Latest / Rusty's Garage / Robbie Maddison

Transcript

Robbie Maddison · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:18
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust, and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:29
  Evil Knievel was a motorcycle stunt daredevil whose death-defying jumps coupled with his showmanship made history in the 60s and 70s.
• 0:38
  The modern-day equivalent in many people's eyes is an Aussie by the name of Robbie Madison.
• 0:43
  Robbie grew up on the coast south of Sydney, but these days his talents have wowed audiences right round the world.
• 0:50
  I caught up with him while he was back down under for one of the biggest dirt bike racing events of the year, the AusX Open, which his son was competing in.
• 0:59
  Even a man with nerves of steel like his is no match when that protected parental gene takes over.
• 1:06
  I am a nervous dad.
• 1:07
  I mean, it's great to be at the OzX Open.
• 1:09
  I think the atmosphere, the energy here is awesome.
• 1:13
  It's electric.
• 1:14
  It has everything of a US event.
• 1:17
  And to be riding here is special for me.
• 1:19
  But even to have my son out here is something else.
• 1:22
  You know, for a long time, I've been saying he's not going to be a motorcycle rider.
• 1:25
  And whether I like it or not, this is, he's following in my footsteps.
• 1:27
  He watches it.
• 1:28
  He's been watching it ever since he's been a baby.
• 1:30
  So he just wants to catch here.
• 1:31
  He tells me he wants to fly.
• 1:32
  And that's what I used to say when I was his age.
• 1:34
  That's really cool.
• 1:35
  We'll talk more about how you're inspiring people in that regard, even a new book that you've got out for young kids at the moment.
• 1:41
  What's your earliest memories of going fast and a connection with a motorcycle?
• 1:46
  Oh, wow.
• 1:47
  Well, I remember the first time I rode vividly, you know, it was on a peewee and I mean, that time was a short time, but I quickly jumped the 50 until I broke it and I got onto a cake 60 and that's when I remember going fast.
• 2:02
  I had six gears, a clutch.
• 2:04
  I remember hanging off the back of that thing, feet flying backwards and I actually remember my dad getting on it and he hit the power and just ripped him up on a wheelie and he was out of control.
• 2:13
  So it's, yeah, the earliest memory is on the KX60.
• 2:17
  I was like a flea on a dog's back.
• 2:19
  And I remember starting on the start line, standing beside the bike and getting it going and then swinging the leg over.
• 2:25
  But, yeah, I mean, I've just been ever since riding motorcycles for the first time, I remember just experiencing the freedom of it and then just the meditative kind of.
• 2:35
  experience you get because there's so much going on in a motorcycle and motorcycle riders know this there's no time to think about what's going on in the past the future it's just all right here right now it puts you in the present in the present form and and that's where i like to operate so that's why i just love riding bikes because it's to me it's meditation
• 2:51
  A lot of people in life, maybe it's a teacher at school or sometimes mum and dad, you'll talk to people like you and the teachers have often said to them, hey, get serious here, you need to get a real career or parents try to dissuade them.
• 3:04
  Did that happen to you or were you always encouraged to do this?
• 3:06
  Well, all through school, funny enough, I never told anyone I rode motorcycles because I had my motorcycle stolen when we lived at Wununa on the south coast.
• 3:14
  And when we moved to Kiama, I just, I maintained that I didn't have bikes.
• 3:17
  And when people saw them and asked them about them, I said, oh, they're my cousins.
• 3:20
  My dad works on them.
• 3:20
  So no one knew I rode motorcycles.
• 3:22
  So it was a really shock to everyone I went to high school with when all of a sudden, you know, I became on the world stage.
• 3:28
  They're like, how did you do that?
• 3:29
  You never rode.
• 3:30
  And I'm like, oh, actually, I rode for 10 years.
• 3:32
  You just never knew.
• 3:33
  So I never really spoke about it.
• 3:35
  So no one really, I never got to hear people's opinions.
• 3:37
  But yeah, I was told by my dad, actually, you know, that he's like, you're not going to become a motorcycle rider, a professional.
