Having never done a BWR race, but been following them for a few years … and doing my first event of theirs in Michigan in October, I’m kind of worried about them being too gimmicky from what I’ve heard lately.
Maybe that’s their schtick, so I could be speaking out of turn, but I think most riders want gravel, single track or road. It’s obviously fine and normal if you have a gravel race that uses single track to connect to other gravels roads as a challenging feature … but coming into a race knowing that no matter what bike you bring, you might be on the wrong bike for over 60% of it seems annoying. And at the size of these events, it kinda seems dangerous.
Maybe this is just how they run the Asheville event due to the topography down there.
Not sure how others feel, This would turn me off from doing the BWR NC event.
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I kind of feel the same way, I would like to know if anyone made that vallende climb. We must have been near each other at some point, although my finish time was 5:19 for the wafer.
I honestly was feeling great and enjoying the course, until I reached that ridiculous climb. Having to hike a bike up that whole section basically destroyed my back. I was able to recover and also passed a lot of roadies on that grass singletrack after that crazy climb. I definitely agree it was more of a survival adventure race, also debating if it’s worth doing again.
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I rode the Wafer as a complete newbie to cycling and gravel and for me it was an epic adventure - I was there to complete not compete and I think that mentality served me well over the somewhat terrifying singletrack and gravel descents on the softball sized rocks. Coming from Michigan where we have hills, not climbs, the 7k of elevation gain was 3x my normal gain in a single ride but my 10-42 XPLR 12 speed 1x setup covered all bases and never felt like I was out of gears. Also, I ran 40mm Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H and never lost traction (course was very dry). Absolutely loved the gravel climbs (Pinnacle was epic) and the Cascade Lake area was unbelievably scenic. I am not a mountain biker and have zero comfort and confidence on singletrack, so the trail sections scared the hell out of me and I probably went through a set of brake pads just getting through them (can attest to my sore hands from a handlebar death grip) but overall, I was looking for an adventure style race and feel like I earned every penny of the entry fee and trip to NC.
Would I do it again? Probably not due to the singletrack but maybe with a year of riding under me I’ll feel differently next year.
Some stats:
Finish time: 5:20 (moving time 4:58)
Average speed 13.9mph
Average power 188w
Normalized Power 249w (FTP 250w from a test this past winter…feel great about my NP effort)
TSS 495
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I possibly rode with you at some point.
I was in a winter camo kit with a all green bike and deep wheels. I was making all of my time up downhill, while politely letting people know I was coming up on them from a decent distance away at a very high rate of speed.
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It’s seems like 3 of us here we’re next to each other, I can’t even remember who I was with. The descents were so fun!
I had a maroon jersey, all black bike.
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Great effort and congratulations for being such a new rider!
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Last year, there was no single track on the course. Apparently, they received complaints and made it harder. They also made it not a gravel event, IMHO.
I suspect the issue is permitting for the state forest and national forest roads – either they were unable to obtain them or unwilling to pursue it or it was just flat out not allowed.
For whatever reason, they did elected not to use Rich Mountain which is right there. The approach from Cedar Mountain is nice. I guess the issue is the descent on Woodwind which I do not believe is state maintained (neighborhood road). Anyway, it’s not as if Falling Creek Camp was the only option.
I don’t really have any complaints about the course, BWR has always been billed as “This is Not a Gravel Race”. This was my first one and sort of what I expected, a bit more technically challenging than I thought since I am not a mountain biker. Overall a cool experience and I would say my TR mid volume plan gave me the fitness I needed to complete it and still felt relatively good all the way to the end… Big props to all the info from the #podcast really help me figure out this cycling thing.
I consumed approximately 1200 grams of carbs over the 11:57 min it took me to complete the full waffle course. Took to heart allot of the pacing advice from @Jonathan @Nate_Pearson and team and felt good all the way, last 2 hours passed tons of groups who I remember passing me earlier in the day. Going from off the couch, two years of TR mid volume plans to probably the most challenging of the BWR events I feel pretty good about.
