Alexey Vermeulen Survives Run-In with a Hiker, Still Wins BWR San Diego
After flats the last two years, not even a hiker hellbent on crashing him out could keep Alexey Vermeulen from the win
We here at the Bulletin love being derivative, so to not say Third Time’s the Charm for Alexey Vermeulen at Belgian Waffle Ride would probably be a violation of our publication’s ethos.
Vermeulen is one of those riders who was perfectly suited for the current moment in American bike racing. Vermeulen signed to the WorldTour at age 21 and stepped away 2 years later at 23. He knew he wanted to pursue a privateer approach to racing, and beginning with a memorable 2019 win at the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race in his home state of Michigan, he has started to hit his stride.
If there was one bane of his existence during that journey, it’s definitely been Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego. In 2019 he flatted before his race really started, and then last summer, he was in the winning move with Peter Stetina before flatting yet again.
Spoiler alert, there were no flats this year, and Vermeulen’s aggressive racing propelled him to a win at one of the biggest races on the Nonexistent National Gravel Calendar.
Of course, given his history with the event, an epic win couldn’t be without a little bit of stress. Well, or a lotta bit of stress.
A few miles before the finish, Vermeulen came face-to-face with a hiker on a multi-use trail that leads to the race finish. Vermeulen went one direction, the hiker … went the same direction, and he quickly found himself yardsaled off the path. Fortunately, it was no harm no foul, and the Michigander was able to collect himself and his gear and finish up his fine performance.
I chatted with Vermeulen about the race, his backstory, Iceman 2019, Michigan, and course, Sir Willie the Weiner—we have journalistic standards to uphold, after all.
Alexey Vermeulen, 2022 BWR Champion
Zach Schuster: Congrats on your win, man.
Alexey Vermeulen: Thank you. It's one of those that I'm just proud of. It's kind of surreal. It's a race that constantly pulls you in and you're like, "I'm going to make it." And then something happens.
Zach Schuster: I have many questions, but starting with BWR itself, you had flats the last couple of years?
Alexey Vermeulen: Yeah, in 2019 and then 2021. I finished both years, but in 2019 I made it 11 miles before I flatted, and in 2021 I was in the winning move with Pete Stetina and then flatted inside like 20 to go. I mean, that is the nature of that race. It's underbiking central. But it was still demoralizing.
Zach Schuster: How did you bounce back from that, and what was your mentality going into this year? Was that like nagging at you?
Alexey Vermeulen: I think leading up to it, it was definitely nagging at me. It's a race where you have to be on your stuff when it comes to the equipment you're using. But as I get closer to races, it's more about execution—knowing the little things you have to do or where you want to make a move or having a plan going in.
There were also a couple of things that made it easier. This year the course got a little bit rougher, so there was no question about running 28mm tires, or even 30s. It was more of, "Am I running 32s or 35s or even 37s?" In that sense, the tire casings get a lot stronger as you go bigger, so it was more thinking about how I wanted to race and setting up the bike appropriately.
Zach Schuster: What did you end up going with?
Alexey Vermeulen: A 40 that measured 37mm because a 40 would not have fit on my bike. And I am very worried it won't fit when I unpack my bike because it will have been pumped up for too long.
Zach Schuster: Can you give me the two or three-minute rundown of how the race went down?
Alexey Vermeulen: It was a new start with a damn good VO2 test. I got into the singletrack in the top 10 with about 30 or 40 guys at that point. It started stretching and then coming back together as we went downhill. The first kind of pinch point was at about mile 16 in the Lemon Twistenberg, which used to be the first section. A group went into that together and kind of came out of that together. I was just focusing on eating, drinking, hiding. I had no desire to do anything at that point; it's a long race.
When the course started going out almost all the way to the end, we were at the Black Canyon, which is nearly the farthest end of the course, this year the climb didn't go all the way up. In years past, it's been a 45-minute climb, but this year it was about 10 minutes. It was insanely full of brake bumps. Like you couldn't go anywhere. The kind of brake bumps that take your morale away the moment you hit them.
