At the risk of hijacking, I’m looking for advice on bike selection. I have a foil disc with 28s on and think it could fit 30s that I’ve been planning on. I also have a giant tcx for gravel/cross, but it’s definitely mtn gearing. I’m more a mtn biker than road, a good tech rider, and would prefer to ride the foil thinking my limiter is going to be climbs and hours on the bike instead of handling. Any thoughts are appreciated.
I haven’t ridden it yet, but everyone I have talked to said to use a road bike with the biggest tires that will fit. Unless the biggest tires are 23s. I think a road bike with 30 or 32s will be perfect. I plan on riding a cannondale synapse with 32s.
It sounds like you have enough skills to tackle BWR. I’m a pure roadie and I’m not a great technical rider but I don’t think I walked anything other than the sand pit (I don’t remember what they actually named that section), 99.9% of people have to walk that little part.
I was a bit ginger on some of the dirt descents taking it at my pace (letting people pass me) and then catching up on the following climb or flat section of road. but I was completely out of my eliment since I was on diet to begin with.
My suggestion is go and do it you’ll have a blast, the atmosphere at BWR is phenomenal.
-Kyle
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In general I suggest running a road/gravel bike with 28s and aero wheels if you want to “race” it (a small amount of tread would be nice) but if your looking more for a fun day on the bike 30-32s would give you a bit more compliance as it is a long day if you’re doing the full thing.
@Ko21 I take the statement of the climbs being your limiter to mean you are more in the race mentality so I’d suggest the road bike. The MTN gearing will be a limiter on some of the road sections/descents. I did it on my Masi Evoluzione which I use for all my road racing, I simply changed the tires over to 28s.
-Kyle
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I’ve just signed up for the 2020 Waffle. How much time should one spend training in each of the categories? Or is it obvious from the training plans?
Also, for anyone who has done this race in the past, are portions of the course as technical as they try to persuade you through their website?
Pretty much all the plans are 12 weeks base (in 2 x 6 week blocks), 8 weeks build, 8 weeks specialty, for a total of 28 weeks.
Thank you. So I’m already 4 weeks behind schedule 
Also, in Bryce’s answer in the original thread, he was recommending Century in the specialty phase; wouldn’t the BWR be more Gran Fondo/Gravel, given the course?
I’ve done BWR twice (2017 and 2018), plan to register for 2020. Both times I did it on my road bike with rim brakes, 28mm tubeless tires. There’s some technical stuff in terms of rough terrain, you are on some mountain bike trails around Lake Hodges. There are also some sandy sections & gravel descents that you have to respect but overall it’s a roadie friendly course. It’s an awesome, unique event, you are going to have a blast!
TSS = IF x IF x Time in Hours * 100
So for a 10 hour ride at 0.6 IF would be 360 TSS
At IF = 0.65 you are at 423
My TSS for BWR last year was 353.
I did SSB, SPB, Century last year.
This year I’m aiming for SSB, GB, RRR and add a bunch of centuries to my plan between Jan + April.
He was talking about Century Plan. The public site calls it a “Gran Fondo/Gravel” plan, but as far as I know it’s talking about the Century plan. There’s no “Gran Fondo/Gravel” plan in the catalogue. (I don’t know why they changed the name on the public site; you’re not the first person to be confused.)
On the other hand, I just noticed the hours/week spec is different.
Plan catalogue:
Public site:
So who knows, maybe they’re working on a new one or they’re planning to modify the Century plan or something.
That’s helpful, thanks
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Anyone know if you are allowed to transfer registrations for BWR?
Thanks!!
I had a 450 TSS in 7:40 time in 2019.
That’s a long day at 0.77 IF!
My ride from last year below.
don’t sweat the details too much
Nick, that was a solid ride.
Signed up last night for the Belgian ride. I’ve spent since August going through a couple of rounds of base training while dropping some lbs’s. Finishing SSB1 next week and rolling into SSB2. Planning on General Build and Rolling Road Race for build and specialty phases.
Going to stay with the low volume plan and add a long zone 2 ride on the weekend. I’ll mix up that zone 2 ride between road, MTB and gravel.
Open to suggestions on the training plan and looking forward to the race.
Thank You,
Ron
Has anyone tried the new Plan Builder to set up a plan for the BWR? Also, how are you characterizing the type of ride in order to pick the specialty? Century? Rolling road race?
I just finished up SSB1, was about to set up my calendar for SSB2, was offered the Plan Builder prompt and started working through the questions …
Thanks for any help/advice/insights
yes you can