I’m starting my prep and planning for BWR California. I’m in the PNW where ground is nice and moist most of the time. Looks like this course will be pretty sandy and slippery. There wasn’t yet a thread for 2026, so I figured I’d start one. Anybody have beta on the route other than what is already public? Looks to me like it’s quite a balance between road and gravel, so that’ll maybe be nice. Route has some confusing doubling back and such.
I have 50 goodyear connectors on my Lauf right now, but pretty unclear what I should run. I have 40 Ramblers and 2.2 Dubnitals. I have no idea how rough the gravel sections will be. One of my buddies is running 36s and I’m definitely not going that small. That seems crazy!
Anyways, feel free to post whatever you want about BWR CA on here! Good luck to you all!
IME, 45 mm with some side knobs and is sufficient for the course and is the sweet spot. If you want to go fast on road and off, then I think 50mm and up are more tire than you really need. I’ve seen people go narrower and do fine, but a lot of the off road sections have rock embedded hard pack trail, some very rocky and loose single and double track, and some sandy bits.
This will be my first time doing this route as well. Based on what I’ve seen in the past, your best bet is probably your 40 Ramblers. If you are doing the Waffle,there is a significant amount of road sections so it helps to have a fast rolling tire for those sections.
I’m going with 45mm Hutchinson Caracals. Might not be enough grip on the side knobs but in general, no matter what you bring you will have the wrong tires for certain sections.
Edit: Caracals are are the race version. I originally ordered one for the rear and decided last week that i might as well put one on the front and had to order from Europe as they are sold out everywhere.
My brother in law and I both rode the full waffle on 42s last year (pathfinder pro). I thought they were great for the road, I might consider going a little larger or knobbier if doing again but hard to say. Only slightly. The low resistance is nice since there are a number of road sections and climbs
Fifties are already on the bike and I am feeling lazy. But seems like 50 may be a bit overkill. Also, those tires each have a plug in them from months ago, so might not be the most reliable ever haha. cringes
I’d consider rolling resistance and weight between these three options. I think they are all adequate for the terrain and if I’m picking, I’d probably go with g ones because I like that width and size of knobs on that terrain as long as they roll good on pavement.
I’d probably go wider for better flat avoidance on the rocky stuff. As for gearing, you’ll probably be hurting no matter what up certain sections. What course are you doing?
Decided on 45mm schwalbe g one bite. Of course I thought I could have them put on in twenty minutes last night and it took an hour instead… Now to pack the bike and remember all my gear!
Have fun! I did BWR Wafers the last three years and I’m no longer in the area and won’t be making it back this year. My best advice is line up early as possible as it gets strung out going through the parking lot on your way out to the first main road.
Other than that, have fun, stay hydrated and ride safe. I’d expect a stiff headwind on the way back if the weather is anything like last year.
La Jolla Shores is nice as is Moonlight
I like Windansea with the kids. PB,OB and Mission Beach will be pretty busy and probably a bit far for you.
If you like to go sans-clothes then Blacks Beach is close by!
Moonlight Beach in Encinitas is great. You’re right off it’s downtown strip, which is pretty cool and then your stones throw away from cadence cycle on Highway one which is the main hub for a lot of rides in the area.
As somebody who just did their first hike-a-bike (not at BWR) in road shoes. I’m with you… what was I thinking. Congrats on a finish, I saw A LOT of DNF on the results page.
Running 45mm Hutchinson Caracal Race tires was a big mistake for me. I didn’t realize that the course had gotten so much gnarlier than prior years. I should have ran with my normal 50mm G-One RX Pro’s or even Thunderburt 2.1’s. That being said, in hindsight I should have at least let some air out of the tires when I realized that the singltracks were better suited for MTB. I lost the front a few times and low-sided at relatively slowish speeds, just some scraps on the legs but nothing major.
That being said, the legs felt good but there weren’t too many places where I could really push without being paranoid about what kind of obstacles were around the corner and a lot of time was spent cautiously going down some of the steeper, looser singletracks. With about 30 miles left to go (we were doing the Waffle), I was riding with a couple of other guys and we were ALL sick of the singletracks.
A few things that were kind of weird. Having the Pro Men and then all the regular Waffle riders go BEFORE the pro women was weird. They caught up to me after about 12ish miles and they were coming up so fast to the point where it might not have been very safe for them to have to navigate through all the age-groupers. I immediately moved out of the way when I heard them coming up and pulled over to side to let them all pass for a few minutes. Might have been better for them to release the Pro Women 10 minutes after the Pro-Men and then the Age Groups after that.
My overall experience is Type 2 and sorta bordering on Type 3. Would have definitely been Type 2 if I had beefier tires.