Training guide · Gravel · California, USA
How to train for Belgian Waffle Ride California
1 May 2027. Road racing with the road taken away at regular intervals, through the hills of North County San Diego. Here is what the day asks of you, and when your plan has to start.
- Date
- Sat 1 May 2027
- Weeks to go
- —
- Start
- Del Mar
- Routes
- 68 · 108 · 163 km
- Climbing
- Not published by organiser
- Format
- Timed, mass start, mixed surface
What this event asks of you
The Belgian Waffle Ride is road racing with the road taken away at regular intervals. The courses out of Del Mar mix tarmac with what the organiser calls unroad: dirt, sand, rock gardens, singletrack and creek crossings, strung together through the hills of North County San Diego. The sectors change from year to year, so the specific route is confirmed by the organiser, but the character does not: a fast road group, a hard turn onto dirt, a technical section that rewards handling, and a scramble to regroup. Inland the heat builds through the day.
The longest route asks for a road rider's endurance and a mountain biker's handling, on the same day, with the technical sectors arriving when fatigue has already blunted concentration. Surges in and out of sectors make this a repeated-effort event, so the ability to go hard many times late in a long ride is what you are training. Tyre choice and handling under fatigue are part of the preparation. Heat management and fuelling decide the back half, because the sectors are where riders stop eating and the climbs afterwards are where that shows.
The day by rider level
| Route | Typical finish | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| 163 km | — | Road endurance plus technical handling late in the day, repeated surges into and out of sectors, heat inland |
| 108 km | — | A long mixed-surface day with the sectors as the decisive efforts |
| 68 km | — | A first taste of unroad sectors with handling and tyre choice as the focus |
When your plan has to start
Counted back from the event date. If the organiser moves the date, these move with it.
Decisive features
- 1Unroad sectors
- 2Heat inland
- 3Sand and singletrack
The sectors change each year and are published by the organiser. Sector detail will come from the route engine once the GPX is loaded.
Other guides for the same block of the year
- How to train for The Traka30 Apr 2027
- How to train for Fred Whitton Challenge9 May 2027
- How to train for Gran Fondo Nove Colli23 May 2027