• 3:46
  He's like, you need to go and do a trade, something that you can come back on.
• 3:49
  He's like, and once you get your trade, then by all means, you have my blessing to go and...
• 3:53
  For sure, yeah.
• 3:54
  But he said, go get your trade first so you have something to fall back on.
• 3:57
  So I did it.
• 3:58
  I only got my trade, become a Sparky.
• 4:00
  And during that time, life took some turns and I had meningitis and funny enough, I was happy to be an electrician.
• 4:08
  And I had a plan to go over to the West Coast and go on the big mines and that was my plan.
• 4:14
  And then after meningitis, I was like,
• 4:16
  Man, I always had this dream to ride a motorcycle, and I realized how fragile life was after being on my deathbed with meningitis.
• 4:21
  I was like, you only get one shot at life, and my ultimate goal was to ride a motorcycle for a living.
• 4:26
  And at least just, I'd seen Krusty Demons, I'd seen Dane Canard, Luke Gurek, guys I grew up racing with, they're out there in Krusty Demons and riding with the American guys.
• 4:34
  And I knew.
• 4:35
  I used to race these guys.
• 4:36
  I was on their level.
• 4:37
  I'm like...
• 4:38
  I can do this.
• 4:39
  And then so I, after leaving the Krusty show, I had a new goal, changed my ways up from what I was doing at the time and started riding dirt bikes every opportunity I could.
• 4:48
  And sooner enough, I asked my boss for some time off and he said no.
• 4:51
  And I said, oh, well, I'm quitting.
• 4:54
  And he said, well, how can you quit?
• 4:55
  And I said, he's like, you own a house.
• 4:57
  And I said, yeah, I know.
• 4:58
  But luckily enough, I bought the house at the right time.
• 5:01
  So I was able to get a loan on the equity I had built up in the house, which was really cool.
• 5:07
  And so I took a loan out and self-funded myself, quit working, followed my dream to ride dirt bikes.
• 5:12
  And I thought, if it doesn't work out, I can sell the house and not owe anyone a cent.
• 5:16
  And fortunately enough, it worked out.
• 5:17
  That's a big punt.
• 5:19
  Were there ever moments where you went, man, I'm not sure this is going to work?
• 5:23
  You know, to do what I have done, every step of the way, every decision is all in gamble.
• 5:29
  So from the time of like, you know, refinancing my house to fund my dream, right through my whole career, everything's been all in, you know, all chips on black or red or whatever it is, you know.
• 5:40
  So, you know, when you jump on world records, you're going up over the buildings, you know, over the Corinth Canal, London Tower Bridge, all the stuff I've done, even freestyle motocross, you know, doing body varials and backflips.
• 5:50
  If you're not 100% committed to it, if there's an ounce of you that's second-guessing it, surely enough something's going to go wrong.
• 5:56
  And I think that's how it is, even for the guys behind the gate racing up for going into a race.
• 6:01
  You know, they're all in, confident that they're just going to give their all.
• 6:04
  There's nothing left on the table.
• 6:06
  And so that's just how life's been for me.
• 6:08
  And even now, I've worked so hard and I'm about to take another financial risk where I'm putting everything back on the table because I'm following my dreams.
• 6:16
  And that's what it's about for me.
• 6:18
  Even this bike and this development of this bike that I'm trying to do, it's been self-funded so much, this part of it, for the majority of it.
• 6:26
  Yeah, it's like, from the outside looking in, it probably looks like it's a glory lifestyle, but it's a rocky road and you never know when you're going to fall.
• 6:35
  And so I just live by the seat of my pants.
• 6:37
  I keep following my dreams and I just keep backing myself in.
• 6:39
  I'll talk a bit more about your career then in a minute, but can you share a bit more about that bike and what you're planning to do?
• 6:43
  Yeah, so the bike, you know...
• 6:46
  A lot of people have said, you know, I've heard the opinions around the place and I totally get it.
