You Can’t Ride That Bike in the Dirt

Sixteen years of Belgian Waffle Ride suggest otherwise. Registration for the 2027 season opens October 13, with desert adventures, high-country escapes and plenty to celebrate after the finish.

The road bike was supposed to stay on the road. Michael Marckx was supposed to get to school on time. Somewhere between those two expectations, a dirt shortcut presented itself.

He pointed his bike down a series of whoops and across a field, passing a group of older kids who apparently had strong opinions about where bicycles belonged. “You can’t ride that bike in the dirt,” one yelled.

“I had just done it, so the argument seemed weak,” Marckx writes in his manuscript, You Can’t Ride That Bike in the Dirt. The exchange stayed with him, along with a fascination for the battered riders and cobbled roads of Paris-Roubaix, his family’s Flemish heritage, and the waffles that followed long days of running and riding. Decades later, those ingredients found their way into a Southern California bicycle event with an unusually hospitable name.

The Belgian Waffle Ride sounded like breakfast. The course suggested someone had forgotten to mention a few things.

In 2012, riders gathered over waffles and coffee before heading into a long day of pavement, dirt, climbing and sand. They returned to food, Lost Abbey ale and stories that could only have come from spending hours trying to hold themselves and their bicycles together. The arrangement proved enduring: feed people, take them somewhere extraordinary, ask more of them than they expected, and give them a place to celebrate afterward.

In 2027, Belgian Waffle Ride enters its 16th year with events in Arizona, California, Utah, Montana and Mexico, plus another destination in development. Registration opens Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 8 a.m. Pacific, inviting riders to start planning where next year’s stories will happen.

On the course, the appeal becomes clear somewhere around the first change of surface. A smooth stretch of pavement lets a group find its rhythm, wheels humming and conversations returning. Then the road gives way to dirt. Riders spread out, look ahead and choose their lines. Someone who was working hard to stay attached on the road suddenly looks comfortable. Someone else discovers that fitness and handling are separate subjects.

Marckx and co-founder Phil Tinstman built that uncertainty into BWR. Each surface creates possibilities, and each equipment choice carries a compromise. Fast tires have their virtues until the sand arrives. A comfortable bike on rough ground may ask more of its rider on the pavement. Pacing, fueling and the ability to adapt become as useful as a big engine.

In his manuscript, Marckx describes the original course as “an interrogation of the whole cyclist.” Over the years, that idea has become Unroad: riding that follows the character of a place across whichever surfaces make the journey interesting.

It also leaves room for different kinds of riders. Professionals may be settling the race at the front while friends farther back are helping one another through a difficult sector. A first-time participant can be discovering the pleasure of riding beyond familiar roads while an experienced racer is discovering the limits of an overly confident tire choice.

The established Waffle, Wafer and Wanna distances offer different portions of that experience. The full Waffle asks for a substantial day; the middle-distance Wafer and shorter Wanna give riders other ways to explore the terrain and challenge themselves. Each leads back to the gathering that made breakfast worth getting up for in the first place.

The 2027 journey begins in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, March 5–6, with the fifth annual Hell of the North Desert. Sandy washes, twisting trails and open gravel give the landscape a rhythm of its own. The desert rewards attention: carry momentum here, choose a line there, save enough for whatever comes around the next bend. Between efforts, there is the pleasure of looking up and remembering why a bicycle was worth bringing to this place. Waffle, Wafer and Wanna options let riders choose how much desert they want in their day.

By May 1–2, the community returns to San Diego County for the 16th BWR California, the Hell of the North County. This is where the original idea took root, and the changing terrain still supplies its personality. Pavement connects sandy and rocky sectors; climbs separate groups that seemed perfectly cooperative a few minutes earlier. The course keeps asking riders to change gears in every sense of the phrase. California’s weekend also includes the Gran Roadie-Oh for those drawn to a paved adventure, with its 2027 details to follow.

Two weeks later, Cedar City, Utah, hosts BWR May 14–15. The eighth annual event, presented by BZI, moves into May and returns riders to long gravel sectors, open high-desert views and riding at altitude. Here, the distance can unfold slowly across an enormous landscape, making restraint early in the day a useful investment. Utah is also preparing for substantial changes in 2027. A fuller announcement is coming soon; for now, the new date marks the beginning of an exciting chapter for the Hell of the South West.

There may soon be another place to point the bike. Organizers are excited about adding an event in the middle of the country, potentially in July. The location, timing and course are still coming together, with details to follow as plans are finalized.

The season then reaches Bozeman, Montana, September 17–18, for the third Hell of the Bozone. Broad valleys, rolling ranchlands, gravel climbs and backcountry terrain give the riding a generous sense of scale. Fast stretches invite an effort; rougher ground asks riders to leave something in reserve. Moving into a late-season weekend gives participants a new reason to make a trip of it, with time to enjoy Bozeman after the bike has been leaned against something sturdy.

The announced calendar finishes in Querétaro, Mexico, November 20–21, with BWR Mexico’s fifth edition. Around Tequisquiapan, vineyards, ranch roads, historic towns and views of Peña de Bernal turn the ride into an introduction to the region. Gravel and demanding terrain provide plenty to occupy the legs, while the destination offers a persuasive reason to stay beyond race weekend. There are places where a bicycle feels like the best possible way to arrive; this is one of them.

Across those destinations, the finish brings everyone back together. The rider who chased a result and the rider who needed encouragement on the last climb arrive with different accounts of the same landscape. Friends find one another, compare dust-covered faces and begin reconstructing the day. A difficult sector becomes funnier with food in hand. The person who helped at a feed zone gets thanked. Plans for the next ride start forming before anyone has fully recovered from this one.

The Unroad Expo, waffles, supported riding and post-ride celebration give each weekend room to breathe around the race. Families and friends have a place in it, too. The course supplies the adventure, but the gathering afterward is where a destination starts becoming somewhere people want to return.

Looking back at BWR’s beginnings, Marckx writes, “We could take the racing seriously without taking ourselves particularly seriously.” Sixteen years in, that spirit still makes room for fierce competition, personal milestones and the simple pleasure of spending a day outside with good people.

Registration opens October 13 at 8 a.m. Pacific at belgianwaffleride.bike. Final 2027 routes and weekend programs will follow, along with Utah’s news, details of the possible July addition, and the Crown series calendar and competition format. Choose a destination, find your distance and bring someone who will appreciate the story afterward. There is still plenty of dirt to ride.