Runs Like a Girl
While in NYC, I had a great interview with Mina Samuels the author. I borrowed this posting from her blog for you to see. It is a great way to look at life and challenges. Thanks Mina!
Another day of loving working on this book…
Today I interviewed Rebecca Rusch, a world champion adventure racer, world champion mountain biker, superb endurance athlete, and, most important, incredibly warm person. Rebecca does not come by her athleticism naturally. In fact, no one else in her family is the least athletic and quite a few of them weigh in a little (maybe a lot) higher on the scale than is healthy. As a teen, she worried about getting fat; as many of us did (okay, still do sometimes), though perhaps she saw more potent evidence of the possibility in her own family’s less-than-lean example. In high school a friend suggested they join the cross country running team. “You’ll never get fat, and you’ll get a free sweat suit.” Well, both those things sounded like a good idea to Rebecca, so she joined. (An aside–I joined the rowing team at McGill in my first year for the jacket. The sad coda was that I couldn’t afford the jacket when it came time to buy one. I didn’t try out for the team the next year. They didn’t miss my mediocre talent.) For Rebecca, the cross country team worked out better than rowing did for me. She never looked back.
Zooming past lots of great stories that I’ll get to in the book, for now let’s just say that Rebecca proves herself to be a champion in a series of sports (is that a serial champion?–sort of like a serial monogamist?). First she devoured rock climbing, still her first love, owning a rock gym and guiding. Then she was on the US Women’s white water rafting team. Then she got into adventure racing. And four years ago she picked up mountain biking. She is, in short, gifted, not only in sports, but in being open to opportunity, and in her willingness to start again, to re-invent herself, to re-identify herself. That’s a rare trait. We like to hang onto our identities. We become attached to who we are. “I’m a (fill in the blank).” “I’m the kind of person who (fill in the blank).”
When we are attached to our identity, we begin to measure ourselves in the same way. Every challenge is one we’ve seen before in some form or another. We have expectations of ourselves. Do you always do 5k’s or marathons? Do you always do century rides? Or moguls? Have you always gotten jobs as a lawyer in a law firm? Are all the men you date tall? There’s nothing wrong with same-ness, but sometimes it’s good to change things up. As Rebecca says, “It’s healthy to take away the measuring stick.” That’s how mountain biking felt to her when she started. People who knew her were surprised. She was a terrible biker. She used to pitch her bike into the bushes she was so frustrated by that section in adventure races. It still surprises her when she wins a race.
Yet, how great is it when we do something that surprises us; when we find ourselves asking, “how did that happen?” It’s joyful to be a beginner, to start again, to not be the expert, to not be really good at…whatever it is.
Joy-full. Take away the measuring stick every once in a while.
One Hell of a Weekend
Monday’s are great for catching up. Generally early to bed on Sunday night, up early with coffee, and then start crossing off the list of tasks for the day. So it is time for the weekend recap, and it was one of the better weekends I have had in awhile.
Saturday was fire department and backcountry rescue team training with the Blackhawk helicopter crew from Boise. Their pilots and crew came to train us on helicopter landing operations and usage of their hoist line. They work with us as a resource for backcountry rescue and can potentially assist in dropping rescuers to a difficult scene or even pulling someone out of an inaccessible place with their lift line. It was a rare and unique opportunity and fascinating to see this huge machine. As a bonus, we all got short rides in the Blackhawk and I can tell you, it’s nothing like the tin can helicopters I’ve been in. It was an amazing piece of equipment! I loaded all the pictures from the weekend onto my Flickr Account for everyone to see as well.
Sunday on the other hand was a different day completely. Nothing better to shake NYC out of my system than a hard core suffer fest 2 blocks from my house. Crosstober Fest and the Idaho Cross State Championships were in Ketchum on Sunday. Complete with cowbells, giant beer mugs, a little mud, ice and sand and some anaerobic breathing. It was a rude awakening because I’ve done essentially nothing physical to speak of since 24 hours of Moab two weeks ago. Completely unprepared I began to dig out my Specialized Tricross the morning of the race, only to find it needed lots of love and i could not have it ready in time for the race. So I took my 29er hardtail over to the course a couple of blocks away to see if I could race that. Turns out, I flatted that bike just minutes before the start and a friend from Boise who was not racing did some quick pedal changing and gave me her bike to race. I had essentially 30 seconds to get used to her bike as I rolled over to the start. It turned out the bike worked great and was a decent fit. Not my usual machine, but I got used to it fairly quickly. I was a little conservative on the technical parts because it was not my bike and I was also really tired from a week of walking on pavement in Manhattan. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there was not a great women’s turnout for the race. I ended up racing with one of my usual training partners, Susan Robinson.
I guess her training with me has paid off because she was on my tail and I couldn’t shake her for 3/4 of the race. I was finally able to open a bigger gap and could focus on clean lines and staying upright. I race cyclocross for my bike handling skills, for fitness training and to support local events. This one was a blast and a really good start to the 3 week mini boot camp that my coach has designed for me in preparation for the Vuelta al Cotopaxi in Ecuador.