• 6:52
  You know, a lot of brands don't really want to jump on top of it because they're worried about where it's going.
• 7:00
  And, you know, I guess from an outsider's perspective, they're unsure of what I'm doing.
• 7:05
  And it's not really a sport.
• 7:07
  It's not a sport, you know, but...
• 7:09
  In my mind, this is going to be a sport of the future.
• 7:12
  You know, I firmly believe, you know, my partners who are involved with me, who know the direction that I'm going, we are all on the same page.
• 7:22
  We know that this is going to be a good thing.
• 7:24
  So it's, you know, I have Body Glove is a sponsor of mine.
• 7:27
  It may seem weird that I'm running Body Glove on my bike because they're, you know, famously a surf brand, but their slogan is all things water.
• 7:35
  So that's where I fit into their marketing and their branding.
• 7:39
  People saw me do Pipe Dream and that was a motorcycle with skis on it.
• 7:43
  I recently went to Cloudbrake in Fiji to try and get the barrel that I was after.
• 7:47
  That didn't work out.
• 7:48
  I copped a lot of flack off STAB Magazine.
• 7:50
  They did a full article and a lot of people had opinions on how what I was doing was stupid.
• 7:56
  and even people just attacking me directly.
• 7:58
  And at the end of the day, I let it brush off my shoulders and I was like, you know what?
• 8:02
  This is motivating me to follow through.
• 8:04
  It's been a long road of a lot of ups and downs and it's been times where I've thought this is too much and I've given up.
• 8:09
  But to make this work, I needed to find the right people and I'm talking about engineers that are at the top of their game.
• 8:15
  And I don't know how to find those people.
• 8:17
  I guess I was thinking about, do I go to
• 8:19
  you know, to these universities and ask for who their top, you know, mechanical engineers are and start figuring it that way.
• 8:25
  And I thought, you know what, if it's meant to be, it'll happen.
• 8:28
  That's my philosophy with life.
• 8:29
  And, um, and so I just followed my heart and I put myself in the right place.
• 8:32
  And I know I'm in the right place at the right time when, when things just start clicking and the planets start aligning.
• 8:38
  And two weeks ago I was, I was doing some, um, rehabilitation actually, um,
• 8:43
  And it's a trial procedure I was doing.
• 8:45
  And a neurologist came in and he showed me how he flew a jetpack.
• 8:50
  And I said, who made the jetpack?
• 8:52
  And he said, oh, this kid here.
• 8:53
  And it was like a guy next to him.
• 8:55
  And he's younger than me.
• 8:55
  And I said, you made it?
• 8:56
  And he said, yeah.
• 8:57
  And I said, how old are you?
• 8:57
  And he's like, I'm 30.
• 8:59
  And I was like, wow, that's impressive.
• 9:01
  And I said, how long did it take you to make it?
• 9:02
  And he said, well, from idea to finished project, it took me six months.
• 9:06
  I was like, wow, I've been working on this motorcycle for five years and it hasn't really developed too much.
• 9:10
  I said, mate, I need someone like you to help me finish off my project of where I'm doing.
• 9:13
  He's like, oh, the buck on the water.
• 9:14
  He knew who I was, knew what I was about.
• 9:16
  And he's like, I'd love to help you.
• 9:17
  So right there we had a match made in heaven.
• 9:19
  And between him and some other partners, we are modelling this thing out.
• 9:24
  It's moving forwards.
• 9:25
  And hopefully early next year we're going to have a prototype build, do a badass film and expose to the world what's going on in my mind and hopefully have...
• 9:36
  the a tool for the future so people can convert their motorcycles to jet skis and well a jet ski hybrid motorcycle where you got a foot of suspension all the luxuries of a dirt bike handle and feel like a dirt bike but on the water and that's what i wanted to create that's what i always envisioned you know as a kid surfing on the south coast of kiama i'd always sit in the ocean i used to think how good would it be to jump off this way to that one over there and now that's what my goal is that's my my vision so um
• 10:02
  I'm going to turn my KTM from 72 horsepower to 150 horsepower, supercharge it, and the thing's going to float, and we're going to be able to do freestyle motocross in the water.
