Zack Allison’s BWR North Carolina Race Recap

BWR North Carolina, for me, for my race day, actually started when we left Kansas after Unbound. It was a pretty crazy set of travel days with Whitney getting Giardia and massive lightning storms each night we stopped with the camper, causing a lack of recovery/body work going into North Carolina.   Thank goodness for…

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Tackling the Hell of the East (Coast)

Just six short weeks after the first Belgian Waffle Ride in San Diego, the second stop of the Quadrupel Crown of Gravel took place. This time the traveling gravel circus took roots in the East Coast, somewhere about 30 miles south of Asheville, North Carolina along the border of South Carolina. BWR North Carolina was…

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Preparing for the Hell of the North (Carolina)

It’s been about one month since Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) California and now North Carolina is right around the corner. I thought I would have a solid window to prepare for what’s to come at the next BWR but honestly, I’ve been on a crit racing calendar, so the preparation is, well, being handled differently.…

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How to Avoid DNFing the BWR

Many begin an epic adventure like the one you’ve just embarked upon expecting moderate discomfort and glory to await us, but only the most prepared will triumph over the Belgian Waffle Ride. Although the numbers are not public, we know a high percentage of riders never cross the finish line and get their own ride…

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Tackling the Dubbel Header

For those of you uninitiated to the Dubbel Header, the concept is simple; race the Waffle ride on Saturday and turn around and race the Wafer on Sunday. Easy enough? Ha! The Waffle ride was 135+ miles long, sure to be my longest ride of the year and the Wafer was 75 miles, yet still…

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Epilogue and Epitaph of a Glorious BWR Finish

Epiligue an Epitaph of a Glorious BWR Finish Evolution doesn’t always occur incrementally. Sometimes change is sudden, surprising and painful. The Belgian Waffle Ride has always been different. Different is challenging; it’s new; it’s unique. Then, for 4 years the course did not change substantially. Yes, there were small tweaks but nothing that affected overall…

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The Best Tire for the Belgian Waffle Ride CA (San Diego)

The Best Tire for the Belgian Waffle Ride CA (San Diego) Monuments are generally considered to be the oldest, hardest and most prestigious one day races on the professional circuit and winning one can immortalize an athlete in the annals of history. As such, Monuments define spring racing success in the professional ranks, dictating future…

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BWR Kansas: An Insider’s Guide to Lawrence

Make the most of Lawrence, KS Source Endurance owner and coach Adam Mills spent many years living in Lawrence, Kansas, and is a Kansas native. Here are some of his favorites from one of his favorite places: You registered for BWR KS and if you’re like many people, you’ve probably never been to Lawrence unless…

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Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City: Course Musings

Photo: Jake Orness The folks at Monuments of Cycling wanted a weekend of proper reconnaissance and feedback on the finalized Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City course.  A few of us made the trek with the mindset of learning what this course was all about and how it felt at speed.  What follows is my initial…

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Lori McCarty ups gravel skills at the BWR Survival Camp

From Lori: Incredible. Source Endurance knows how to do camp. My 1st time in California and I rode alongside my favorite cycling celebs, we even squished in vans together. The coaches were open, resourceful and encouraging. They looked out for us and offered advice and humor along the way. The different group options made it…

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5 ways to NOT DNF at the BWR

5 ways to not dnf at the bwr

The Belgian Waffle Ride has a 30-40% Did Not Finish (DNF) rate. That is roughly 1 in every 3 people who start BWR don’t finish and need to be picked up by support or get their own ride home. With proper preparation and following these tips you will make sure you are not one of…

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10 Fueling Tips for Belgian Waffle Ride and other long cycling events

Gravel ride fueling

Mass start, dust up the nose, endless climbs, stretches of captivating scenery, clock ticking. Long Classic-style races are sweeping the hearts of cyclists across the country for the opportunity to complete something epic, try something new, enjoy beautiful scenery, and challenge oneself. Do I want to be a finisher, or do I want to try…

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Cornering in gravel at BWR

Cornering in gravel is hard. It’s a traction issue. On a road bike, your tires grab, sliding is bad, and you can really lean the bike over. On gravel there’s not really any major bike leaning. When the speed is high enough that you can lean the bike over, if you’re on gravel you’d just…

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Utilizing winter sports for BWR training

I’m going to paint a picture and it may resemble your situation. Minnesota in February. You’re working during the day, watching the weather, and it does not look good for your weekend ride like it did in July. Looks like another evening on the trainer. You’ve found Zwift, you’ve tried TrainerRoad, your coach writes some…

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Should you incorporate strength training into your BWR preparation?

