WORS #12 & Pumpkin X - Andy

Sheboygan/Grafton, WI -
WORS #12, Wigwam MTB Challenge Sunday October 10, 2010
by: Andrew Schirpke

In town this weekend but tons of action. It started with my friend Cameron coming home with me after school. Go-Karts, mini golf, Tomaso’s pizza and Chocolate Factory Ice Cream, all in one night. My cousin Travis even came over. My friend thought he’d give cross a try so my dad lightened up an old 800 for him. Got to bed pretty late but this is cross season. Who cares.
Got up around 6 and loaded bikes. Stopped for some race fuel and registered…even my friend. We had the first start so we warmed up quick, no problem there, it was almost 70 already. Did I mention my friend had on DDM? On the line for a light turnout. It may have been because of Jeff’s funeral. A great guy and a big loss for bikers everywhere. Whistle went off and we had 30 minutes to ride the pain train. Cat 4 women were in our wave which gave me riders to pickoff. I was in second at the first turn and it stayed that way. It was a roadie course with tons of power. Nothing technical and the sand was pretty easy. The nice weather didn’t favor this mountain biker. My only advantage was a hill called the “BEAST”. 2nd. Finished tired but I knew I made my entry back. Picked up a cool Pumpkin hat and won some R4. Rode around for awhile and watched some friends. Said hi to John, Ben, Lynne, Mike, joe, Wally, Riley, Patrick and Brian. Even my mom and sister showed up, she brought her friend Kaitlyn. They had an Irish Rock band and Italian Ice. Rang some bell for my dad who doubled up. Too late for a SheVegas preride so we came home and got some Chinese.
Another 6am and we loaded the bikes. We also had the food for our after race Team Extreme party to get ready. If you got a Bomber you know what I’m talking about. Last race of the year for WORS but first and second overfalls still needed to fight it out. I was almost locked at 4th overall but I wanted to do well. Warmed up and got some gel. Off to the line and waited to hear Don for the last time this year…
GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We were off on some high speed pavement before hitting grass and under the Preem tape. The course was fast and a little loose from the lack of rain. I started at 5th in the singletrack behind Alex and got by him the first chance I got. On the second lap I passed #1 Fletcher changing his tire. I was now in third and couldn’t find Expo Andy. Failed on the equalizer the second lap but since they didn’t have money for me on the first it didn’t hurt so bad. Caught a bunch of older guys and was happy at the finish knowing I finally got some more METAL. Recovered and did hand ups for my dad.
The party had tons of food and we invited everybody we knew…a bunch of new friends too. What a sport. Waited for the raffle but we got skunked. Finally left by 6 and had a short ride home. Got the gear inside and we all crashed hard! Some of you know what this Saturday is, for those who don’t…
We’ll be hitting cross after this weekend and then we have The Iceman and Jingle Cross. Looks like the off season won’t be coming till December. Or maybe Bend???????????

Thanks for reading,

Andy