• 10:10
  That is mighty.
• 10:11
  That is mighty.
• 10:12
  And for people that are listening that might think that sounds like a crazy pipe dream, you've done some unbelievable things with dirt bikes on the water.
• 10:20
  How much planning has gone into that?
• 10:22
  Do you enjoy the engineering challenge of all that?
• 10:24
  And it takes time, mate, doesn't it, to execute it?
• 10:27
  Yeah, 100%.
• 10:28
  It's something that's humbled me and made me understand a lot more about life, you know, because for the most part, the last 10 years, it's just been going from event to event, which is cool.
• 10:39
  It's exciting.
• 10:39
  But I realized a few years ago, like, all right, this time of my life's coming to an end.
• 10:44
  I've had back surgery.
• 10:44
  I've had all these head injuries.
• 10:45
  I've, you know, I have post-traumatic impact syndrome.
• 10:48
  So when I take a big spill, I literally die on the way to hospital.
• 10:52
  You know, I have to get inebriated and put on life support every time I have a head injury.
• 10:56
  So it's a rocky road.
• 10:57
  Now that the kids are around, they're my main goal.
• 11:00
  And so I started this whole thing to follow my dream.
• 11:04
  And my dream has changed from wanting to be the best at freestyle.
• 11:07
  Now I'm happy to stand back and praise the guys like Harry Bink and Josh Sheehan and Jack Ostrong and Rob Adelberg and all these stars that are of the future now.
• 11:17
  Happy to look at them and know that I inspired them, and I'm the first to say I'm not on their level.
• 11:25
  But to ride here at the AusX Open and ride with them is awesome for me.
• 11:29
  I'm having such a great time out there.
• 11:30
  But, yeah, to follow this dream of mine and to now make this bike, now that's where my vision's at.
• 11:36
  I want to make this bike, and there's a few other things that I want to do that are totally outside of freestyle motocross.
• 11:42
  And, yeah, it seemed like a long road, and it's had its...
• 11:46
  It's ups and downs and there's been for a time where I've had to really dig deep and I've had to think, why am I doing this?
• 11:52
  And it's cost me money and the vision seems so far away of what I want to do.
• 11:56
  And I actually question myself, am I actually with it?
• 11:59
  You know, is this even a reality?
• 12:02
  Can I even do what I'm envisioning?
• 12:05
  Yeah, slowly I've given up and I've come back to realise that it is true, that it is valuable and viable and, you know, that technology exists to make all this work.
• 12:15
  And I knew I didn't have the brains to make it happen, but I had the vision.
• 12:18
  And it was a matter of finding the people that could help the other pieces of the puzzle.
• 12:22
  It's always a team effort no matter what, any amazing feat is always a team effort.
• 12:27
  And so I just had to build the right team and I feel I've got the power team now and I think that we're well on our way to make this thing a reality.
• 12:35
  This is Greg Rust and you're listening to Rusty's Garage.
• 12:39
  In this series, I speak to some of the most passionate riders, drivers, designers and collectors I know.
• 12:46
  Like Ryan Briscoe, the diversely successful Aussie racer whose path has taken him to Formula One with Toyota and some of the biggest teams in sports cars and IndyCar in the United States.
• 12:59
  However, it was in Chicago that his career almost came to a frightening end.
• 13:04
  It was a massive impact.
• 13:05
  I think they saw on the car the G-Force spiked at between 170 and 190 Gs.
• 13:13
  I mean, it went straight into the pole.
• 13:16
  The engine stuck on the pole.
• 13:19
  Listen to the full episode with Brian Briscoe here on Rusty's Garage.
• 13:31
  Brake bias, the distribution of braking power across the front and back of your car.
• 13:37
  Of all the feats that you've done, and I mean, they're countless.
• 13:40
  I mean, you talked before about Corinth Canal, I mean, Arc de Triomphe in Vegas, London Tower Bridge.
• 13:46
  I mean, there's so many things that you've done.