There was one kind of line I knew from pre-riding that was all the way to the right. It was still 2-3 inches of sand, but it was better than brake bumps. I knew it was a spot on the course where I could put in work and guys behind me would have to do the exact same work I do because there was no tailwind, no gaining off drafts. So I just kind of used the bigger tires to my advantage and rode a high tempo, threshold pace all the way to the top, and our group went down from about 19 to 7 or 8.
Then we went down what people are calling a truck trail, which was another new addition to the course that would have been a lot more fun on a full-suspension bike. There were a lot of baby-head rocks and big drainage swales. It was just rough. It was the kind of stuff where you were constantly wincing when you go over it, hoping you don't flat.
At the bottom of that, it was down to seven of us. It was me, Sandy Floren, Griffin Easter, Matt Beers, Eric Brunner, Alex Howes, and Lance Haidet. Then we kind of rolled for a while. There were still about 3 and a half hours to race, so it was still a long way to go. I was just focusing on eating and drinking because I hadn't done so as well as I should have for the last hour because of the conditions. You have to eat so much. I was cramping and I was eating as much as I wanted.
The Black Canyon move was spur of the moment, me just kind of going with things. I had always had a plan to attack 40-45 miles to go right after this dirt section. At about 50 miles to go, I kind of made peace with the demons that it was a long way to attack. You still had like 2 hours of racing to go. It's a long way, especially to kind of commit to doing it yourself if no one comes.
At the of this dirt section called Sandy Bandy, it was about 3 miles long, there was a mandatory dismount underneath a metal gate. Then you get back on this steep road and climb for about 3 minutes above 12%. I went under first, clipped in, and just started sprinting like it was the finish of the race. Maybe not that hard, but pretty dang hard. I looked back and there was nobody there and I just kind of settled into a low VO2 effort.
I looked back about 20 seconds later and saw Alex Howes coming, which I was very happy to see. Alex and I are good friends, we train in Boulder together. But no one else was standing up or moving, so I just kept riding hard and went over the top of that climb. Alex came back on the descent. We rode together for the next 20-ish miles and went through all the sketchy sections where I flatted the year before, and then inside 20 to go, Alex just fell off the pace, and I just kept riding.
It's one of those things where you have a gap, but you're just waiting for something to happen. I just kind of focused on what I could control and execute. I was still focusing on eating and drinking because there was still an hour to race. I was making sure to focus on speed and not power. At that point saving energy was a big deal. Then when you get to about 10 miles to go, it's basically uphill until the last 2 miles. At that point, you're just telling yourself, "Keep going. Enjoy it." There aren't many times you get to be that far out in front and not be stressed. Not to say I was riding easy by any means. I was still doing 350 watts up the last climb.
I had a weird encounter with a hiker on the way down. I yardsaled myself into a ditch. I tried to explain to him there are a lot of other cyclists coming, that's why there's no one on the trail.
Zach Schuster: Whoa whoa whoa, so you were enjoying the ride, but you yardsaled? I imagine that was a bit stressful.
Alexey Vermeulen: I was in a great place until that happened. And that's when I started cramping really bad because my body was like, what just happened. You come off the singletrack at the top of the climb onto like a multi-use trail that we started up. It's the first and last dirt section. I was probably in like the middle of the trail and he was on his side. When he saw me, he moved my direction and we collided. He was a big man, so he was very very okay.
But I had to collect my Wahoo, collect my glasses, and then started cramping while getting back on the bike. At the same time, I was explaining to him while I was riding away what happened and what's about to happen. He was very confused.
Zach Schuster: Given your past history and given this occurred, perhaps it was destiny you were going to win this year since it didn't ruin your bike or anything.
Alexey Vermeulen: It's funny now, but it wouldn't have been funny in those situations. It's one of those things where I finished and told people about it, and they're like, "Wait, what did you say? Why are you just glancing over that?" It was one of those things where you're like, "Are you kidding me, what just happened?"
