Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

SHAN MooRi lOS BY STEVE BERKNER , ffeff Fredette celebrdted 25 years of ISI)E competition by ~g a silver medal at this year's Six Days in Slovakia So how was this year's ISDE in Slovakia? This year was a little bit more challenging. We had a lot less road sections than we've had in the past. Usually, the Six Days is a lot of roads through villages and stuff to the next woods section, but this year we were pretty much off-road, so it became a more physical event. You were working the whole time, because you didn't have any rest sections. You've ridden this event for what amounts to a quarter of a century. What keeps you going every year? I think it is the challenge. I tell everyone it is a "man and machine" type of thing, and I've always been a real good mechanic and can ride halfway decent, so that's a good combination for the Six Days. How has the event changed over the years since you started competing in it? It's changed a lot. It went from in the early years, when you would find spark plugs or master links in your drinking water because you had to carry everything yourself, [to] where now, you just go on the backside of a car and you find whatever you need, or sometimes it just falls underneath your bike, you know? It's gotten a lot more lax as far as rules. r. Six Days, Mr. KDX, Mr. Iron Man - call him what you want, but calling Jeff Fredette a veteran of ISDE competition might be the understatement of the year. The 47-year-old owner of Fredette Racing Products in Chicago has started, and finished, a record 25 ISDE events since 1978, making him one of the most prolific American ISDE riders ever. And in those 25 events, Fredette has amassed a remarkable 10 gold medals, plus 14 silver medals and one bronze medal. Not too shabby when you consider how high the odds are of DNFing a six-day-Iong race. For Fredette, that's 150 days, or about five months worth of riding, without missing a beat. Simply amazing. In 2002, Fredette was inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association's Hall of Fame for his accomplishments and contributions to the American and International off-road scene, and he received a similar award from the United States Sports Academy. However, the celebrated rider is very humble about his accomplishments. During a recent interview, Fredette spoke about what drives him to compete in the sport. M 54 OCTOBER 12, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Tell us about your first ISDE in 1978. I was as nervous as could be, but I also thought at the same time that I was going to be the fastest one out there. After the first day of competition I thought, "You know, I fell down so many times that I am going to slow down." So, on the second day I slowed down, and I went a whole lot faster. Not knowing what to expect, I worked out and rode almost every day before I went over for that first event, and when Igot there, Ithought, "Wow, this is all it is? This is easy." It is one of those things were, yes, it is tough, but at the same time, if you go about it in the right way, it's not that difficult. How do you train for an ISDE? Basically, I just try to ride as much as I can. This year, I am riding not nearly as often as I would like it to be. Enduros and hare scrambles are about the only thing that you can do to train for it, and I don't train during the week; I just ride on the weekends when I go racing. After 2S events, you're bound to have some funny stories or an event that really stands out in your mind. I would have to say that, I have one bronze medal in all of those years, and that event is just one of the events that really sticks out in my mind. You've got to work really, really hard to earn a bronze. The guys that earn a bronze are usually the guys who are doing the most amount of maintenance, the most amount of work and doing the most amount of falling, probably. I think that bronze medal probably means the most to me, because I had to overcome a lot of adversity to earn it. It was in Holland in '93, and it was a really tough event. The very first day was very, very tough, and a lot of guys dropped out that day. It was a considerable number of riders, and at the jury meeting that night, they made a decision to allow anybody that could impound their bike by 10:00 that night to re-impound, because it knocked so many people out. On the first day, I had pushed the bike really hard, and I think I only lost about eight minutes or so. I thought I was doing really bad, but when I pulled into the impound, there was hardly anybody there. So, I was doing really good, but then they let everybody back in after I had already done a lot of damage to my bike just trying to stay on schedule. On the second day, I was afraid my bike wouldn't make the whole event, and it was getting kind of loose and sucking water because it was a wet event. So I rebuilt the top end at the end of day two, but I forgot to put the reeds in the reed cage. Then, on day three, the bike ran terrible. I got so late on day three that I thought I was never going to make it, so I just started moving forward on time, and I dropped a lot of points. After day three, I figured out what my problem was, and Igot it fixed that night, and day four went really good. But I had to overcome a lot to finish. Do you have a best or worst experience? Actually, the best and worst both happened at the same place. One was in '84 in Holland, when I was top American - that was my highlight. And my worst experience was also in Holland, the event in '93, when I got my bronze. We started in the exact same place both times. So, the high and the low were in the exact same spot.

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