• 13:49
  And jumping over 100 metres, for example, I mean, it's just mega metres.
• 13:53
  Is there one that stands out?
• 13:54
  Is there a thing that you're most proud of?
• 13:55
  Or is it a fact that you've had a crack at all of these and that there is seemingly no limits in some respects?
• 14:02
  Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
• 14:02
  I think my career has definitely moulded me.
• 14:04
  It's changed my perspective on life.
• 14:06
  And looking back, I'm pretty happy to just say, wow, I had a great career, you know, and I'm very proud of it.
• 14:13
  So there's not really one that stands out because they all have their own special place.
• 14:17
  I mean, I have to say the building jump in Vegas on and off the Arc de Triomphe was probably the standout moment of my career just because of the exposure it got.
• 14:24
  And it was so...
• 14:26
  far of left field for what was expected at the time that it hit well.
• 14:30
  It was good for me.
• 14:30
  It put me on the map for sure.
• 14:32
  And then I think the pipe dream stuff was great.
• 14:34
  And I think from what I've seen online, people are like, oh, stop beating a dead horse, you know, but they don't realise what I'm trying to do with this thing.
• 14:40
  So...
• 14:42
  I think, you know, moving on, I think this bike, you know, in the future could maybe become my best work yet.
• 14:48
  So it's... And then beyond that, I have another plan, and it's going to be with these same partners of evolving the bike and making it do something else that's pretty special.
• 14:56
  So the future's bright.
• 14:58
  I'm excited.
• 14:58
  And these ideas of combining the forefront of technology with where my mind's at, where my imagination's at, it's an exciting journey.
• 15:07
  Tell me about...
• 15:09
  your first bike and have you i spoke to darrell beatty about this very recently he's actually gone back and found the first ever motorcycle that he owned that he's going through a restoration process have you have you kept any bikes along the way that you've cherished maybe your first bike or anything along those lines
• 15:24
  Well, my first bike, I just don't know what happened to it.
• 15:26
  It's a bummer.
• 15:27
  But not long ago, my wife bought the same model, and my dad restored it for me.
• 15:33
  So I have a 1985 QR50, which is really cool.
• 15:36
  It's in mint condition.
• 15:37
  Actually, it's no mint condition.
• 15:38
  My nephew crashed it and bent the vase.
• 15:40
  What mods?
• 15:41
  Any mods on it?
• 15:41
  No mods, it's just stock the way I rode it.
• 15:44
  My dad did a lot of work to recondition the plastics and all that kind of stuff, but I actually have kept all the special bikes that I've done stuff over from all the years.
• 15:52
  So I have about 35 motorcycles and they're not all in the original conditions because a lot of them, I did something spectacular on it.
• 15:58
  Then I, for instance, my 250, I jumped on and off the Arc de Triomphe.
• 16:02
  I did that jump, but then I rode it for another year in freestyle motocross competitions, so it's not how it was on the night.
• 16:07
  But one day I'll get back to restoring it back to how it was.
• 16:11
  Yeah, it's cool.
• 16:12
  I've got a massive shed full of all these projects for the future.
• 16:16
  So I'm going to be happy tinkering in my garage when I'm an old man.
• 16:18
  Nice.
• 16:19
  I ask people often what's in the garage, what do they like to... What's the daily drive or ride for Robbie Madison?
• 16:26
  And is there a little something special that you like to take out every once in a while?
• 16:31
  I really want to buy the Tesla, the Type S. One of my friends has one, and he's the guy that's actually another partner in this water bike project, but he does 3D modeling.
• 16:40
  So he modeled the Tesla without the panels on it, and then he modeled Lamborghini with the panels on it, and then he can make the Lamborghini's kit fit directly on the Tesla, and the thing looks amazing.
• 16:50
  So it's a hybrid kind of, at the top of it's a Tesla, but at the bottom it's a Lamborghini, and it looks awesome.
• 16:56
  So I think he built that car.
• 16:58
  He bought it for 50,000 years.
