EP#75 - Rob Nowak on 2026 Romaniacs

In this episode of the ADB Podcast, Mitch Lees sits down with Rob Nowak to unpack his incredible journey to racing the Ultimate Adventure class at Red Bull Romaniacs on a KTM 890 Adventure R. After years of trying to conquer Romaniacs — including broken bones, shoulder reconstructions and a broken tailbone that ended his 2025 attempt before he'd even left Australia — Rob finally arrived in Romania healthy in 2026, only to discover his entire box of race parts was stuck in customs. What followed was a mad scramble involving KTM Australia, KTM Austria and the wider riding community just to get him onto the start line.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the ADB Podcast, where we talk all things dirt with your host, Mitch Lee. Hello, ADB team. Welcome to another podcast. We have a really special guest on today. It is Rob Noak. He's coming on to talk about his experience out at Romaniacs this year. You've probably seen and heard some of what happened in the lead up to Romaniacs this year, but uh across his social media platforms and ours and others. Uh but yeah, we're gonna talk to him about kind of where it all started with Romaniacs and um where it all finished at the end of this year, I guess. So, Rob, thanks for coming on the pod. Yeah, thanks guys. Uh much appreciated. Uh what a trip. It's one hell of a story, mate. Long story short, for those that don't know, uh Rob headed to romantics this year, and there was a bit of a drama around bikes, essentially. We're gonna get into it. But uh Rob also sent through a pretty detailed description to us of what happened um uh this year in particular, and also a little bit about where how he got to this position over the last 10 years. Uh and so reading through your transcript, Rob, I was just like, man, like what a journey to get to this stage in 2026. Um, you know what? Actually, too, I was thinking as well. I'm like, I wonder if Rob remembers. I like to do this at the start of people that I sit down with um and ask them if they remember the first time that I met them or that I did anything with them. And yeah, I'm not sure if you you would remember, but I was living in Melbourne editing ADB. It was 2014, I think. And we I went and grabbed um a 302-stroke KDM and a 354-stroke KDM, and we went out to your Hard and Duro area, and and we wanted to do a story on whether or not um a four-stroke can go as far as a two-stroke in Hard Enduro. And the reason we were doing this is that that whole like scene was starting to take off in Australia and it was getting popular, and I was not a two-stroke guy, I just didn't like them, and so I was adamant, like, nah, you could get this four-stroke just as far as you could a uh a two-stroke, and funny enough, now all I ride is 300 two-strokes, I can't stand riding four-stroke, so I flipped entirely, and I think back to that test we did, and you're now pushing a 200 kilo adventure bike through stuff that in 2014 we were like, Oh, you wouldn't get a KDM 350 through there. Do you remember that? Guys, how can I forget?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh, you're never gonna forget ADB coming to your house. That's right, it was so much fun. Yeah, that were cool times. I remember those like that were yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

It's funny how time flies. It does, mate. It's 12 years, it's crazy, hey. Um, okay, let's start then. We're gonna start from this where your obsession with romaniacs started, because we won't start with the hard enduro journey because that starts even longer and we haven't got all day. Um, yeah, let's start from where it started. 2016 was the year that you first went to Romaniacs. You went over there with a KDM300 EXE planning to race the gold class, and then got there and realized maybe gold class was a mistake. Talk us through the process, how you decided on Romaniacs, and why was gold a mistake?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, knowing what I know now, it would have done the things a little bit differently. But um basically in 2016 at the time, um, that was my fourth year of racing Eurzburg, um, and I'd just come off my best result. So uh I got a top 30 result at Eurzburg, and um I felt like that was pretty much as good as what I could do, everything went right. Um, and I thought that challenge had sort of I'd maxed out. I'd done four years of training, and that was basically as good as I could ride, and I was just a little bit from you know completing it. So uh I thought, well, what else could I do? And then not long after, um, Romania uh Earsberg is Romaniacs, so I already had a bike there, so I thought, why not give it a go? Um, and because I had such a good result at Eurzburg, I thought, why not just do gold? It can't be that hard.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

And I was wrong, yeah, yeah. And it's so it's significantly harder Romaniacs than Earthburg. Is this lot? Is this longer? I'm guessing. That's the big challenge.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Um, well, look, they're both extremely hard. The hardest thing about Eurzburg is the time limit. You know, you've got four hours to get through, but um both hard, extremely hard in their own right. But just Romaniacs for me, because it was so long, they were 10-hour days, um, much, much steeper terrain. It was wet, it was uh there was wet areas, dry areas, creeks. It was just it was a really big learning curve. And knowing what I know now, I should have gone and did silver, but um anyway, it's just part of my journey. I can't change it now, and I'm glad I did it. But um that that's what started my whole Romaniacs journey, and um because of that, you know, that day of having such a hard day in gold, um, you know, it sort of lit a lit a fire underneath me and said, I'm gonna do this. And um it ultimately brought brought us to where we are now.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

I I think like entering gold is the natural progression. You were our best hard enduro rider in Australia pretty much at the time, and so you just assume that, well, I probably should enter gold. That's like the space that you are racing in back here. Um breaking your arm on day one doesn't help the the cause. What actually happened? Had you would you go over the handlebars? I'm assuming arm out kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, so basically, ultimately looking back now, my fitness to do Romaniacs versus Erzberg were two completely different things. One was a five-day enduro, one was a one-day sprint. So, knowing what I know now, I think I just got a bit fatigued on the top of a ridgeline. Um, I sat down when I should have been standing, and just the the bars knife to the side on the top of like a really pointy peak and fell down the side of a peak. A tree is the only thing that stopped me from keeping on going down. Uh but that tree was sort of fairly thin, and when I landed against that tree, that's what broke my arm.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Wow, okay. That's a good idea. So no uh helmet cams or anything, I'm guessing, for this off for an hour bummer. Um okay, so 2018 you went back, but you this time you went back on a KDM uh back to Roman X that is uh on a KDM 450 EXE. Why, why? Why not run a 300 EXE like you had two years beforehand? And this is hard and duro. We just talked about this to five minutes ago. The 300 is a better, better harden duro bike. Why a 450?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Well, um I'm fortunate enough to be in the industry, so I get to test a lot of bikes, and I just happened to test a 450 EXE at home um against my 300, and I roughly knew the terrain that I would go in entering silver. Um, and I spent days and days doing lap times and the rough hill, you know, the type of terrain that we were going to be racing, and I felt way more comfortable on the 450. So I did a year of our Australian series on it and Wildwood on it, and I got some really good results. So I thought, why not? And at the time no one was on them.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Um, and no, I decided to to get on one. Um, and it was a it was a really, really good result. I I did I did well on it. Um, and it was the so basically another reason why is I had to pick up my speed. Yeah, my extreme, uh my technique on extreme was was it could always get better, but it was enough. Where I fell I was lacking was the speed side of things. So these guys were going so fast, yeah. Um, way faster than in Erzburg. Um, and that 450 helped me transition my speed, and what I learned from that, I transitioned into a two-stroke later on, but it was a stepping stone at the time.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Yeah, okay, that's interesting. So you almost had to go back to a 450 for to a four-stroke to pick the speed up to then use that skill set to bring it back across to a two-stroke.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, where it lacked in extreme, I could band-aid and get it around. Yeah, uh, it was not a problem. But the speed side of things is where I was losing my time.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah, okay, okay. Um, 2018, you were third in prologue and you've top 10 overall in the silver class on the KDM 450 EXE. That's impressive. Were you by the time you got to the Enderomaniacs on a 450? Were you flogged, gassed? Did you feel you know what? I that felt fine.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yeah. What what what you probably don't know that I didn't want to put in that story because it was going to go for too long. I was top three or four uh in the class. And on the last day, I snagged a little broken brick tree branch. It was super wet. Um on the on the eye. I nearly lost my eye. Yeah. So it was uh it was a crazy last day. So it dropped me sort of nearly to I think I got eighth or ninth. But uh no, I wasn't I wasn't gassed. I put a heap of training into it. So um what I learned as well is Romaniacs was just 110% from when you when you drop when you take off from the start of the day to the end of the day, there's no pacing yourself at that time, and it was only going to get harder with the competition, but it was just full throttle the whole time. So my training was was really good and there was no conserving energy, it was just go from the start to the end.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

