feeling a little under the weather. To pass the time, he’ll be doodling random animals riding bicycles. If there’s an animal you’ve ever wanted to see riding a bike, now’s your chance to submit a request. Post some ideas in the comments section and if Taj digs it, he’ll draw it up for you.

The doodles will be done in a few minutes and under the influence of Nyquil.
See the drawing above for an example.

Check our Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep up on all of the new doodles!

UPDATE: No more requests for now! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Check the Facebook page for all the doodles that came out of this!

The Athlete Recovery Fund (ARF) continues to be a generous help to numerous professional athletes who have found themselves under the gun of piling medical bills. Their list includes the likes of many talented BMX riders such as Mike Aitken, Stephen Murray, Jimmy Levan and recently, Taj Mihelich.

To help spread the word about their ’cause, Taj decided to interview ARF’s insurance consultant, Amanda Savage. She helped Taj take a bill that was over 40K and dwindle it down to $6700! Read the interview.

ESPN just put up a photo gallery with Taj. It’s a nice pictorial that’ll give you some insight on what life’s been like for him while he heals from back surgery.

Have you check out Taj’s Blog lately? He’s posted up plenty of amazing images there this past couple of weeks, ranging from babies riding the mega ramp, modifying magazine pages and even a comprehensive how-to on performing fusion surgery.

While there, make sure to check out Olympia Nelson’s bio / bike check.

Taj Mihelich shoe cover and a Q&A over at Dig

It was a tough choice between using the Taj shoe cover as the teaser or the nac-nac wall plant. Both look sweet as hell but the shoe ultimately won ’cause as far as I can remember, nobody else’s can cans has ever looked better than Taj’s. He does them dipped and proper. You can check out both pics and his Q&A over at Dig and then head over to Ride BMX to download a Chase Hawk wallpaper.

If you’re a regular reader of The Blog of Taj, you’d know that Mr. Mihelich has been having some horrible back problems lately. After a series of doctor visits and a bad-news bearing MRI, it’s been concluded that drills and screws are in store for Taj’s spine.

So, we settled on the fusion surgery. Its what Ruben was describing last post. The crazy part is they go in through the front of your abdomen to do the surgery. Its a relatively small incision, but two surgeons are present. One to do the actual screw and plate and bone graft surgery, and one to monitor and control the extremely vital arteries that run right in front of the spine. Basically they screw and plate the vertebrae together so they can’t move, and then fill the area where the disc used to be with bone grafts that will fill it in so the damaged disc can no longer put pressure on the spine. I think…. I’ll get more and more precise with exactly what is going on as I learn more.

YIKES! The procedure’s going to take him off the bike for 6 months, which is roughly 6 years in BMX time (it goes by much slower when you can’t ride). Needless to say, Taj is really bummed out about the news. Since we haven’t developed a time machine yet to fast-forward 6 months, why don’t we start a thread going full of ideas to pass the time while he’s injured? Aside from YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, what do you do when you can’t ride? With Taj’s personality in mind, recommend some books, movies and low-impact activities you think he might like. Leave it in the comments.

Also, I remember him running a zine distribution outlet a while ago so if you’re running a good ol’ fashion print-zine and have a copy to spare, send it over to Odyssey and we’ll make sure it gets to him. Address is after the jump.

ATTN: Taj, Roscoe and Little Monty
C/O Odyssey BMX
16325 Arthur St.
Cerritos, CA 90703
USA

Photo by Ron Plumlee.

First up is a Taj Mihelich clip brought to you by 4Down Distribution.
After the link are more Jim Bauer action!

Video by Smoovebert. (Why isn’t this in the Odyssey Flickr Group?!!)

Jim Bauer and a bluetooth, hands-free accessorized Model-C.
Photo by mercedes_lens via the Odyssey Flickr Group

New issues of Ride BMX and Ride UK are hitting the magazine stands and here’s a preview of what you could be flipping through if you weren’t so darn technologically inclined. Take a peek and then check them out in their enhanced, real-life, 3D versions. Also, there’s a bonus Bouncing Souls video on the other side of the train tracks (read more link)!

Picasso style ramps at the X-Games warehouse (RideBMX:p.66)

Ever wonder where all of those ramps from the X-Games end up? Well, they keep them locked up in a warehouse, stacked up like crazy into a scene that somewhat resembles an Esher or a Picasso. Taj Mihelich, Gary Young, Matt Beringer and Kurt Rasmusson gives them a visit in the latest Ride BMX issue. The pictures in the article are wild.

Aaron Ross in a pretty sweet Sunday ad (RideBMX:p.43)

Matt Beringer sequence from his playground (RideBMX:p.56)

Gary Young in a power wheelie sequence? Probably not… (RideBMX:p.61)

Gary and Aaron grow out afros? (RideUK:p.82)

Mike Taylor, role model (RideUK:p.57)

Bouncing Souls: Eastside Mags. Lyrics below so you can sing along!!!

Ride! Ride! Ride!….
comin’ out through the park
past the dog run smell of shit
burning in the sun
watch the cab dent his door
happy hour here let’s pick up jorge
lock ‘em up three cold beers in a cup

Inside Coney something ain’t right
too many people on a friday night
i can’t see straight in the flashing lights
i got a feeling there’s gonna be a fight
wrap it up, pack it up saddle up
full tank of liqour in our guts

Drinkem down we gotta a ride
going through the lower east side
day or night mags on the run
looking for trouble
looking for fun
BMX we got suss
when we ride don’t mess with us

Some people also guessed they belonged to b_dubbs and they would’ve been correct as well. Click HERE for a gold compilation he put together prior to us sending out the wheels.

Ray’s MTB Park held an “Odd Couple” contest last week and Taj Mihelich, along with Jeff Lenosky, wound up taking second place. To check out some behind the scenes photos, make sure to visit The Blog of Taj.