• 17:00
  and his kit is about $6,000 US, and then he did the leather interior, but all up around $60,000 US for this, for a used Tesla that looks like something from, I mean, a really, really nice high-end car.
• 17:12
  So I want a Tesla just because I like the fact of
• 17:16
  The new technology, the electric, zero emissions, all that kind of stuff, I love that.
• 17:20
  I love what Elon Musk is doing, where his mind's at and what he's doing.
• 17:23
  So I want to support Elon Musk's program.
• 17:26
  I'd love to meet the guy one day, but yeah, my everyday has been an Escalade.
• 17:30
  We actually just got rid of it before I flew back here.
• 17:32
  Now I've got a BMW 7 Series.
• 17:34
  I love that car, it's so comfortable.
• 17:37
  I drive a van, my everyday driver is a van.
• 17:39
  I drive around in a...
• 17:41
  The early days probably wasn't of your career.
• 17:43
  Yeah, yeah.
• 17:43
  Not a Toyota Hi-S.
• 17:44
  I drive a GMC.
• 17:45
  It's a 2500 extended cab.
• 17:47
  It's got a wall in it.
• 17:48
  So we've got like a seat that falls into a futon so you can sleep in it and you fit three dirt bikes in the back and it's been beat up.
• 17:56
  But just recently, actually, the guys at Line-X have Line-Xed the outside and the inside of my car.
• 18:00
  So it's finally going to be Maddo-proof.
• 18:03
  Yeah.
• 18:03
  What does that mean?
• 18:04
  Oh, mate, if you've seen my way I drive, there's not a panel on the cars that isn't bent.
• 18:08
  But when I was testing this water bike, I was driving it down into this area, and I took a chainsaw and cut a tunnel into this area that I shouldn't have been at.
• 18:18
  I found that out after the...
• 18:21
  state officials came and threatened to take my car, jet ski and motorcycle off me, but I rode in on the bike and he's like, that's really cool man, he said, but you're breaking a lot of laws right now, and I said, dude I have to follow my dream, I just had to make it happen, and he's like, get out of here, he's like, I'm meant to take all this stuff off you, he said, I'm not going to, but yeah, my car going in and out of that tunnel, it's just through the trees, it's branches and stuff scratching it, but uh,
• 18:41
  Yeah, my wife and I don't have too good a track record of keeping cars straight, but we're there to drive them.
• 18:47
  But yeah, one day I'd like to have an old school hot rod, a rat rod is what I'd like to have, a rat rod and a rat Harley, something like that.
• 18:56
  I like things that are not too classy.
• 18:59
  I'm a blue-collar boy and I like to keep it humble and I like to just have a ratty rod that's got a lot of horsepower and it's not too flash.
• 19:05
  Nice, nice.
• 19:06
  Okay, a couple of final questions for you.
• 19:08
  The way you're talking, you respect the next generation coming through, which I think is really cool, but you still dig what you do on a bike.
• 19:14
  It still gives you a massive buzz.
• 19:15
  So this is not Robbie Madison, although you've got a great new project on the boil here.
• 19:20
  You're far from giving up what you love doing.
• 19:22
  Is that right?
• 19:23
  Yeah, I think what I love, and I've just recently had this realization because I was kind of at a standpoint, even if you spoke to me a few months ago, where I was like, I don't have freestyle micro-crosses for me anymore because it's all an hour, all of a sudden it seems really dangerous.
• 19:35
  Because of family?
• 19:37
  Because of family and because of the injuries I'm carrying.
• 19:39
  I have a snapped labrum in my right shoulder and a snapped ACL.
• 19:43
  It's been broken since I've been nine years old, but I recently had it fixed and they changed the angle of my leg and then at the 12-hour,
• 19:50
  The guy is out there, I don't know who it is, but some guy ran me over on purpose and snapped my ACL and never stopped to apologise.
• 19:56
  I went to ride off to try and catch up with him.
• 19:58
  He hit me so hard it derailed my chain.
• 20:02
  I don't know who the guy is, but it was blatant.
