Polska Cross - Andy

Kletzsch Park - Milwaukee, WI
Saturday November 14, 2009
by: Andrew Schirpke

We helped set this race up so we start on a Friday night. Pics here at:

www.MTBerz.blogspot.com

Get down to Dougs at about 8:00 p.m..  Maciej, Marcin, Ron, Pirate, Heidi, Doug, Joe, Mike and Greg were all there. Painted barriers and loaded up the trucks. Printed a pile of shirts and in some cases whatever we were wearing. Lost a stray cat and enjoyed a downtown city bonfire. No worries Doug is a firefighter. Got home by 3:30 AM. 3 hours of sleep? Alterra will have free coffee.

Mom had the chili cooking and we took two vehicles loaded down to the park. I was the only one racing and the rest of the family was just working it. We moved tables and setup barriers. Set tents and got the food going. There were shirts to sell and people to greet. After a few hours I got into race mode.

Geared up and jumped on the bike to warm up. Had to make a brake adjustment and FDL cyclery was there to help. All sytems good, off to the line.

Not a huge field I was third up the first hill. Long course and before we mad it around once two older kids got me. I sat in fifth for a few laps. I did manage to catch a few of the women. There was a barrier at the bottom of the Polska Puker so I ran it every lap. Weather was good and conditions were fast. The new barrier height kicks my butt(which is 24” off the ground,my butt that is) I managed to pick one off in the singletrack woods. I cleared the log everytime and had no problems with the hairpin 180. Four laps in 30 minutes…not bad. Fourth place, no podium, no swag no Metal. My last race of 09 is next weekend, State Championships.

Chilled on my bike the rest of the day. Practiced my track stands. Ate food and cheered on my friends, even Russel(who sucks). May have a BMX in the stables as Labecki hooked me up. Tristan won and James was right behind him. Greg and FO were out there too. Lots of cheering and I think Darrin did the most.

Clean up took forever and we didn’t get home until 6pm. I don’t know how many miles of tape we rolled up. Chinese take out and we all crashed by 9. Great weekend!

Ride On

Andy