Competitive cyclist pedals on after high-profile spill

Andy Kruse was struggling.

Displaced to the infield after a bicycle crash at the 2008 Fixed Gear Classic, Kruse felt the adrenaline drain from his body. With the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" blaring over the National Sports Center velodrome speakers, Kruse decided on the former, collapsing on his back. The pain from sliding 20 feet on the banked wooden track and the splintery shrapnel digging into his hip made it too difficult to stand.

While YouTube has eternalized the wreck -- the video has more than 40,000 views, much to Kruse's chagrin -- the 31-year-old Minnesotan has since sped past that painful remembrance.

Then again, Kruse has developed a habit of speeding by everything.

"I didn't know how good he was going to be," said Bob Williams, director of the NSC velodrome. "But he works very hard for what he gets."

Lately, Kruse has gotten a lot. After being named the 2010 NSC Velodrome Track Rider of the Year, Kruse, the 2010 masters national champion, hopes to improve on two third-place finishes in this year's Classic, which boasts its largest field ever.

Rain took over during the first of three days at NSC on Friday, forcing the finals in four events to be postponed until Saturday.

Kruse will compete in the points and scratch races Saturday and in the madison (a relay competition), on Sunday for SPEEDFIX Race Team, which he helped found in 2007. He also missed out on qualifying for the semifinals in the keirin (a mass-start race), an event he admittedly raced for fun.

Then again, as one of the premier racers in the Minnesota cycling scene, it's hard for Kruse not to have fun these days. Unlike a few fellow competitors at Fixed Gear -- including a four-time world-champion, a 2008 Olympian and North St. Paul native Colton Barrett, the defending champion -- cycling isn't a means for Kruse. He does a 9-to-5 at a bank working on web applications and recently bought a house in South Minneapolis with wife and fellow rider Gwen Steel, whom he met at the velodrome in 2005.

Although cycling is a secondary pursuit, it holds a special place for Kruse.

"I think it represents a balancing force in my life," he said. "I come across a lot of people at work who don't have anything going on in their lives other than work and family. When those people wake up in the morning, is their job and their performance review all they think about, or is there something these that motivates them like it motivates me to go slam myself for three hours on my bike after work?

"It's a mystery to me, because I don't think I'll ever give riding up."

After being laid off from his former job in March 2010, Kruse, who began cycling at 16 after purchasing a mountain bike with money he saved from bagging groceries in Eden Prairie, turned to riding to relieve stress.

"When I wasn't sure where my next paycheck was coming from, cycling became less of a pursuit and more therapeutic," said Kruse, the three-time defending state madison champion.

Though Kruse admits he likely won't make it to the next level, calling the full-time pro circuit a "big-fish, small-pond situation," his competitive drive already has outlasted the short-term pain that befell him three years ago.

"Cycling is something I've found where I can excel, so I like seeing how far I can go." he said. "But eventually my life will catch up to me."

At the pace Kruse is going, even that seems unlikely.