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A. Freye's 05' Update #9 |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Sunday, 30 October 2005 |
After a grueling hard effort at the New England Verge cyclocross race in the cold rain I finally caught the cold virus that was going around school. One of the hardest things about living in a dorm is dodging all the viruses that are constantly going around. Luckily for me the cold was only a head cold so it didn't completely wipe me out, but it lingered around for a long time.
Because I was still fighting off a cold I skipped going up to Burlington to race in the collegiate eastern finals and get some rest for collegiate nationals.
10/29/05 National Collegiate Championships - Seven Springs, PA
A couple days before the national championships Seven Springs got "blessed" in there terms with a large amount of October snow, 10 inches to be exact. However, by race day the racers were "blessed" with only 4 inches of snow on the ground, 30 degree temps, short breaks of sun, and lots of wind! These are not ideal race conditions especially with my asthma. I was able to sneak my way up to the front line for the start which didn't help me out to much. I was sitting somewhere around 10-15th heading into the single track on the first lap. Slowly I kept on passing riders and within the next 10 minutes I was sitting in 2nd place. Brent Brookwalter from Lees-McRae was in the lead and not far away from me half way through the 1st lap. I had to play it smart though. I knew my body limits with the cold air and if I pushed it to hard my lungs would shut down and it was going to be a very long race. Brent kept a steady lead ahead of me always a minute or two ahead of me and always out of sight.
Heading into the final lap I knew I had to give it my all and try to make up time in the woods. As I was descending the final technical decent I crashed hard. My lip, arms, and quads were all cut up and the wind was blown out as my chest took most of the impact. Getting punched is one thing, but describing the pain you feel when getting launched off a bike at speeds above 20mph can't really be explained especially when you land on frozen ground. The worst thing you can do after taking a spill like that is to take your time to realize how much pain you are in so I quickly got up and kept on moving forward. At this point I knew that the stars and stripes jersey was not in reach so I kept going at a hard place and finished a respectable 2nd place.
Right after the race it was time to get cleaned up and start heading Northeast so I could race in Massachusetts on Sunday. I spent Saturday night with my grandparents in Scranton, PA then early Sunday morning it was back into the car and heading North for a cyclocross race. Because I was on the road during meal time and was pressured for time to get to the race, lunch would be eaten at the golden arches. Those chicken sandwiches just don't seem to get you going like a big home cooked meal.
I arrived at the race and the weather was much nicer then in PA with sunny skies and temps in the 60's. Because this was a national cyclocross race they called riders up based on world rankings. A couple of weeks ago I actually earned some world points and they paid off today giving me a decent call up. This would be the closest I would come to the leaders for the rest of the race.
As the time went on my body kept on fading. Every hill became a little longer and every lap seemed to take longer and longer to finish. I was just worn out from a multi-hour race on Saturday and an eleven hour drive. I am not sure how I finished but I did have a good time. It was a lot of fun to race against all the big names one more time and see all the guys from BIKEMAN.
This weekend puts an end to the race season for me. This year has been by far one of the most fun years I have had racing my bike. I would again like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way and who will continue to help me throughout my professional career. Thank you
Andrew Freye, Team Bikeman
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