Spy’s Belgian Waffle Ride Brings The Pain

by editors on April 17, 2013

Spy-Optic-Ride

For those who watched Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara win the 2013 Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubiax (back to back) and thought maybe they’d like to test themselves against 200 plus kilometers of cycling hell, the Spy Belgian Waffle Ride held in Carlsbad, California, is the perfect race.

The 2013 Spy BWR, held April 7, (the same day as Paris Roubiax), pitted 360 cyclists against some of the steepest, wettest, and rockiest roads and dirt trails in Southern California. And that was after loading everyone up with a huge waffle breakfast.

Modeled after Europe’s gnarly one-day Spring Classic races, the Spy BWR offered those who dared to challenge the course an opportunity to test their strengths in a variety of different terrain, while at the same time raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

The 130-mile “hell of the North (County)” course began under overcast skies at Spy Optic’s headquarters in Carlsbad and wound its way through Carlsbad, Oceanside, Bonsall, Valley Center, Escondido, and San Elijo before ending, six-plus hours later, back at company headquarters.

Follow the jump for the rest of the story including complete results.031113 Ip  14294
Michael Marckx with a few last words before the first wave rolls out.

Spy Optic Chief Executive Michael Marckx said the ride is especially difficult because of its multiple sand, dirt, and water crossings, as well as its 10,000 plus feet of climbing. The original course planned for the 2013 event included even more dirt and climbing, but three days before the event the County of San Diego requested a few course changes, mostly where private land and roads were concerned.

The 2013 race started in two waves staggered-started 10 minutes apart. The pros along with Category 1, 2, and 3 riders rolled out at 8:30 AM, followed by the women and Category 4 and 5 riders at 8:40. Both groups rode neutral through Carlsbad and Oceanside until around the 20 mile mark when the race turned on at the San Luis Rey River Trail.

After a short roll on the paved trail the course jumped off down the levee into the first of many King of the Dirt sections, where as one would assume, the realities of the ride began set in especially with those who mistakenly believed the BWR would be simply a long fondo. Racers not accustomed to riding steep, soft dirt were forced to dismount and slip-slide down the slope, while others charged on by plowing their tiny road tires into the soft ground. Yes, bikes and riders were flying in all directions. But the hearty few made it through unscathed on rode on to the first of several water crossing and a quick run back up the side of the levee and back on to the trail.

031113 Ip  14313
Women’s winner Jess Cerra finished the 130 miles in 7:02:58.

From there it was 110 more miles of brutality including two dirt sections in Escondido that left bikes (including race founder Michael Marckx’s) in a shamble of bent rims, snapped spokes, broken handle bars, and ruined tires and the trail littered with water bottles. The BWR climaxed at the 115 miles mark with a grueling 18 to 20 degree climb up to San Elijo’s Double Peak Park. By the time the leaders reached Double Peak a little before 2 PM nearly 120 of those who started the race were beginning to realize that they’d never make it to the finish.

031113 Ip  14342One racer from San Diego, who described his ride as “not a good day on the bike” tried to phone a friend as the sun was beginning to set and he realized he was still 25 miles from the finish. As he explained on Strava.com, “There was a little detour. I was calling to try and get a jacket, light, and tail light so I could finish in the dark!”

Another racer, Bill Pinnell, who was officially the last place competitor raced the entire course on an Elliptigo. He started at 4:30 in the morning, and it took him 12 hours and 11 minutes, but he finished.

These are the stories everyone loves to tell after the Belgian Waffle Ride. As usual, the survivors stories were boring compared to those from the warriors who didn’t quite complete the mission. None of horrors from the road, however, seem to deter Michael Marckx from making the BWR challenge even greater in 2014.

“I see the course getting a little longer, with more than 12,000 feet of climbing, and having a lot more difficult dirt sections,” Marckx said. “Next year we will also work more proactively with the county to get onto dirt roads that we haven’t done to date. There will be more dirt and gravel.”

Those hell-bent on getting in on the 2014 ride should probably start training now—you’ve got 11 months.
For more details and photos of the event, check out the Spy BWR Facebook page.