Zach Schuster: We mostly cover 'cross but we do some gravel. You had two of my guys in Lancy Pants and Eric Brunner in the group. I love that you were able to remount and get away from them and then also deal with a crash. You got to experience some cyclocross.
Alexey Vermeulen: Yeah, and if we want to make some fun cyclocross moments, first off, Lance and Eric are both friends, Lance and I were kind of trading on the way down, and Lance was way faster than me by taking more risks and he's just a better bike handler. When I was going to do that attack, Eric was behind me and clipped in before me, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, it's all lost!" But I still clipped in and just went, and Eric didn't stand up to follow. He definitely has a better remount than I do.
Zach Schuster: I would hope so.
Alexey Vermeulen: He's the National Champion after all.
Zach Schuster: When I talked to Pete Stetina in 2019 after he won BWR, for him it was a career-changing race. We've seen where he's gone. And even in that moment, it seemed like a big deal to him. What does winning this race mean to you?
Alexey Vermeulen: It means a lot, for a lot of reasons. You just don't win a lot in racing. We tend to train very hard for a long time just to go to each race and see the same results occasionally. In gravel, it often means having bad luck. Last year I felt that I was the fittest I've been, but everything fell just a bit off. I flatted four times at Unbound, I flatted at Belgian Waffle Ride. I finished 4th at Pro Road Nationals. I felt like I was on the cusp of a big result, but that's also how some years go.
This race, to me, I know I belong here, but it's just a reminder I can do this. I am as strong as any of these guys out here, and sometimes you have to remember that. The week leading into this race was not the epitome of good training. I did this project called From the Ground Up, and I just didn't ride for 5 days 2 weeks out from the race. That's just how it went. I had to be okay with that and understand cycling is more than just everyday fitness.
Someone asked yesterday if it means more than Iceman because that was my last big, big win, and the only reason I'd say no is because I'm from Michigan. The people there were the people who taught me how to ride a bike and race a bike. That was a very emotional win, and it's something I felt was coming and if I put it all together, I could make it happen.
Zach Schuster: Iceman [in 2019] is when I first learned about you, to be honest. I am not good at following road racing. Anyway, I'm from the Midwest, I know how huge Iceman is, and I read about your story—so yeah, Iceman, what was that like, and what did it mean to you at that moment after everything you'd been through?
Alexey Vermeulen: If you look at any of the pictures from that day, you know because I was bawling my eyes out at the finish line.
At 21 I signed onto the WorldTour, at 23 I left the WorldTour. At both of those points in my life, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing with my life for the next 5 years. Iceman, to me, was the first step of validation that I hadn't made a horrible decision leaving the road. I wanted to always enjoy riding, and there were times on the road I wasn't sure I was enjoying it.
Iceman felt like coming home. I finished 2nd to Geoff Kabush the year before. I didn't really know who Geoff was, which is horrible of me.
Zach Schuster: I feel better now not knowing about you!
Alexey Vermeulen: It's funny because Geoff was constantly there during my first year [as a privateer] helping me talk to a couple of companies in November 2018. In 2019, I executed a race plan and did exactly what I wanted to do, and it was kind of surreal. I tend to race my bike very aggressively; I don't really like negative racing. It tends to lead to big gaps when I do win big.
At Iceman, all my friends and family were there watching. Two kilometers out, people were yelling my name. That was it, and tears were coming out. It was a different kind of validation. I felt like I didn't have my foot in the sport at that point, and that win stamped that I was back.
Then coming into Belgian Waffle Ride, it was something very different. I almost felt like I had deja vu. I had been here three times, and I felt like I was close to this fit three times, so it was a matter of doing the things right and things going well, which is a little different feeling, I think.
Zach Schuster: We have a running bit about people being BACK, so you would have officially been BACK at Iceman.
Alexey Vermeulen: Exactly. But professional sport is a very funny, finicky thing. Especially cycling. I think a lot of people overthink it. Nothing is always going to go perfectly. There's always going to be something you need to change up. I mean, I was changing gearing at 9 pm the night before the Belgian Waffle Ride. It's never going to go the way it's supposed to go, and you just need to find times to make it as unstressful as you can and focus on your race plan.
