Wisconsin Off-Road Series goes national Launch pad for elite to stay accessible to citizen class
by Joel Patenaude More elite mountain bike racers than ever before may be careening over hill and dale toward Wisconsin this year due to national
sanctioning of the state's biggest off-road series. The pros may bring with them broader attention to the sport here and -- not as paradoxically as it may seem -- bump up local participation by amateur trail riders and (gasp!) runners .
Organizers of the popular Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) have agreed to the terms of the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA). So this year, as was briefly possible during the 2002 season,
elite riders can use WORS events to qualify for other races at which regional and national titles are at stake. Two events in the WORS series have even been selected as American Mountain Bike Challenge (AMBC) races which will afford the winners -- assuming they are also NORBA members -- a place at the starting line of the U.S. National Championships at Mammoth Mountain, California, Sept. 25-26.
To qualify for the NORBA national, racers will have to be dues paying
members of the organization. The nonelite, who make up a vast majority of the racers, will still be allowed to compete at the WORS events without joining NORBA.
The sanctioning will surely raise the public profile for WORS and a select few of its participants. But in the bigger picture, the new opportunity presents an administrative challenge and not one that should alter or diminish the series as primarily geared for fun-loving amateurs.
The WORS series includes 12 events throughout Wisconsin between May 2 and Oct. 10.
"Some of our races are the largest in the country so the winners can earn a lot of points toward their ranking. Success here will mean national recognition and a good résumé for those chasing sponsors," said WORS Racing LLC Director Don Edberg. "But all that is a small part of what WORS is all about. Probably only 15 to 20 percent of our racers will be interested in that."
Edberg said partnering with NORBA has only been possible recently. Part of the reason, he said, "is a philosophical difference we've had with NORBA. They have a semi-pro to pro system they want racers to progress through. We want to maintain a system that allows people to come to race, have fun and hang out, so it's not all about getting better. With our system, you can be a citizen racer forever."
He conceded, "While we garner more national recognition we'll have to
fight this idea we're becoming too professional."
To keep both elite and nonelite constituencies happy is always difficult, he said. Some of the more serious elite racers, for example, have objected to the 1:30 p.m. start times for their races, especially on hot summer days.
"The elite race is always the longest and most demanding," Edberg said, "but I would rather have the more recreational and inexperienced ones
get out on the course in the cooler part of the day."
Pointing out that clinics will be offered to beginner racers before a few events, he said, "We think we have a system that works best for the most people."
The series begins with the Alpine Valley Open on May 2 at Alpine Valley Resort in East Troy. Over 1,100 riders participated in this season opener last year (down from 1,245 in 2002) and the numbers may
increase again this year with folks wanting to take advantage of the new course. Still including some of the challenging climbs competitors may remember tackling on the 2002 NORBA National Championship Course, the race is advertised as less difficult this year. Distances once again include five miles for citizens/youth, 10 miles for citizens, 15 miles for sport, 20 miles comp and elite women and 25 miles for the elite men.
The Kewaunee Cross Country Adventure follows May 16 in
Kewaunee's Bruemmer Park. Spectators can watch the starting rush up Birchwood Hill by those vying for the new "top of the hill" award for sprint primes in each wave. Weather permitting, the comp and expert classes will take to the challenging trails in Winter and Riverview parks. There will be shuttle buses to get spectators to where the action is along the lap races on a mix of road, single-track and ATV trails.
This year the Kewaunee race distances are each one to three miles
longer than the Alpine Valley races, ranging from six miles for the citizen/youth to 27 miles of the elite men.
The mountain bike series continues on May 30 with the Rome Around in Wisconsin Rapids. This race has been moved up from late August which should cut down on the dust and heat that have bedeviled riders in the past.
Stop No. 4, the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic, will be at the Crystal Ridge Ski Area near Franklin on June 13. The spectator friendly loop of
just over five miles will include single-track through what's known as the Small Intestine, lung-burning fast climbs to Craters of the Moon, bonsai downhill switchbacks, fast fire roads and the infamous Goat Trail.
Changes have been made to improve this year's WORS Cup Stage Race taking place at Devil's Head Resort in Merrimac June 25-27. A new lower mountain traverse and upgrades to several sections of the single track will be experienced by riders in Friday's Chainsmoker's
Time Trial. The Devil's Drop Downhill and Devil's Duel Dual Slalom courses will include new, longer and more vertical sections. Also said to have undergone improvement is the course for the Willy Bikes Devil's Dare Metric Century Road Ride.
This "mega event" will also include a bike swap, Expo and a Mad FORCs Women Learn to Race Clinic at the resort and convention center. The clinic and Grandma Karen's Kid Race will start at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The scheduling of the
Sunburst Showdown in Kewaskum has been moved up to July 10-11 from early September last year. Now the sixth rather than the 10th race in the WORS series, the Sunburst Showdown will still be held at the Sunburst Ski Area in the heart of the Kettle Moraine.
The course will offer technically difficult portions but also wind its way through wide-open grassy areas allowing the cyclists to reach road race like speeds. On Saturday, the second short track cross-country event in
the series will be held here
The northernmost WORS event, the Phillips Dirtfighter Classic, will take place July 25 on the Price County Fairgrounds in Phillips. That will be followed by the Aug. 7-8 Buzzard Buster in the Bruce Mound Winter Sports Arena in Hatfield. These are two of the original WORS events from 1992.
The Buzzard Buster is back after not being held in 2002 and the location hosting instead the Midwest Mountain Bike Festival last year. This year,
the elite, comp and sport class competitors will race a course approximately 28 miles in length; the citizens will race 15 miles and the citizen/youth racers will go five miles. A short track race will kickoff the event.
The ninth annual Calumet Sun Run will be held Aug. 21-22 in the Calumet County Park in Hilbert. A downhill dual slalom will be held again this year and short-track and trail-run competitions will be added.
Whether riding or running, participants will likely enjoy more terrain with new trail sections constructed under the direction of the county parks department and the Fox Valley Chapter of the WORBA, Wisconsin's trail advocacy group.
After a one-year absence from the Nine Mile Forest Recreation Area west of Wausau, WORS will return with the the newly organized Big Ring Classic on Labor Day weekend, Sept 4-5. Except on race day
Sunday, mountain bikers will need to pay a $3 fee to ride the 25 miles of rolling cross-country ski trails and rocky single-track at Nine Mile.
The WORS series will stay in the area for the Iola Bump and Jump on Sept. 26. Good viewing will be possible with the starts and finishes occurring near the ski jumping bowl on the grounds of the Iola Winter Sports Club. A skills enhancing expanded loop awaits those who enter
the Hayes Disc Brakes Youth Race. All riders will be served a spaghetti dinner.
The traditional finale of the series will be the Wigwam/Ultimax MTB Challenge in the Jaycees' Quarryview and Evergreen parks of Sheboygan on Oct. 9-10.
This will serve as NORBA's American Mountain Bike Challenge, a race one-step down from the NORBA Nationals. Racers who are NORBA members may use the Wigwam/Ultimax event to qualify for the 2005
national championships. So, with WORS offering the largest cash prizes in its history, Sheboygan could attract a record number of elite entrants.
Here there will be a multilap race for the citizen/youth, citizen, sport comp and elite class competitors of one, two, three, four and five laps respectively. Each lap is four to 5.5 miles in length with technical difficulty appropriate for each skill class. There will also be a night ride, headlamps required.
Registration information and updates through the season can be found at www.wors.org or contact Edberg at 8675 Rolling Hills Road, Custer, WI 54423; (715) 592-5095; wors@wors.org.
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