Men’s Complete Results
PLACE FIRST NAME LAST NAME STRAVA TIME
1 Neil Shirley 6:08:39
2 Thurlow Rogers 6:15:18
3 Karl Bordine 6:17:48
4 Dan Cobley 6:18:49
5 Evan Stade 6:20:58
6 Brian Zink 6:22:51
7 Will White 6:26:13
8 Logan Fielder 6:28:17
9 Ryan Dahl 6:30:04
10 Michael Marckx 6:31:17
11 Jason Siegle 6:36:04
12 Erik Johnson 6:36:08
13 Brent Garrigus 6:36:29
14 Steve Hegg 6:37:50
15 John Abate 6:38:45
16 Robert Frank 6:40:18
17 NE14 Cylcing 6:44:26
18 Brent Prenzlow 6:44:27
19 Matt Connors 6:50:53
20 Courtland Keith 6:50:56
21 Dalton Fayad 6:50:56
22 Joshua Goldman 6:51:56
23 Adam Pacal 6:52:17
24 Andy McCluew 6:52:19
25 Mike Hileman 6:54:26
26 David Schulhofer 6:55:32
27 David Mitchell 6:58:57
28 Alan Flores 7:05:11
29 Tait Campbell 7:05:26
30 Tim Cooper 7:05:26
31 Randall Tinney 7:06:47
32 Anthony Vasilas 7:07:20
33 Todd Eaten 7:07:42
34 Kevin Rouse 7:10:00
35 Rick Sarles 7:10:52
36 Dan Findley 7:22:15
37 James Walsh 7:12:47
38 Ted Willard 7:12:53
39 Mark Nagy 7:12:53
40 Dillon Clapp 7:12:53
41 Chris Down 7:14:00
42 Sean Gilbert 7:14:37
43 Bruce Balch 7:15:03
44 T $ 7:16:49
45 David Jaeger 7:16:53
46 Larry Shannon 7:16:58
47 Dave Van Zeyl 7:16:59
48 Jim Armstrong 7:17:03
49 Ben Raymond 7:23:40
50 Johnny Dalton 7:23:48
51 Christopher Murphy 7:23:56
52 Chris Waggoner 7:24:01
53 Harold Martinez 7:24:24
54 Max Affarano 7:24:47
55 Steve Weixel 7:27:00
56 Matthew Muehlbauer 7:29:12
57 Bill Duvel 7:31:15
58 Lee Crane 7:31:40
59 Chris Nesbitt 7:31:56
60 Rob Char 7:32:54
61 Greg Leibert 7:33:01
62 Dave D 7:33:14
63 Steve Shoenberg 7:33:25
64 Chad Lucius 7:33:39
65 Todd Morton 7:33:45
66 Jerry Godinez 7:34:07
67 Julian GSAA 7:34:32
68 Blaize Baehrens 7:34:53
69 Bob Bingham 7:35:46
70 Joe Kennedy 7:36:47
71 Aaron Dalrymple 7:36:53
72 Café Cruiser 7:36:55
73 Udo Heinz 7:36:58
74 Max Biessmann 7:37:02
75 Ryan Ung 7:38:27
76 John Girard 7:39:10
77 Daniel Luzier 7:39:12
78 E B 7:39:13
79 David McNeal 7:39:17
80 Carlos Glines 7:41:14
81 Dan Seivert 7:41:57
82 Bryan Boyhan 7:42:25
83 Tom Nelson 7:42:38
84 Jeffrey Ishmael 7:42:48
85 James Macdonald 7:43:04
86 Bradley Kerr 7:43:23
87 Tom Anhalt 7:45:10
88 Kurt Luoni 7:45:32
89 David Miller 7:46:50
90 Michael Hotten 7:46:54
91 David Benner 7:47:33
92 G Barthel 7:48:48
93 Robert Paulsen 7:48:50
94 Dragon Ass 7:49:30
95 Seth Davidson 7:50:07
96 Labeja 2013 7:54:27
97 Craig Leeuwenburgh 7:58:27
98 Kevin Baldauf 7:58:29
99 Robert Spaulding 7:58:34
100 Dave Lawson 7:58:37
101 Manny Fresh 7:58:39
102 Jeremy Stromsoe 7:58:54
103 Jacob Hanna 7:59:09
104 Mike Simmons 8:04:14
105 Kevin Lentz 8:05:51
106 Jeff Bryant 8:06:35
107 Michael Hodges 8:07:15
108 Robert Verfurth 8:07:20
109 Josh Alverson 8:08:23
110 Nathan Grill 8:08:26
111 Peyton Cooke 8:08:28
112 William Gillis 8:08:31
113 Derek Goodman 8:08:32