Zach Schuster: One thing that has drawn me to gravel is it used to be you like race on a conti team or you go to the WorldTour, but it seems like there's more choose your adventure or charting your own path in American bike racing. How did you realize this was the route you wanted to go? Was it at Iceman?
Alexey Vermeulen: No, it was way before that when I left the WorldTour. That just didn't really exist then, but I was going to make it happen. I've always enjoyed the relationships in cycling, almost more than the racing at times. One of the reasons I left the WorldTour is on those teams, they expect 1 answer, not 28 different answers, which means they don't allow athletes to talk to sponsors. In my opinion, that's very flawed. Whether it's content or feedback or anything in between.
I've enjoyed those relationships and cultivating them and trying to see benefits for them. I always thought it was an open space because it's been a space where guys have been happy to just post a picture of a bike and think they've repaid a bike company, which isn't the case. I wanted to find companies I like working with and might possibly want to work with after my career, not just companies I work with for a year and move on. I don't want to be the person jumping ship to a different company every year.
When you are focused on those kinds of relationships, I think the privateer thing can kind of fall into your lap. You have friends, right. You sign contracts, but it's, "Hey so and so, we've been hanging out for a while, let's do this more." You just find the pathways that work. There are some companies that just don't fit with the way different riders ride. It's important to figure that out and move on where necessary. It's been an interesting learning experience for me. I didn't go to school, so this has been my school. I was excited to push myself outside of just racing, whether it be the marketing side of it or just logistics because being a privateer is much different than the WorldTour.
Zach Schuster: I'm sure you've been asked about this a million times, but I would be a poor journalist if I didn't ask about Willie. In my opinion, marketing genius. Was it a marketing ploy or was it organic or was it a little bit of both?
Alexey Vermeulen: Willie is my girlfriend's dog. We started dating just before Covid. At that point, she had a backpack for him, but he'd only go in it for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and that's kind of what we started doing. During Covid, everyone was obviously a little bit bored. She's a professional triathlete, and she'd go for runs and I'd just ride beside her with Willie. It was a fun way to bring the dog. Then as we started riding together more, he's gotten more relaxed and it's just kind of grown. It's become something for him.
It was never a marketing ploy, but I quickly realized how amazing it is. I would say, almost 10% of the time, he is the one who gets me excited to go out and ride again. He is so stoked to get in the backpack. Like yesterday was pissing rain and 40 degrees here in Boulder, and he was stoked to go in the bag for an hour and a half. He just enjoys it. I think it's his way of being together and not being left behind. It's kind of intoxicating. I always wanted a trail dog, but I never guessed it would be this way.
And it's just kind of grown. Last year at Leadville, one of the folks who was his ride had to go to the hospital, so he did 7 hours in the backpack and did not question it. Then he got back in the next day and was stoked to go ride.
Having a dog in your backpack is really cool until you crash with the dog in your backpack. I rarely ride with him on the road because there's more that can go wrong on the road, in my opinion. But yeah, it's great to have a little friend along.
Zach Schuster: Does he have his own Instagram page?
Alexey Vermeulen: He does. It's SirWillieTheWiener.
Zach Schuster: Kerry Werner has also captured the marketing appeal of the dog. Kerry and Emily have a beagle named Sherman. I'm pretty sure Sherm is more popular than Kerry and Emily combined at cyclocross races.
Alexey Vermeulen: I think people were almost angry I didn't bring him to San Diego. People were like, "Oh, where's Willie," and I responded, "He stayed home with mom." And they were like, "What?!"
Zach Schuster: It's a business trip, guys.
Alexey Vermeulen: Willie costs money! I had to change my lodging.
He's on my jersey, on the back pocket, and Matt Beers came up to me, it was the first time I ever met the guy, we were in that group of six, and he says, "Is that your dog?" I just said, "Yeah," and he responded, "That's really effing cool." I knew he was going to think I'm really silly or really cool, one of the two.
