Freeroading Report: Belgian Waffle Ride and Rasputitsa Go Coast-to-Coast
Results from BWR in SoCal and Rasputitsa in Vermont
This past weekend was a big one on the Freeroading scene, with events going nearly coast-to-coast. The Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego took place in California and Rasputitsa went down 3,000 miles away in Burke, Vermont.
The Freeroading Report returns with a quick rundown of results from the two races. Feel free to start scoring along at home and developing your own algorithm to predict the next edition of the Groadio Power Rankings.
Rasputitsa
We covered BWR on the Groadio podcast and talked about it a bit in the first Freeroading Report, but Rasputitsa flew under the radar a bit. A regular on the New England gravel calendar, the Vermont event is known for its oft-muddy conditions on Vermont’s minimum-maintenance roads.
The name Rasputitsa is taken from the Russian word for the season when melting snow and ice turn roads into an unpassable mess. The event takes this to heart, calling the gnarliest section of the course “Cyberia.” Get it??
This year’s edition of the event proved to be a bit milder than some previous years:
While BWR’s West Coast location brings out a lot of the gravel talent from that side of the country, Rasputitsa has become an established favorite of East Coasters, and this year’s field again brought out some of the region’s top names, including Lea Davison, Maghalie Rochette, Ian Boswell, Ted King, and more.
Former Olympian and current LifeTime Grand Prix competitor Lea Davison took the win for the Women, finishing 3 minutes ahead of silver-medalist Betty Hasse. Sarah Lange finished 3rd. Rochette finished 4th, and Chelsee Pummel 5th.
Last year’s Gravel Rider of the Year Ian Boswell continued his winning ways, taking the Men’s win. Christopher Prendergrass took 2nd, and Carson Beard 3rd. Ted King and Mike Barton rounded out the wide-angle podium.
Rochette talked about the race in her most recent CX Fever newsletter:
I looked around me and saw so many people riding hard. I rode to the crest of the dirt road hill and saw the beautiful views of Vermont. I thought about Heidi and Anthony, the 2 amazingly cool and inspiring organizers of Rasputitsa. I thought about how much joy they bring to the cycling community with their event, and how much they individually fought to cure their respective health challenges (Anthony overcame cancer and Heidi is fighting early onset Parkinson disease).
Suddenly, I started to smile. I also refused to be sorry for not having the energy to go all-out and fight for the win, and for feeling fatigued. Sometimes, you have to accept what your body is telling you. Instead, I decided to enjoy the ride and meet people. It turns out I had a really great time! I rode with many different people and got to chat with them. I rode on some people's wheels and sometimes helped others bridge small gaps. I cheered on everyone I saw, both to share the joy, but also for thanking them for inspiring me.
Women
Lea Davison
Betty Hasse
Sarah Lange
Maghalie Rochette
Chelsee Pummel
Galen Bolard
Lyne Bessette
Meghan Owens
Liz Wolf
Julianne Sarrazin
Men
Ian Boswell
Christopher Prendergast
Carson Beard
Ted King
Mike Barton
Bruno Langlois
Marc-Ange Daigle
Caleb Bradshaw
Jan Wellford
Mathieu Belanger-Barrette
BWR San Diego
The original Belgian Waffle Ride (there are now events under the same brand in Kansas, North Carolina, and Utah) has grown over the years to become the massive event it is today, but one could argue it hit the national consciousness in 2019 when Peter Stetina, then a rider for Trek-Segafredo, raced and won the 130-ish mile Spring Classic.
With sections of pavement punctuated by off-road sections of varying surfaces and gnarliness, the event is a unique addition to the non-existent National Gravel Calendar.
For the Women, the race offered a chance for a new winner, with 2021 winner Katerina Nash, 2019 winner Sarah Sturm, and 2018 winner Larissa Connors all not racing. If all eyes were on someone for the women, it would be Moriah Wilson. We talked about Wilson’s tear through the Freeroading calendar in the previous Freeroading Report, and she headed to San Diego as the favorite looking to validate her Bulletin nickname—Mo Wilson, Mo Podiums.
Wilson validated her favorite status and then some, winning the race by over 25 minutes (!) Per reporting in Cycling News, Wilson and Flavia Oliveira got off the front of the Women’s field, and then Wilson dropped her competitor on a climb about halfway into the race. To win in such fashion mirrors the way she won at the Sea Otter MTB race, dropping competitors on a climb.
Oliveira finished 2nd and Tiffany Cromwell 3rd. Sarah Max and 2019 standout ‘cross racer Caroline Dezendorf rounded out the wide-angle podium.
The Bulletin admittedly has a strong Midwest bias, so it was quite content about the outcome of the Men’s race. Alexey Vermeulen has had an interesting journey in cycling. Vermeulen signed with LottoNL-Jumbo at the age of 20 but then after two years was out of the WorldTour by age 23. A win at the 2019 Iceman Cometh race near his home in northern Michigan signaled the start of an alternative career in racing for a rider who was still quite young.
Vermeulen has also gotten some press for doing training rides with his partner’s dog Willie coming along for the ride.
At BWR, Willie was not in the lead selection, but Vermeulen was. He attacked on a climb about 50 miles from the finish, and only current WorldTour rider Alex Howes was able to keep his pace. Vermeulen then attacked coming up on 10 miles to go to get away for the win. (cyclingnews.com)
Even with the growing talent in the BWR fields, it has been a race where new faces have been able to make a face for themselves. On Saturday, South African Matthew Beers and American Griffin Easter were those two riders, as they caught Howes near the finish and rounded out the podium proper. Howes took 4th and Peter Stetina, still nursing a broken wrist back to health, finished 5th.
Of note for the ‘cross folks out there, Raylyn Nuss finished 9th and Amanda Nauman 34th for the Women. Eric Brunner finished 6th, Lance Haidet 7th, Kerry Werner 14th, and Michael van den Ham 78th after some shifting issues.
Women
Moriah Wilson
Flavia Oliveira
Tiffany Cromwell
Sarah Max
Caroline Dezendorf
Isabel King
Lindsey Stevenson
Amber Neben
Raylyn Nuss
Maeghan Easler
Men
Alexey Vermeulen
Matthew Beers
Griffin Easter
Alex Howes
Peter Stetina
Eric Brunner
Lance Haidet
John Borstelmann
Freddy Ovett
Brennan Wertz
With BWR in the books, traditionally the next big race on the mythical National Gravel Calendar is Unbound one month hence. However, Grinduro California has moved to a May date the weekend before Memorial Day and Peter Stetina is trying his hand at being a race director by hosting Stetina’s Paydirt near his California home that same weekend.
Stay tuned for more Freeroading fun and check out the Groadio podcast for more mixed-surface coverage.
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