From PB&J to Precision

Why Neversecond Is the Right Fuel for the Modern Belgian Waffle Ride

When the Belgian Waffle Ride was created fifteen years ago, gravel bikes didn’t exist. Gravel racing, at least as we know it now, hadn’t yet found its voice, its teeth, or its appetite. We were stitching together road, dirt, broken pavement, and singletrack simply because it felt right. Because it was harder. Because it was more unusual.

Back then, performance nutrition was… let’s call it earnest. At the feed zones, riders were offered water, Coke, pretzels, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, and whatever bars happened to be floating around. And somehow, miraculously, they finished. Well at least many of them did.

The race was brutal, chaotic, and wildly inefficient. Which, in hindsight, made it perfect for its time. But the sport evolved. And so did the science.

Over the past fifteen years, we’ve learned an enormous amount about how nutrition directly impacts endurance, performance, and recovery. We now understand carbohydrate intake per hour, the importance of multiple carbohydrate sources, sodium balance, pre-race loading, and post-race recovery as a complete system rather than an afterthought.

Today, performance nutrition receives unprecedented attention as one of the simplest and most effective ways athletes can improve training quality and race-day performance. Many experts now call it “free speed”—a meaningful performance gain that doesn’t require more training, only better fueling.

And if there’s one thing the Belgian Waffle Ride has always been, it’s an event where fueling matters.

Some riders joke that BWR is as much an eating contest as it is a bike race. They’re not wrong. Long hours, relentless terrain, variable conditions, and repeated efforts demand more than grit alone. They demand a nutrition strategy that works when you’re deep in the red and far from the finish line.

Historically, most athletes have pieced together fueling and hydration plans from a grab bag of unrelated products never designed to work together. Arbitrary carbohydrate values. Inconsistent sodium levels. Confusing labels. Good intentions, poor execution. The result was guesswork, stomach distress, and protocols that were difficult to measure, test, or repeat.

Neversecond arrived in 2021 with a fundamentally different idea: What if performance nutrition actually functioned like a system?

In just a few short years, Neversecond has emerged as the leader in performance nutrition for all kinds of endurance athletes. Riders like Keegan Swenson, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Matt Beers, and Russell Finsterwald didn’t adopt it because it was trendy. They adopted it because it worked.

In 2025, Neversecond officially launched its partnership with the Belgian Waffle Ride, and the response from athletes was immediate and unmistakable. Adoption wasn’t driven by hype. It was driven by simplicity, reliability, and results. Riders finally had a fueling solution designed for the unique demands of modern off-road racing.

At the core of Neversecond’s approach is its system-based product architecture. The C-Series—C for carbohydrate—is not a loose collection of gels, drinks, and bars. It’s a unified fueling system built on consistency. Every product follows the same carbohydrate and sodium logic, allowing athletes to mix and match based on preference, conditions, and race demands without recalculating from scratch.

That consistency gives athletes control. Control leads to confidence. Confidence shows up when it matters most.

The products themselves are engineered for real-world racing. Gels are fluid and easy to consume, with or without water, avoiding the thick, overly sweet textures that turn fueling into a chore. Drink mixes are intentionally mild, supporting high-volume intake over long hours. C30 Fuel Bars are compact, easy to chew, and practical whether it’s cold, hot, or somewhere painfully in between.

Just as important, every Neversecond product is individually batch tested by Informed Sport for banned substances. That commitment reinforces something we care deeply about at BWR: trust. Trust in the product. Trust in the process. Trust that what you’re putting into your body supports performance at the highest level without compromise.

The Belgian Waffle Ride has always been about evolution. From road bikes with 25mm tires to purpose-built gravel machines. From improvised courses to meticulously crafted unroad. From sandwiches at the feed zone to precision fueling designed for elite performance.

We’re proud to partner with Neversecond because they understand what this race asks of athletes. They’ve built a system not for comfort, but for endurance. Not for marketing, but for miles. Visit them here.

And if the modern BWR rider is still eating their way across the course, at least now they’re doing it with intention.

Welcome to the next chapter of performance nutrition at the Belgian Waffle Ride.