Robbie Maddison Lives the Pipe Dream [video]

“I had a sickening feeling that this might be the one that kills me.” The scary moment extreme stunt rider Robbie Maddison catches a monstrous wave on his dirt bike.

robbie maddison pipe dream | dc shoes
©DC Shoes

The number of stunts accomplished by Robbie ‘Maddo’ Maddison are mind boggling and he continues to push the envelope going higher, faster, and farther into the danger zone. Maddison’s latest video with support from DC Shoes, the company that was co-founded by Gymkhana and world rally driver Ken Block, has Maddison riding a wave on a specially prepared dirt bike.

Simply riding a pipe wasn’t the order of business for the 34 year-old Australian stunt rider. Madison has been surfing his whole life and it was a dream come true to combine two of his life’s passions into something that has never been attempted.

The result is extraordinary and visually defies all logic. In this new video, Pipe Dream from DC Shoes, Maddison uses a specially prepared KTM 250 SX dirt bike modified with custom-built skis to ride the waves in Tahiti.

The incredible scene was shot at Teahupo’o, which is located off the coast of Tahiti. It is recognized as having the world’s heaviest reef breaking waves and one of the most dangerous surfing spots on the planet. Two years of planning, and immense mental and physical training was involved to get the stunt perfect. While on location in Tahiti, it took 17 days to finally get the perfect sequence of shots, with a few unpleasant crashes and one near-death experience along the way.

During one of the video runs, Maddison took on a “West bomb”, a wave that comes with an extra elbow, and the main section closes – basically a death sentence. The Aussie rider was picked up by the wave and thrown, the bike hitting him from behind and knocking the air out of him. Maddison describes the experience as the most violent ride he has ever been on, forced beneath the surface in full gear and tossed about like a towel in a dryer. Over the next four or five minutes Maddison had two split-second moments where his head surfaced and able to gulp a fast breath before being pulled back down and tumbled with his bike. After going completely limp and ready to take in a full breath of water, Maddison popped up to the surface and was finally rescued.

“It’s the gnarliest thing I have ever been through. I was so relieved to be alive and to have accomplished what we did in Tahiti.

robbie maddison pipe dream | dc shoes
A giant wave crashes behind the 34-year-old motorbike stunt rider as he drives his dirt bike on top of the ocean

Maddo has been riding motorcycles since the age of 4 and set the world record holder for longest jump on a motor bike. He has jumped over a football field and the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas, and aired it out 374 feet, dropping 18 1/2 stories (185 feet) from the Park City, Utah Olympic Park K120 Nordic Ski long jump ski jump after using the bobsled run as an approach. Not just content with going big with his jumps, Maddison has done back-flips over the opened Tower Bridge in London, and jumped nearly 400 feet over the San Diego Harbor with riding buddy Levi Lavallee on a snowmobile next to him.

If you haven’t seen any of Maddison’s record breaking and death defying stunts, you’ve probably seen him in the movies doing motorcycle stunts in front of the camera. Maddo doubled for Daniel Craig in the “Skyfall” rooftop motorcycle chase scene .

robbie maddison pipe dream | dc shoes
©DC Shoes

Robbie Maddison is known as a modern day Evel Knievel. And like Knievel Maddison has had his share of injuries. The price to pay to be one of the most feared FMX competitors in the world and multiple X Games medals winner comes at the cost of broken legs, punctured lungs, broken clavicles, busted ribs, fingers, toes, and smashed teeth. And a broken neck. Ouch.