What were some of the names 2018-2016, some of the big names that were racing back then that were even if they were in the gold class? Well, who was out there on the in there with you?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Uh well, it's funny you should say that. So D2 Rudolph, who's the factory rider who I'm racing against now, he won the prologue. Oh, there you go. Um and then do you know Matt Green? Yeah, he's probably top five. He got uh he got third in the prologue. Believe it or not, I beat him. I don't know how. So, and then he was a young up and coming star at the time. So, me, him, D2 was a little bit better. He was a bit in front of us, yeah. Um, but Matt Green, um, who's just basically you know taken the world by storm now, is the main one that we were riding with um at the time.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yeah, okay. And gold class 2016-18. Uh, is it Taddy Blazuziak still on the scene, or have we got I can't even remember who would be um obviously Walker. Uh sorry Yeah, Walker would have been there, and um and um Mendel. But Jarvis, Jarvis, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah, uh Letton Bickler was a young uh he would have been about 17 or 18 at the time. So I think he just finished Erzburg or was a close finisher a couple of months before.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Um uh so there's Jarvis, Gomez, Lytton Bickler.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Gomez, yeah. Um Wade was Wade Young around here.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Yeah, yes, yeah. Wade Wade Young, he's still around now, he's injured now. But yeah, Wade Young, um, Paul Bolton.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Um, there's there's a few locals like David Cyprian, and they're all still around now, and then there's uh obviously like that Mac Green and all that's moved up, so yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Um, all right, so 2018, good result, fit as you could be. Uh and you'd kind of think, okay, like you said, you could maybe translate those skills across to the two-stroke, go back in 2019, race the gold class, see what happens, but but then there's no there's no romantic till 2024. So I'm assuming life gets in the way between 2019 and 2024. We had COVID in the middle of that too. What tell us why no, why nothing, why nothing between in those years?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Um so the end of 2018, it's funny, you know, when you're younger, you you I raced 15 years with hardly any injuries, and you just get up again. And then at the end of 2018, 2019, I had a string of injuries. I did my shoulder, like a full shoulder reconstruction. Um, so that's it, that's 22 weeks off the bike. Um, and then we had our first uh uh my daughter, which was basically uh a big 10-year battle um going through IVF for that. So that was like finishing Eerdberg 10 times over. So that was unreal. Then I did my other shoulder um as well. So in that meantime, I'd always wanted to go back, but something always felt like it was stopping me. Yeah, um, I did the Australian series, which which was becoming bigger and bigger, and got second in the series in 21 or 22, I can't remember. Yep. Um, and then just never stopped um training and trying to be a better writer. I I mean I'd always love riding and knew ultimately I would get back there, but just kept training at home until the opportunity arose in 24.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Okay, and obviously, yeah, COVID 2020, uh, 2021, 22 is just a mess trying to get anywhere. So yeah, that's pretty understandable. If you're not going over to race a series under a factory team, you know it's a bit a bit of a tricky thing to do. Then 2024, you got back there. Um you'd had two shoulder reconstructions, like you said. Um, you became a dad. Uh then two days before the race, you crashed, busted your shoulder in 2024, which dropped your from gold to silver, and you essentially finished one-handed uh in 2024, couldn't use the arm. You also broke your pelvis at some tailbone. Tailbone. Was that 24 or 25?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Uh so this whole Romaniacs Adventure class thing was supposed to be last year. Yeah. Uh the day before I was supposed to get on a plane. I slipped on a hill climb and broke my tailbone on a little tree stump.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

And and like like let trying to get the bike down the hill, or like what were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Uh so it was really wet at home. It's our our winter versus their summer. So just just about just training, just becoming fluent on hill climbs, which is something I regularly do. There was a hill I didn't quite make it. So before, obviously, you you you crash, you turn the bike to the side. And when you're going on downhills on those big heavy bikes, that's really where you've got to be careful. So, because I was supposed to go overseas in a day or so, I just walked the bike down to a little platform um to be safe. And as I walked the bike down, I just slipped, and it was really unlucky that it was just a normal slip that anyone would do. But there's this little broken tree stump where we'd clean the hill up with, and it landed right on the point of my tailbone and broke it. That is unlucky. Because I had 200 kilos, I was holding the bike as well. So the force of me falling and holding the bike, I and it just broke it. I knew instantly I'd I'd broken it.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, and it is a bad one to break. They talk about the tailbone taking a long time. You can't sit, you can't ride, you can't do anything. Uh okay, so this is where this story gets interesting then, because that's right before you're about to head over 2025 and race an adventure bike in Romaniacs now, having only done it on small indubikes. Um why the decision to go back what's that, the nine years after your first attempt at Romaniacs and do it on an adventure bike? Talk us through the thought process.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Uh, so I'd always had adventure bikes. So 2012, I bought a nine KDM 950 Super Enduro and absolutely loved riding it. I'd only ride it once or twice a year, and then every time I'd get off it, it'd take me like five or six hours to get used to my 300 again. So I'd only ride it once or twice a year. And then um in 2024, when I put everything into gold, like I it was like my life. Um, I was getting pretty old, and I knew my um expiry date was probably past, but I tried anyway. I didn't want to have any questions in 10 years' time. When I crossed the finish line um injured, I knew that chapter of my life was done. Um, and I basically was happy with the effort that I put in, it just didn't work out. Yeah, so then it's funny how life what how things pop up. They mentioned they were doing an adventure class, yeah. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me, that's me. It's not over. Yeah, so that's that's basically how it started. Um, and uh my love for adventure bikes had been pretty much you know for a long time since 12, 2012. Um, and then I just and then part of me being a mechanic my whole life is I love developing bikes. Like I get a kick out of developing something and making it better. Now that's really, really hard to do on Enduro bikes because they're so good. We can make little changes, but they're already so good. With adventure bikes, that this the the scope's endless, really, with what you can do to them, um, especially where where we're racing them. They're not designed to do that essentially. So there is a little bit of an advantage in getting a well set up adventure bike and taking it racing. So it sort of filled both aspects um for me, and then I basically was just full steam ahead, building a bike, developing a bike, and um trying to ride it in the areas where I was riding my my enduro bike.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

So before you saw the adventure class pop up in 2025, had you taken your adventure, your 990 into any nasty stuff and been like, geez, this thing can actually get through rocky creek beds or up vertical hills. What what what made you think that it actually can do it?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Yeah, well, it was nothing like where I'm going now, but I did I'd always liked riding technical terrain, so I'd always push the boundaries of the bike to a certain extent. Um so yeah, I I knew it was capable. Um uh, but I I'd never really put the time into going proper, you know, full full extreme. So yeah, the the the possibilities were always definitely there.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

And there was no option to send you a 950 or 990 cat, did you say? 950?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Uh 950 super enduro. The problem with that is uh the part supply now, um, as you'd know with dirt bikes, it's about 10 years. So I could take it there, but it was just I know I needed something newer. Fuel injection. The the limit I had with that bike were the carburetors.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

On steep downhills and uphills, the carburetors didn't like it. So um it needed to be a fuel injected bike that I could get parts for.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

So then how did you decide 2025 you'd attempt it on a KDM 890 before it all kind of fell apart? Um why what what talk us through the parts you started to develop for the 890 then?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Uh so basically I work at uh at a KDM dealership, Bolton Motorcycle. So I had I had access to some pretty good software, um, the parts availability and a bit of support from those guys working on them every day. So that was naturally my first option. Um, but then when I first started riding it in extreme terrain, you quickly find the limits. And what I mean extreme, and other people mean extreme, is these bikes, where we're taking them, you'd hardly take a normal dirt bike. So that that's the probably the level of where what I'm trying to explain. Uh the heat um on those bikes, it can't it couldn't handle um where we were going, and the clutch was uh the other issue as well. So they're two things that I had to uh put a lot of time into to get right.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Okay. Um, so what did you do? What how how do you fix heat? Like you extra thermofans, bigger radiators, better coolant? What what's the yeah?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So ultimately, like an enduro bike, the number one thing that affects uh heat is the clutch. Okay. Um it's just like rubbing two sticks together essentially at 10,000 RPM. And it doesn't really matter how good the cooling system is, is if you're slipping the clutch relentlessly, it's it's gonna build heat and and get hot regardless.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

