A message below from the team at the Belgian Waffle Ride and 2021.
Dear Graveleurs:
With case rates and hospitalizations significantly lower, the arrival of three highly effective vaccines and targeted efforts aimed at vaccinating the most vulnerable communities, California is beginning to gradually and safely bring back more activities, especially those that occur outdoors (other states are ee further down the road). As a result, we have big plans that we hope to get executed this year, should the re-opening continue unfettered. This includes our 10th annual Belgian Waffle Ride celebration in San Diego, July 16 -18 at a new location large enough to accommodate the massive list of riders who have signed up. This new location, North City in San Marcos, affords us to have a very large footprint for the entire event festivities, from the huge expo footprint and city-wide beer garden to the crit-cross race (open to all) and VIP/Media event on Friday.
BWR CA (San Diego) — Riders that were signed up for the 2020 event, per our earlier emails, have all been deferred to this year’s event. With over 150% growth, there are only a few spots left.
Same goes for the BWR NC (Asheville) event, which is second on our calendar, August 20 – 21. We had to move the event to this date because of the Covid concerns within the community and with our presenting sponsor, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. not being able to open at full capacity by our original May date. We are all hopeful this later date will better serve the probability of its going off!
For the Asheville event, we are so excited to host the event from Ride Kanuga, a brand new cycling destination, a mountain biking mecca, if you will. With 1400 acres, miles of recreation trails, a 30-acre lake, historic guest cottages and Inn Lodging, Kanuga is a premier location to host our first event in N. Carolina. It too will feature a crit-cross race on Friday night before the Wafflefest with the VIP/Media event.
For BWR Utah (Cedar City), the event was moved up on the calendar to avoid being on top of hunting season, which severely limits the off-road riding we can accomplish without gun shot, though some have suggested that might be a fun added element… not getting shot at. We think the event is hard enough, with 80% of the route being gravel, dirt, sand or rocks. We will also host a Friday night crit-cross race here!
Finally, we have the newest addition to the calendar, the BWR Kansas (Lawrence), in partnership with the Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop and the Steve Tilford Foundation, to be held this year on Halloween. We also have a special crit-cross race happening the Friday night before the event with the VIP/Media event, and the big expo all day on Saturday. For each event, we will be offering all three options: The Waffle (really long), The Wafer (half as long) and The Wanna (half The Wafer). Something for everyone. In fact, to this end, The Wafer will also offer an E-Bike category at each of the four venues.
With the changing dynamics of racing globally, we are very excited to not only be watching the Spring Classics happening in Europe, we are also welcoming many current and former World Tour pros to the start lines of the BWR this year. The fields are going to be much wider and faster than ever before, and the will be prize purses at each venue.
Over the next couple weeks, we will share important announcements about new partners, the Tripel Crown of Gravel, the Quadruple option, plus some exciting new events being added to the calendar for 2021 and 2022. Happy Trails, THE BWR CREW