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If you follow us faithfully, you know that I like backstories on people and their journies in life that involves dirt bikes. Everyone has a story and some are worthy enough to write about/follow in my eyes. There comes a point in time where we all take a break from something we love. Dirt bikes have been a constant in my life but I too have taken a break from it. When you take that break you think that you may never ride again, but at some point, (if that love runs deep for dirt bikes) when the time is right, dirt bikes will find you. This article below is about a guy who went through that break and why we NEED Suzuki in our sport. Does every single rider need the latest tech to ride and have a good time? NO! Suzuki hasn’t changed their motorcycle in quite sometime but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place in our sport. These next few months, go on a a journey with Rob as he finds his way back to dirt bikes and what the Suzuki has done for him. -KK
Written By: Rob Imondi
Hello everyone! My name is Rob Imondi. I am a 35 year old vet rider from Colorado. I am a motocross coach full time and have a bachelors degree in exercise science. I own and operate Imondi MX which is a coaching/personal training business. I have raced dirt bikes since I was 4 years old. I have a wife and two kids (4-year-old twins named Parker and Zoey). Like most of you, motocross is a huge part of my life. I love dirt bikes as much as the best of them. I have recently joined the Keefer Inc. Testing team on a 2025 Suzuki RMZ-450. I am going to be writing about the bike in future articles, but this article is more of a backstory about how I got here and what these two wheeled machines mean to me. There comes a time in everyone’s motocross career where they take a break from their bike. Whether it be forced or planned, everyone has a period where they are away from the sport. I am here to tell you about my time away from riding and what I have learned from my break and why it has been so important for me to reconnect with riding.
Like everyone, there are times when we love and hate this sport. In 2022, I landed off of a jump with my leg off the peg after colliding with another rider in the air. I didn’t crash but I knew immediately that my knee would never be the same. I tore the dreadful ACL. I was 33 at the time and had just started my business, and our twins were only 2. I was freaking out. As we get older, we all have more responsibilities. My wife (now able to stay home with our kids) was working at the time which was our saving grace. I had surgery shortly after and was on the long road to recovery. When things like this happen, it makes you wonder and question why we do this. As a man, we need to provide for our families and the thought of not being able to do that because of an injury really weighs on you. Even as these thoughts run through your mind, we still work hard to get better so we can get back to doing what we love. However, when I got back on the bike after this injury, things felt different. I could not shake the fear of getting hurt and not being able to help provide for my family. I was also out of shape and had a lot of stress with my new business. I decided that I needed to take some time for myself and focus my energy on my health, family and business so I sold my bike. It was now July 2023. I was without a dirt bike for the first time in my entire life. I have been riding and racing since I was 4 years old. Although this was what I needed to do, it never felt right. I felt as though when I got rid of that bike (which was a 2020 KTM 450) I had lost a piece of myself.
Fortunately, I am around the track all the time since I own and operate a coaching business called Imondi MX and provide private lessons, group lessons, camps, and personal training. Coaching is the only thing that even comes close to giving me a similar fulfillment that riding does. So, I focused on my business and really put an emphasis on my health. But I still needed something to train for. I felt like I was missing that personal goal and that competitive feeling. Back in 2018, I had decided to sign up for the Moab Trail Marathon. Unfortunately, I was plagued with sickness and injuries that year, so I never got the chance to pursue that goal. But with time away from the bike, I began running again, and I fell in love with running. I have always enjoyed running but I began to obsess over it. My brother-in-law (Tucker Saye, a former AMA pro) is an ultra runner. He has now run two centuries (100 miles) and completed countless marathons and 50-mile races. He is an absolute beast and inspired me to sign up for this marathon again. Finally, I had something to work towards and get my butt back in shape. So, I ran and trained for eight difficult months.