I had a few goals and nailed them all…
- Finish
- Fuel and hydrate the whole time.
- Pace accordingly
- Have fun
- Eat waffles and drink beer!
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I race almost primarily in michigan and they have thousands of service roads and plenty of options for not putting you on a lot of single track.
I cant confirm what they are going to do, but I can tell you if I was to gamble the MI race will not be nearly as technical and we do not have climbs/mountains like the NC race.
I however will say that it is very sandy, so it will be a loose race… but as said before, I dont know what they are doing yet. I am signed up for it also!
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To be totally fair, They did not say this was going to be a typical gravel race, so having single track and steep steep chunky climbs is fine-IF there is some reason to do them. I.e. it makes a good connection or leads to a rad section you couldnt access otherwise. The falling creek section was none of this, Just a sketchy steep hill with crappy grassy trail on the backside. Whats the point? Certainly not fun.
And pinnacle laps just cause trouble. Too many people made the wrong turn and screwed up their race. The laps need to go away.
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Did the Waffle, and it was my first time finishing a big gravel event. There were plenty of ‘why the hell is this part of the course?’ moments for me, but looking back on it just a few days past, I can still say that it was overall not outside of my expectations given the way they brand this race. Here are some notes:
- Finishing time was 10:55. I’m 84kg @ about 3.7w/kg. Overall ride NP was 216w.
- Was worried that my 40mm Terra Trails were going to be too much for this course but man am I glad I had them! I ran them with CushCore & 36/34psi and had no issues on the fast descents or singletrack. I also felt like I has much better traction on the steep gravel & single track when climbing out of the saddle.
- My gearing of 1x40T & 11x42 was just barely enough, though I really would have appreciated a few more gears - Jeter Mtn avg. cadence was 63!
- Most fun part section was the REED downhill single track which you could absolutely bomb. I’m not sure I could have gone much faster on my Trail MTB bike. They’ve put a short race video from this on their Unroad UNLTD Insta account
- Walked Vallende Creek climb & one other super steep section on the 2nd big loop, but the craziest/most technical climb was def. the Turkey Knob singletrack on the 2nd big loop. It was something like 15-20 switchbacks, where the each switchback was around 20% grade. Took everything I had to make it up all the way up that.
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Good video. That chunky gravel climb did not look fun. And some of the steep climbs and the really rough descent reminded me of a race I did years ago in Helen, GA.
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May have rode with you at some point. Congrats and nice job!
I rode that climb… And it was a mother f…'r
Wafer- 4:59, 47th overall, 15th in 35-44
Bike:
'22 Trek Checkpoint SL, 56
Zipp 303s wheels
Challenge Getaway 40’s (27/29 psi)
SRAM AXS Force 1x w/ Quarq, 46t front, 50/10 rear
Ordered a XPLR dropper, but it didnt come in before we left. Wish Id had it…
Congrats to all who rode/raced/finished it. That route was unreal. I thought the climbs were pretty tough and challenging (Jeter is mean spirited ; ) ). The descents were incredible though.
There are some other races up there over similar roads:
Dirt Diggler
Southeast Gravel
Definitely worth checking out…
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I have Falling Creek Pinnacle Punisher on my schedule (short course, I feel no need to to two laps). The start finish is at the Falling Creek Camp entrance with a water crossing at the end.
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What was your “system weight” for the race, at a 27/29psi I most likely would have had some rim damage
What do you mean “system weight?”
What franktuna said
Bike+gear+yourself or total weight leaving the start line
That’s what I assumed. Wanted to make sure
About 200lbs. I’m 180, bike is 18ish, water, snacks, etc…. Maybe 205
No burps and no issues at those pressures. Never bottomed out. Took some hits for sure on some washboard in the apex of turns, and with some chunkier gravel
I’m sure the hookless helps, but they were rock solid.
