Hallo everybody..
yes I made it back in 1 piece from australia but it was a hell of as trip!!
My first stop was a place called nowra (about 2hours south of sydney) were my
friend robbie maddison australias best fmx`r has his residence and training
facility. Already on the 2nd day he took me for a so-called bush ride.. We
just went freeriding for like 2 hours through the australian bush and i can
tell u it is kind of wierd when u have to hit the brakes because a bunch of
kangaroos is on the trial!! Robbie was kind of glad to have a trainings
partner since in his area arent to many people riding FMx at all!!
![Tobi Immler](columns/immler_column/P2249113.jpg)
Tobi doing a Tsanami
I stayed
there for about 1,5 weeks untill I had my first competition in Wellington
new zealand. The event was called X-air and is the biggest extreme-sports
event held in nz!! The set up was very good since we had 2 big dirt landings
and 2 ramps facing each landing.I was pretty stoked to meet up with oz
riders like Joel alchin,Robbie Adelberg,Chuck Norris,Leigh Harreighman as
well as Kiwi rider Nick Franklin which I already knew from europe
though!!
Training went very good for me though I had to ride a stock bike
with stock suspension which made it very hard for me since Im not a 50Kg
japanese guy!! The biggest problem was the wind though since the event was
directly on the waterfront of wellington harbour and so the comp was
cancelled they split up the price money and we did a couple of demos on a
mobile setup behind some buildings in the streets of that city!! It was a
cross-over event with bmx-dirt jumps skating street and vert and even a lake
jump!!But to be honest I rarely have seen that many people at any comp or
demo un europe!!
The streets were packed!! From there I went on a road trip up to Nick Franklins place to get some
riding done on kiwi dirt and it was epic!! Nick took me to this place up in
the middle of nowhere were a farmers boy has built a big natural terrain
kicker park as well as a supercross track!! It was fu.... epic I can tell u
and we hung out for about 3 days!!After seeing most of nz tracks and fmx
compounds as well as some quality party time in Auckland I had to leave
after 3 weeks back to oz cause I had my next show lined up at brisbanes
moto-expo!!
![Tobi Immler](columns/immler_column/P2249122.jpg)
Tobi doing a Whipped out Flip
Robbie Maddison Robbie Adelberg ,Bilko and me were the ridsers
for this one!!The whole thing was indoor on a mobile setup and it was great
to meet up all of australias moto industrie!!Right after that Maddo and I
flew back to sydney because on the next day we had this Natural Terrain comp
that RedBull Australia had set up to ride!!And to be honest it was the most
insane and biggest dirt kickers i have been ever riding in my life!!
It was
kind of a team contest so there were juniors racers and freestylers that had
to form a team. I teamed up with craig Anderson(1 of oz`s best sx and mx
riders) and Luke Stono a junior that really had some talents i have rarely
seen before!! The judging was up to the riders so it was kind of "ticket to
ride" thing and we all had the most fun ever!!The biggest jump I had made
was a 5th gear almost flat out one over a mountain top about 220ft(66meters)
which lead into a huge 80ft(24m)Corner hip-style jump which lead into the
next so called 90ft (27m)creek-jump..
![Tobi Immler](columns/immler_column/P2289247.jpg)
Tobi doing a Double Hart Attack
It was mind blowing and probably the
best and biggest thing I have ever ridden in my entire life!! Our team
finished in a good 3rd place which really doesnt matter at all because all
of the riders were stoked just to ride that insane track RedBull has
built(There will be big coverage in aprils australians
Freeridermxmag)!!RedBull always organized for afterfun aswell. Things like
big BBQ`s everynight stunt plane flying and go karting. After enjoying the
rides on and off the bike for about 4 days it was time for me to take a
riding break for a couple days to try to learn surfing!!
After a week of surfing it was time to get back to maddos place to get some
training done..After a 5 day morning till night session I decided to ride a
small show down near melbourne on a mobile setup with Cam Sinclair and
Blake "Bilko"Williams which is the first rider in the world doing backflip
cliffhangers..
The show went really good and the people loved to see a rider
>from europe having some differnt style than the aussie boyz!!After those 2
days I went down with Bilko and Cam to their place because i only had 1 more
week in oz before my plane left from melbourne back home!!Those boys have an
amazing compound in teir backyard about 40 minutes south of melbourne so we
had a ride for a couple days and then it was time to check out of oz!!
I just returned yesterday and I am going to belgium for a show for my team
sponsor FMX4ever this afternoon already.. I will be staying up there because
I might even get a start place at the 1st IFMA round in Antwerp on the
following weekend!!
I have plenty of shows and events coming up the next weeks so i let u know
my tourplan as soon I sorted out everything..
Along a couple of pics but there will be a way more soon!!
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Tobi |