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Fredette comes to Iowa and takes first place at Gnarly Hills.

Stratford, Iowa. In a perfect world, this race would be called the Gnarly “Creeks” Enduro. Sure, the course contained some challenging hills, but the real spooky riding took place in various creeks comprising the track. While none of the water treks proved impassable, each seriously threatened the soft magnesium underbelly of the bikes and made you think more than once about your disk brakes.

The race started about thirty feet into the woods on single track just out of the sight of spectators. Without much in the way of warm-up, the course immediately launched riders, up then down, through two large ravines. Riders then shot up a technical wooded incline and back down again. After about 7 tenths of a mile, the race crossed a road and entered ground along the Des Moines River bottom. The first section continued initially through the bottom, but promptly headed back into higher woods containing tight tree sections and moderate hills. The section ended after 3.5 miles with a reset.

The second section was similar and lasted for about 5 miles. Keeping the twenty-four mile per average posed no particular problem in the first two sections. The much longer third section, however, ran for around ten miles and did seem to slow down some of the riders.

One creek crossing in particular seemed to give riders fits. The trail dropped about two feet into a creek bottom and required riders to exit the other side over slimy boulders of about the same height. When I approached the impasse on the 8^th minute, two riders were held up in the creek bed while about four others waited. Finally, one of the waiting riders hoped off and ran down to assist. I somehow made it through unscathed and felt pretty proud of myself.

A little too proud as it turned out. Shrewdly located just after the creek, and around the corner, was a nasty rutted-out hill criss-crossed with about a three hundred roots of varying sizes and covered in rocks. Because of the hooked turn at the base, it was difficult to get a good run. I erroneously picked second gear and, despite intense abuse to the clutch, lost steam about 10 feet from the top. Notwithstanding all of the past hoopla about my hot-start button, the XR would not relight. While I stopped and kicked the pig unmercifully, no other riders came by. I must have been there for 5 minutes before the next rider on my minute, Mike Black, came up and also failed to top the hill. Having a two-stroke KTM, he needed only kick the bike once or twice and head of down the trail.

Finally, I just gave up and attempted to bump-start the bike back down the hill. Also a bad move. Just as I got about half the way down the hill, the XR lit and took off downhill like a possessed llama. The bike promptly crunched a tree and ejected me over the handlebars. I hit the ground face first and skidded down the hill. The whole time I’m thinking, where is that @#%&ing Honda. As I slid to a stop in pile of leaves, the XR mule kicked me in the elbow as it popped up and careened the rest of the way down the hill. It finally came to rest in the creek. As you can imagine, it was again in no hurry to restart. After booting away for another few minutes, and nearly yorking my yogurt into the stream, I launched back up the hill with the throttle wide open the whole way in first gear. That’ll teach the old XR to buck me like that. Total cost: 13+ minutes.

Of course this huge delay allowed about ten much faster riders to catch me. I’m reasonably sure that this included the “group” that Ryan Moss describes below as I vaguely remember seeing a rider with “Tabor” etched on his jersey launching by. I spent a great deal of time moving out of their way. Sometimes, I’m too quick to move. At one point, I entered the woods and immediately took an alternative route through some low brush in a steep downhill to allow a pass. Hidden beneath said bushes, was a gnarly stump. The XR again puked me over the handlebars. I’m never gonna to learn.

The fourth section started with an unusual two mile 12 mile per hour section where you were supposed to ride over various large trees, stumps, toilet seats and lawn ornaments. In actuality, the section seemed to have fallen into disrepair, as you really only had to ride over a single, two foot thick downed tree. It worked best to ramp over the toilet seat in attempting this.

After the slow section, the speed shot up to thirty miles per hour and the race heated up through a more open section of dry hills and woods. I’m not certain, but I believe that this section included the now infamous cattle urine/feces tunnel. Over the years, a large amount of bovine dribble and crap passed through this tunnel and, at the time of this race, accumulated to a depth of around six inches. Other than the stench, passing through the tunnel proved easy enough. I have heard, however, that riders, attempting to slow down those behind, gas their bikes through the tunnel. This act moves about 50% of the runoff onto the ceiling, literally creating a s*#@storm for those following behind.

Ultimately, riders returned to the campground for a gas stop and reset. By this time, the average returned to twenty-four miles per hour and remained at that pace throughout the second loop. The remainder of the race was otherwise the same, except that the course repeated the first section for a third time, ending at the initial 4.2 mile marker.

First place honors fell on Jeff Fredette from Illinois riding, of course, a KDX. Jeff road on the 29^th minute and dropped a measly 27 minutes. He was followed closely by Ryan Moss and Tim Tabor who picked up identical points. Ryan beat out Tim on a tie-breaker, however.