Cheers
Reba
Mountain Bike Magazine
I headed out to Emmaus, PA the other day while on my massive media your, to visit the Rodale Publishing offices of Bicycling and Mountain Bike magazines. They also have a lunch ride that heads out everyday, similar to the Specialized lunch ride. Except here in Pennsylvania, it isn’t at race pace, people talk and it’s social. I loved it. One of the best parts about riding is seeing new scenery and locales, and riding in Pennsylvania at this time of year was gorgeous. Check out the little write up they have in their website already. Thanks to everyone at Bicycling and Mountain Bike, as well as Outside Media for organizing everything!
Wednesday Morning in New York
“Wow” is about how I would sum up this city. From the noise, the traffic, to the crowds of people it is hard to imagine living here full time. I would have to find an extra gear to handle this pace compared to Ketchum! This morning was great though and I had a meeting with Oprah Magazine that went really well. I am also extremely happy to be back on foot, as I rented a car yesterday to visit Rodale Publishers. Driving here is impossible, terrifying, death defying, and just about every other “fying” adjective I can think of. I’ll stick to walking as my preferred mode of transport around here, I might live longer that way.
Last night was the Toga Bikes clinic and it went perfectly. We talked mostly about endurance racing and one of the shop guys made a video that I will be posting soon for everyone. Tonight is when the real culture comes into play. Through the kindness of some well connected friends, I will be seeing Hamlet by Shakespeare tonight, front row center. I don’t think Specialized makes a ball gown…
Cheers
Reba
Big Apple Week!
Morning!
New York City, the Big Apple, whatever you want to call it, is where I am spending my week. My good friends at Outside Media have set me up with meetings all over town with publishers from major cycling and fitness magazines, as well as some clinics and group rides at local shops. Also, if you want to see “Race Across the Sky” the new Leadville 100 movie, you better start searching Craigslist for tickets, as most are sold out. It’s going to be a great week, and I am looking forward to meeting tons of new people and making some great contacts. I am working solely from my Blackberry so I will do my best to keep everyone posted. Here is a flyer for the Toga Bikes gig.
Cheers
Reba
Stars and Stripes in Utah
Hi!
Last weekend I raced the 24 Hours of Moab which was also the USA Cycling 24 Hour National Championship for 2009. After a long, hard, successful season, I elected not to race Moab as a solo. The course is physically very brutal, my season has been going strong since February and I have accomplished more than I set out to do this season. So, I let myself relax a little on this one and teamed up with Colorado mtb pro and good friend, Gretchen Reeves as a women’s duo team. Gretchen has a long, impressive resume in cycling and is a blast to hang out with. My biggest fear was that she’d be significantly faster and I’d be a disappointment. It turned out we were a perfect match up.
The weather in Ketchum turned horrendous, so a group of us headed down to Moab 6 days early for some warm riding and hanging out. It was a luxury to have that much time to settle in, stake out transition territory for the race and hit some classic Moab trails. A big posse of friends from Smith Optics, Salomon and other Idaho friends were also racing, so we staked out a huge transition area for about 35 people. As the weekend drew closer tents, motor homes, campers all started to roll in and spring up to form the city of about 5000 people who turn out for the event.
The course is a 15 mile loop that’s very technical for the first 6 miles and then high speed sand surfing for the remaining 9 miles. The shifting sands change the nature of the course every year and even change the lines from lap to lap during the event. It’s a course that requires a ton of power for the sharp climbs and strong technical skills to stay safe and on top of your bike. Gretchen and I were disappointed to find out that there were no other duo women’s teams entered in the race. However, we did find out that all duo pro teams would be scored together for the prize money, so that meant the men’s teams and the mixed teams were fair game for us. It would have been easy to ride a couple of laps, then just hang out and win the championship jersey. Gretchen and I are too competitive for that, so the race was on regardless of gender. Gretchen was game to tackle the first lap which includes a running start with a horde of people in the sandy desert. As you can imagine, air quality and traffic on that first lap are intense. She ripped a great first lap and came in with the 2nd fastest women’s time of 1:12. We tagged off, exchanged the baton and off I went.
I was amped to not let Gretchen down and rode hard. I passed the first place women’s solo rider on that lap, so I was in the lead for all the female riders. Our team was 7th in the duo pro category after 2 laps and 42nd overall.
The weather was crisp and dropped into the 30’s at night, but it was perfect for riding. Moab has a reputation of serving up sandstorms, flash floods or intense heat. We had none of those things and I was relived. The biggest risk seemed to be the ever-shifting sands and trying to find a way to keep pedaling through it. Each lap, the lines would change or get blown out, especially during the night laps as more riders were walking or missing the narrow path that was established. It took alot of focus to stay on top of the bike without slowing down too much or having to walk your bike.