Zach Schuster: One thing I like about gravel is it still seems like it's figuring out what it is. Different people can win on different courses. We still don't know who the stars of the sport are in some ways. But my observation for Unbound is it's kind of become established that you kind of need WorldTour talent to win. Getting this win and knowing where you're at, how does this give you confidence heading into that, and what are your aspirations now that you've put things together at BWR.
Alexey Vermeulen: I will 100% put weight in confidence from winning a race carrying on and helping make a season go well. I'm excited for Unbound, but it's never been something where I'm like, "I love that." I'm just a person who loves racing my bike, and I don't believe you can race your bike flat-out for 10 hours. For me, the 6-7 hour mark is what I enjoy. I will 100% be at Unbound very fit, but that doesn't mean it's the race I'm most excited about this year.
I kind of have a goal set to have the ultimate privateer year, which involves hitting all these different disciplines. I want to win U.S. Pro Nationals on the road. I love road racing and I miss that. I want to do that in the middle of a full gravel and mountain bike season. I still have to figure out how the year works out, but I'd like to be up there at either Leadville or Iceman. The tech part of mountain biking is still the bane of my racing, but it's slowly getting better. I've been learning to ride to my strengths.
Aspiration-wise, I'd like to continue to move and be fit throughout the year. I am part of the LifeTime Grand Prix, but I'm not necessarily focusing on it. I'm just letting the year come and focusing on each race as I can. Unbound gives you the endurance to do that. Once you have the endurance to do Unbound, you're kind of sharpening for each race.
Zach Schuster: You're doing gravel, you're doing road, you're doing mountain biking, it seems like you're one of those guys who really embodies how American bike racing is changing. It's different, American bike racing is changing quite a bit.
Alexey Vermeulen: One-hundred percent. I think the cool part is there was always a part of cycling that was alienating to people. It made it hard to get into the sport. Now, no matter what, they can look at a lot of the pros in the U.S. right now and be excited about that. You even have top-end mountain bikers like Keegan Swenson and Russell Finsterwald who are putting themselves in gravel races and are excited about it. For a while, there wasn't that cross-over because people didn't care, but now they do. You're going to have these fields with massive amounts of talent and people who are excited to race across disciplines. I find that so cool.
Zach Schuster: Final question—I should probably get back to my day job—I'm from the Midwest, we've had our stars but you look at professional racing and it's like, "Oh are you from the East Coast or from Boulder or whatever?" What does it mean to you to be a Midwestern kid and to have the success you've had and maybe put Michigan on the map a little bit?
Alexey Vermeulen: Ah dude, it means a lot. I had a couple of people message me, "Ohhh, Boulder proud!" It was like, "Thanks! But not really." I grew up in Michigan. I believe it made me the athlete I am today. I still go home and get tired on rides because there's nothing harder than riding flat for 6 hours through winter weather in Michigan.
I always want to embody that, where you come from. When I was growing up, I felt very small in the midst of Colorado and California racers. You travel everywhere from Michigan to reach the best talent, and you're expected to do that. It was something that I felt was constantly a mark on my resume. "Oh he's not from altitude, he doesn't have climbs." The reality is I don't think that changes a bike racer in any way. You just have to get over there and be able to practice on that stuff at some point.
I learned the same thing when I decided I was going to be a mountain biker. I talked to a couple of companies, did the Iceman in 2018, finished 2nd, and was like, "Sick, I know how to mountain bike. I finished 2nd to Kabush. Kabush has done some things." Then I quickly realized that mountain biking is not Iceman. I knew that, but I didn't KNOW that. It's important to realize that once you figure out how to ride different terrain, it doesn't matter where you come from.
I still think Michigan made me who I am and I love going back.
Zach Schuster: Sweet. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me, I've been wanting to meet you for a while now. I'm stoked you won this race and gave me an excuse to do so!
Alexey Vermeulen: Thank you. It was great to chat.
Nice interview, thanks Zach