Bart's Big Adventure - Wayne Bartlett, Master Sergeant

Airman, Sept, 2001 by Staff Sgt. Jason Tudor

Andrews senior NCO pedals across America to pread a message of recruiting and retention

The whole idea seemed a little far-fetched. After all, who Would believe that a noncommissioned officer would climb on his bike and ride across the country in the name of Air Force recruiting and retention?

But this is Master Sgt. Wayne Bartlett we're talking about. Bart. Everybody's Energizer Bunny. The guy with more pep than a one-hour Richard Simmons TV special. Suddenly, the idea doesn't seem so far-fetched after all.

In fact, if you're around Bart, the 89th Airlift Wing Year of Retention and Recruiting program manager, long enough, you'll want to find a set of jumper cables just to start your car. Or maybe your soul. He's the perfect guy to get the charge from, and that same energy carried him on two wheels across the midriff of the nation.

His journey was 35 days old and three days shy of his 40th birthday when the gangly, 6-foot, 158-pound, self-professed fitness nut rolled into Andrews Air Force Base, Md., June 1 to the cheers, hoots and hollers of an equally excited fan base - Bart groupies.

"His power is just amazing," said Master Sgt. Jim Rhodes, who has worked with his friend Bart for more than three years. "Everything he touches is perfect."

When he rolled down the slope of Route 66 into Albuquerque, Bart finished almost 150 miles through New Mexico in sub-freezing conditions, up steep grades and down twisting interstates. He'd already had 13 flat tires.

Exhausted? Yes. Deterred? No way. This is Bart we're talking about - the diametric opposite of a therapy session with comedian Richard Lewis.

He has biked for more than 10 years, run in 19 marathons and logged more bike miles than the Schwinn quality control geek. Bart scored a 53 on his most recent Air Force bike test. When he started his workout routine, finishing a 10-k run was his biggest hurdle. Tomorrow, he may have his eye turned toward a pedal-powered space shuttle.

All of this, he said, is to get him and others to focus on ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

"The Air Force provides you an opportunity to test your own limits," he said, his hand stretched toward a point on the horizon. "Not everyone will ride a bike cross country, but everyone in the Air Force will get an opportunity to do things they never thought they could and explore their own limits."

Now, it's just past 6 a.m. on May 5 - day five of his trip. Bart is talking to one of 27 other riding mates about his former job "X-raying airplanes." The conversation around the table with these bikers from "America by Bicycle," the group with which he's sharing this journey across the country, is lively and in many accents - South African, German, French and Texan.

As the morning brief continues, some notice Bart has bandaged himself from his first injury after riding the initial 850 miles: buttimus hurtalotimus. He's experimenting with something other riders are using to cure the affliction.

"I'm wearing two pairs of bike shorts," Bart said, tugging on the shorts clinging to his long legs. "Some of the guys said this helps. I'll give It a try."

He'll need the extra padding. This entire trip is roughly the equivalent of biking 150 Boston Marathons, riding eight to 10 hours each day. And he's got another 2,500 miles to go.

Just a boy from Texas

Dart has been testing his own limits since he was a boy growing up in Killeen, Texas, where his parents owned a feed store. He ran track, high-jumped 2 inches higher than himself and played baseball in high school. But life in the southwestern town, one where he didn't see a future, got a little monotonous for the self-described "hyperactive kid."

"Like others, I saw the Air Force as something that got me out of a small town," Dart said.

Over time, he worked in a number of jobs along the nondestructive inspection career path, examining the microscopic cracks on aircraft of all types. Then one day, life added another cast member to his active duty "Up With People" traveling road show, when he met and wed his wife, Mary, six years ago.

If Dart is the star, then Mary makes him a supernova, mimicking his contagious enthusiasm and providing the fusion energy for endeavors like the cross country bike ride.

She's also the one who got him home safely. While his "America by Bicycle" counterparts ended their journey in Beantown, Dart had to get home to Andrews. That meant Mary had to drive to Boston and lead Dart home. For three days, she and her husband trekked down the eastern seaboard. Mary rode 40 miles ahead and waited for Dart to catch up until they both arrived at Andrews on time to an awaiting crowd.

"Wayne looks at every day as a new beginning and sees it as a real pleasure to be alive," she said. "I can't think of a better person to spread that retention and recruiting message."

And she should know. This was, after all, the same Dart who walked into their Mildenhall, England, flat and said, "Pack your bags! We're going to Paris," and a few months later said, "Pack your bags! We're going skydiving!"