WORS #12 Wigwam MTB Challenge, Quarry View & Evergreen Parks — Sheboygan, WI

I love Wigwam! Such a great course, so much fun to ride. Last year at Wigwam was my first XC race in 9 years , and this year I returned for another good time as a Cat-2 Comp racer.

Kinky Llama Racing has grown and this year we come in numbers. All will race, some will finish, but a good time will be had by everyone. This year we learn that broken bikes, still come with big smiles.

Kinky Llama Racing was represented by

The pure power of Felke.

John Felke Cat-3
Tyler Cox Cat-2(sport)
Brandon Murphy Cat-2(sport)
Becky Welbes Cat-2(sport)
Jim Pittacora Cat-2(comp)
John Hunt Cat-2(comp)
Anthony Mikrut (Me) Cat-2(comp)

The day starts off with John Felke leading off in Citizen.
Turns out ol' Felke has some thunderous power coming from the two giant pistons he calls "legs", and sheared off a cog in the middle of his XTR cassette. He tried as he might, but trying to shift over a missing cog is nearly impossible. After and a half, his rig couldn't take it anymore, and a DNF was in his future. Doesn't matter to us, as long as we have a good time racing.
Racing in sport we had Tyler Cox, Brandon Murphy, and Becky Welbes. Becky, Tyler and Brandon took off like mad

Brandon making the Equalizer his beatch.

men & woman possessed. Possessed by who or what, I have no idea.

Tyler and his buddy, The Equalizer.

One of the most memorable climbs WORS has to offer is the Equalizer.
Everyone thinks they can do it, some try it, and few climb it. And those who do, get $5 on your first lap.
Tyler and Brandon both finished off without any mechanical incoviences and both placed well.
Up next was Becky Welbes, This girl can RIDE THE SHIT OUT OF A BIKE.  Excited to race and having already pre-rode the course, she was ready to rock. Unknown the her, a rock had already been ready for her. And her rear tire blew out only a 1/2 mile into the race. It looked like it had been attacked by a badger. We all learn from our experience, and we can all learn from Becky about keeping our chins up when shit happens. You can read her blog post about her experience on her site Pretty-Fast.org.

Following the sport racers, comes comp. John Hunt, Anthony Mikrut, and Jim Pittacora are going for the gold, or at least the finish, in this one. A couple mechanical issues for Mr Hunt suffers him a bit on the race, and a cleat that wasn't tightened fully becomes my undoing. The first lap the cleat was moving, by the second, one of the two screws was

Game face for llama

gone, the third was a wiggle fest on my foot, and as I cross the line for the fourth lap, the cleat was stuck in my pedal, without my foot. After a mile of trying to stay on the bike and pedal, another DNF came down our pipeline and landed right in my lap. Sad not to finish, but still very happy to had gotten in 3 laps of one of my favorite rides. Fast rides with fast people are a blast.  Rounding out our comp racers Jim stands on the podium for a 3rd place finish.
Fun was had, bikes were broken, and smiles were everywhere. This was great event. Looking forward to Iceman Cometh.
We would like to thank our sponsors for all of their support and superb products that help us do what we love to do.
Village Cycle Center, Trek Bicycle Corp, SRAM, Sidi, Giro, Gore Bike Wear, Tifosi, and Saris Cycling Group.
Our final results were:

John and the log jump. GET SOME!

John Felke Cat-3 - DNF
Tyler Cox Cat-2(sport) - 19 age group - 111 overall
Brandon Murphy Cat-2(sport) - 10 age group - 57 overall
Becky Welbes Cat-2(sport) - DNF
Jim Pittacora Cat-2(comp)
John Hunt Cat-2(comp) - 13 age group - 48 overall
Anthony Mikrut (Me) Cat-2(comp) - DNF