So what combats that is gearing, yep. Final drive gearing. So um I change the gearing and try to get a happy medium to where we could do the distances but still ride extreme stuff without slipping the clutch excessively.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Um, and then my riding style, you can't slip a clutch on a an a thousandcc adventure bike the same you would with a 300 two-stroke. It just they're just not designed to do it. It's like taking a V8 car in a in a high-rise car park and slipping the clutch in your car. You just can't do it. Okay, so there was a combination of the two. It was my riding style and bike setup. Um, there were some modifications to the thermofans as well, the cooling system, but but ultimately there's a limit you can go with on them. Um, and and you as a rider need to manage it.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Okay. When you're building this 890 for the first time to race it in 25, where you're also trying to strip weight, surely, get weight out of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, I agreed, but it's at already at such a high level, that bike. Yeah, um, if you take the seat and tank off a 890, there's not much left to take off. So I took a little, you know, like your pillion pegs, and um, you know, there's an ABS module and some ABS lines. I took a bit of weight off it. The the number one thing I tried with on that bike was the as well was ground clearance. I tried to get the suspension up, and me being so tall, that wasn't a problem. Um, and the width of the bike, adventure bikes are quite wide, especially that 890. So trying to find some protection without making it too wide was uh a bit of a challenge as well.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Yeah, okay. So let's talk protection then. Because to me, I think like man, you drop one of these bikes and all the plastics and all the stuff. Stuff that hangs off these things, it cracks, breaks, gets destroyed. Yeah, you never you didn't have issues like just everything breaking the minute it hit the deck.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Yeah, that you you're right, you're spot on there. That they're 200 kilos. So if you if you hit the ground and and it tumbles, I don't think it really matters what it is, it's gonna fall to pieces. So it takes a lot of discipline as a rider, and I think this is where my experience comes in is knowing uh when to push on these bikes so you don't make mistakes. You you need to be really, really disciplined um uh riding them because if you if you if you're not the thing's gonna be in a million pieces in five minutes. So there's there's a a combination of two the of two things. It's it's it's the rider being disciplined enough to to not crash and take your time. And that bike, uh the way it's been engineered, um, KDM do an unbelievable job where it it's basically all plastic. So if you fall off it, it it crashes similar to a dirt bike. It's more when you have those bigger crashes and it keeps having momentum, is when it breaks. Okay. So uh it doesn't have a tin tank. Yeah, um, all the plastics bend like an EXE would. Yep. Um, so a lot of that stuff is pretty good for an adventure bike. Yep. Um, and um, yeah, you you there's bash plates that I've put on. So B and B do an unreal bash plate, they do a few different versions, which I've tested. Um, yeah, and a few other bits and pieces, but ultimately it comes down to the ride and not crashing it.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Um, are you taking like clutch kits with you to swap over between days? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Uh in a perfect world, knowing what I know now, because of the terrain they're taking us to, you put a clutch in at lunchtime. Oh, okay. To give you an idea, though, it sounds excessive, but all of these adventure bikes that we're riding, they're derived road bike engines. Yeah, yeah. So they're never designed to be an off-road engine. Like if you look at the sales of these bikes, they're road bike engines, which which are predominantly the sales of what makes the money. Yep. Then they're put into adventure bikes and they're not designed to have the clutches slipped.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

So to give you an example, an 890 has got the same size clutch as a 390.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, there you go. So it works unbelievably well, but as soon as you start slipping it, um it doesn't like it. So preventative maintenance, especially when you're on the other side of the world racing dirt bikes, if you can change it at lunchtime, change it.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah, it's funny. The clutch is a funny one on a dirt bike because the amount of people that we sit down with and we do, you know, beginner rider tests on bikes like TTR125s and and all this kind of thing, and we try to explain to them that like you can't treat the clutch like your car clutch, and you can't treat it like your roadbike clutch on a little bike, like a air cool, uh air-cooled, you know, uh dirt bike. Ride that thing as hard as you want, you won't kill it, trust me. And you know, it's the reverse of that. It's like forget everything we've learned about dirt bikes, which is just swing off that clutch. You I guess you can't put and so there's no sneaky, tricky, cool way of modifying a clutch so that it's like a dirt bike clutch. There's no way that'd ever work.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Um, there definitely are modifications you have to do to it um to to make it last. Uh, and then going back on what you explained, you're spot on, and it all all that revolves around horsepower. So those fun bikes that have 20 or 30 horsepower, no problem. It's not overloading the clutch. When you're having 120 horsepower, yeah, you know, that you know that that that that's what the ultimate limiting factor is is the amount of horsepower. You can have the biggest clutch in the world, it's still you're still gonna fry it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, so there are things that you can do to make it better, yep. But but you still, you know, you need to understand clutch free play because they're a cable clutch.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Um, and you know, they've got a massive amount of torque already, so you don't need to slip them. But sometimes, you know, we're this is me talking in a perfect world. Sometimes when you're not in a perfect world and you're in the wrong body position and it's raining and you've got no run-up, you just have to slip it. So uh and then the so the to give you an understanding, that the the the difference between a brand new clutch and a worn clutch can be one hill that goes for 20 seconds and it's gone. It's not long, it's not long. So you've gotta you've got to really, really know what you're doing when you're taking them off-road.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

Um, okay, suspension. It can't be it's not 890 suspension with a set of springs involving. Are you taking EXC suspension? Are you taking heavily modified other bits and pieces, fork and shock?

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah, so the reason as well why I picked this 890 is is KDM do an unreal job with their power parts. So normally, where I'd have to go and develop a shock and develop a set of forks, maybe change the triple clamps. They do a rally version of this bike. So a KDM 890 standard has 240 millimeters of travel, which is still unreal, and they're 48 mil forks. Um, you can buy cone valve fork and shock or pro components, which is what they're called. So they come standard on a rally version, but you can buy them as an accessory that that's made for that bike. Yeah. So essentially it's really nothing special, and um, you just bolt in a set of fork and shock that are made for that bike.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Um, and then obviously you can valve them and set them for your weight and what you're doing. So um and and with the speed, this is what saves you. This is the the standard stuff's pretty good, but if you hit a hole in a dust that you don't see, I mean, I'm sure you've ridden with that stuff on enduro bikes, it's unbelievable. The the the amount of control for an adventure bike. I forget sometimes that I'm riding one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Yeah, we rode I rode a 390 enduro with um the Pro Components Fork and the Shock, the cartridge kit and the shock, uh uh two weeks ago. Uh Rosie Rosie KDM marketing manager sent one to us and uh she had an acro on it as well. And like it's a I rode it like an enduro bike. I could jump off rock ledges, and for anyone that's ridden that bike, you know, it's built to a price point. That thing's under $10,000. Um ridden that thing in stock trim. If you tried to jump off a rock ledge with the standard suspension, I would have ended up with a fork caps in my face. So um I couldn't believe it. In fact, I actually said I think that's the best. We worked out the price of the components, just added it to the cheapest 390 in Jura we could find at a dealer new, and we reckon it was the best $12,000 to $13,000 motorcycle that we've ridden, off-road motorcycle. It was unbelievable. Uh so yes, it does make a difference. And you know what? It's cool that you can just go and get those parts straight from their catalogue. Because you're right, I guess you know, we kind of talked about in this story we've got coming up with the 390 induro. If you went and took the suspension to a suspension tuner, there's just so much work you've got to do going back and forth to try and get the right setting. But if you can just buy this stuff already with it ready to go and just tune it to yourself, um, it's a good way of doing it. Okay. Um, all right, so that's 2025. So 2025, you know, you started to develop this KDM 890. Um, yeah, and then obviously had the accident right beforehand with your tailbone, which bumped you down in class, but you got some experience, you kind of got a gauge on what was going on. Um 2026, so this year, uh tell us what happened. You hired you did something different whereby you hired the bike in Romania uh and then sent your parts over. Now, I've got so many questions here because A, who in their right mind is hiring a guy called Rob Noak, who they maybe know the history, is hiring him an 890 adventure. Did you have to tell them, oh, I'm doing Romaniacs on it, or do they kind of put two and two together and go, he's probably over here to do this event. What do we do?

