Depending on who you ask, the San Diego Belgian Waffle Ride will be in its 9th or 10th year running in 2021. 9th for those forced to postpone their registration from 2020 due to COVID restrictions, or 10th for those who participated in a BWR version of #diygravel. Either way, as one of the most successful and competitive mixed-surface cycling events in the world, the BWR is set to continue its punishingly hard ways on July 18, 2021.

Like we did for every Wafer course since 2015, we are pleased to now also offer our readers the entire Waffle collection of routes since founder Michael Marckx (aka MMX) first conceived of the race. For a proper introduction, we share our conversation with MMX to learn more about the history of the BWR routes, how they’ve changed over time, and what he sees for the future of the BWR.

Gravelstoke: Could you give us a bit of background on BWR route inspiration and how it has changed over the years?

MMX: The first year was 118 miles with the least amount of dirt, and each year I started adding more and more dirt and then challenging off-road sectors. These early years, I really started exploring different options and then submitting my ideas to the county. They would always pick apart my routes and force me to make several changes. There were years I submitted 20 routes or more. The challenges are compounded by private property, various parks we ride through, different cities, SDRT, Indian Reservations, Caltrans… and all of them require different permits. A typical BWR requires about a dozen or more permits and the county permit usually doesn't come until the Friday of the event weekend. So, it became easier to keep the course relatively the same.

Gravelstoke: Do you prefer to have a different course each year?

MMX: I always wanted to do a different course each year, but the county is so difficult to work with and each year gets worse and worse. I decided to keep the course similar the last couple of years with only minor alterations. The 2021 course has a few of those alterations to make it harder at the beginning and more fun at the end.

Gravelstoke: What happened in 2015 with the two-lap course?

MMX: The two-lap course was a good idea but in practice that year we had course marking issues. I was in the lead group with one other guy, and since I knew the route, I went the right way and the large peloton at the front took a shortcut. That cost us about ten minutes or so and was frustrating as hell to have to chase a large group like that. That two-lap course also didn’t allow us to venture too far out to the fun, more challenging stuff.

Gravelstoke: How did you come to include Black Canyon in year 3?

MMX: I had people that wanted me to include Black Canyon earlier, but I was originally trying to keep the race to be more Belgian/Ardennes-like with no long climbs, only punchy stuff, except Double Peak. So, making the decision to head out east meant changing the elevation of the course dramatically. The benefit was the beauty and uniqueness of the Black Canyon segments.

Gravelstoke: How do you see the course evolving in 2021 and beyond.

MMX: This year, the route will be similar but add in two hills at the beginning to stretch things out. Guys will drill it at the beginning and that should help with the clogging at Lemontwistenberg. I'd love to get back to including Lusardi again in the future, but that probably means no Black Canyon. The races will all end with a 1.1-mile grit-cross race through the North City venue, which will be exciting for spectators and riders.

With a little help from the Neil Shirley Strava archives, we bring you every San Diego BWR course since the inaugural SPY Belgian Waffle Ride in 2012.