The Queensland-based Dutchman joined the KTM Summer Grill to tell one of greatest motorsport stories of the year.
Put simply, he was challenged to complete the Baja 1000 in the Pro Moto Ironman class, as a solo rider, by a mate.
So, he flew from Queensland to San Diego, bought a second-hand KTM off Facebook Marketplace, rode it to La Paz in Mexico, and then made it through the gruelling competitive run back to Ensenada.
He spent more than 100 hours on the bike in total, 48 of which came in one bike- and body-battering run to complete the event.
Getting to the finish within the 50-hour limit meant van Dijk achieved his goal – and he also achieved cult hero status in the process.
Unbeknownst to him during the event, van Dijk’s exploits went viral and he was greeted at the finish as an instant Baja legend.
“My mate already had a bike over there, he did it in 2019,” van Dijk told the KTM Summer Grill.
“We were trying to figure out if we would do it as a team. But when we figured it was a bit of a struggle logistically, he said, ‘Why don’t you do it Ironman?’. It started there…”
Van Dijk faced a number of issues, including the fact that Facebook wouldn’t let him enquire about bikes based in the US from Australia.
That meant he had to wait until he arrived in the States before he could properly start searching for a bike to purchase.
He quickly found and bought a second-hand KTM 500 EXC, only to arrive in La Paz to find its aftermarket sub-frame had broken.
With that fixed he then made a fast-start to the event, and was even leading his class at the 233-mile marker, despite having done no proper pre-running.
He was still in the mix for the podium until the final third of the race when a couple of crashes slowed him down.
“I was pretty keen,” he said of his fast start. “Everyone was going that slow. I guess you need to pace yourself and I guess I didn’t do that.”
When one of those crashes left him with an injured hand he decided to get an hour’s sleep in a chair on the side of the road.
“That was after a section in the dark and it was loose and rocky,” he said. “I couldn’t get a pace on, I was doing 20 miles and hour for like five hours. I just slept in a chair and they gave me some food.”
Another crash left his front rim badly damaged, which he had to nurse to the finish.
“In the wash there’s hidden rocks and you can’t really see them,” he explained. “I definitely didn’t see that one. It almost sent me over the bars. It split the rim, and then I hit it again at the same spot and that fully buckled the rim.
“I ended up rolling in a cactus too. Around the corner there was a few people that took all of the cactus out of my hand and I put new gloves on because it was everywhere.”
Reflecting on making the finish, van Dijk said it was an incredible experience.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s quite a funny race, you’ve got to be a bit dumb to enter it.
“It’s an open road, pretty much. There’s cattle and… you’ve got to expect the unexpected. I never saw anyone coming the other way but it does happen.
“Apparently I was battling for a good position up until seven, eight hundred miles, but you won’t know anyway. I was loving it. You just ride your bike and have fun.
“Everything hurts, but it hurts until a certain point and then it doesn’t get any worse. So as long as you can still use the bike, it’s all good.”
For more from Wouter-Jan van Dijk watch the full episode of the KTM Summer Grill.
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