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Yeah, um, yeah. So basically to answer that question, when you go and do romaniacs, it's it's a worldwide event. So everyone who's everyone is going over to do it. So there's all these tour companies that that cater for it. So on their website, you you can whatever bike you want to ride, you can click the link, and all these guys go to the event and hire uh and supply. You can hire a bike essentially, yeah, and you can and you can pay for a rental service. So at the end of each day, you just rock star it, hand them your bike, yeah, and and they look after it. Because the adventure class was so new, 2025, it was really, really hard to get a KDM 890. So that's why I sent a complete bike over. Yeah, so that bike I developed. I had a really good friend of mine in logistics. Um, we crated it up and sent it to Romania, which was no problem at all. Yeah, um, because I hurt myself, I sent it back and I thought there's got to be an easier way in case I hurt myself again. So um this year, the there was more on option because it was the second year, it was a really big hit the first year for Romaniacs.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

So I found a local KDM dealer. Um, what's really important when you're hiring adventure bikes is the diagnostic software that comes with a KDM 890, and pretty much most adventure bikes, that's half the job. You can you can mechanically get it set up right, but if you haven't got the diagnostic software to set up the flyby wire throttle, the ABS, and if you have any problems across the days, you need that to basically finish and make the bike work as good as it can. Yeah, so I chose a KDM dealer. Um, pretty much it's a it was a similar dealer to where I'm working at now at Bolton's, but just in Sibiu.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Um and then I read his so I hired the bike, I rang the guy up. He his name's Paul at Profi Motoshop. He's an unreal guy, yeah. Um, been racing his whole life, does a tour company. Um, but uh I read the rental agreement and I'm like, mate, I've got to call this guy because this thing's gonna this thing's gonna be looking pretty secondhand by the time I'm done. What am I getting myself into? So basically I rang him and I showed him a video of my bike. And I just because it's got to work for both of us. Um I've been in business as well, and and it's it's a it's a it's a double-edged sword where we've got both got to be happy. So I don't want to just leave and burn him. Yep. So um I explained to him, this is my bike now, and I took a video of it. I I'm gonna basically I want to pull your bike apart down to basically uh the frame and engine and put all my stuff on top. So if I crash it down a hill, it's got my tank, my wheels, my radiator, all of my bits and pieces. So I I break my own stuff, yeah. And then essentially it's got my suspension and and it's uh basically my bike, the feeling of my bike, but when I go overseas. Yep. And he was great. He said, Rob, he goes, No worries. He goes, if you've been a motorcycle mechanic and you can work on these things. Um, I've spent the last five years working predominantly on KDM 790 and 890s. Yeah. Um, he goes, No problem. And and and he he trusted me, he'd never known me from uh Bar of Soap, really. Yeah, um, and I paid him the money and come over, and he was unreal. Um okay. I was sort of happy to they were really new to adventure bikes, they knew invent they knew Engiro bikes really, really well. Um, and then um I basically went over some things and explained to him things that could help him because he had other customers hiring them and they had issues the year before. Yeah, um, and I just went through some things that would help him as a business hiring these bikes into the future. So we had a pretty good relationship, actually.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

And so the path that you did keep, motor and frame, were you nervous that you're gonna like destroy and crack engine cases and bits and pieces, or did you figure, you know what, that's just a part I've got to replace. That's not a problem. I'm never gonna blow this motor up. You can't blow it up. It's you know, was that a worry?

SPEAKER_00 34:28

No, not really. I mean, I've I'd spent enough time on the bike now, and again, I was disciplined enough to know my limit. Yeah, so I mean, things were always gonna happen, but I limited those as much as humanly possible. Whatever happened, if it happened, it happened and I would have had to have fixed it. But um, that part of this whole journey was really good because I spent the time setting it up, and then I spent the time putting it back to standard for him, and he was over the moon. Yeah, my bike that I gave back was the best oh yeah, uh, bike from all of the rentals. So you hardly know you'd hardly know it had been written.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Yeah, I mean, like you said, if you've got all your parts on it, it's uh they're all gonna be fresh. Um I'll be I'd be very interested to know in the fine print what KDM's warranty says about uh using their motorcycles in competition environments if there is uh anything that mechanically that happened internally. Yeah, like could I warranty this? Uh I don't think so. Uh anyway.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

You'd be surprised though. KDM are pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Yeah, they're pretty good. Okay. Yeah. Um, hey, when you're taking this many parts over, right? Everything except for the frame and the motor. I'm assuming wheels and everything too. Yeah. Um why not just take the whole bike from here? What was the like why was it why was it easier to take a box instead of a crate with a bike in it? Is it a cost thing or is it literally like getting it through customs or what what what is it?

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Uh I think they're all well, knowing what I know now, the box is harder than taking a bike. Yeah, we'll get to that. Um, yeah. Um well basically when I hurt myself before I went, I'm like, what if I do this again or something happens and I've got a whole bike there again? So it was quite a costly exercise, which I was I was happy to do, but I thought, why not take some bits and pieces over? So what I ended up doing was I bought actually Daniel Milner's uh KDM rally bike that was in Western Australia. They had a WA rally uh this year. Yep. Um, and that was a 24 model, and I've got 22 models here, so that the bodywork and everything is completely different. So I knew I would have to hire a 24-25 model bike. Yeah, so I bought that bike in Australia, figured out how all of my 22 model parts to make the bike feel the same would work. Yep, and it wasn't a massive amount of work, it was it was about it was about two days work, two eight-hour days, or one big day to do it. So I thought, why not just send my my a box of parts over? Yeah, and then uh when I come back, it's just it was just an easier exercise. So knowing what I know now, both exercises were pretty hard, yeah, um, okay, and very, very labor intensive. But that was my idea wise. If I hurt myself, I was just sending a box over and not a whole bike.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Okay, all right, yeah, because you know, for those of us like me who have never sent a bike or parts around the world, I just think isn't it easier just to get you know, roll the bike into a crate, take the front wheel off, drop it down onto the fork lugs, and then strap it down, put the rest of the uh wood cladding around it, send it. It's just not it doesn't go like that, does it?

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Uh that side of it, I mean, that's there's a lot of paperwork involved, and I'm not an expert in it. My I just handle my mate Carl handed all of that. But yeah, there's there's challenges on both sides. Um, but sending it was a lot of work, sending a complete bike was a lot of work.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

