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Fat WORS #1

Written By George Kapitz

Photos By Kari Lewis Scheppman

Editor’s Note : The Wisconsin Off-Road Race Series (WORS) is the largest state mountain bike race series in the country and this year they opened up a special Fat-Bike Category in all twelve of their races. Our amigo George is going to share his WORS experiences in a new bi-weekly series that we call ‘Fat WORS’ !

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I completed my first WORS fat-bike open race (new category this year) this past weekend at Iola. This wasn’t the first time I raced a fat-bike in WORS. Last year I began my racing career on a 41lbs Surly Pug with a NuVinci drive train. After 5 races of chasing guys on their 29ers I decided to try out my Niner… Getting on the podium became easy and I ended up winning overall Citizen class for the year. I love riding fat and I love racing, but the Surly was way too fun to race. Over the winter the Salsa Beargrease was released and I got a hold of one for myself. It’s an amazing race machine, out of the box, weighing in at about 28-29lbs. I did a handful of winter races on it and I couldn’t have been more happy, with how the bike handled. Once I caught wind, that there was going to be a fat-bike open category in WORS, I knew this was going to be my focus for the year. I made some upgrades to the fat-bike by adding the new SRAM XX1 drive train, Salsa carbon bars/seat post, and going tubeless. Currently the Beargrease is weighing in at 26lbs.

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Come race day at Iola, I was jacked to ride the fatty. The new fat-bike open category goes out with the Sport racers. The average race is about 15 miles. Not a very long race, but an all out, pedal-smashing-fest. I’m new to the MTB race scene and don’t have a lot of experience. In my mind, I just think “pedal fast”. I’ve learned that warming up, hydrating, and pacing are paramount to success, when it comes to mountain bike racing, however, at the start of the race, I ignored all the strategies, that I had planned, like (find the fast guy and follow behind) and took off wheelie fast! A quarter lap into the race my heart was pounding (185 average and 194 Max) and I was getting passed by the field. I tried to keep a good tempo but I couldn’t recover from my exuberant start. At about the 3/4 mile point, I went over the bars on a rooty descent. After crashing, I told myself, I’m out of the race and relaxed and finished (6th of 8). I rode the next two laps at a good pace, and launched some big air where ever I could. 🙂 This was definitely a race that I learned from and I’ll be better prepared in two weeks at Wausau. I hope I see you there!

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Results – Open Fat-bike

 1       Shane Veldhuizen       Green Bay  WI
 2       Butch Welke            Lake Geneva  WI
 3       Nathan Long            Eau Claire  WI
 4       Marcus Steele          De Pere  WI
 5       Joel Patenaude         Middleton  WI
 6       George Kapitz          Manitowoc  WI
 7       Dwight Ingalls         Oconomowoc  WI
 8       Terry Prewitt          Black Creek  WI


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8 Responses to Fat WORS #1

  1. MonkeyBoy May 23, 2013 at 9:50 am #

    hero status for the drag racer start. nice report, george

    • Orlando May 23, 2013 at 11:18 am #

      yeah, funny bike style!

  2. George May 23, 2013 at 11:32 am #

    I would like to get info on fat tires factories close to Mexican border , thanks

  3. Todd May 23, 2013 at 11:39 am #

    Wheely-ing out of the gate, that shirtless dude’s mouth’s agape at your awesomeness George WOOT ~ !

  4. Nathan Long May 23, 2013 at 2:11 pm #

    I’ll definitely see you at Wausau George!

  5. Angry Andy May 23, 2013 at 10:38 pm #

    I think a 29+ could hang with the regular 26/29″ class, just sayin Angry One

  6. Ernesto May 24, 2013 at 2:51 pm #

    Thunderdome! Thunderdome! with a glass of pure octane flavor gassoline! Thunderdome! Thunderdome!

    HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

  7. Wade May 28, 2013 at 9:54 am #

    is that shirtless guy on the right drinking a ZIMA?

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