Unprepared Rider on Busted Used Bike With No Pit Crew Enters Baja 1000, Finishes Anyway, and Becomes a Fucking Legend

By the time Van Dijk and and his friend reached the starting point, they found the bike’s subframe was cracked. Van Dijk suspects the extra weight of his gear did it, but we think it had something to do with his huge brass balls.

The Baja 1000 is renowned as one of the most difficult, most grueling off-road races on the planet. To finish is something to brag about, even if you’re a pro with a purpose-built racing vehicle and a full support crew. But there are no words for what one guy did at this year’s race: Show up on a damaged, used bike with no pit crew, no course knowledge, and somehow still finish. Oh, and did we mention he navigated using the stars?

Wouter-Jan Van Dijk, a Dutchman living in Australia, entered this year’s SCORE International Baja 1000 in the Pro Moto Ironman class—that’s one rider, one bike, and more than 1,300 miles. He entered at the suggestion of a friend, Shane Moss, who had competed in the 2019 race according to a transcription of a SCORE interview by The Checkered Flag. Van Dijk had plenty of enduro (long-distance cross-country riding) under his belt, and he thought the Baja sounded like fun.

“My mate’s done it before in 2019,” Van Dijk said. “We were planning to do it again and maybe doing it with a team, then he said, ‘why don’t you do it Ironman if you can? You reckon you can?’ I was like, ‘I guess I can.'”read more >

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