There you go. Okay, yeah. In like I said, to the I just having never done it, I just thought that's the easiest way to do it, but clearly not. Yeah, um, okay, then let's talk then about the um the disaster with the box of parts. Oh, also, too, just 16 hours to rebuild the bike. I mean, that's you're a uh very qualified mechanic. Like I imagine that'd take me a week, uh, and I'd still get bits wrong. Uh, so it's still just a massive exercise to go, you know what? I'm gonna get there like within the week before the race and rebuild this bike. Was the the guy the guy you were going to, he's a legend. He sounds we happy to give you a space in the workshop to build it all, or were you doing it in the hotel living room?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Uh no, no, that was like anything I do, I'm 110% in. So if I if I'm in, I'm in. And so it sounds cra I I hear it sounds crazy, but yeah, I was fully, fully invested. You can't you can't do these type of things if you're not. So that was my that that's my reasoning why. Um but no, there was a full KDM shop that I had access to the to the workshop. Um, and and that's what you you basically pay for. Okay, and then once once the race starts, he's got a full um truck um over at the pits as well that you can use that for. Yep. So I wasn't in a car park or anything like that. It's too big of a job. And the reason why you have to be is these bikes, like the wheels, you can't use the standard wheels because they're tubeless. Yep. So you need to change that. It was it's it's what it was. I know and I know I was I was very keen and I was 110% in, but maybe a little bit naive with how much work it was going to be to do this adventure bike class. Yeah. Um, a lot of things went right. Um, because I know them so well, but it was still a massive amount of work, like a lot of work.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Yeah, a lot of things went right, but hey, a lot of things went wrong too. Tell us what happened with the box apart. So that you you get to Austria, you get to Romania, and no box. Or you look, were you told before you got there the box is stuck in customs? Tell us what happened.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, so that this oh man. You know when you have to force things at home and you're like, this is just not meant to be, and then you end up going riding anyway, and you break your leg or you break your arm, and you're laying on the ground going, Why did I do this? I was forcing this, I was never supposed to be like that. That's happened to me at home, and I'm like, this and this started feeling the same before I left. And I'm like, I shouldn't be doing this, this is just not meant to be. All of the years I've had with problems at this Romaniacs, maybe it's just not meant to be. Um, so I am not a freight expert. I anything that I'm not, I don't know, I pay an expert to do. So I I I learnt a lot over there about how the freight system works. But my mate who sent my uh complete motorcycle the year before had no problems. It it got sent there and it got released, no problem at all. So I'm like, how hard can this box be? It's just a it was just a Bunnings plastic box with the two latches on it full of parts.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Um, so I got wind before I left that there was a few problems with customs, but I was reassured that when I landed, all my parts were gonna be there. So I left Melbourne on Sunday, uh, and I was gonna get into Bookarest uh on Monday afternoon. So by the time I drive to Sibiu, which is about five hours, the Tuesday the box will be there and I can start building, which gives me two days and then I can rest and and again do this thing 110%, um, which is how I had it planned in my head.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Um, so I had the reassurance, so I just said, Righto, um, my brain was still a little bit fried because I'm like, the pox isn't there. What happens if anything, nothing turns up?

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Because you can't ride a standard bike. Uh if it was a standard Enduro bike, no problem.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Play on, but not a standard adventure bike in the hardest class at Romaniacs. So when I got there, um, sure enough, your parts haven't arrived. I spoke to the dealer, he explained to me all these things that I didn't know in broken English. Um, and uh so basically, essentially, what I found out, what I know now that I didn't know at the time is my friend Carl sent them over as a temporary import, just like he did my motorbike the year before. Yep. So you you send it into the country, you pay all your duties and taxes, it it stays into the country, and then when you return the same list of parts that are in that box or in that crate, get ticked off, and say in four weeks' time, you get up to six months with this temporary import. You can send the parts back and you get all of your duties and customs back.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

So it's basically by them saying you're not doing anything dodgy in our country, you're bringing your parts over, and they're coming back. Yep. What happened is the dealer where the parts were getting sent to, you have to nominate where they're going. And the the the the government, the local government are going to call them and going, Hey, do you know this box is coming? They did that, they did everything right, but they filled out a permanent import instead of a temporary import. Okay. Then that sent a massive red flag. And basically, from the Tuesday to Saturday afternoon was this whole story of me trying to get a box of. Parts.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

So what happened then? The parts turn up. Did you have to call on other people? I know KDM Australia were called, KDM Austria were called, you had mates back home trying to find parts for you. Um, you know, you're there with a with a stock 890, that's not gonna do it. Did you get the box in the end? If not, where did the parts come from?

SPEAKER_00 44:18

So what happened is me trying to trying to decipher what had happened, a million phone calls later. By the Thursday, I knew anytime from Thursday onwards, I'm gonna be up against it. I'm doing the math, trying to figure out how long it's gonna take to build, how much rest I'm gonna have. Uh, I've got to do sign-in, I've got to do prologue walk. It's I'm up against it by Thursday. So my mind going a million miles an hour with bugger all sleep because I'm just trying to chase up this box. I was about to go home. So I looked at my flights and I seen how I could um change them. And the Thursday I was about to go home. So I woke up, I got I packed all my bags. Uh the Thursday night I could have got a flight, and then I just thought to myself while I was um while I woke up is exactly the journey that I explained to you about how long it's just taken me to get here. I had 15 years of racing everywhere with no problems, and this this event just seemed to be just fighting me, and it was fighting me again, and it and again, those things in my head were like it's just not meant to be, um, was going through my head. And I hate, I don't know about you, I hate asking for help. Yeah, it's like anything and taking it off. It's like, oh yeah, yeah. So especially with dirt bikes, like the battle we had with um the battle I had with trying to have our daughter was a really, really hard one. And it was probably the lowest part of my time in my life. So it took 10 years to have our daughter, and when anything like this popped up about dirt bikes or anything that someone was having a problem with, I'm like, well, look what other people are going through, you know, and and think people were going through worse than what we were going through, but it just it just didn't sit well with me. So by putting a post up to ask for help about just dirt bikes, people are going through way, way worse things than me. You know, I'm I'm lucky enough to be on the other side of the world. It just wasn't me, but I just thought about it and thought, you know what? I'm just gonna put up a video and go, hey, can anyone help me? Uh look, I know this is just dirt bikes, but can anyone help? And um, gee, that reached some people. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um Tell us what happened. Well, everyone shared it. So the World Hard and Duro, uh Hard Enduro Podcast Center made a video, and then it it gained momentum, and my phone just went off it went off its head. It was crazy, it was unbelievable. But ultimately, what happened is so many people contacted me. But Rosie from KDM contacted me and she was amazing. She got me head, look, the the the advice that she offered me sort of you know got my head in the right spot with okay, look, this is the problem that you've got. We can't fix it, or they can't get me in my box. But these are the options that you've got. Um, and they were drop a class. Um, she got onto Birchie as well, which is he's got a lot of experience here, which was unreal. So um he reached out as well. But basically, um I could have dropped the class, which is basically what I it wasn't in my brain because I just trained to do this ultimate class um and ride that standard bike. Um, I know she said I know it's not what you want to do, but um these are things that are you know you can do. Um, and then there was some support there with the bike as well. So that was unreal. Um Birchy gave me some ideas about driving down there and just breaking down walls with money to go and get parts. He had a similar situation at one stage, and he just drew drove down there and demanded his box of parts. Yeah, okay. So that was another option. Um, so basically, it got my head thinking, okay, there are other options. Let's see where this can go. Then after that, um just I love it, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 48:26

One of the options only in Romania, just drive there with a bat a suitcase full of cash and tell them you want the box. And you know what? There's a good chance it'll work.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Yeah, it's so different to Home A. It's you know, it's so different. It's hard to explain for me talking to you now. I mean, you've probably got a fair idea, but yeah, money talks there, I'll tell you. So, and ultimately that's what happened. But and then um I must say thank you. I've got to pronounce his name right, but Deteet uh Engelbreck. So he's basically the marketing manager at the factory in KDM. Yep. Um, and he was unreal. So he called me as well. Um, and then I'm like, wow, this is amazing. Um, no questions asked. He goes, Rob, you've got a standard bike there. What do you need? He goes, anything. Just give me a list. He goes, our factory team is coming over there in the morning. They're at the factory now. Give me a list of what we can do to get that standard bike across the line so it's not gonna damage Paul's bike. So when I give it to him, it's not gonna be in a in a box of parts because I want to do the right thing by Paul. Um, but I don't obviously want to have a $30,000 $890 bill, yeah, you know, on top of everything as well. So I'm realistic about this as well. Yep. So he was unreal. So I gave him a list, and they basically gave me everything I needed in the meantime to get that standard bike to a certain level to race the level below ultimate. So there's essentially gold, silver, bronze. They call it light, ultimate uh core and ultimate. Yeah, um, and they're all extreme in Duro courses for adventure bikes. So to drop a class is essentially entering silver. So I'm dropping a class again, my brain's going crazy. Um, and then um they brought over a heap of parts, and at that time, that was the plan to race that bike in the core class. So um uh so that so that that happened, and then in the meantime as well, I had every logistics person call me. Everyone had a friend at home. Someone said call the embassy. There was there were so many things, but ultimately what happened is a a guy, a local guy called No Mud Adventures. He's a local guy that was that knows the the freight system in Romania, which works a little bit differently to in Australia. So he basically rang the right people, got onto the person who I needed. Um, and essentially what I had to do is all of the paperwork was right, but was wrong, essentially. It was a permanent import instead of a temporary. I had to hand him a heap of money. Then it was a 10-hour round trip to Bucharest to go and get it. Okay. So amazingly, Paul at the KDM dealer um arranged a local guy there. So their buses over there are like a courier as well. You can just put a box underneath the local delivery bus and they deliver parts at each stop. Brilliant. So essentially that's what happened. They put the they put this box on a bus and it went all the way along to CBU and I got my box. So I got my box the next day. So this was all happening on a Sunday. I got my sorry a Friday, I got my box on uh Saturday lunchtime.

