The 2018 WEMS Schedule

This is definitely a work in progress and even some of the dates that appear to be set are subject to change, but this afternoon the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series announced its 2018 schedule:

04/28 - The Wild Ride Buzzard Buster @ Hatfield
05/05 - Southern Kettles Classic @ La Grange (John Muir Trails)
05/12 - 9 Hours Of Alpine Valley @ Elkhorn
05/19 - Stump Farm 100 @ Suamico
06/09 - Romp In The Swamp Epic @ Wausau
??/?? - 9 Hours Of Silver Lake @ Salem
07/14 - RASTA Rock ‘n’ Root @ Rhinelander
08/18 - Hundred-Down In The Underdown @ Gleason
09/08 - Northern Kettles Fall Epic @ New Fane
09/15 - Jack Lake @ Salem
10/06 - GEARS Greenbush Grinder (WEMS Championship) @ Greenbush

It’s great to see plans for an 11-race season from a series that was in danger of losing Greenbush and dropping to just 8 races in 2016. And for me it’s great to see two dates at Kenosha County’s Silver Lake Park in Salem, a new venue in 2017 that I found to my liking. Count me in for both as long as the September date doesn’t conflict with an important cyclocross race. That weekend belonged to Jingle Cross this year, a race against which the Wisconsin Cycling Association doesn’t compete. But for 2018 Jingle Cross likely will move to the last weekend in September. That means the UCI World Cup race at Trek headquarters in Waterloo probably will fall on the weekend of September 22-23, and that means there could be a WCA race on September 15. (This year’s Jingle Cross and Waterloo races were held in uncharacteristic heat, unpopular with the top European pros. Don’t be surprised if next year’s dates get moved back in an effort to find cooler weather.)

As for the rest of the WEMS schedule, I might be in for Alpine Valley and Stump Farm again. Those races plus the two at Silver Lake plus the can’t-miss Northern Kettles Fall Epic at New Fane would give me the five results I need to have a respectable finish in the season-long points competition. But again my Friday night work schedule will make traveling to the more distance races an impossibility. That’s OK. I gave a lot of attention to mountain biking this year. In 2018 my focus will be cyclocross.