Belgian Waffle Ride California 2025: 106 Miles on the New Course

Every now and then, a race comes along that feels more like an epic than a ride. The Belgian Waffle Ride California is one of those races. Equal parts sufferfest and celebration, it’s a day that blends beautiful ‘unroad’ terrain with good vibes, waffles, and just the right amount of struggle. This year was extra special, not only was it my first time tackling the full length Waffle at BWR, but it was also the debut of an all-new course starting in Del Mar.

What Is the Belgian Waffle Ride?

If you’ve never heard of the Belgian Waffle Ride, it’s basically an homage to the legendary one-day spring classics of Belgium, reimagined on the roads and trails of California. It started back in 2011, the brainchild of Michael Marckx, who wanted to create a ride that combined the speed and tactics of road racing with the unpredictability of off-road terrain. The result? A course long enough to test your endurance, technical enough to keep you on your toes, and different enough to make it fun.

What makes BWR such a popular gravel race is it’s seamless blend of surfaces…especially with the new off road sectors this year. You’ll get pavement, single track, chunky gravel, hatchet head singletrack, steep climbs, punchy rollers…and that was just at mile 50! Over the years, BWR has grown from a niche local event into a full-on series raced my multiple pros, with races in Arizona, Utah, North Carolina, and Montana. But the California edition is still the crown jewel with the highest participation.

2025: New Year and a New Course

This year, the California race made a big move. Instead of the usual start in North County San Diego, riders rolled out from the Del Mar Polo Fields. The change brought a fresh feel to the event, with a course that packed in 106 miles and about 7,500 feet of climbing. The biggest change was that the course now had more than 40% of the miles on off-road sectors. There was sand. There was loose rock. There were punchy climbs that came out of nowhere. And then there was the nasty set of switchbacks near the 100th mile to wrap things up.

My race day got off to a great start, working in a large group before hitting the first off road sector. There was a narrow bit of single track that caused a bit of a log jam and cost me 10 minutes, but once we got moving the groups spread out.

The next stretch of BWR has us passing by Lake Hodges, as section I got to ride on the Wafer route last year. There is some hatchet head single track with some rock gardens that were causing a lot of riders to stop with flats. I was very happy to be riding the Pathfinder pro in 47s this year, and didn’t feel the rough terrain at all.

After Lake Hodges we had our biggest climb of the day on a paved section on the way to Ramona. It was smooth sailing, but I was feeling a very strong tailwind. This is usually a good thing, but I knew I’d have to return in a headwind, so I started strategizing to find a group I could work with on the way back.

I worked with a group of 8 on the return to Lake Hodges, and we all took turns pulling in a nasty headwind. We were all tired when we reached the Lusardi Creek area, and braced ourselves for the tight turn switchbacks. The switchbacks came at the 97 mile mark and took a great deal of concentration to keep from tipping over. After the switchbacks, there was a series of punchy climbs that mirrored the effort required at Double Peak in the past. It was all downhill from there though, and I reached the finish line at 7:15.

In all, it was a decent first effort at the full length BWR. I went into things not wanting to blow up, and because of that, felt like I had more in the tank at the end. I wish I would have started off much faster to avoid the early log jam, and I wished I would have pushed harder on the road sections early. I probably could have gone under 7 hours with those minor changes. I’ll have to continue my training, and come back next year with a little more experience under my belt. I’m pretty happy with how things went having only been in the world of cycling for two year.