Tripel Crown of Gravel starts at BWR Arizona with 'scrum' of sector racing

Just 10 days after winning the brutal 1,045km eight-stage Transcordilleras Rally Colombia, Griffin Easter (OpiCure Foundation Gravel Team) found little time for “tranquilo” as he embarked on his next season goal to triumph in the Tripel Crown of Gravel with the Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) series. 

BWR Arizona is the kick-off event on Saturday, March 2 for the collection of the three races, created and operated by Monuments of Cycling, that comprise an omnium format for the Tripel (yes that's how the organisers spell it) Crown. BWR Utah will be held in Cedar City on April 6 and BWR California will complete the set on April 28, with the top pro men and women sharing equally from the minimum prize purse set at $30,000.

“It will be officially our first team event of the year. That’s definitely one of my goals for the season, to do well within the series in the Tripel Crown,” Griffin told Cyclingnews. Along with his younger brother, Cullen Easter, the two comprise the OpiCure Foundation team with support from Canyon.

“Definitely, California is the biggest one out of all three. So, hopefully the series goes well, but if not, then I have to try to have a good ride down in San Diego.”

Last year Griffin had top 10s at BWR California and BWR North Carolina, and with 15th in the inaugural BWR Arizona he finished third overall in the BWR series, which comprised the best scores from four of seven events in three countries. 

He will square off with a well-rounded men’s field, led by defending champion Keegan Swenson, third-placed Torbjørn Røed, BWR California winner Alexey Vermeulen, Quadrupel series runner-up Andrew Dillman and multi-time BWR winner Peter Stetina. 

Sofia Gomez Villafañe, who won the women’s inaugural BWR Arizona, returns and will face off against BWR stars Whitney Allison, Heather Jackson, Hannah Shell and Nordic Gravel series winner Geerike Schreurs.

“There’s a lot of sectors at a Belgium Waffle Ride, it’s their heritage based on the Belgian Classics, and that’s the feeling you get while you’re racing,” Griffin said about what makes these races special. 

“So when a section comes up of importance, there’s a surge, a scrum, to get towards the front. Then you exit and maybe there’s a little transfer, not relaxation, where you can kind of regroup, see who’s around. And then boom, a sector. It is one after the other, all day. It could be single track, dirt, a road, a semi-’cross course. 

“They are long races, you’re getting these punches thrown at you, you’re having to stay hydrated and stay with the competition. It’s very dynamic the whole day. You can never relax.”

In April Griffin Easter plans to ride BWR Utah, where he has a pair of runner-up finishes, mix in The Growler multi-surface one-day race in northern California before BWR California. Then he heads to Spain to compete for the first time in The Traka 360km, May 1-5, which is the signature event of the Gravel Earth Series.

“Depending on how I feel, I’d love to get back to US Pro road nationals on May 19th. It just depends if I’m really, really tired from the beginning of the season or not, because on the first of June is Unbound Gravel. I have yet to have a good, clean ride there [Unbound 200], whether mechanical issues, body issues. Then, at that point, I’ll take a mid-season rest.”

Griffin turned a negative into a positive last fall, and it has led him to turn what he called a “lackluster year” into refocusing on the “fun” in fundamentals.

“The Transcordilleras and the Traka race are big goals going into this year, because I didn’t get accepted to the Life Time Grand Prix. I was looking for alternative races that I’ve always thought about doing. When I got the word back that I wasn’t in the [Life Time] series, all these doors started to open in my head, where I said, ‘all right, now I’ve got a lot of freedom’. 

“I want to try some races that I’ve been looking at , but I’ve never had the time to do. The Transcordilleras race was definitely one, The Traka is another one. I know it sounds cliché, but if I’m in a good headspace and I’m having fun, I seem to race the best.”

Transcordilleras and finding tranquilo

Image 1 of 5

Transcordilleras was “rough, rough, rough”, but Easter scored seven consecutive second-place finishes across the week to finish the final day in first place overall. 

Across the 985km endurance test across the three ranges of the Andes mountains in Colombia, Easter said there were no easy days.

“The course was some of the most extreme, challenging, demanding terrain. I think it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he told Cyclingnews.

Easter rode six full seasons on the road and had tough tests at races in Asia, Azerbaïjan and even South America. In 2017 riding for Team Illuminate, he won stage 6 of Vuelta a Colombia, a monster 237.7km route from Socorro to Sogamoso. Now seven years later, he was back in the same region with the overall start of the gravel race in Paipá.

He said the first day they rode down the Chicamocha Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in Arizona. But he said the descent was met with the climb back out and the temperatures soared to more than 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46°C). The week continued with relentless climbing, more than 77,000 feet (23,650 metres) of elevation gain, searing sun and hot temperatures. 

“You finish the stage, and then this whole other list of chores that you've got to get done was just crazy. You've got to put your head on the pillow at night, but it was just go, go, go, go non-stop,” he laughed, recalling finding a car wash or some hose to clean his bike, finding eggs and protein at local restaurants for dinner, and having to get an official stamp on the brevet card stamped to prove the stage had been completed.

“The terrain was probably the worst side of things, but it’s also the most beautiful side of things because I would never go to those parts of Colombia had it not been for the race.”

He told Cyclingnews that the people they would pass in small villages may not have been aware of the details about Transcordilleras, but they all seemed to be cycling fans, many yelling “Go Rigo” for national cycling hero Rigoberto Uran. 

“The best part for me was just the people of Colombia and the country overall. At the end, the connection with the fellow riders, with people outside of the race, it really was the part that I enjoyed. I studied Spanish in college, so for me it’s a double win because I am able to converse and brush back [up on] the language.”

What was his takeaway besides fitness headed to the Belgian Waffle Rides and a hectic 2024 of racing and promoting his non-profit OpiCure Foundation?

“Races can be stressful, they can be hectic. You have a lot of obligations,” he said. “Stay relaxed and try to not worry or stress too much. So just embodying the Colombians, or ‘tranquilo’ is what I learned after being down at the Transcordilleras. It's great. 

“These are some of the fastest, best riders in the world [in the race], and you don't see them freaking out. They're just laid back having a good time. And they ride really well. So that's kind of what I'm going to try to embody, the tranquilo mentality.”