CEDAR CITY, Utah (March 26, 2026) — The Hell of the South (West) comes back for its seventh edition on June 13, 2026, and this year’s Belgian Waffle Ride Utah arrives with a reimagined course and a renewed appetite for high-desert chaos.
Gone is the gnarly singletrack that defined previous editions. In its place, the organizers have built something faster, more rhythmic, and — by their own enthusiastic account — the most exciting course they’ve ever conjured. Riders will rip across red rock valleys, sandy stretches, and open alpine roads at altitude, trading technical punishment for flow, speed, and pure unroad bliss. The suffering remains baked in. Only the texture has changed.
Cedar City anchors the weekend once again, and few venues in the American West earn that role more honestly. Tucked into the red-rock majesty of Southwest Utah, the town sits at the crossroads of big mountains, open horizons, and roads that refuse to make anything easy. From Main Street Park — festival hub and race central — the terrain opens in every direction, and the elevation demands honesty from both legs and lungs.
The full festival weekend runs June 12–13. Friday brings rider check-in, an expo with more than 50 exhibitors, live music, food trucks, and the traditional cold Belgian ale to toast the dust ahead. Saturday is race day — grit, grace, and madness under the Utah sun.
Three routes serve every appetite. The Waffle covers roughly 110 miles and 5,940 feet of climbing, with 60 percent on unroad surfaces and five feed zones. The Wafer offers a 66.5-mile option with 2,734 feet of gain. For those dipping a toe in, the Wanna covers 27 miles with 913 feet of climbing. Every rider goes home with a Neversecond musette packed with sponsor swag, BWR bucks, waffles, coffee, post-race beer, and — perhaps most valuably — a finisher’s trophy beer and bragging rights that don’t expire. Amateur categories contest the coveted Q/KOM, Q/KOD, and Q/KOS jerseys.
BWR Utah is also the third round of the 2026 Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel, the four-state series that also visits Arizona (February 27–28), California (May 2–3), and Montana (June 19–20). Complete at least three of the four and you earn the Quad-Tripel Crown Champion title — a genuine measure of endurance and commitment across some of the most beautiful and brutal terrain the American West can produce.
For riders who want to arrive prepared, BWR is offering a four-day training camp in Cedar City from May 7–10. The camp breaks the course into focused preview segments across Friday and Saturday, with coaching, lodging, meals, and SAG support included throughout. It’s a solid option for first-timers or anyone serious about racing the course rather than just surviving it.
Registration is open now at belgianwaffleride.com. Cedar City is waiting — come curious, leave humbled, come back hungry for more.
Event info:
June 12-13 — Belgian Waffle Ride – Cedar City, Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel, Cedar City, UT, Third stop of Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel, BWR UTAH takes place around the beautiful National Parks in southwest Utah and spends considerable mileage inside Dixie National Forest. The new ‘unroad ‘course will feature less single-track and more of the incredible gravel rollers and truck trails the area is ripe with. Pain and suffering will commence at 7am featuring one wave start for all – there are three event distances. Waffles are served at 5am. The BWR Unroad Expo will open on Friday and run throughout the duration of the event until the beers, jeers and awards are distributed for all the day’s heroic efforts, Michael Marckx, 760-815-0927, [email protected], Brandon Burk, [email protected], belgianwaffleride.bike
(Visited 13 times, 13 visits today)