Taj Mihelich Mihelich —— 100 94 Taj
for him. At Odyssey, Taj now continues to follow his love of all bicycles through his new creation Fairdale Bikes, building bicycles that focus on the fun and spirit of cycling. As ever Taj continues to give back to BMX. For the past two years, he has worked himself into the ground to host the Texas Toast contest, an event that aims to restore that energy he fell in love with at the early contests when he first left home. The corner of BMX that doesn’t believe in competition, is alive and well. Texas Toast is just one further example in a catalogue of acts of generosity in which Taj has given back to BMX. Our community has rarely seen anyone so unselfish. On that first evening by the camp fire, I asked Taj why he thought, he more than anyone, approached BMX with such moral integrity and unwillingness to exploit BMX for his own gains. “Early on I realised BMX had been awesome to me. It had gotten me out of bad stuff and lifted me up.
I wanted to keep it as pure as I could. I couldn’t let anyone tell me how to do it, or even define it for me. It was one good thing in my life and I wasn’t going to fuck up by doing something I didn’t believe in. So as much as I wanted to look after BMX, it also looked after me. We grew up together in a way. We both started in pretty small dark places (BMX in the late 80’s having crashed pretty severely) and in a way I think we both matured together. BMX tucked me under its wing and taught me life, friendship, happiness, love… all of it.” I left Taj to continue his and Monty’s trip into the wilderness. I bid him farewell and wished him the best of luck finding whatever he’s looking for. He now enters a new chapter of his adult life aside from BMX for the first time. I hope without him, BMX can maintain the course he set for us. Such noble characters of unrivalled devotion and sacrifice are rare. If BMX was ever in need of a winner, surely Taj Mihelich would be he.