WORS #8 Bontrager Border Battle - Andy

River Falls, WI
Sunday August 08, 2010
by: Andrew Schirpke

The Border battle is one of our 3 day weekends. We left on Friday and got to the hotel around 2. Checked in and dumped our gear in the room. Off to the Mall of America. A little shopping and then 5 hours of rides. Scored a new Polska flag. Noodles and Company then back to the room for an Office marathon.
Waffle breakfast and then some early preriding. This course has more skinny’s then all the others combined. Ran into Richard but the regulars weren’t out yet. Temp’s were good but it was going to get really bad. Cleaned up and came back to register. Back to MN for some Samba’s and to find Bloomington Ave., no dice. Into town for Steve’s pizza and back to the hotel for some swimming. Late night popcorn and more office. To bed by 10.
Morning rituals and I rode to the course. Hottest this year so the warm-up was light. It stormed all night and the course had mud everywhere. Got my callup and noticed the line was missing a bunch of WORS racers but MN supplied a few.
The race starts up the biggest hill and then into a flat, first signs of water. Not my best start. Once into the singletrack the ruts were deeper. Cranks were in the mud and the hardpack roots from yesterday were now rear wheel magnets.
People were tipping and falling all over. Balance was the name of the game. It was super fast Saturday with only one climb and a ton of flow. Now you just hoped the bike went where you pointed it. I knocked off a bunch of guys who must have used it all up on the climb. The fan had a backup and I went through them, they were just starring at it. The older waves began to catch me and it added to the difficulty. Too many walkers for a race.
Felt good throughout and I really only had one position change after the second lap. 6th place but Wisconsin keeps the trophy for another year.
Showered under the hose and it was nice to get out of the kit. Cheered on everyone else and did hand-ups for my cousin and dad. Didn’t see the Pro’s finsih because we had to get on the road. Subway for the ride and some more office too. Bikes are finally clean and ready for the next one…See you at the Ore to Shore!!!!!!!

Andy