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A. Freye's 05' Update #4 |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Monday, 01 August 2005 |
Wow a lot has gone on in the last two weeks. I will give a brief update on 7/24 since Sunday's race was a tad bit longer then my normal races. On the 24th I made the journey over to Burlington, VT for an EFTA NECS race. I say journey because there is absolutely no easy way to get there from here. There were some big names at the race including Andy Bishop, 3 time Tour de France rider and former factory pro for Gary Fisher.
The weather was perfect and the course was dry. I had a great race finishing 2nd in my age category and 4th overall. I was only one minute from the over all win which should give you an idea on how close we were. Even though I had some bike troubles it was a great race and probably the most fun I have had all year racing.
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7/31 - Jay Peak Challenge, Jay Peak VT. The word challenge fits the name of this race. The race was about 73 miles long and had over 11,000ft of vertical climbing. Just to give you an idea that's like climbing Mt. Katahdin twice! (Actually it's more because you don't start at sea level.) The race started out at the base of Jay Peak at the cable car and went straight up fire roads to the top of Jay Peak (elevation 4,000ft a 1,800ft climb). At the top of Jay Peak we rode around the cable car and went straight down a ski trail to the bottom of the mountain. The descent was probably the steepest descent I have ever ridden in my life. At the bottom my nose was filled with the delightful smell of burning rubber from the brake pads. After the crazy climb and descent the race calmed down a little. I would stop at aid stations about every fifteen miles to get some food and fill up on liquids. At no aid station did the pack ever stop for more then five minutes. For the first four hours of the race I stayed with the lead pack of eight riders. After four hours riders started to slowly fall of the lead pace. At this time cramps started to appear in my legs. After five hours of racing the lead pack consisted of five, and soon only four. At this time my legs were getting real sore. I tried to drink as much as possible and eat as much as possible when we stopped at aid stations. The pain my legs were in was so bad my muscles felt like they were going to burst out of my skin and my heart felt like it would explode from my chest. At this point the race becomes more of a mental game then a physical game. Just under six hours and almost to the top of a very long climb the lead pack was made up of myself, Brett, and Ross. We were about three miles from the finish line. Brett stood up and attacked with 75yrd to go to the crest of the hill. I was unable to respond to his attack. My stomach just didn't have anything left in it. At the top of the hill I took my last Power-Gel (out of 15!) and tried to close the gap. I would cross the finish line fighting to the very end. I ended up third overall, two and a half minutes back from Brett.
This was by far the hardest race I have ever done in my life. After the race I took full advantage of the free BB-Q! You would probably think that putting your body through that much pain wouldn't be that much fun, but I actually had a blast. Just finishing the race was something to be proud of. All kinds of people came up to Brett, Ross and myself after the race congratulating us and wanting to shake our hands. It was like we were almost famous. Journalists from news papers were wanting to talk to us right after we crossed the line and there were even people there videoing the whole race! In about a month or two there is going to be a DVD of the race!
Again thank you to everyone who has helped me get as far as I have this year. Two more races, then off to nationals! As always I will keep you updated.
Andrew Freye, Team Bikeman
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; "click to enlarge")
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