It’s hard sometimes to start writing without dipping into a rant, and believe me the older you get the harder it gets to put that to bed. All rants aside I feel I need to get something off my chest - and not in a ‘disconnected I don’t know what I’m saying’ type of way but instead ‘probably a bit disconnected but I really know what the fuck I’m saying way’…you know? No? Me Neither.
I’ve noticed lately that some riders seem to think that El Toro is the fucking gateway to sponsorship-land or even just the gateway to being known in BMX. I know it’s hard out there, I know that there are a billion kids who can do every trick in the book and the competition is fierce. I know this. But still, who the fuck just stops trying and says “Hey, I had a good look at my balls today and they look huge as fuck, I’m gonna go do something big down El Toro and get back home and wait for phone to ring”. It does not work like that! It really does not. First of all, every rider, brand owner, team manger or even Mrs. fucking Smith who works weekends at Chick-fil-a is going to be like “You did that for the gram, uurr…seriously?” You will forever be known as that kid who did that thing for the gram on El Toro.
In the 1960’s, Andy Warhol notoriously said “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”. He was right, except it’s not 15 minutes, its 1 shitty minute and 1 minute means shit, so that’s a lot of shit. It means you woke up one morning and wondered how you could warp to sponsorship faster than the normal route. You got impatient; you open up insta or snap chat and you’re like “damn everyone’s sponsored, I wanna be sponsored, I’m just gonna jump on the 5 and umm, which ways El Toro again”.
“ damn everyone’s sponsored, I wanna be sponsored, I’m just gonna jump on the 5 and umm, which ways El Toro again”
You see, this article is not telling you how to get sponsored, that information should be passed down from the elders, it’s about the route you go on and how it’s worth more in reputation to struggle and fight and gain respect by putting in the work. The work might take years as well, but that’s just what it takes. My advice (which is debatable as even advice, lets face it) is to roll your sleeves up and put some serious muscle into making a statement about your riding. Go get your videographer, oh you haven’t got one… then go buy a camera and teach your younger brother or sister or girlfriend to film but do something other than flexing your whip and cramming in the hashtags. Then go and get your clips, start stacking, working on lines, working on an opener, and building up to some Enders. Get it edited, can’t edit? Fucking learn – I built a fucking brick wall because I watched some guy with a pony tail do it on YouTube, you can take the time to watch tutorials and learn that shit. Put it out there and don’t be bummed because 453 people watched it, just get back onto it and start all over again.
People want to take shortcuts in this world, just look at reality TV, or X-Factor? That pile of crap show is just a collection of impatient people who can’t be bothered to form a band and slog it out playing to 6 people in a bar in the middle of nowhere-land. I will never have respect for those types of people, and the same goes for dropping a hammer on instagram when you don’t even have an edit.
As much as I didn’t really enjoy writing this, I felt encouraged to. I felt like if I didn’t then riders will still think that by swinging their dicks around at El Toro on Instagram the checks are gonna start coming in…it really isn’t like that. Hard work and patience is the key along with a lot of other good traits that you can only really learn by being around the right people. I had to write this though; I had to get it off my chest if only to help towards preserving the true rights of passage in BMX. - PR