To lift or not to strength train, that’s NOT the question. In your run into BWR, you will be gaining fatigue. If 100% of your CTL (chronic training load) is from riding, you’re leaving some potential power behind. We’ve seen the BWR course. Besides some major tweaks that Michael Marckx may throw at us the…

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Casey Cohenmeyer: 2019 Canyon Belgian Waffle Ride BWR Done

TLDR Version: Thank you Michael Marckx, Andy Brightman, Phil Tinstman and all the countless others and volunteers who bring this insane event to our community. Thank you cycling community for being awesome. Thank you to Nick, Steve and Ned for putting up and being involved in this nonsense. Most of all, thank you Adam Mills at…

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Choosing a Tire for Your Next Gravel Adventure

“Hey… what’s the best tire for this event?” That’s something I’ve been hearing a lot over the last few months as more and more mixed surface and gravel events come on the calendar. I remember back to my full time cyclo-cross (CX) days riding with the KCCX team and all the conversations we had about…

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Neil Shirley Road to Unbound Gravel: Checking in at the Belgian Waffle Ride

Neil Shirley’s exploits as a professional road racer are well-documented in the annals of cycling.  You can do a quick Google search and find a library of articles with him mentioned as a protagonist at “name that race.”  Unfortunately, because of Neil’s career as a journalist, you can also find a good deal out there…

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Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 Recap Day 3

The Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 ran January 12-14, 2018, for three days of course reconnaissance of the BWR course. Check out our photo journal from Day 1 and Day 2. The day focused on all the technical gravel sections which take many tired victims every year. All photos are by DMunson Photo. Day 3:        …

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Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 Recap Day 2

The Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 ran January 12-14, 2018, for three days of course reconnaissance of the BWR course. Check out our photo journal from Day 1.  Day 2, riders rode 100 miles with the arduous Black Canyon climb as the ride’s peak (no pun intended). All photos are by DMunson Photo. Day 2:    …

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Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 Recap Day 1

The Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp 3.0 ran January 12-14, 2018, for three days of course reconnaissance of the BWR course. Check out our photo journal from Day 1. All photos are by DMunson Photo. Day 1: Riders arrive, get settled and check in. They also get ready for ride #1, an easy 2-hour ride.…

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Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Guide by Neil Shirley

By Neil Shirley Neil Shirley is a two-time Belgian Waffle Ride winner, and five time finisher. He is also returning to the BWR Survival Camp as a ride leader. If you’ve never done the Belgian Waffle Ride before you’ll find it’s a bit of an anomaly compared to just about any other road cycling event…

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BWR Survival Camp: Meet Mentor Janel Holcomb

Janel Holcomb began her cycling career in a way most of us only dream of…she picked up a bike in 2006, started racing in 2007 and was racing professionally in Europe by 2008.  We interviewed her recently as we have the honor of having her as a mentor at our upcoming Cervelo Belgian Waffle Ride…

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Rider Highlight: Jed Schneider's Top 20 at the Belgian Waffle Ride

Jed recently had a great result at the Belgian Waffle Ride and a big personal accomplishment of finish the Tour of the Gila in the Men’s 1,2 field in Silver City, New Mexico. He’s kindly offered up some advice on time-management with a career and training as well as how to choose a bike for…

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Rider Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer

Casey recently completed her first Belgian Waffle Ride after volunteering last year. She’s been riding bikes for about a year and a half now. She not only finished the BWR, but finished 24th out of 40 female starters and 407 out of 548 overall starters for men and women with a time of 11:35:55. Way…

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