The weather wasn’t with us the first two days and with an outdoor event you will have to work with what you get. The dirt course was too wet and soft on Thursday and Friday so everything that was scheduled for those days was put into the Saturday evening program which meant straight finals for the Amateurs as well as the Pros. But there were problems with the jumps, and the strong wind that had some of the riders pull out. But those who did ride put on a show for the (big) crowd. Amateurs had a hip to start off with followed by an S turn and another two sets. The pro riders left from the higher container and were treated with 3 big killer jumps. Bob Manchester (UK) was riding well in practice but ended up in 7th behind one of the Musso brothers named Mathieu (FRA). Dusan Antalik (CZE) does mean one-handed tables which looked good over the big ones as he could hold them what seemed like forever, or long enough for the crowd to scream yeah! It was a bit of a surprise to see Maddog (USA) drop in on dirt.
Sometimes you end up in situations that cannot be planned. It just comes together and feels great. The MiniRamp comp at the FISE was one of those occurrences. With prelims partly being rained out the previous night the last few qualifiers made it in right before the finals started. In the meantime it was getting late, but the crowd got bigger and bigger and louder and louder. The alcohol might have something to do with it but the atmosphere was getting good except for that one bottle that landed on the miniramp during the comp and caused a flat tire for Ryan Taylor. The jerk got boo-d enough to let him know he messed up but a beating would have been on its place. But back to the ramp, where the action took place. With this rider field things were heating up, which was very welcome because it was freezing in Montpellier at night. One more hour of artificial light was at hand to fit the finals in on this new Monster Energy spine ramp which was a tad bigger than last year’s mini and a little smaller than the Braun spine.
The FISE had brought a lot of BMX riders to town, but the FISE is also a wakeboard event, a roller event, starting to be an MTB and skateboard event as well. The happening brought over 300.000 people to the venue this year and at night they all wanted to party, or at least the “Feierbiests” out of those people. “The Australian Bar” is one of the places but “Manhatten” was right next to it and the “Vegas Bar” right around the corner. No need to walk far but getting in was a bit of a challenge. 
The flatland part at the FISE this year had a good turnout. It might have been because it was the first round of the World Flatland Series. Anyway, it was good to see some great riders come to France to ride on a small platform. With judges such as Alain Massabova, Effraim Catlow, Nathan Penonzek and Martin Schultz the riders’ riding was in good hands. Again, the crowd made this a contest not to forget. The whole bank was filled with people and the riders got to feed off of that. With Lionel Cardoso and Catfish on the MIC the 8 finalists went head to head to put on a great show. Jesse Puente ("Best dirt rider inthe world?") didn’t ride as well as in qualifying and lost against Viki Gomez. The “small” final was won by Viki but the big battle for the win was between Moto Sasaki and Matthias Dandois. The proud new member of the HDT flow team put it together in front of a home crowd and beat his Japanese opponent. Needless to say, the crowd went nuts.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.