SPEAKER_02 51:59

But that's not enough time you mentioned to get it built. So what so what was what had happened? Had you got the parts out of KDM Austria and started putting stuff together? How did it work?

SPEAKER_00 52:10

So basically, then I was left with a decision. I hadn't touched the bike yet because I didn't know what I was gonna do. So I'm looking at this 890 on uh Friday, knowing now that the box is gonna come, and then the I've got a decision. I go, I can turn this into a somewhat modified standard bike, or I can go full sand and rip this thing down to the frame now in in readiness for all the parts coming. And I just had to think for a second. I looked at the time, and whatever happened, I was already gonna be in a hole. Yep. Like my my the stupid thing about these smartwatches, it already said I was overreaching and I needed a stupid amount of rest. I hadn't even ridden a bike yet.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

So I was uh already in a hole. So I just said bugger it. I I just started pulling it back to what it needed to be to try and achieve what I'd come here for and race that ultimate class. So essentially that's what I did is I pulled the bike back down to what I needed it to be. What helped what helped is some of the parts that I couldn't bring, uh, the KDM that I asked for gave me made that bike even better.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Okay. So between the two things, it was sort of like the perfect storm, but it was just you know, like five days too late, but it it was still better than nothing. So I basically was up for it was like 16 or 17 hours building that bike.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

So Saturday, but so bike stripped back to where it needs to be by the Saturday. You then wait for this box to turn up. The box turns up what time Saturday? About 11 o'clock. And then what time is prologue on Sunday?

SPEAKER_00 53:56

So prologue practice for the gold class is Monday. Monday, sorry, okay, but you've got a full day to sign into these events. Yeah, there's photos, there's interviews for every rider, there's a million, like there's medicals, there's so many things. It's a day. Yep. So I that so that's um so I needed all of Sunday really to do sign on.

SPEAKER_02 54:19

Yeah. And so what time did you have to be there with the bike ready to sign on? Because assuming, like we have here, the bike's got to be scrutineered too, so they've kind of got to look at it, or are they a bit dodgier and let you yeah?

SPEAKER_00 54:30

Funny you should say that. I actually didn't even think of that. There's there's no, there's no the only scrutineering is put a sticker on it. Put the race numbers on it.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Yeah, there's no scrutineering at all. Oh, I get so nervous when I take my kids' bikes in to get scrutineered, and they're checking the front brake and has it got enough pull on it. And I'm thinking, like, when was the last time I put a set of pads on or bled the brake? Yeah, you're kidding me.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

No, no, there was honestly, there's no there's there's no scrutineering, but it's just more yourself. They really check, like to be on to give you an example, you go in, there's a doctor, you pay them your however many euro, and they do a medical, they do your blood pressure every ride.

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Okay, so so um so Sunday lunch is the bike together and ready to roll by Sunday lunch, or did you go and do the check-in medical, come back, keep building, turn up Monday for practice?

SPEAKER_00 55:20

Yeah, no, there was no time. So basically, the Saturday I worked till I can't remember, late, like probably 2, 2:30. Um, and but because it has to be meticulous too. Like, I can I can't just slap this thing together, everything has to be talked, lock titled, everything has to be right. So I did that, and um, luckily enough, I've run my own business before, and what I learned from there was when I'm tired, if I just keep eating, I can and I'm tired, I can just keep going. Yeah, so basically I just got a heap of food and just kept eating. Fuel. And then, you know, just keep building, and then I'm uh hit a wall, I'd sit down for five minutes and just eat a heap of calories and and I'm away again. So I did that for 12 years. So um I was used to it, but it's uh I basically did that the next day, which was Sunday. I finished building it at about uh maybe 12 o'clock. Yep. Then straight away I got on the bike, I had to give it a shakedown to see if everything was gonna work. Yep. Um, and there's electronics as well that you've got to set up on these things as well. As it was a brand new bike that'd never been started. So the good thing about Romaniacs is they give you a test um area on a GPS, so they load your practice area and so your class, which was on gold uh sorry, um adventure ultimate. Yeah, there's a specific designated track, which was about a 50 kilometer round trip, to know what you're gonna get yourself into before the race starts. They're really good on this. Yep. So I rode, went to the track. Um, I did uh about four laps of so with Romaniacs, you ride probably 20 or 30 K's on the road to get to anywhere. Yep. So rode to the track, did um uh four laps of this half an hour circuit. The bike felt unreal. I felt the best, it was the easiest thing of the whole trip so far. Yeah, um, I felt really, really good considering what had been going on. The bike felt exactly like home, um, and I will and I rode the track really, really good. So that gave me a bit of confidence. Rode back, give it a nut and bolt check, and then just quickly, because I the the the prologue, I hadn't even looked at the prologue at all, and like it's it's dangerous. So I just went and quickly, from experience from other races, just filmed each section um and videoed me um talking to myself about what line I was going to take uh and what was dangerous, and an option two line if someone was stuck to know where to go.

SPEAKER_01 58:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Um, so I went and quickly did that because I knew I didn't have time to walk the track properly, and I knew I'd study that later on that night, and then went and did sign-in a day later than what I was supposed to. Because my they give the good thing about sign-in is there's class sign-in, so everyone doesn't turn up at once.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Um, and I was a day late for that, which they weren't happy about, but it is what it is. I couldn't do anything about it. Yeah, they still are in.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

Um, so bikes built, you signed on, you pass your medical, so clearly all the heart, heart uh rate problems that were in the week leading into it had subsided enough to get you through. Um and the bike feels good. Tell us then your four days racing plus prologue. Um, hey, prologue are you they putting you guys on the same prologue track as the dirt bikes?

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Yeah, so it was it was madness. So I thought, oh, maybe they're gonna make it a bit easier for us. You know, that's that's something that I train a fair bit with at home. But I've looked at it and like, oh, I don't know if 20 or 30 people are gonna be able to do this. Yeah, and sure enough, they just said, You're in the gold class. They made it easier for the middle class core and light.

SPEAKER_01 59:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 59:17

Really like a lot easier, but for us, it's our first time writing the full prologue track, plus we had a final, which has never been done. So normally you just do one side, one um lap as fast as you can go, and that determines your starting position for the next day. This year, you had that fast lap for your position for your prologue final. Yep. And then we had to race an adventure bike class final on that thing, on that course. God, okay.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

What was the nastiest obstacle on that course for an adventure bike?

SPEAKER_00 59:55

The whole thing's nasty, but there's this freestyle ramp with a gap to a platform to another gap to another jump with a gap. So they were fairly straightforward if you did it, but if you got it wrong, I mean you probably go and watch Romaniac's fails now this year, and there's a lot of crack, there's a lot of crashes. So there was that, and there's a jersey barrier that's pretty nasty as well. Um, and they're all hard enough if you're fresh, let alone you know, your heart rate's spike, and so but also too, they're hard enough when you're thinking about a 112 kilo bike that could potentially land on me if I get this wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

Not a 200 kilo bike, it could crush you and kill you for crying out.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

100%. Yeah, it's the real deal, they don't mess around, but you know what? They figure there's three classes, so they go, Well, if you think you can do this in this class, this is what you're gonna get. Yeah, so it weeds out the guys that think they maybe can do it, and they go, Well, wait a second, if I can't do this, what's gonna be out on off-road day you know two, three, and four? Yep. So they sort of set the precedent at Prologue. Um, and if you can get through prologue, you're gonna probably get through the next days.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:02