• 20:05
  We came together in a corner, just a general, I was in a rut, he jumped into the rut and I hit the guy.
• 20:09
  Then we both went down, I got up and I said, sorry dude, you jumped in the rut last time, I had nowhere to go.
• 20:14
  It seemed like we were all cool.
• 20:16
  I assume I turned my back, he read Madison on my back and see the Red Bull helmet, and next minute, out of nowhere, this bike just slammed me into my knee first in the bike, and then, uh...
• 20:26
  So, long story short, I'm carrying a knee injury and a shoulder injury, and now a back injury, so because of these injuries, I hadn't been able to train, so I lost my mental kind of health a little bit over the last six months.
• 20:38
  From not releasing the endorphins every day when I'm normally training and exercising, I kind of just got myself in a bit of a dark place,
• 20:45
  And that's when I kind of gave up on the bike thing and was not riding and was not really doing too good.
• 20:50
  And then I went and did this rehabilitation thing, which is amino acids with NADs and it kind of resets all your receptors.
• 20:59
  And it's a trial thing for people with diabetes.
• 21:02
  alcohol abuse, drug abuse, head injuries, that's why I went because of the head injuries I've had.
• 21:07
  They reckon that they can restore you from...
• 21:09
  So if I'd had this right after I've had my last seizure, they may have been able to restore me right away rather than have it take... Because the last seizure I had, it took about three years for me to really kind of get...
• 21:19
  I mean, I could speak and stuff, but my memory was shot and my recollection was really cloudy.
• 21:25
  It's kind of like I had this mental fog going on where it just seemed like I was in the mist all the time and only recently I've been able to get the clarity back.
• 21:33
  and I'm not sure if that's tied to some candida stuff but anyway I've put my body through the wringer and for the most part it started to really kind of get me down but just recently I realised I love riding my dirt bike, I feel good on the bike again, I rode here yesterday and all of a sudden it all clicked again and I feel good but
• 21:51
  I think I'm going to, my plan is after I have these surgeries is to get myself back to the best fitness I've been at, even as an old man, and just keep riding my bike, riding with the kids.
• 22:00
  There's a lot of enjoyment for me to have in the future.
• 22:03
  I hope to be able to go trail riding and stuff with the family and, you know, obviously at a different pace.
• 22:08
  But motorcycles is a lifestyle for me and I want to keep riding them until the day I die.
• 22:13
  It's been fantastic to spend some time with you, mate.
• 22:15
  You've got a fantastic new book out for youngsters at the moment.
• 22:18
  You've got a great motto in life, and I have no doubt that that's inspiring that next generation.
• 22:22
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 22:22
  It's a pleasure to talk to you, and it's a pleasure to be back here in Australia and see all the fans and feel the warmth and stuff.
• 22:28
  A lot of people bought the book, and so I hope that that book inspires the next Robbie Madison.
• 22:33
  On the next episode of Rusty's Garage, I talk with someone whose love of cars from the past made him an icon of automotive design.
• 22:42
  He's also hosted the TV series Overhaulin, restoring some incredible machines.
• 22:47
  His name is Chip Foose.
• 22:49
  The first episode was going to be a Mustang turned into a lawnmower.
• 22:52
  The second one was going to be a Ford Explorer turned into a trash truck.
• 22:57
  And I'm thinking to myself, you know, you're trying to build these monsters on television, and at the end of the episode, there's really no value to the car.
• 23:05
  You're building it to perform a task.
• 23:08
  And I'm back at my shop trying to build the most beautiful pieces of rolling, drivable art that I can possibly build.
• 23:15
  And I thought, you're going to put me on television building these other things that are going to overshadow what I do.
• 23:20
  So I said no.
• 23:21
  I wasn't interested in doing it.
• 23:23
  And it's the best business no I've ever given.
• 23:26
  Because then a few months later, Bud Brutzman, another producer, came in and said, Discovery wants to do a show based on your life.
• 23:35
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 23:40
  Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
• 23:43
  Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
• 23:53
  Listener.