Robbie Maddison has ridden the mad offspring of a dirt bike and a surfboard over the waves of Tahiti and into eternal glory. This stunt is so extreme it’ll make you sweat Mountain Dew and fart out a Metallica riff. Don’t take my word for it, just watch the thing right here!
Sources seem to indicate “Pipe Dream” is one hundred percent not a hoax, but even if it is the clip’s so dang beautiful I’m not sure I’d care. Okay I’d care a little, but DC Shoes (whatever they sell) definitely has one hell of a promo on their hands here.
The idea, apparently some two years in the making, hit surfer/stunt biker Robbie Maddison while he was watching his wife wakeboard, he tells Surfer magazine. “I fantasized putting skis on a bike and riding on water,” he says. Haven’t we all?
The clip was shot in Tahiti and the waves we’re watching be shredded are at Teahupoo and Papara, a spot I’m told surfers consider particularly righteous.
So what was it actually like to ride this beautiful frankenboat/dirt bike on a two-story wall of rushing water?
As Maddison told Surfer-
“The thing that sticks with me the most after that whole experience was how physically demanding it was. Honestly, I really thought that getting the right wave would have been easier [Laughs]. I don’t think the photos or video show how physical it was. You can’t see that when the wave broke right behind me, I honestly thought that might be the end of my life. I’ve never felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time more than I did right there. It was a near-death experience. At the end of the day, the images and footage say something pretty awesome, but the ferocity and how gnarly that thing was can’t really be put into words.”
Spoken like a true gentlebro. Rock on Robbie Maddison, you’re a legend in your own time.
There’s also this a tiny little teaser on “the making of” which has some close-ups of the bike and make me want to learn a lot more about how this machine actually came together.
So don’t try this in your kiddie pool, homies. But if you must please post the video.
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.