Jeff Fredette in 1999 Portugal ISDE

This was the first time that Jeff participated in the Stratford event and called it a “well kept secret.” This was Stratford’s first time on the District 17 schedule. Jeff thoroughly enjoyed himself and found no faults with the race. He complimented the organizers on the event overall. He reported that the race contained a little bit of everything. Jeff stated that most challenges came in the creek bottom areas which were unusual for a midwestern race given the large slippery case-bashing rocks. Jeff agreed that the organizers arrowed the course well. He found only one problem where a course ribbon sat a bit high and several riders, including himself, road under it.

Jeff said that Tim Tabor beat him at the first check. He reported that Ryan then moved ahead of both of them during a subsequent section. Jeff made his move when he approached the third section. As Jeff came down the gravel road, he ran hot but could see into the woods and, seeing no check, entered cautiously. He continued to work his way in carefully, when Kirk Foster, riding the minute behind him, passed. Jeff cautiously kept up with him, riding thirty seconds hot the entire time. In the end, this paid off as it pushed Jeff ahead of Tim and Ryan.

For those few of you that don’t know, Jeff Fredette participated in the past 22 ISDE races. He picked up 10 gold medals, 11 silver and 1 bronze during those rides. For 2003, he already qualified to ride the ISDE in Brazil this fall. Jeff also won the District 17 enduro championship multiple times and does pretty well with respect to ice racing also. Known as Mr. KDX, his specialty website for those green machines is www.frpoffroad.com.

Jeff also mentioned the addition of a new enduro to the District 17 schedule. On August 24^th, a new event occurs in Ottawa, Illinois. Ottawa is located on Interstate 80 about 100 miles east of Davenport, Iowa. The enduro will have two different length loops with multiple speed changes. The race ends in a European style grass track using European scoring. The grass track will be spectator friendly as well. Jeff told me that a large number of manufacturers are backing the event and there should be a lot of prizes for participants. Definitely a race to think about as the next Iowa enduro will not occur until September 14^th in Winterset. Check out http://www.megacross.com/district_17/schedule03.html for updates about the Illinois race.

Second place finisher Ryan Moss reported that a group of AA riders including himself, Jeff, Matt Stavish, Tim Tabor competed closely throughout the race. Ryan’s bike plagued him with poor performance throughout, but was still able to run a competitive race.

In the first section, Tim Tabor and Matt Stavish came out on top dropping only 2 points. The remainder of the AA riders, including Ryan and Jeff Fredette, picked up 3 minutes.

2nd Place AA rider Ryan Moss

In the second section, Ryan said that traction was perfect and remembers the trail being fast and open. Ryan noted that the club added woods to this section this year making it a serious blast. Tim, Matt, Jeff, and Ryan all zeroed the section. Ryan knew that the battle for first would be between this group and that it would wage for the rest of the day.

There was no check-in at the beginning of the third section with the club hiding a check in middle instead. Ryan enjoyed this long section the most. It contained hills, rocky creek beds, and good woods. Ryan described Jeff as the "chess master" as he went in a minute early. As Jeff stated earlier, this gamble paid off as he dropped only 3 at the middle check. Everyone else in the group and a few other AAs drop 4. At the section check out, Jeff lost 6.26 while the group comes out with 7's. Tim being the best at 7.05 on this emergency check.

Although still putting in an impressive performanc, Ryan’s bike still ran terribly. Ryan also went down in one of the creek beds and soaked myself. This reminded him that you just cannot go full tilt in the rocky creek beds. A point not lost on any of the riders to be sure.

It was in the fourth section that many of the riders got lost. At one point, the trail took a hard right off of a ridge, but everyone was missing it according to Ryan. If you went straight, you ran into people coming up the hill on the trail the other way, so most riders turned around and found the correct trail. Other riders just turned left and missed about .5 mile of trail. Ryan recalls that the group dropped 5 with the exception of Stavish who kept it at 4.

At this point, Ryan’s Watchdog computer went nutty and started displaying the incorrect "diff" time. Luckily the gas stop came up next so he was able to remedy the problem by shutting it down and resetting. This problem notwithstanding, Ryan called the Watchdog an awesome computer.

In the second loop, the group zeroed the second section. In the third, Tim and Jeff dropped 6. Ryan was able to drop only 5.25 at an emergency check and picked up a minute back on Tim and Jeff. At this point, Matt’s bike started giving him problems and he dropped around 9 minutes allowing him to fall out of the group. The group then dropped 2 points in the final fourth section.

The final section could have decided who would win, per Ryan. However, everyone in the group charged and lost only 2 points each.

Overall, Ryan said it was a great course and a great day of racing. Ryan’s next race will be the the National in Marquette, MI.

Another great race at Gnarly Hills (& Creeks). We’re already looking forward to next year.

For those looking for something to do in July, consider the District 23 enduro in Mora, Minnesota occurring on the 13^th. Unlike most other Minnesota enduros, the Mora race is only seventy miles north of Minneapolis and not terribly far to drive. Check out http://www.armca.org/schedule

/harescramble_enduro.htm for updates.

Eric Neu, Carroll, Iowa.