Australian motorcycle racer Alex Cudlin built his business around his lifelong passion.
When he received a warning about large amounts of rain heading to Taree earlier this week, the two-time World Endurance Champion started preparing his motorbike tour company, Aussie Bike or Hike, for the same devastation the town experienced during the 2023 floods.
“We got as much stuff off the ground as possible. We lifted it to a height that was higher than the previous 2023 floods,” he said.
This time, water surpassed what they’d seen previously.
“It wasn’t enough. In the end, everything flooded, it went to the roof,” Cudlin said.
Cudlin’s parents’ motorcycle training business, located on the same property as his, and his sister’s motorcycle shop on the other side of Taree, both flooded to ceiling height, too.
“I think that’s it for our businesses … Obviously we don’t know the cost yet and the issue is that a lot of the places that have been damaged aren’t insured, ours included, because it’s in a flood zone. You can’t get insurance in case of flooding.”
Inside his office are the racing suits from his world championship wins.
“I might open the shop, and they might be sitting there floating on top of the desk, or they might be floating down the river. There’s no point getting down about it, there are loads of people in worse positions than we are,” he said.
“It’s like a motorbike race, sometimes you win a motorbike race, sometimes you lose a motorbike race and we lost this one.”