| WORS teams with NORBA
For the first time in its long and successful run,
the Wisconsin Off Road Series has worked out
a deal with the National Off Road Biking Association
By Greg Marr
It's October 1992. The Wisconsin Off Road Series concludes its first season of six mountain bike races. Randy Bailey and Vickie Roberts, the champions in the Expert Class, lead a field of 167 racers who received an overall score for the inaugural series.
Fast-forward 10 years. WORS has blossomed into an 11–race series. Every race in the series features at least three or four times more
participants than the total in 1992; the average attendance at each race is around 850. Several individual events topped 1,000 last year, including the Alpine Valley Open at the top of the list with 1,140 racers, and the WORS Cup at Wausau, just behind with 1,086. This is some serious mountain bike madness.
 It would be reasonable to assume, then, that WORS would adopt an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy, but that's not the way Don Edberg and the WORS directors view the continent's largest mountain biker series. Although growth has plateaued in the past two years, that doesn't mean there isn't room for more riders. In fact, there's an entire gender out there that's not well–represented in WORS – women – and WORS wants to change that.
The June 22 North Central Women's Mountain Bike Challenge at Nine Mile Forest near Wausau, Wis., is piggybacked with the WORS Cup the following day. The women–only event is affiliated with WORS, but the riders will not be accumulating WORS points. "What we're trying to do is encourage women who might be intimidated
by riding in the larger events with the more experienced riders," points out Edberg, the director of WORS. "And we're adding a fourth class, First–Timer, that we hope will get women out there who have never raced before."
The First–Timers will ride one eight–mile lap. Citizens will ride 10 miles while Sport Class does 16 and Experts, 24.
Expert women will be competing for one of the largest's cash purses in the Midwest, with $250 for first place and $1,000 split among the top
10 finishers.
The women who ride on Saturday are, of course, welcome to hang around and ride again the next day in the WORS Cup. Having the back–to–back races is an example of what WORS is hoping to have more of down the road: weekend–long mountain bike festivals.
"More two–day festivals is definitely something we're looking to develop," says Edberg.
Besides the renewed focus on trying to attract women to WORS, a
development this winter might open up the series to even more riders overall. For the first time in its long run, WORS will be affiliated with NORBA, the National Off–Road Biking Association.
WORS – and mountain biking in general in Wisconsin – has been unique in the country because it has been so successful without an association with the sports national body. Most other major mountain biking races in the United States are NORBA sanctioned events. For years WORS
and NORBA have had an uneasy relationship, with WORS doing quite well on its own. One hang–up has been that WORS didn't want to force its riders to pay for a NORBA license or one–day fee.
"We've kind of kicked around the idea that we could work out a deal to get NORBA points at least for the Expert Class," says Edberg. "Brian Stickel, past NORBA managing director, called me and we worked out a set fee that would affiliate WORS with NORBA, and we could wave the one–day fee."
While there are no license or rider fees, Edberg notes that "only those who license with NORBA will receive National and Regional rankings."
According to Edberg, both WORS and NORBA benefit. NORBA will have more riders in its roster and WORS will gain some national recognition. If there's been any frustration for WORS, it's that WORS is hidden "behind the cheese curtain," a successful but isolated situation. Despite the success of WORS, the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival and
other mountain biking in Wisconsin, the state isn't given its due nationally, hence the "cheese curtain."
"This will give us exposure in national press and that could give us potential for additional sponsorship," says Edberg, as the curtain is lifted.
As WORS enters its new season, riders will find much the same but a few things changed. One thing the average rider will not notice is that WORS will soon have a new home. Edberg will be moving to rural
Stevens Point, where plans are for a WORS pole building headquarters to house the growing accumulation of WORS items and serve as an office.
Each year brings a new event or two as some events, for a myriad of reasons, decide not be held, while others change dates. This year, the Buzzard Buster and Log Jam drop off the schedule, replaced by the Hixtson Holeshot and Rome Around. Taking last year's Log Jam slot, the Hixton event (30 miles from Eau Claire) is held June 2 on a
challenging course at the CMJ raceway. The Aug. 25 Rome Around replaces the Skyline Scramble and is held at Dryacuse Mound near Wisconsin Rapids. The WOR at Wilmot, Aug. 5 last year, is replaced this year on Sept. 8 with the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic, a return to the Crystal Ridge Ski Area in the Milwaukee area.
Other schedule changes include moving Iola from opening last year's series to Sept. 22, race number 10 this year. The Kewaunee
Cornhusker returns with a new name: Kewaunee XC Adventure; a new date, May 19 (Oct. 7 last year); an expanded course and a new staging area.
Riders will also find expanded age categories for 2002, a Singlespeed category in the Sport Class for those who can't get enough punishment, registration deadline changes in the SRAM Team Competition, online registration, and WORSwear sale items so you can really be stylin' in 2002.
For the wired riders, the best way to get information about WORS, and stay dialed in as the series progresses, is at www.wors.org. The Web site has all the information you need – registration, news, results, guidelines, history, photos, message board, WORSwear – you name it and it's there.
If you prefer to do as you're doing now – sitting with a magazine in hand and reading the old–fashioned way – all you need to know is in the WORS handbook. The handbook is mailed to past racers and is available, free, in nearly all Wisconsin and many Minnesota and Illinois bike shops, as well as at all of the races. If you still can't find one, send $2 to cover postage and handling to WORS Racing, LLC, 3292 Soo Marie Ave., Stevens Point, WI 54481.
WORS SCHEDULE 2002
1. May 5, Alpine Valley Open, East Troy, WI
2. May 19, Kewaunee XC Adventure, Kewaunee, WI
3. June 2, Hixton Holeshot, Hixton, WI
4. June 23, WORS Cup, Wausau, WI
5. July 14, Sunburst Showdown, Kewaskum, WI
6. July 28, Dirtfighter Classic, Phillips, WI
7. August 11, Calumet Sun Run, Hilbert, WI
8. August 25, Rome Around, Friendship, WI
9. September 8, Alterra Coffee Bean Classic, Franklin, WI
10. September 22, Iola Bump & Jump, Iola, WI
11. October 6, Wigwam/Ultimax Mt. Bike Challenge, Sheboygan, WI
October 26, Awards Banquet, Stevens Point, WI
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