https://us.bsdforever.com/collections/bsd-revolution/products/revolution-hub

Scare BnB in Austin

Éclat meets Muck Man - Does not end well

14 Oct 2014

ECLATX DIG BNB-1-of-2

Words and photos by Andrew White

​A weeklong trip in Austin with Éclat What's the worst that can happen? We found out within hours of arrival. Austin is great, but we took a chance with an Air BnB booking. If it worked out it would have been the ultimate getaway, far from dirty 6th street and the liquor pitchers that ruin the following waking hours. If only we were so lucky.

https://shop.digbmx.com/collections/all-clothing

Muck Man fucked us over pretty hard... let me work in to this. Going to Austin for a weeklong BMX trip has been done before. Everyone invited on Éclat spent their time in the city and seen the spots and gone to the bars and taco spots, and in an effort to set this venture apart from the others we booked a dream AirBNB. The listing said ‘Eco Retreat Centrally Located’ or something to that effect, and had a photo of the owner holding a baby goat very Messiah-like. It was going to be the house that riders wanted to unwind at, crack a beer, cook in the massive kitchen, explore the surroundings, take a dip in the pool, and on the nights with more ambition catch an easy cab downtown to kill brain cells at Shakes. One thing that was set out to avoid was to not spread out all around Austin, bunking on different couches, forcing the obliging TM to make the rounds morning and evening shuttling people. Expanding the spot offerings in Austin isn’t really an option (or at least not terribly feasible when the objective is to shoot a year’s worth of catalog images with five very different riders), but at least this time the crash pad will make the trip more relaxed but also organized.

The TM on the trip got picked up at the airport around a common dinner time, and having been on the road himself for the past month, the thought of a massive grocery run in order to allow smooth lodging for the week sounded wonderful. $350 to Ralph’s grocery behind, the standard issue Ford Econoline headed to the AirBNB. The long driveway leading to the grounds was tucked off a very major road in Austin, right by that spot where [Austin Legend Rider] did [Timeless Wallride/Gap/Rail] (if you’ve never been to Austin, that’s what is heard everywhere).

It's always the small shit. The aftermath of missing a peg on a jibby ice down a 6 stair.

Stevie contemplating.

The entrance was quintessential Texas, with multiple Airstream trailers corralled next to a ranch house with stock tanks, thick weeds, and cactus plants. The van was unloaded, grocery bags brought to the kitchen, and beds claimed. It’s dark, a good sign that we are the only occupants in this rental. The ranch house where we’re staying is, cool? I mean it is cool, just a little neglected. There’s obviously no A/C, and there’s no way chlorine has been trickled down into the pool out back since Reagan’s second term. Aha! That’s the Eco charm. Ok so maybe this place is cool, we get it, the dinginess was just in an effort to be a bit greener.

Enter Muck Man, the Dick. Bearing an eerie resemblance to BMXers in the early oughts, he was tall and slender and with disgusting dreadlocks. Before you washed up readers out there start losing focus on the story with flashbacks to back rail fufs, let me screenplay out our initial dialogue with Muck Man.

MUCK MAN, ENTERS ANGRILY

What the fuck is going on here?!?!? Every light is on in this whole place!

US

It’s night time.

MUCK MAN

We’re gonna run out of power before ten o’ clock! Shut these lights off! Didn’t you read the listing? This is an Eco house! We run on solar. There’s no A/C. You only rented the back room, and the communal spaces are shared.

US

You never mentioned living in darkness. So we can’t use the kitchen? What about the living room?

MUCK MAN, DEFENSIVELY

Well, depends what you’re going to use them for, are you going to be respectful?

US

Cooking and relaxing, respectively. And we can be respectful. Unless that means sitting in the dark. What about having a pit fire out back to chill?

MUCK MAN, PUT OFF AND MORE DEFENSIVE

Fire outside? Dunno, can you guys be respectful? There are other guests.

US

This house is empty besides us.

MUCK MAN, ASSHOLEDLY

Yeah, but there might be people staying here. And when that happens you better be respectful! I think an Asian chick* is staying here tomorrow. (*his exact words)

ECLATX Tocco Riding

This office complex nowhere near Austin has so many good setups. A San Diego based crew showed their moves when their DVD went to Market, so all of the eclat crew had to check out the spot and see if it really was as good as it looked. It was everything as promised, though in the end we all ended up just watching Darryl fire out his textbook toboggans over the rail to flat.

This went on for a good hour, us against him back and forth. He was genuinely the biggest head-up-his-ass hippie I’ve encountered, and I’ve been to Bonnaroo. The whole time the argument is escalating I’m staring at the pile of perishable groceries laid out on the couch (not very respectfully), and reminding myself that we’ve paid up front since an overseas company did the booking. I had to negotiate this well enough to save the groceries and have the option of getting our money back, but my skills were more Veep than House of Cards. He accused me of not reading the listing, and I countered by saying that I in fact did, and there were no baby goats on the property as promised. Realizing that we probably weren’t going to gain any ground arguing with a man who thinks positive thoughts will re-freeze ice caps, we calmed down and set out to cook dinner.

Geoff immediately dropped his iPhone in a mosquito nursery outside, the stove didn’t work since it was out of propane, and the power was running out.