Okay. Uh, all right, then talk us through the next days. We're gonna have a little, for those listening, issue 564 of ADB is gonna have a detailed kind of uh column with Rob and how his actual race itself went, and then we're gonna follow that up with a feature on uh some bits and pieces about Rob and the lead up to the event. Uh, but talk to us, tell us what was it like racing in an adventure bike in that class, knowing too now that a lot of these guys, uh the pro-level guys too, the walkers of the world, they've had uh a year under their belt racing in this class. Um yeah, what was it like for first hand account?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

Oh, it was it was unreal, it was way way faster than what I ever expected. Um and the competition, like the top four guys were unbelievably fast. So um I knew they were all good riders, and they're basically the world's best on adventure bikes currently. Yeah, um, but the level um was yeah, higher than what I thought, and the speed and the overall danger that we put ourselves through at the end of each day was way, way more than I ever expected at home.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:14

Yeah, wow. Okay. Um, did you get a chance to get up and ride with some of the guys like the the the top three guys, uh Rahman, uh, throughout the course and see the things they were doing on adventure bikes?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

Yeah, so I learned from Walker. So Johnny Walker got second the year before. He won every test apart from the first day where he blew his shock. Yeah, and I I'd met him before, but not well. He's an unreal guy, yeah. So humble, you know, and was just happy to ride with us basically through the whole event.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

But um, I had a lot of experience now riding with him. So we we went to and from, so we were battling for fifth position. The top uh four guys were like a little bit in front of me. I was we were a little bit close to fourth sometimes, yeah. Um, but you know, sometimes at fourth, fifth, sixth position is roughly where we were we were. Yeah. Um and and riding with Johnny on his triumph was unreal. So um I learned so I learned so much. Um, and he's smart, yeah. He's won Romaniacs a few times on the Engiro bike. Yeah, and he and he knows the event like the back of his hand. So um it was really good to learn from him um and and and ride with him for those for those days. And and I think doing that has raised my level here. Um you know, riding with him. It's it was an unreal experience. It was priceless, really, to ride with him.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

So so guys like him, what are they doing that's different? Are they seeing a ledge that's eight, ten foot tall and like you guys can do on Eurobikes, kind of and just like you know, blip up it? Whereas for you know, the the difference between say you and Walker is that on an adventure bike that's trickier for you to do. What what what actual things do they do that you go, how do you wheelie through that, or whatever it is? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:08

Um, the the technical stuff, believe it or not, that's where I made my time up, okay. Um, which was on the technical stuff. I probably practiced too much of the technical stuff for what I thought Romaniacs was gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:21

So that side of it, there was nothing in that whole event that I thought I was gonna have a problem with, uh, that I had a problem with, sorry. Where they uh they were levels above me was the risk taking at speed.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

I had a certain level of risk um on those big bikes, and they just pushed through that. Um and it was it took me a while to get my head around that um and just push myself to going faster, sort of like another gear higher. Yeah, but what helped was having him tow me along. So normally, my if I I could have told you, hey, I'm going as fast as I can here, then when you have him in front of you, you and why I said the experience was priceless, is I had that tuition off him to learn that where I never would have gone to that speed. Yeah, um, and then you'd know we're riding these adventure bikes. If you hit any of these square edges wrong, especially in dust, and a normal Enduro bike with 300 millimeters of suspension will will generally save you, even if you're sitting or standing, not always, but it will an adventure bike that's 200 kilos with half that travel um and twice the power, you just overpower the chassis so easily. Yeah, and that's where the danger that's where the danger comes into it, and they were just able to push to that limit of danger with technique. They were such good riders, they were in the right body position. So if the thing did get kicked, you know, the ball's Of the feet were on the foot pegs, they were standing, knees bent, and they had the stamina and fitness to be like that the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

Yeah, right. Okay. So they could they could be flying along a section, come round a corner, see a nasty hill that you might normally go. Oh, I've got to pick a line, how to go up this. There's no decision making, it's just I'll attack this and I'll rely on my skill and ability and fitness to overcome whatever it is. I'm gonna have to wheelie up and over, jump up and over. It was that speed that at which they'd attack tricky sections.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

Not not necessarily a hill, like anything like you just described was this where I made time.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

It's more, can you imagine like a big open fire road? Um, like with not as many trees as home. Yep, and you can see someone 150 meters into the distance, and there's like a rough, ruddy, grassy fire tray fire road. Yep. Um, it's stuff like that where you think, oh, what if there's a hole that I don't see? You always got that level of reserve of just what in case.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:05

Just in case. When these guys are hitting it from the say, say we had a control point where there's a checkpoint where we stop. I watched all those top three take off, and it was exactly like think where they took off and you never let it, you never heard them let off.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that's exactly what I was about to say. It sounds like think then, because the guys like that at those gnarly races, they're happy to go, you know what? I'll just hold this thing pinned and just hope that there is no hole there or that I can adjust and and overcome whatever is I hit. Okay, that's so interesting because I just assumed that yeah, they just have a skill level from that is just better than anyone else in the world, that top three. And when it comes to things like the hills or the obstacles, you know, you might take an extra seven seconds to get over it, and he just goes over he goes. It's actually their ability to mentally remove the smart uh self-preservation side of their brain and just go, nah, I'll just handle whatever gets thrown at me here.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

100%. And then you and then my my so knowing what I know now is my suspension setup, why I was better in the technical stuff, is it was a bit softer, so it found traction. Um, it was really good on the technical stuff. Where I probably could have gone better if I had known being over there is maybe gone a little bit stiffer to cope with the stuff that I don't see. It's just something I've never practiced at home because it's so it's just so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

But that that I could watch their bikes versus mine, and I and and they were definitely stiffer. And but to do that, you need to be a fitter rider, too. So another year in the gym, another year being stronger, I'd I'd probably I reckon if I had it now, I could probably hang on for maybe half the day instead of the full day because along with stiffer suspension and another gear higher becomes intensity. Yeah, and ultimately that's what happened with Johnny is on day two when I actually beat him for the day, he blew me up at the start of the day, where I try caught him and then I was behind them all um for an hour or so, hour and a half, and then he slowly picked up the pace as the tracks got faster. And I just I redlined. I'm like, I'm gonna kill myself here if I try to keep up with him. I backed it down, took a gel and rode at my own pace, knowing that he's gonna be pulling away because I knew his speed. Yeah, but at the end of the day, we got into terrain that was that was more single trail. You couldn't push as hard as he was because there was a limit and there was technical terrain. And I actually caught him and passed him at the end of the day. So I did it on my own terms, which was something that I was over the moon about. Um, and and um, you know, got got the win over him for that day, um, you know, for the for the duration of that day, which was unreal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

Um, oh man, that's a really big itemer then, because yeah, it's just it's in our minds and how what we see from the outside, it just looks like it unfolds completely differently. Um all right, so over the four days, uh what what were the what was what were the major challenges? What was the biggest challenge you had over the four days? And um how where'd you end up? What was the end result? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:27

So the challenge for the four days was the the speed aspect of it. So it felt like at the end of the day I should have been happy, but it's like surviving a 10-story tightrope. Uh, and you you you get it to the other other end of the tightrope, you don't hit the ground, you should be happy, but you know you've got another three days of doing that. That's how I felt at the end of each day. So it was it was so dangerous for me riding at that speed. So um I was uh mentally I was a nervous wreck from doing that. It was there was just so much concentration um required on my side more than anything I've ever done. So mentally I was pretty spent by the end of the day, but physically, I don't know how, even with the the sleep deprovision and all the stuff I had going on, my body was fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:22

Um I I had to catch up on sleep as much as possible, but um, you know, I had that. What the biggest thing that the biggest issue I had was with um the bike at the last two days, um, I didn't realise that speed, how much it was going to take out of the bike from a maintenance point of view, it wore out things that I've never worn out in the two years that I've I've done at home. So I had some um technical issues with the bike that I had to resolve. Yeah. Um, but ultimately still, if you had have asked me before I left or before I started, if I had have got um, I was running top five, so I got fifth in the prologue, sixth on day one, fifth on day, uh sorry, um they call the prologue so day one. So day one, the prologue got fifth. Day two, sixth, day three, fifth, uh, day four, sixth, and then the last day I had a mechanical uh which dropped me back to seventh outright. So um I was within uh two, I had to catch two seconds on the last day to beat Johnny.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:36

