To Hell And Back
To Hell and Back
Masochistic, methodical or just plain mad? You be the judge.
WHAT WOULD YOU CALL A GUY who-for fun, mind you-decided he was going to ride 1500 miles a day for seven days straight? Crazy and masochistic are probably the first words that come to mind. But when you take a closer look at veteran endurance rider Dale "Warchild" Wilson's record-breaking, 10,636-mile "Bun Burner Gold Hell Week" ride last July, you realize smart and methodical might be more accurate.
“The fact that there are only a halfdozen riders in the world who’ve ever done three documented 1500-mile Bun Bumer Gold rides back-to-back makes Wilson’s achievement pretty impressive,” says Iron Butt Association President Michael Kneebone, who certified Wilson’s ride. “But I think his success has as much to do with the incredible amount of planning and preparation he put into it as it does his ability to twist the throttle for hours on end.” Wilson started by logging more than 19,000 training miles on his 2002 Honda Blackbird in the months leading up to the attempt. But those long hours in the saddle were only the beginning. He also added a number of functional farkles to his bulletproof bike, including an electronic chain oiler, bright HID headlights in addition to driving lights, an insulated water cooler with drinking
tube, ing system and a designe GPS tr; to help him docum was turning the Blackbird into a two-wheeled fuel tanker. “On a ride like .-v » - _ Vthis, the key is to avoid things that eat up your time, and gas stops are always the biggest culprit,” Wilson explains. “So I added three auxiliary tanks that allowed me to carry a total of 21 gallons of fuel, which meant I only had to be off the bike for a total of about 15 minutes per 20-hour run.”
Next he plotted a dozen possible routes that stuck mostly to lonely twolane roads in Nevada, Utah, California and Oregon. The goal was to avoid traffic for both safety and to help him maintain his desired 70-mph average speed. Although laying all this groundwork was important, Wilson says the most critical piece of the puzzle turned out to be fellow IBA member and Blackbird owner Brian Roberts, who acted as his one-man pit crew.
“Brian spent hours going over the bike every night while I was sleep-
ing, doing everything from measuring brake pad thickness to changing tires,” Wilson said. “Then he’d check the weather forecast and road construction reports, choose a route, and wake me up at about 4:30 a.m. with a briefing on that day’s ride.”
Even though he had to contend with triple-digit heat, wicked thunderstorms and an existing tom left bicep, Wilson says he felt fine for the first five days, but admits that Day 6 was pretty rough and Day 7 was downright ugly.
“I had to stop several times on that last day and just managed to make it back to the starting line with only 23 minutes to spare,” Wilson said. “Looking back, I’m glad I did it, but it was a nutty ride and I’m definitely not doing it again.” -Alan Rider