114 Mark Neumann 8:08:34
115 Doug Peterson 8:08:36
116 Joe Yule 8:08:57
117 Casey Maguire 8:11:27
118 Richard Laureano 8:11:28
119 Chris Collins 8:11:29
120 Ron Berry 8:11:35
121 Andy Brightman 8:11:38
122 Mike Lemus 8:11:39
123 Alain Mazer 8:11:41
124 Jan Rodina 8:11:42
125 Chad Lund 8:13:52
126 Evan Kay 8:15:44
127 Calvin Kretchmar 8:17:12
128 Motto DDS 8:17:31
129 Dillon McCarver 8:18:16
130 Paul Douville 8:18:30
131 James Bowles 8:18:48
132 Jake Beller 8:20:35
133 Bob Reichmann 8:21:16
134 Dan Whitehill 8:21:25
135 Brett Lindsrom 8:21:25
136 John Camerino 8:24:33
137 Ghetto Velo 8:28:03
138 Jeff Bean 8:28:07
139 Dulie Malikyar 8:32:15
140 Chris Lonergan 8:34:28
141 Bob Nokoff 8:34:38
142 Brian Hong 8:34:56
143 Wayne Brander 8:35:11
144 Bill Holford 8:35:14
145 Ryan Autrey 8:35:53
146 Gus Bayle 8:35:54
147 Henry Sergeant 8:36:51
148 Kevin Townsend 8:36:53
149 Noah Hudson 8:36:53
150 Clayton Peck 8:38:36
151 Greg Walker 8:40:18
152 Mike Jennings 8:43:07
153 Jordan Craft 8:43:13
154 Joe Marckx 8:43:15
155 Kevin Weinstein 8:44:12
156 Eric Reed 8:44:22
157 Sam Ames 8:44:36
158 Brett Bonetti 8:44:42
159 David Holland 8:45:13
160 Robo Rob 8:45:29
161 Dan Kaiahua 8:47:19
162 DJ Bootsy 8:47:22
163 Ted Conrad 8:48:09
164 Tim Vaughan 8:52:42
165 Daniel Cipriani 8:52:58
166 Herb Lowe 8:55:42
167 Chris Lenkeit 8:57:33
168 Dave Van Waldick 8:58:01
169 Chris Beatty 8:58:31
170 John Muci 9:01:25
171 Anthony De La Fuente 9:01:46
172 Rob Ashely 9:02:21
173 Robert Winston 9:04:09
174 Jason Baker 9:06:48
175 TJ Parcells 9:09:33
176 Pedals The Dog 9:09:34
177 Al Morinaka 9:09:50
178 T Kowal 9:13:18
179 Jeffrey Hazeltine 9:13:29
180 Irvin Tremblay 9:13:32
181 Jake Sorosky 9:13:35
182 Lane Reid 9:13:38
183 Adam Beck 9:14:43
184 Steve Ummel 9:15:17
185 Neal Rogers 9:19:36
186 Mike Wiley 9:21:50
187 Will El Camino Bike 9:21:54
188 Michael Cowdrey 9:31:42
189 Vilmos Temesy 9:33:24
190 Joshua Chmielewski 9:34:39
191 Michael Brooks 9:34:41
192 Tom McDonald 9:38:57
193 Brian Miller 9:46:20
194 Steven Elliott 9:50:12
195 Jonathan Tessler 9:54:12
196 Cat Best 10:02:25
197 David Caren 10:12:29
198 Guy Seay 10:13:30
199 Bav Bav 10:15:19
200 Matt Sparks 10:18:03
201 Wendel Woodford 10:34:07
202 Bill Pinnell 12:11:26

Women’s Complete Results
PLACE FIRST NAME LAST NAME STRAVA TIME
1 Jessica Cerra 7:02:58
2 Athena Countouiriotis 7:16:54
3 Rhonda Quick 7:16:59
4 Lauren Mulwitz 7:32:56
5 Charissa Wernick 7:47:04
6 Amanda Nauman 7:55:27
7 Julia Gieschen 7:58:32
8 Nicole Duke 7:58:37
9 Shannon McGee 8:11:31
10 Lisa Conrad 8:36:00
11 Julia Herrmann 8:36:58
12 Stephanie Lin 8:48:07
13 Jackie Cipriani 8:52:43
14 Emily Sullivan 9:13:32
15 Susan Hollander
16 Nicole Formosa 9:47:46
17 Chris Gregory 9:54:18
18 Cat Best

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