Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1528606
November 2024 11 Ava Silvestri Ava Silvestri hard le off the asphalt onto a transfer trail and Jess didn't see her un l it was too late. A rider who saw it firsthand told me she was already slowing down to phone for help when both of them staggered to their machines and con nued down the trail. And please remember – these are two of the world's best, and between them have nearly twenty combined years of ISDE experience. The promoters ended up canceling the second enduro test of the day, and by that point, I was just glad the whole event was almost over. Though I did feel sorry for the course workers who had du fully restrung the course ribbon on that test almost daily when the strong mountain winds blew them down. The twen- ty-plus windmills present on the ridgeline should have been a hint that the area o en experiences high winds. Day six. What had been a light mist most of the week turned into a full-on downpour the day of the final moto. Not that I was complaining. I figured I'd already done enough of that all week. The gate dropped, I saw deep ruts and standing water and that there was a zero percent chance of hi ng the jumps… finally, at long last, I had a smile on my face. A proper mudder with nasty ruts and slick cor- ners, not weird wet silt. No massive hills that my smooth, beau fully handling, but slightly under- powered and slowly accelera ng 300f had strained to climb. I finished third in the final moto, grinning like a fool the whole me. I was so happy to finally have some fun a er a real slog-fest of a week. Is this an objec vely fair assessment of the event? My personal opinion sure seemed to be shared by a lot of other persons. How did things go wrong? Because I'm sure the promoter wanted this to go well – a er all it's the ISDE, and it's a great honor to be selected as the host! I even feel a li le guilty and mean-spirited, poin ng out the shortcomings. A er all, the FIM president came and personal- ly issued a public apology; everyone knows this didn't go well. So, I feel a lot like someone baked me a cake, and I'm poin ng out that it didn't rise. He knows it didn't, I know it didn't, everyone si ng at the table knows it didn't… but my goal as a writer is to make you feel like you're si ng right there at the table with me, so unfortunately, my dear readers, I must inform you that the cake was flat.