I've Seen the Future of Cycling

Last week I drove down to San Diego’s North County to participate in the Belgian Waffle Ride. You may not yet know of this event, but it’s rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about bicycle races in the country. Here’s why it works:

1. The fun — it’s a gravel ride. That means we tackled routes that were about 30% gravel and 70% paved road. And by gravel, I mean lots of technical single track. The long route was 132 miles, and the short route (which I did) was “only” 70 miles. Fun is, of course, a relative term. And maybe this event fits into the Type 2 Fun category — when fun stops being fun. But overall, you were constantly riding on different surfaces, and it’s casual enough to be social. I participated in traditional road races for years, and mostly those participants take themselves way too seriously. I was guilty of that myself. The Waffle Ride is hard, but most of us were there to enjoy the experience.
2. The gear — if you haven’t noticed, gravel bikes are currently trending for serious cyclists. They look like a road bike, but a gravel bike has room for bigger tires, and they mostly use disc brakes. They’re dual-purpose and work well on both road and dirt. At the Waffle Ride, I estimate that 50% of the participants rode gravel bikes, 25% mountain bike, and 25% (including me) traditional road bikes. Cyclists are by nature gear heads, so you can imagine how excited we all get to show off new hardware. It was like a bunch of peacocks with their feathers on display.
3. The pros — I liked that there were a number of national caliber pro cyclists at the front of the pack. Jesse Anthony, of the Rally Cycling Team, won the 132 mile event in an astonishing 6 hours and 40 minutes. Behind him were another 1,200 cyclists of many stripes. In this way, it felt like a marathon, where you’re racing on the same route as the Olympians up front. The presence of pros in the same field gives the race a kind of gravitas that makes it somehow more exciting for all of us slow folks.
4. The beer — the start, finish, and expo took place in the parking lot of Lost Abbey brewing. We all got two bottles of Belgian Ale to take home with us. Not only is this a nice party favor, it highlights the Belgian spirit of the event. In bike racing, Belgium is home to the hardest one day races, like Tour of Flanders. And the Waffle Ride was created in that spirit.
5. The business model — competitive bike racing in the US is on life support. The sport does ok at the grassroots level, but the professional events are suffering. There’s no business model to support pro cycling in the US. So most marquee events have fallen by the wayside: Tour of Georgia, USA Pro Challenge, Tour of Missouri, Philly Classic, and more. There’s just no way for these events to make money. The Tour of California only survives because it’s owned by a billionaire. But the waffle ride, with a mass-start behind the pros, can take in over $100K in entry fees. When you have that many participants, it’s also easier to get sponsors and have a functioning expo. There’s real revenue coming in. I believe this mass-start gravel ride format is only going to get bigger, better, and more popular.