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THE WATERMOO is a fully supported 111-mile cycling race on mostly gravel, some tarmac, and a road that is no longer a road with a river crossing in the farmlands of southeastern Michigan. It will be an honest challenge for most, and something riders will be proud of completing. 

While there are no podiums for this event (those with the top finish times will have bragging rights!), ALL finishers are rewarded with a colorful aluminum sign with the name of a road from the route that they can proudly display at home. With two wave starts, we offer an opportunity for participants to seed themselves according to their desired average for the day because we want YOU to have the best day no matter what. 

THE WATERMOO was started in 2020 by Ann Arbor Velo Club and the club's former VP of Sponsorship and Marketing, Nicholas Stanko. Nick thought it would be cool to have a race with a water crossing, and he also wanted to pay homage to the amazing cows that are seen on many of our local gravel rides—hence THE WATERMOO was born.

The original race distance, 88 miles, was a reference to one of Nick's favorite films, Back to the Future. There was interest to expand to an ultra event over 100 miles, but to keep it under 200, so Nick settled on a total distance of 111 miles for the event. 11 is one of his favorite numbers, because the last year he played little league football, that was his number.