Home  Team BIKEMAN Following Freye Battling Illness & NC Heat
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Battling Illness & NC Heat |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 |
 Since I’ve been out of school and living at home I have been really looking forward to getting out of the house and being on the road for the month of June. Well I guess my body was getting worn down or something and my lungs decided to catch a virus. Before I knew it I was battling bronchitis for the first week of my road trip. I could feel something happening in my lungs and I decided to skip the Root 66 races in CT. It was a hard call, but in the long run I think it was the right choice. I still went down to the Root 66 races and stayed with fellow ADG (Athlete Development Group, basically we are coached by Beau Lambert) teammate Brian Firlette. From CT I would head on down to PA to stay with my grandparents.
I spent a couple of days with my grandparents in PA before my mother drove down to meet me. On Thursday morning my mom and I got into the car at the ass crack of dawn (around 7am, I usually don’t get up until 9) and started driving to Banner Elk, NC. 10 hours later we arrived at Sugar Mountain where I met up with fellow ADG teammates Brian Firlette and John Burns. Burns and Firlette had already done a lap on the course so they cooked up some dinner while I went out for a spin.
 On Friday I met up with some more ADG teammates and went out for a pre ride. After 30+ minutes of climbing and 5 minutes of descending I must say I wasn’t overly impressed with the course. There was nothing challenging about gravel and paved road climbs and the down hill was straight down the mountain with little to no room for passing. Despite not being fully satisfied with the course I tried to stay positive about the layout until after the race. John and Brian had some good races in the Semi-pro field on Friday. Their original plan was to start heading home Friday after the race but they decided to spend another night in the condo. Friday night was spent watching movies with Brian and John. The three of us watched Dodge Ball and Old School. I find it relaxing to watch a movie where you can laugh throughout the entire thing. It gives you a chance to forget that you have a big event going on the next day.
 I was woken up Saturday morning with cloudy skies, high winds and a nice cool temps. I was pretty stoked to see the clouds and the cooler temps but I knew the clouds would burn off and the blazing sun would be out. Before this trip I knew it would probably be hot down in NC so I cut my hair pretty short (compared to the out of control, way too long, hair that you see in all of my write ups) and even shaved my face (its been like 6 months since a razor has touched my face). Despite doing all of this my body still didn’t like to work that hard in that kind of heat.
 As the race progressed my body started to wear out. I was downing a 24oz bottle a lap trying to stay hydrated and beat the heat. It didn’t seem to help. I was getting chills and goose bumps towards the 2nd half of the race. Also during the long climbs I was dry-heaving due to heat exhaustion. I guess training in the cold wet weather in Maine hasn’t been helping me to much this year with the NORBA Nationals. I finished in 43rd (about mid pack), a little better than the first race, but still not where I would like to be.
The next part of the road trip is heading back to PA to spend another couple of days with the grandparents before heading up north to Mount Snow. Hopefully the weather pattern won’t change much in the North East and the temps will be cool and there will be some rain! After Mount Snow it’s up to Burlington for a day or two before going up north of the boarder to Mount Sainte Anne.
Thanks for reading and thank you to everyone for your support.
A
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