My First WORS Race - Iola, WI

I was nervous. For some reason, WORS had a bad reputation with me. I've heard/read things about them and everyone *knew* that it was cutthroat, physical racing.

Wrong.

Everyone on the course was very friendly at all levels. My team left quite satisfied with the competition. Everyone said please and thank you, some were chatty and encouraging. The course was hard - lots of steep climbs. In fact, before each wave, the announcer told everyone to communicate and "ride kind[ly]." It seemed more like a Yooper cyclocross course in that it was anaerobic for the most part. It was a real test of strategy to catch your breath.


My teammate, Chris, riding expert.

All of the sport women started together. The first lap was frustrating. I never had a chance to pre-ride the course, so I had no idea what to expect. Everyone expected this "one hill" to force most of us off our bikes and walk, because that's what a lot of the riders did. I kept asking, "Well, what about Copper Harbor? If I can ride those hills before Dancing Bear, is this particular hill going to stop me?" "Yes," seemed to be the answer. There was doubt in me completing that climb.

I can now tell you that, yes, if you can climb the hills preceding Dancing Bear, you can clear the Iola course. It hurts, and it's one heck of a challenge, but you can do it. One thing that makes the Iola hill of death much easier is the nice, packed dirt. Copper Harbor is loose and requires a bit more finagling to succeed.

I was still forced to walk part of many of the hills on the first lap because my fellow competitors kept falling in front of me. I realized I was riding too hard to keep up with these gals because my breathing was hard, and we weren't even three miles in, yet. I realized that many of them were breathing just as hard and decided to ease up and let them move on ahead. I lost view of most of them.

My shifting was awful the first lap. I kept shifting down too much before my climbs and I couldn't effectively use my momentum combined with pedaling to clear the hills more easily (the climbs weren't very gradual, more steep and long enough to be respectable).

The second lap went much better. Toward the middle of the second lap, I started passing many of the gals who smoked me on the first lap. They didn't ease up like I did. They were getting tired. They were still walking up the hills while I was riding (much faster to ride, even if it just 4 mph - twice as fast as my walk). The shifting was getting much better and I had room/clearance to maximize the downhills and swoop up the hills.

The third lap was painful but my technique was great. My shifting was dialed in and I was clearing the climbs, even though my legs were shaking on the second lap when I had to dismount to get around some people on a short, rooty climb. I didn't get to clear that climb at all because I didn't have a choice of lines because someone was alway off their bike on that climb.

I spent about one-third of the third lap trying to catch up with the girl in front of me. We were pretty evenly matched while I was chasing her. It was that rooty climb where I passed because she dropped her computer. Another girl started catching up with me, one who gave me difficulties earlier in the race. We were approaching the tight, twisty, technical singletrack. She wanted to pass, I moved over so she could, but I shifted up and hammered so she couldn't. I wasn't going to let her pass me just before the section where I was going to dominate. As a sport rider, technical and downhill seems to be where I prevail. I love technical and I'm not for braking on downhills. I love to go fast.


My teammate, Mark, on a nice long hill just before a tricky, steep, long, climb. I think this is the section where I got my max speed of 29.1 mph.

Through this little pine section just before the finish line, I noticed one of my teammates up ahead followed by Dr Bruce. Feeling I was being chased down by two other women, I yelled, "GO HOUGHTON! PEDAL! PEDAL! PEDAL! FASTER!!!" Brett and Bruce hammered and the three of us sailed across the finish line together. It was sweet. I love ending races with my friends.

Iola was aerobically challenging. Anyone who raced sport (15 miles) deserves respect because just one lap there is painful.

One of my teammates and I both grabbed second in our categories. The girl who got third in my category was 20 minutes behind me, so the two I was racing weren't even an issue as far as medals go. However, I'm very competitive, so I couldn't let them beat me.

My lungs HURT after that race. We sounded like a bunch of unfiltered chain smokers on the car ride home. It was a great race.