Home  Team BIKEMAN Following Freye GrillZ Memorial MTB Race
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GrillZ Memorial MTB Race |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Sunday, 01 October 2006 |
 So I wrapped up my 2006 mountain bike race season with one of the most fun and hardest races of the year. I have been racing GrillZ for 7+ years now. What makes this fun small local race so hard is the last mile or so of the 4 mile lap is some super technical rocky, root covered Maine coastal land. If you can’t keep focused 100% you are going to fumble and have to put your foot down. Once that happens it’s almost impossible to get going again. So much time can be made or lost in this section of trail.
 With this being one of the most technical races I really wanted my Salsa El Santo for it. The El Santo would have been the perfect bike for it. However, with school taking up so much time, I was unable to find the time to switch all my parts from the Moto over to the El Santo. Since I was going to be racing on a hard tail I decided it would be a good idea to stop by beautiful Georgetown, Maine on Saturday to do a pre-ride. After doing two laps on the course I was feeling pretty good about myself and confident with the Moto.
 After a good night sleep at home away from the dorms I was well rested and ready to race! I had a huge breakfast that was a 100 times better than the crap I have been putting in my body at the school cafeteria. With a full belly and a rested up body I made the short, hour long drive to the race. After gearing up and doing the normal warm up routine I was feeling pretty good about my legs despite the lack of training I have done in the last month or so.
 I was able to “win” the start getting ahead of the pack and New England pro Matt O’Keefe. I lead ½ of the pretend parade loop before getting passed by O’Keefe. I tried to stay on O’Keefe’s wheel, but after about 10 minutes of that reality sunk in. After realizing I simply haven’t been doing much since New Zealand and my fitness is just starting to come around I had no other choice but to slow down the pace. I guess I could have kept going, but I would probably have ended up with a sharp coastal rock through a body part in that last section of single track I described earlier.
 With those options I decided to ease things up and hold on to my position. Right after I decided to slow down a tad bit a very important piece of protective gear snapped and came loose. I decided it wouldn’t be safe or legal to keep racing with out this piece of protective gear so I kept it on and let it dangle around. Thankfully Big Al wasn’t racing and spotted me a replacement allowing me to keep racing. Ok, so the first lap wasn’t too successful, only two minutes down from O’Keefe. Laps two and three I would loose another two minutes to O’Keefe, down by a total of 4 minutes going into the last lap I believe.
 | | My high school coach “Wheels” and I |
On my final lap, lap four my legs started to come around. The same thing happened last weekend towards the end of my cross race, but the good legs quickly faded. I was wondering if my “good” legs would last throughout the rest of my last lap this week. I told myself “you are racing, you don’t save anything. Just go!” after a little self motivation I picked up the pace and my legs held throughout the last lap. I didn’t gain any time on O’Keefe, but I didn’t manage to loose any time! I finished in 2nd place overall and 1st for the Senior 1 category.  | | Beat up tired and sore, but happy to have finished a very successful season! |
I was a little bummed because I had won this race last year and with my great sponsor Bikeman.com putting on the race I wanted to win it for them. However, with the way my season has gone this year I can’t complain. I am happy with the result and how I didn’t loose any time on the last lap to the leader! I think Bikeman.com is still happy with my effort and result at the race.
 | | A bloody day at the office |
2006 was a blast! I don’t think I had any mechanicals during any of my races. No flats, no broken chains, no falling off cranks or pedals, a couple lost water bottles, but overall just clean fun racing! I am glad to have ended the mountain bike season with Grilz and with a great result. I am gearing up for the New England Verge cross series.  | | Mom and I |
I have been actually starting to train and my fitness is starting to come around. I hope that this fall is as much fun as this summer was! Again I want to thank all my sponsors for helping me out this past season. With out your help none of this would have been accomplished. Thank you for your support and supplying me with the best product to allow me to race mechanical free in 2006! Take care.
A
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Team Rider Profiles
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Dave Leikam, Salt Lake City, UT
Sport MTB
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; "My high school coach “Wheels” and I")
; "Beat up tired and sore, but happy to have finished a very successful season!")
; "A bloody day at the office")
; "Mom and I")