Um and I was about a minute or so for the guy ahead of him. So considering everything that happened going into the last day, I was a couple of seconds off him. I I treated that as a win. Yeah, definitely. And I was really, really happy when I crossed that finish line um and just had a bit of time to think about what I'd just gone through, the things I'd experienced, both physically and mentally. The the riding that I'd I'd um I felt like I went up a couple of levels riding with Johnny. I was super, super happy. And um uh I was after that feeling from Romania for so long. Like in 2016, it's been yeah, and I and I got a feeling that I was chasing um when I crossed that finish line. So I was so happy and I wasn't hurt. Yeah, um, I got to go home and see my girls. It was um it was a crazy trip, but uh I was yeah looking back on it now, I was I was happy then, but I'm even more happy now considering everything that I'd that I'd gone through.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:39

It's an incredible accomplishment, and it's it's also probably like you just explained for yourself, like an incredible sense of achievement that you've been able to overcome, and so many hurdles to overcome that we've just discussed, like it shouldn't have happened, yeah, realistically, you know. Definitely no, you know, and and like even going back to breaking your your um tailbone the year previous, before we even get to the dramas of getting parts and bits for 2026, that's enough for people to go, you know what? This is you know, yeah. So it's it is a really cool story, and tell us then next year. Uh uh you've had that sense of accomplishment, you've got done what you need to do. Is that it?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:16

Um, so that feeling that I had um at crossing the finish line, it was the same feeling I had when I got the 29th at Eurzburg. It felt like I shut a chapter of my life there because every writer knows at some stage within themselves that's as good as you can do. Like if you put your heart and soul into something, yeah, which for Eurzburg was a four-year journey of just living uh and breathing Eurzburg, the result was unreal. And I closed that chapter of my life, and that's why this Romaniacs chapter opened. Yeah, how I felt when I crossed the line, doing it the way that I did it, um, put you know, pushing through all the battles, doing the bike, the whole two years of developing it myself. I felt like that's a chapter that's been closed in terms of there's no way um possible that I could do that again by myself. Yeah, that um I need support or from a manufacturer or a team to go back and do it again. Um, to to go back and do this, yeah, because the twin cylinder class adds so much more complexity than what I ever realized. That the the competition is so big, the resources the factories put into there was basically like going to a 600cc super sport race. Yeah, wow. You know, the trucks and the mechanics that go into it. So definitely um the fire is burning more than ever to get that fifth position back. But but I'm realistic in going, hey, you you you did amazing the way you did it by yourself, essentially. Um, but but to go back and get that fifth position, um, I need to be on a I need to be on a team, which which I feel I've proven myself um at that level. I felt like I truly belonged in that in that class. Um, but it's just whether someone sees that um the same vision as me to to go back. So okay. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:25

That's cool. There you go. Pete teams out there, anyone out there? I mean, it could it could even be, would you consider uh support back home from Australia if someone was willing to put together a program back here uh and kind of handle all the things that you just discussed and liaise with whoever it is and help with imagine financially, I think that's the last question I'm gonna ask you, but you know, with all that kind of stuff too. Could it could it even be it doesn't have to necessarily be a team established already in Romania, could it be a new team built based over here?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:51

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And uh I I'd love that. Like I'd love um to create um this this adventure scene basically in Australia and grow it, and we're we're so big with adventure, yeah, and so many of my mates now want to go over and experience what I've just experienced in some other classes, yeah. So um, yeah, look, I'd love you know, say someone to give me a hand over there. So I've got some guys in mind that could um give me a hand and just some support. So I had uh one of my um customers at home, Ben Young, really helped me out while I was over there with some financial support. Yep, he was amazing um to help me. But basically, along that line is something like that, say, you know, a company that's in adventure to to build a team to go over there and generate some um social media and some interest into going over there and um you know, an Australian-based team would be unreal. Yeah, yeah, definitely. That'd be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:54

I mean, we look, we see it in other disciplines in our sport. Look at what Quadlock Honda do, they're sending riders everywhere. You look at what AJ Roberts does with Yamaha, he gets riders over to Europe uh in the Enduro space. So, yeah, there's no reason why we it couldn't happen in that. And and like you said, it is a growing kind of burgeoning um uh space for uh adventure around the world, but especially here in Australia. And I think the rest of the world looks at Australia as like the you know adventure capital almost of the world. I know um it was either what it's either Walker or Sunderland, one of the two is doing the trip around Australia on a around the world on a Triumph Tiger 900. Yep. And he mentioned in an interview uh what he's most uh what he thinks is gonna be the most difficult part of the trip, and he said Australia, because he just said you got so much wildlife, it's so massive, the continent is so it's gonna be so hard. But that's essentially why people want to come here to Adventure Ride is because we're so different, unique. So it could be a you know potential in in down the track if someone builds a team to then do something like offer you know similar tours or or experiences, so to speak, here in Australia for Europeans, and if you guys can raise awareness for a business that could start something like that, uh it'd be pretty cool. Um, all right. Last question I got for you, and we'll let you go. Um, what do you reckon it would cost? Forget the last 12 months because that was a mess trying to get bits and pieces from everywhere. What's the cost to go and race in the ultimate class on an adventure bike in uh Romaniacs?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:19

I think if you wanted to do it properly, like I'm 110%, it'd be about 30,000, I reckon. Yep. To do it to do it properly. You can try and do it, you'd probably do it for half that if you wanted to, but you would do it properly.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:33

Yeah, you couldn't do ultimate class, surely not for half that.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:36

Oh not the ultimate class. Oh, sorry, well the bike would break. But to do um to do the there's a light and a core class, if you allowed yourself fifteen thousand dollars to do it, yep, I think um I think you'd um get there. But you know well as well as I do that that's the that that's like buying the bike, it's the cheapest part. It's the year of training and and um you know time off work, going to do other races, you you're developing a bike at home, you know. So that's um yeah, like the that that cost is to do that event, but there's a whole heap before that before you even consider it, really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:19

That's it's funny, it's it's a similar number uh that pops up a lot in our sport, is that like oh 30, 40,000, maybe $50,000. You to speak to anyone who's been to Fink, and uh it's it's the same conversation, you know. We we just had our Fink special edition. We were the media partners of Fink this year, and all the privateers we speak to, you know, it's it's nothing but drop 20, 30, 40,000 to go to this race. Uh 100. Yeah, it's it is seems to be a common number that pops up, but there you go. Um, Rob, mate, what a story. You've had such an epic experience. There's so much more detail we could go into for hours about specifically about the race and experiences you had during the race um and all that kind of thing, but we're gonna run out of time. Um so man, I want to thank you for coming on today, kind of sharing your experience. It is a really, really unique experience. And like, you know, who would have thought in 2016 you'd be doing the same thing but on a 200 kilo adventure bike? It's really cool to see where the races come and the sport has come.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:16

No, thanks, Mitch. It's been uh it's been uh awesome having a chat to you. And yeah, if you had to told me in 2016 that I'm gonna be riding the twin cylinder around Romaniacs, it's just yeah, it's it's just crazy. But I was actually telling telling Rosie just before we go. Yeah, can you imagine the level in 10 years? Like, can you imagine a retired Billy Bolt jumping on one? And can you imagine where he would take one?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:41

Yeah, I know, right? It's it's almost like this is what as punters we want. It's aspirational. You know, look at what these guys can do. It's nowhere near achievable what they're gonna be able to do on these things. It's aspirational, it's so cool to think.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:54

Yeah, watch this place. I think uh it's only just the beginning, and you're gonna see real expensive dirt bikes getting set up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:02

I want to see someone ride around the world, end in Romantics, do the four or five days in the five days in Romantics, and then ride home. That's what I want to see.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:12

There's an ADV story, mate. Let's make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:15

Why not? Why not, mate? Uh I love it. Oh, awesome Rob. Well, thanks, mate, for coming on today. And um, yeah, keep us plugged in with what's happening over the next 12 months, too, because if that does take off, we'd love to do some stuff uh about a team potentially coming from Australia. Some of that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:30

No, awesome, Mitch. Thank you. Thanks, Rob.