BWR North Carolina Category Results

The kUDOs award is given in honor of our friend, Udo Heinz, who was taken from us a few years ago by a criminally negligent bus driver. Udo was always a joy to ride bikes with and brought the best out of people - He also loved cyclocross, having started the sport in his native Germany as a teenager. Udo had a great spirit, so the winner of this award goes to the person who exhibits the most amount of joy and brings fun and support to others in the race. This is a most important award.

Google ‘Tomme Arthur’ and titles like Brewmaster, Founder, CEO and World Champion pop up. One description you wont find in a Tomme search is ‘cyclist,' but that doesn’t mean Tomme isn’t a cyclist. In fact, Tomme has no spare time, hobbies or passionate pursuits that don’t involve great beer consumed with friends, and cycling is one of those hobbies. It just so happens that Tomme is one of the most celebrated and respected brewmasters in America, having won countless awards and gold medals, plus gifting the world Cuvee de Tomme, which Food & Wine recently ranked 18th of "The 25 Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed." Like the BWR, the Belgian-inspired beer defies convention even by modern standards... a groundbreaking accomplishment with the daring to apply so many different techniques to one delicious, award-winning brew (race).

Tomme, for sure, is the cyclist most responsible for all of us being together in N. Carolina for the BWR. To add, the BWR as a 10 year old race wouldn’t be what it is today without Tomme’s largess. We are all lucky he is a member of the peloton…

In one of those "it takes one to know one" stories, a couple years ago when we were looking to expand the BWR offering to other regions where there is a combination of a population that loves cycling, great breweries and terrain that can offer up something different to the other BWRs. Tomme introduced us to another legend brewmaster, Ken Grossman, the founder of Sierra Nevada, who had created quite possibly the Disney World of Breweries in nearby Mills River.

It's worth noting, Ken Grossman started Sierra Nevada with a hand-built brewhouse and the odds stacked against him. In 1980, that patchwork of pipes, pumps and tanks began making beers that forever changed the course of American craft brewing. Ken also happens to be a member of the peloton, too. From that delightful introduction, we instantaneously were engaged with the incredible people of Sierra Nevada and worked with them to build something unique in the region. Unfortunately, Covid overshadowed our collective planning, but a year later we were able to pull off this first edition in N. Carolina with all of you in tow.

Back to Tomme... the fabric of the peloton is colorful and stitched together with some of the most amazing athletes, from other sports, and the most amazing achievers from all walks of life. not just beers and bikes. Cycling itself is an adhesive for people of all stripes coming together to celebrate life in physical and often times meaningful ways. We think the BWR is a definitive microcosm of this larger reality.

Tomme has supported the BWR from its inception. The now famous Belgian Waffle Ride Badass Ale, offered as a trophy to finishers of the BWR CA, features the Lost Abbey Carnevale recipe. Winner of the Gold Medal at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival (Belgian and French Style Ale), as well as a Gold Medal and Best in Show award at the San Diego International Beer Competition (French and Belgian Style Ale), Carnevale continues to be one of The Lost Abbey’s most sought after beers. Side bar: If you have been lucky enough to finish a BWR CA, it is our recommendation that you drink that Gold Medal winning Badass Ale and then refill the bottle with water, re-cork it and place it on your trophy mantle. No one will know the difference.

Back to the event and the Wahoo kUDOs Award.

You may have noticed we had quite a few Olympians competing in the first annual Belgian Waffle Ride N. Carolina. We also had World Tour riders, world, national and state champions, and national caliber riders from BMX, Mountain Biking, Cyclocross and road racing. You may not have noticed we also had work class athletes from other sports join the BWR peloton. One in particular I was delighted to meet  because I have a running background and this particular athlete happened to be a 3:54 miler! His name is Eric Henry and he got to find out first hand what an UDO-like rider can be like...

Eric Henry was a standout track and cross country runner from Arkansas in the late 80s and early 90s. And by standout, Eric was not only a standout for his record breaking speed on the track, he was 6'4" and nearly 200 pounds at the time, making him the largest man on the planet to ever run under 3:55 for a mile.

Thirty years later, Eric has gained a lot of weight, which he is now on a crusade to lose through the glory of two-wheeled pursuits. Eric's journey back to fitness is being helped along by our friends at Hyland's and it was through their partnership with the BWR that Eric ended up with us all on the start line... A start line that wouldn't exist without one Tomme Arthur. There's also a finish line connected to the start, but not everyone got to see it, but Eric did... only by the largess and UDONESS of Tomme Arthur.

Tomme met Eric out on the course and could see that he was in need of some companionship, inspiration, and KUDOS if he was going to make it to the finish. Instead of wishing him "Good Luck" and pushing on with his own race, Tomme waited with Eric and helped him through a number of dark moments, mechanicals and bodily malfunctions we have all had the misfortune of experiencing. If only we all had a Tomme on our team to encourage us through all the doubts, headwinds and barriers.

Eric said this was at the top of the list of most difficult athletic events he has ever done and he would not have seen that finish line without his Udo Heinz guardian angel manifested beside him in the form of a Founder, Brewmaster, Champion and Best Buddy, Tomme Arthur.

We all owe a big cheers and DANK U to Tomme Arthur for getting us all together at the start line and seeing many to the finish line. I know Ken Grossman agrees!

Salud!