Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1528606
8 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com ISDE Uncensord ISDE Uncensord By Rachel Gutish By Rachel Gutish Photos By Art Pepin Photos By Art Pepin An Kallonen Rachel Gu sh Brandy Richards Ava Silvestri An Kallonen Rachel Gu sh Brandy Richards Ava Silvestri Cold rainwater is blowing sideways across the swampy field. Some of that cold water is blowing directly into my right ear canal. It is not a pleasant feeling. Test walking in these condi ons isn't for everyone… on second thought, it might not be for anyone. Adding insult to injury, we never did race this par cular test, as day three got "canceled" (it became a duplicate of day four). Probably for the best since the lone test rider le a six-inch rut all the way around the test by himself. I struggled with this ar cle. First off, I couldn't come up with a good tle. My first thought was "Mediocre but Adequate," as it described both the experience, organiza on, and my individual perfor- mance. That seemed blunt, so then I tried on "Wet Boots and Self Abuse," but ul mately it didn't fit any more comfortably than my Moose/Alpinestars Tech 7s did a er I accidentally melted the insoles with my boot dryer. A Grey and Dreary Success" sounded too damn depressing. 'Riding at Windmills (Because it Was Too Foggy to See Them)" was both too long and too niche of a refer- ence. "At Least I Didn't Have to Put Up the Ribbon af- ter the 80mph Winds" offered a glimpse of op mism, like the sun that would come out for approximately fif- teen minutes every day, but once again is not properly focused on the actual subject ma er. Finally, I realized li le of this story is poli cally correct enough to print; I had my answer – "ISDE Uncensored." The other struggle I faced was the fact that there was no sa sfying narra ve arc. Each day passed in near-iden cal fashion, seen through an ever-present haze of fog. The race for all of Team USA's Trophy Teams shaped up early: we all held the same posi on on Day Six as we did on Day One. At least the event was honest. It never pretended to be something it wasn't. The very first test involved wet silty berms that you couldn't trust with your front wheel any more than you could trust Ted Bundy around a bunch of coeds.