Our quixotic team house was falling apart. Darryl left to go home, Burns left, having been fed hours worth of future Bonedeth nightmare material over the past couple hours, and Geoff made his way to Hawk’s. Shane, Dan, Stevie, and I resigned to our designated part of the house, and enjoyed the limited internet until it shut off by Coleman’s hand before midnight.

After going back over the AirBNB posting thoroughly, I had more than enough confidence we could tell Coleman to GFH, which we did the following day. It was just too weird. He bathes in the cesspool pond out back.

Through all that though, it was a solid riding trip. Generic and unseen spots were ridden around Austin and San Antonio, and locals Burns and Darryl did a good job at somehow giving us leads on spots that we all hadn’t been to twenty times over. We also did not session house park once which is a marvel in itself. BMX and those involved are extremely adaptable. Stranger things have happened to groups of guys pulled together to a city with the objective to ride street. It would definitely be out of the ordinary for a trip to go without a hitch, and I’m fine with that.

Post Script: Muck Man fucked the 'Asian chick'. We all heard it.

He was genuinely the biggest head-up-his-ass hippie I’ve encountered, and I’ve been to Bonnaroo.

  • ECLATX Burns Riding
  • ECLATX Burns Riding-2
  • ECLATX Burns lifestyle
  • ECLATX DanCollier Riding
  • ECLATX Shane Riding
  • ECLATX Slattery Riding
  • ECLATX Shane Riding-2
  • ECLATX Steevie Riding
  • ECLATX Shane lifestyle

of 9

Related Video

Video Vault: Éclat in Texas

Nine days in Austin with Éclat's motley crew.. - More Info

Previous

Friends Til The End - Chase Hawk and Joe Rich

A photographic journey with lifelong friends: Joe, Chase and Washington concrete...

Next

Homeless Trash - Under Your Influence

Stew Johnson on a classic Austin video and his favourite section of all time…

https://harobikes.com/collections/bmx

Latest Content

R Ryqq4 F Pg Xghqdefault
Play Button

Checking In With Kilian Roth - Source BMX

At home in Ravensburg, Germany

9 May 2025
C0 G Unj H b I4hqdefault
Play Button

MIR NG - "TAIWANS GOT IT"

DIG LOCALS

8 May 2025
Xz0 VK8 Pt2zshqdefault
Play Button

'CHICAGRE'

Grenoble, France

7 May 2025
Renato relapse thumb
Play Button

RENATO RANCSO - 'RELAPSED' | LUXBMX

Welcome To LUX!

5 May 2025
7 JQEG Vlz Iq Ahqdefault
Play Button

TOM MARSH - INTERVIEWS EP3 - BMX Direct Thailand

Scotland in Thailand

5 May 2025
It Hsd B Fav Qkhqdefault
Play Button

Dennis Enarson Game of Bike: Jason Watts Vs. Kevin Peraza

High level heaters at Clairemont

2 May 2025
Michael dickson x dig thumb
Play Button

MICHAEL DICKSON X DIG

Whip it real good

1 May 2025
HR55 De6 DEQ4hqdefault
Play Button

Sietse van Berkel - Thread - 2025

Signature style from one of the best.

1 May 2025
Zqqpc P1 Xpu Ehqdefault
Play Button

KINK - Best Of THIRTY Compilation

Choice cuts

1 May 2025
Lqi T5 W Wue Gkhqdefault
Play Button

Launch Box - Spring 2025 - A Profile Mixer

Spring season randomness

1 May 2025
Upa XUT1r Ctkhqdefault
Play Button

CONCRETE PARADISE

ft. Jack Hennicke, Willem Jorgensen & Kevin Bass

30 Apr 2025
Kx6 Pew BD2 V Ahqdefault
Play Button

DIG Partner stores

More Dig This

Vans 11 27 21 014 Bruno Gap wall

BRUNO HOFFMANN INTERVIEW - 'FOREIGN'

"I think the scene is doing good..."

21 Apr 2025
RIXIN BIG APPLE ANGLE RAW ON WHITE 2500

PRODUCTIVITY - RIXIN Big Apple Frame

Billy Perry's signature frame - Built around what he needed.

8 Apr 2025
Rad teaser

Rad Day 2025

Anniversary movie screenings and RAD documentary release.

18 Mar 2025
Expert Top 3 Roll On crop

REPO: Keeping it local at the UK 'ROLL ON' Flatland Jam

"My desire was to give something back" – Mike O'Connell

5 Mar 2025
Snow Fight – Naoki Gaman2

20 Tips For Surviving Simple Session 2025

Check yourself before you wreck yourself!

20 Feb 2025
SS finals samples 4

SIMPLE SESSION 25 WRAP UP

Highlight videos, results and more

19 Feb 2025
Street station graphic

STREET STATION RETURNS for 2025

"Not your average BMX jam"

18 Feb 2025
Stack

DIG BOOK #2024

AVAILABLE VIA THESE BIKE SHOPS AND DISTROS

30 Dec 2024
New dig apparel main image

NEW DIG BMX APPAREL

Available now

27 Dec 2024
30 YRS POSH BOOK MNTN V V 004

(Almost) 30 YEARS OF POSH WOODS

Now available

24 Dec 2024
BSD Grime Safari Reed Stark Austin 6

Reed Stark - A Photo Safari

Safari Forever...

6 Dec 2024
Et FW24 Dig Magazine Collab Shoot 031

Introducing the DIG X ETNIES Collection

Celebrating a 25 year partnership

7 Nov 2024