True to it’s name the Belgian Waffle Ride starts the morning off with waffles for all riders.The BWR has grown every year with it’s seventh year being it’s largest and from what we hear their most successful from a rider’s perspective.Rider’s are greeted to a full rolling CHP escort to begin their ride through out the San Diego county.
A mixed surface style event, the 132 mile course had around 40 miles of dirt with 90 miles of road for rider’s to navigate.Tire choice is key as you have to pick your line through some treacherous terrain but still be able to handle the long miles of road.
Some rider’s chose to walk across the water crossing’s and stay dry while others were brave enough to ride straight through.Sometimes the brave aren’t rewarded as they’d like.Lake Hodges offers up a beautiful back drop for rider’s to roll through while it also keeps them away from traffic and cars.Once the rider’s made it through Black Canyon the lead group was established and the games began.Ted King has become a local at attending and racing the BWR as he uses it as key prep for his assault on the upcoming Dirty Kanza 200.
Elevate-KHS professional Brian McCulloch chose to go with a full road set up, though he did convert his 28c tires to tubeless.There were plenty of SRAM neutral vehicles out on course along with Velofix mobile bike shop vans to keep support all of the rider’s and not just the lead group.Not your standard aid station, the Oasis offered up pools to sit in, hot dogs and of course, bacon.The bacon was clearly a big hit after 120 miles of suffering.The race came down to a two man sprint which has yet to be seen in the prior six years of BWR history.
Brian McCulloch lead out Ted King where he would take the victory after a six plus hour battle.Larissa Connors would back up her victory from last year by easily winning this years for a second consecutive time.The power couple of Ted King and laura King both stood on the podium after their hard fought day at the Belgian Waffle Ride.The Queen of Kanza Alison Tetrick had some unfortunate crashes which took away her chances of battling for the win. She said the post ride beers made up for it though.Completing the BWR is no easy task as many rider’s had their own battle wounds to show off post ride.The post ride event was held at the Lost Abbey Brewery where rider’s were treated to amazing beer to share their stories over.The two day expo prior to the big day was held down the street at the new Canyon headquarters in Carlsbad.Michael Marckx is the man behind the big day as he takes the crowd through the latest course for the seventh edition.Thousands of rider’s and spectators came through the expo where they picked up their race swag and hung out with vendors while opening up their legs with a pre-BWR spin down the coast.Your 2018 Belgian Waffle Ride Women’s champion, Larissa Connors.Your 2018 Belgian Waffle Ride Men’s champion, Brian McCulloch.
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