WORS #5 Subaru Cup

Mt Morris, Wisconsin
WORS #5, Subaru Cup Saturday June 26, 2010
by: Rick Walls

With round 4 of the US Pro XCT landing smack in the middle of beer and cheese, everyone wanted to put on a good show.  The Don and his co-conspirators led the charge, and had cut some classic midwest suffering out of a central Wisco ski hill.  It had everything I love about the local scene… bench cuts, rock gardens, roots, punchy climbs, bermed turns heading down and bermed turns heading up.  Despite the heavy rains from night before, noise on the scene was that the course was gorgeous and ready to ride for the XC race.

Because this was a USA Cycling race, the normal 4 WORS races were squeezed in to 3 categories.  So… the sport riders were sent out with the comp/open riders raced for one lap less than normal.  I lined up with the usual METAL! heads… Joel, Ryan S, and SuperDave in the last wave that was all singlespeeds.  My plan for this day was ride hard, ride fast, and hope the race ended before I did.

With a word, the caged aggression of the entire singlespeed cadre was unleashed on an unsuspecting Cat 2 race.  A great start and an evil plan got me into the 3rd spot in the first stretch.  For once, I had this race thing figured out… until we hit the first bench cut that was lined by people trudging with bikes as far as I could see.  That plan had one flaw. That one flaw was that the plan was conceived on an open course, and completely discounted the 400 or so other riders who would be out there at the same time with a nearly identical plan of their own.

The first lap alternated between slow grinders up the singletrack, sprint to pass anywhere possible, and slam into the back of the next group.  The areas that normally allowed from some recovery became the areas of the most intense efforts. It was apparent that I was in for some pain and suffering before I crossed the finish line. The thought was punctuated by Ryan spinning past myself and about five more riders.

Lap two brought more of the same. Joel and Jonesy snuck past, and I did my best to hang on as long as possible.  I managed to keep the wheels on, but lost a few seconds when I had to put a crank back on.  Also, what mad singletrack skills that I did possess started to evaporate with every rock and root and descent.

Lap three was a battle back and forth with day of rider Dave.  We made a gentleman’s agreement to enjoy the rest of the race, and not kill each other.  it was a fun ride until I spied another series rider back, and the chase was back on.  Despite the overwhelming to need to sit down and drink beer.  I managed to hold him off by a few seconds into the finish.

It was still good enough for the last podium spot.