Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1528780
November 2024 13 Rachel Gu sh Rachel Gu sh Barnes, Rachel Stout and Olivia Pugh) took home the first-ever Women's Club Team award. I'm especially proud of my teammates. Ava Silvestri, in her first appearance on a trophy team, was a backup rider called up two weeks before. She rose to the occasion and did her job well. Brandy, the superhuman, carried the team on her back, consistently winning tests and once again taking the individual overall. Meg kept everyone's head on straight and did her best to keep everyone's a tude as sunny as the gloomy condi ons would permit. I'd like to say I'm proud of how I rode too. I'm not. Sixth individual out of thirty-three riders isn't bad, I guess, especially when the entry list was a who's-who of professional female off-road racers. Almost everyone of note was present, and the field was the deepest it's ever been. So maybe I shouldn't be so disap- pointed, but I've beaten everyone I was racing against before, and most of them at least a couple of mes this season. I expected to be ba ling for a top-three posi on, not finishing outside the top five, eight minutes down from the overall leader by the end of the week. But I am proud of myself for surviving day three. For having the knowledge, skill and experience to gently coax the bike to the finish line. Our World Trophy run would have ended right there with me by the side of the trail if those plates hadn't broken free. But it could have ended on the fi h uphill of the transfer, the deep mudhole, the last cross test of the day when I wanted to ride hard to salvage my individual day finish in- stead of playing it smart and trail riding. It could have ended with a dropped bolt in the clutch basket or a lock washer I didn't lock all the way. Maybe we didn't decide to replace the voltage regulator and pump as a precau on, and I would have only bought myself one extra day. Or I guess it could have ended with my pride. I could have been angry with my poor results and overrode myself right into the nearest tree. There are so many pi alls and so many ways this event can go wrong. So I'm proud of myself then, for not messing this up for the team. That's not a lot to be proud of, but it's something. I'm grateful to stand on top of another podium with my team. Hearing our na- onal anthem ring out across Europe never gets old. Neither does coming home with the World Trophy! No ma er how dark, the sun does eventually come back out – and I hear Bergamo, Italy, is usually quite lovely in August… ISDE #10, here we come!