Last year, I had a fantastic season racing the Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) in the Citizen category. I won my age group, largely thanks to a accruing bonus points for doing all 9 races in the series. I managed to nab first place by a mere 7 points. Without those bonus points, I would have been in solid second place. However, the victory felt a little cheap. I had never won a race head-to-head against the person who ultimately won second place. I came close a few times, but was never able to seal the deal. Overall, I placed 13th out of over 300 men that participated in the series. Sometimes, it bothers me. Other times, I think that others could have earned those bonus points as well. In addition, I was the only person in Citizen Men aged 45-49. Out of 300, only 17 completed all 9 races. Finally, 9 races over 15 weeks is a lot. There’s a lot that goes into racing and training. Not to mention avoiding injuries and mechanical incidents is a key factor as well. Every one of those bonus points was earned.
“Set goals that feel somewhat impossible”
I’m not sure who to attribute this quote to. The first person I heard say it was Sir Lewis Hamilton. WORS is divided into 4 categories; Citizen, Sport, Comp, and Elite. It is encouraged, that if you make the podium in your category, that you should move up to the next category. At the end of the 2024 season, I decided that for 2025, I was going to skip the Sport category and jump up to Comp. Riding with faster riders, makes you a faster rider. Or at least that is what I was hoping for.
In 2024, my average speed around the course at Englewood was 11.8 mph. This year, my average was a full mile per hour slower at 10.8. Granted, I did almost double the distance but I still feel like I could have done better. I gave this race everything I had, and paid for it with some severe muscle cramps later on Sunday evening. Race #1 this year was just shy of 18 miles and had 1,952 feet of elevation. Last year’s race was 8.68 miles and only 755 feet of elevation. My finishing time was 1:42:19. 20 minutes behind first place overall, and 17 minutes off my age group podium. I knew that racing in this category was going to be hard, I just didn’t realize it was going to be this hard. As I’ve said in other social media posts, I’m definitely out of my comfort zone. There were a few times during the race that I thought “I don’t belong here” and “Why didn’t you just sign up for Sport.” but I’m determined to see this through. Its a long season and lots can change between now and the end of the season at the Red Barn Classic on August 24th. I’m cautiously optimistic.
The second race of ten for the 2025 WORS series is Treadfest in Lake Geneva. I had a pretty good race at this course last year and I’m hoping for a much better result than the first race. I know what needs to be done. It’s just a matter of giving it everything I have and executing flawlessly.
4 replies on “WORS 2025 – Race #1 – Englewood Open Recap”
I’m interested in WORS racing. I consider my self a strong intermediate and ride a lot of technical trails and XC courses around the country.
I’ve never raced before, have gotten a fair amount of riding in this season but haven’t been training for races.
What category do you think is a better for Citizen or Sport?
I wouldn’t want an easy course ( not much technical challenge ) but a hard course and long at high speed may be more than I can handle as a first time racer…
Hi Neal! If you have never raced before, my recommendation would be to start with the Citizen category. That will give you a good feel for the logistics of the race and how things go. The Citizen category rides a different course that isn’t as long as the Sport, Comp, and Elite courses but it still challenging when you’re riding at race pace. There are a few of the more technical sections that get taken out of the Citizen category. For example, the citizen course at this weekend’s race at Grand Geneva, omits a technical uphill switchback section that also includes a downhill section with a rock garden that isn’t too challenging, but is downhill and can be tricky when taken at speed. My daughter was able to handle this section without any trouble.
If you find that Citizen isn’t as much of a challenge as you are looking for, the Sport category rides the same course as Comp and Elite but doesn’t do as many laps. This weekend Sport will do 2 laps and Comp will do 3.
There is also the option to pre-ride the course on Saturdays before the race. WORS will charge $5 to pre-ride the course, but you could not register for the race, pay the $5 to pre-ride the Citizen and the Sport/Comp/Elite course, and then register for the races after getting a taste for what the course will be like.
I hope that gives you enough information to make a decision. Certainly let me know if you have any other questions. Hope to maybe see you out there Saturday or Sunday!. Also, If you have Strava, feel free to give me a follow. Here’s a link to my profile: https://www.strava.com/athletes/guernseyjasonj
Cool thanks. The Saturday option to scope out the different category courses seems like a good option to map everything out etc.
You’re welcome! Saturday’s preride schedule is from 8am – 2pm if you’re planning on going to the Treadfest race.