I was lucky enough to get both the sunset and sunrise laps and some killer views during those times. Overnight our consistency had slowly moved us up and by sunrise we were battling it out for 2nd place in the duo pro category. The first place team was a men’s team that was way out in front. Gretchen and I had been going back and forth for a number of hours with a mixed team and exchanging 2nd and 3rd placing. I started calculating how many laps we could still get in before the cut off time and figured if we were fast enough, we’d just have time for 9 laps each. Gretchen finished her 9th lap at about 11:40, so that meant I had time to do get out for one more lap and try to keep us in 2nd place for the duo pro category. I had no idea how far back the next team was and I knew their faster rider was up next. I churned the last lap as if I was being chased because I thought I was. As it turns out, the other team did not do their final lap, so we had our placing sealed before I even started the last lap.
I was really glad that Gretchen and I made a race of it and battled it out with the men and mixed teams. It’s way more exciting to have some incentive and motivation to ride hard. I was really happy with my performance after a long hard season. I had not geared up for this race and my training leading up to it was less than perfect. Despite that, my times on that course were faster than ever and I was able to ride sections of the course that I had previously walked. Moab is the race that launched my endurance mountain biking career four years ago and it was really rewarding to come back to the same course and use it as a measuring stick for how far my riding has come. It was also fantastic to beat all the men’s and mixed duo teams except for one. Of course, being a National Champion for the third time is also a huge reward!! I now have 24 hour solo, duo and four person National Championship titles!In the end, we rode 18 laps (9 each) for a total of 268 miles and over 24,000 ft of climbing. We were first in our division, 2nd in all duo teams and 24th overall out of around 400 teams. For those interested, you can search complete results and lap times here: http://www.grannygear.com
Next up, I will be heading out of my element and into the cement jungle of Manhattan. I leave Sunday for a media tour of NYC where I’ll be riding with magazine editors, hitting some bikes shops for clinics and getting some face time with the media!
Catching up, well a little bit.
Hello Everyone,
I am slammed right now but finally had a chance to put a few pics up about Moab. I will do my best to get a full race report up later today 
Here’s me and Gretchen on the podium. My 3rd starts and stripes jersey and also her 3rd! There were no women in our category, so we raced the mixed and men’s teams instead. We won our division and were 2nd in the overall duo classes and something like 28th overall for ALL teams and riders. Needless to say we were extremely happy, and it was fun racing with another person on a team again.
Cheers
Reba
Toga Training Clinic
ENDURANCE TRAINING CLINIC
with World Champion Cyclist REBECCA RUSCH
110 WEST END AVE
NEW YORK, NY 10023
212-799-9625
Tuesday October 20, 7:00 PM
Rebecca is a 3 time 24 hour solo mountain bike World Champion, multiple time National Champion, elite adventure racer, paddler and skier. She has been a professional athlete for over 10 years and is joining us to share her tips and experience on training, racing and elevating your fitness to the next level. This informal discussion will give you the chance to pick her brain on nutrition, gear, motivation and anything else you might want to know about endurance training.
Red Bull energy will be provided, schwag will be given away and admission is free!
Hello!
As some of you may already know I am in Moab for the 24hr race, and have thoroughly been enjoying the warm weather here. The riding is out of this world, and I am with a great group of friends. If you are in the area there is a athlete meet and greet, and the details can be found at this link.
I am racing women’s duo with Gretchen Reeves from CO. She’s an elite adventure racing, mtb racer and good friend. I am not racing solo because I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do this season and more! I really wanted to be in Moab because there are always a ton of friends here from Idaho and everywhere else. Not that riding for 12 hours instead of 24 is easy, but it’s a different experience. The pace is higher, so in some ways it’s harder, but my body won’t be completely trashed for a month afterwards like it is from a solo 24. So, I’ll be able to get back in the saddle again more quickly and recover for the Ecuador race in November.
We fled the first snowfall of the season in Ketchum and came down to Moab a week early to ride. It’s been 70 and beautiful weather down here. I came down with Karoline, Muffy, Claudia and Greg, our whole 24 Hour National championship team from 2008. We are still the reigning champions til Saturday. In honor of our race last year, we rode Slickrock trail in our Stars and Stripes jerseys! It was the first time I’ve worn that jersey while riding. Unfortunately, they couldn’t all stay to defend our title, so that’s why I’m racing duo with Gretchen in hopes of earning another National champ jersey.
Greg and I pre-rode the course yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised that some of the technical bits were easier for me and didn’t seem as terrifying as they have in the past. However, I will say that the course is exceptionally sandy this year which will make for some frustrating riding.
Our posse down here includes 35 friends/racers from Idaho, Wyoming and Utah, so there will be plenty of company, food, cheering and race stories.
You can follow the race online in real time at :
http://grannygear.com/Races/Moab/index.shtml
Gretchen and I are racing as team Specialized/Tokyo Joes
Greg is racing solo single speed for Spot/Dale’s Pale Ale
Cheers
Reba
New York City Media Extravaganza
Good Morning,
I am in Moab, UT getting ready for the 24 Hours of Moab, doing some minor photo shoots for some new content, and hanging out with the Ketchum contingent of friends and racers. I have been putting together a little media trip to NYC coming up on October 19th-22nd to do some rides and hopefully meet some new media contacts as well. If you are in the area, stop by and say hello.
Cheers
Reba
