Melisa Rollins and Charlotte Backus finished 7th and 7th in their respective events this weekend, Belgian Waffle and the Belgian Wafer. Rollins had a mishap that required tire attention at a pivotal point of the race. She clawed her way back to a strong 7th place finish. Backus, the youngest rider in the Wafer race, bested her segment times throughout the day also finishing 7th in an equally grueling race.
The BWR Cedar City’s course is a gravel race broken up with roughly 10 road sectors the course was challenging. The BWR CC edition has drawn world-class cyclists from around the globe… including numerous defending champions from BWR CA, and many more just to partake of the unique challenge of the day. 130-Miles/206-Kilometers , 7860 Feet of Climbing, 10 road sectors (the rest is off-road) 80% off-road (Long, Sandy, Wet or Dry, Rocky, Hilly, Ugly), Numerous Cattle Crossings, Water Crossing or Foot Bridges, 3 Queen/King of the Mountain segments, 3 Queen/King of the Dirt segments, 3 Queen/King of the Sprint segments, 6 Feed Zones
Rollins came out on top in the Queen of the Dirt competition.
“BWR uniquely adds in a few races within the race at each of their events including: KOM/QOM (king/queen of mountains), KOS/QOS (king/queen of sprints), and KOD/QOD (king/queen of dirt). The winners of these categories are allocated by the sum of 3 different segment times for each category,” explains Rollins, “while my untimely flat took me out of the competition for the overall women’s podium,
I managed to put in 3 good times on the 3 dirt segments, the 3rd of which was a 4 mile rocky, technical singletrack section at mile 110. I was able to utilize some of my mountain bike skills on this final section, taking back time on a few of the women who broke away while I fixed my tire, and securing the overall lead for the QOD Queen of Dirt competition!”
"BWR Cedar City did not disappoint this year. I had a good strong start and hung in with the front group all the way to and up the first big climb… then things got sandy and it was actually my favorite part! I had good position in the top three until the single track came to where I lost some ground. It was definitely a great addition to the course but very rocky and chunky so made it difficult to maneuver on a grave bike but that’s gravel for ya!" said Backus.
"Overall I made better time and new PRs and took a couple QOMs being the youngest rider, winner in my age group of 20-25, and over all 7th. Thank you to all the amazing volunteers who where so supportive! "
