BWR AZ 2026 with Lance Haidet

BWR Arizona 2026

The film opens on a phone call.

“I’m the baddest [ __ ] around and I can handle anything that comes my way.”

First Race; First Heat

Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona is 101 miles with 7,000 feet of climbing; a course that doesn’t care how dialed your kit looks at the start line. February on paper. Ninety degrees in reality. The kind of heat that turns early-season optimism into survival math.

Lance Haidet lines up for his first race of 2026 with new sponsors, new goals, and a familiar intention; go all in, but don’t forget to look around.

He’s focusing on the BWR series this year. As a California native, it feels like home turf; West Coast gravel at its most chaotic and honest. Sea Otter. Unbound. A calculated run at UCI points for a shot at Worlds in Australia. Argentina on the calendar. Mammoth Tough. Gravel Nationals. Mexico in the fall. New stamps in the passport; new edges to find.

But first; Arizona.

Optimal Recovery Position

Pre-race, Lance is posted up in what he calls the “optimal recovery position.” Ice bath. Legs elevated. Traction on a low back he claims belongs to an 85-year-old man.

“If I do well tomorrow, it’s because of this position right here… and my silver Almsthre saddle bag that perfectly matches my bike.”

Just wind in the desert, lube on chains, and the quiet ritual of getting a machine ready for violence.

The Build

The Colnago G4X gets the once-over. Maxima SC1 for shine. A 50mm RockShox Rudy up front for the chaos. 50mm tire leading; 45mm trailing. Big tire to float the sand and cut the line; smaller rear to dig and drive.

48-tooth chainring. 10–46 in the back. Fast pavement demands a big gear. Steep pitches are short; grind it and move on. Gravel grinding; literal.

Fizik Vento Argo R1 Light. Short. Aggressive. Built to hold position when your core starts negotiating with your spine.

In the Almsthre bag; CO₂, extra heads, plugs, backup lube. Lessons learned the hard way. Essentials for exploration; unapologetically functional.

The Start

Four minutes to go.

The field rolls into 101 miles of sand, whoops, moto trail, singletrack, and pavement so fast it forces the issue. The heat settles in early. Arms start doing push-ups on the bars just to survive the chatter. Every descent is a negotiation between speed and spine.

The main chase group forms; five or six strong. The elastic snaps at the top of the primary climb. A small gap becomes a longer day. Lance rides alone from mile 40 to mile 80; desert silence broken only by breathing and tire noise.

The back starts talking. The arms start screaming. The legs, oddly, are fine.

This race doesn’t attack your fitness first; it attacks your durability.

The Finish

Ninth place.

Just inside the top ten.

In February. In record heat. In a field that doesn’t hand out anything.

Back at the pool, a little more sore than the first time we saw him, Lance sums it up without drama.

“Good first race of the season.”

ALMSTHRE at BWR expo