Running is hard. It’s hard physically and mentally. Just like racing, there would be good days where I felt invincible and then the next day I felt like the worst runner on the planet. But consistency is key and what I learned most from this process is just how important it is to keep showing up. Fast forward to September, I was a month out from doing my race and already thinking about when I was going to get a bike afterwards. I called my good friend Mr. Kris Keefer to talk to him about bikes and see which one he thought would be best for me once I started riding again. He surprised me with the most exciting news! He told me to hold off on buying one, and to come pick one up from him when I was ready to get back into riding. This gave me a whole new level of excitement. Not only would I get to ride a brand new bike, but I was also going to be able to share my experiences.
The week before I ran my marathon, I was in California for a wedding where I had also made arrangements to pick up the bike. It felt like an early Christmas present. Everyone joked “You are getting a Suzuki! You have to kickstart that bike.” I just laughed and said, “I don’t care, I am just so happy to get to ride.” Later that same week I ran my marathon in Moab. It was the hardest 26.2 miles of my life. It was an incredible experience and such a huge accomplishment. The human body is capable of crazy things. I did the best I could and left everything I had on that course. After the race, I was exhausted but already thinking of where I wanted to ride first. Colorado had other plans for me. A 5-hour drive home quickly turned into a 17-hour drive because of a huge snowstorm. The bike was in the back of my pickup full of snow and looking sad. We eventually made it home, but I felt discouraged because I thought I wouldn’t be able to ride after having waited all this time. It was a massive storm, but surprisingly, just 30 minutes from where I live, there was a new track waiting for me that didn’t get any snow.
To give you some backstory, right before our California-Moab trip, I had received a message from a guy named Kaithen Saulzman. He was inquiring about motocross classes with me and informed me that he had just built a track at his house. Little did I know, he had built a legit track that could host ride days for over 100 people on it. The track is massive and has a super fun flowy layout. It’s called Wells MX and is going to be opened soon as a club. When I got back, he told me that the storm had only brought rain to their place and that the track was going to be perfect. So, I went there to ride. This was the first time in over a year that I was able to ride a 450. I had ridden my wife’s 250f around a few times but nothing crazy. Getting back on the bike, I was super timid and didn’t know what to expect. I felt super nervous. Not only was I riding a new bike on a new track, but I was extremely rusty. After a few laps, and getting all the jumps down, I began to feel right at home. I felt that sense of freedom I had been missing throughout this time. I even had some of my athletes with me (some have never seen me ride) and I was able to show them that I actually do know what I am talking about sometimes.
So many emotions spun around my head that day. Once the nerves went away and that sense of freedom kicked in, all of my worries went away. I didn’t feel the pressure of my responsibilities. I didn’t feel the fear of getting hurt. I didn’t have the mental stress of my business. It was just me and my bike. I forgot what that had felt like. The phrase “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” could not be anymore true in this situation. I forgot what I was missing and how much I needed that in my life. Riding is the best thing in the world. It is my first love. It’s an adrenaline rush and provides you with this feeling of absolute FREEDOM. It has given me a sense of purpose and motivation to do better in so many aspects of my life. I have learned so much being off the bike that has helped me grow in my family, my business and even in riding. But I am so excited to be back doing what I love.
My son has been slowly getting more interested in racing. I have had thoughts of not getting him in the sport, but when you are around it all the time, it’s hard not to want him to do it. Luckily for me, this happened organically. Yes, there are good things and bad things that happen in this sport, but I’ve always felt the good outweighs the bad. After all the injuries and financial stress that I have experienced throughout my career, the good in the sport is what keeps me coming back. It’s what keeps us all coming back. And that’s why I want my kids to do it. Not only because it truly is the coolest and hardest sport in the world, but you meet some of the best people in it. You learn so many life lessons when racing. You deal with so much adversity that helps build you into a stronger human.
So that’s my story of getting back into riding and how things are going with these two wheeled machines. Writing this article has been an absolute challenge. For those that know me, I am a talker. Never once did I think that writing how I feel was going to be this hard. Kudos to Kris Keefer for all he does. I really want to bring my whole heart and soul into these articles. This opportunity is something that I am very excited and grateful for, and I cannot wait to write the next one which will be a lot more about the 2025 Suzuki RM-Z450 I am riding. Thank you for reading and I hope these future articles will be relatable to you. You can email me at rimondi733@gmail.com if you have any questions.
