The weather has been raining hard and super cold at night. The trails are buffed from the rain, but everyone is really hoping it doesn’t rain/snow on Saturday night. Temps could very easily be in the 20′s/30′s F at night.

Cary, Jimena, Martin and I did a pre-race lap with a group of racers.  The course is in great condition and they added a bunch of new single track (sendero, in Spanish) after Greg and I rode it a month ago.  Our feedback was “mas sendero, por favor” and they were able to do it.  It’s a super fun, fast lap.  Cary and I predict that he might turn 35-40 minute laps in the beginning of the race, so it changes the race strategy a bit.  We are both endurance riders, so it might be best for us to do double laps for much of the race.  I feel I will barely be warmed up by 45 minutes and it will not allow for very much rest for the other teammate.

We will definitely have competition in the duo category.  There are 10 duo teams and just two duo mixed teams, but we’ll be racing the men’s teams as well. The other mixed duo is Jimena Florit, Olympian and world cup XC racer from Argentina, and Martin Santos, one of the top male racers in the country.  We are all friends and will have our pits next to each other, so it’s a friendly rivalry.  Neither of them have done a 24 hour race before, so Cary and I have offered advice on pacing, nutrition, sleep.  We even lent them Light and Motion lights so they’d have the best lights available to ride with at night.

For now, the rain has stopped and all of our gear is sorted and ready to go.  It has been a while since I’ve raced a 24 hour race so I’m excited for the night riding again and for the super good day of training.  Basically, I’ll be doing around 12, one hour intervals over the course of the day. Here are a few pics of the course and our home away from home for the weekend.

The competition, Jimena and Martin and the super buff looking guy in the background!

It was an awesome training week and felt great to be spinning the pedals in the sun. We are both fresh off skiing and a little bit of indoor riding, but that’s about it. Early season is always so demoralizing because you are building fitness again and trying not to be impatient with results or performances. The only way for me to get hard race intensity is to race. I cannot generate the same kind of psyche on my own. I need a start line and a bunch of other people to motivate me to push extra hard.

Looks Like Idaho

The Tour de la Patagonia is a race full of mostly Argentine and Chilean riders, but there were also a few teams from Ecuador, Brazil and Uruguay. I think we were the only Gringos in the race. I did this race last year, so I knew what to expect and have some friends in San Martin de los Andes who take me under their wing. It’s so much easier to travel to a foreign country where you have a local contact for good places to eat, the best shops, the best rides and other logistics. I am hoping one day my Argentine family here will come to Idaho and I can return the favor and show them my home.

"Hugito" Our mechaninc

The terrain here is really similar to Idaho, so Greg and I felt right at home. The big differences are eating dinner at 10 PM, having tons of beef every day and drinking mate (pronounced: mahtay) like a drug. The race officials also seemed to struggle with Greg’s name since his first name “Greg” is not common, but his last name “Martin” is like Bob in the US. So when they announced our names for the podium, it was RRRRRRRRRebecca and Marteeeeeen, complete with a thick Latin American accent!

Full Service Race Massage

The race unfolded nicely. I was sick going into the event and was nervous about my performance. I definitely wasn’t 100%, but started feeling better each day. The flats and descents were OK for me, but as soon as we hit the climbs, I felt super weak and powerless. Greg was an awesome teammate letting me sit in behind him in the wind and helping me up some of the hills when possible. Team racing is so rewarding when you work well together and can give each other strength and motivation.

The top 4 teams from day 2. Greg and I were stoked to finish 4th overall this day right behind the 3rd place men's team.

Since we knew I was going to be weaker than usual on the climbs, we worked hard on the single tracks and any technical riding in an attempt to get a gap on the other teams. It’s awesome to follow Greg descending because he’s so good that I can just follow his lead and not have to think. The course on day 1 had a 20 minute super high speed single track descent. We got some great video on the GoPro that day and the trees are blurred because we were going so fast. Our top speed that day was 60 km / hr! The video footage will be coming soon.

Finishing Day 2 in Puerto Fuy, Chile

We finished first in the mixed team category on all three stages and won the category, but not by a huge gap. A very young, impressive Argentine Team Pedal Life kept the pressure on us the whole way. They are both just 21 and it was Jacquelina’s first mountain bike race! They finished a total of 15 minutes behind us over three days of racing. We got about 5 minutes on them each day, but that small of a gap did not leave any room for mistakes such as crashes or flats. The best part was that they finished each day with huge smiles. I think they both have a long future in bike racing and I’m trying to convince them to compete in the 24 Hours of Argentina this year.

1 1/2 hour ferry ride to camp

Greg and I had a clean race with no mechanicals or crashes. Thanks to Hugo and Flavio at Adventure Store for keeping my new Specialized Era and Greg’s Specialized 29er HT running smoothly. Greg and I were really happy with result. In addition to winning the mixed category, we were also 5th in the overall rankings. Not bad for a chica and a Gringo

Finish Day 3 in San Martin de los Andes

After three great days of intense racing, we are spending the rest of our time here going to the beach, shopping, working on the 24 Hour race course and just taking in the relaxing vibe of this area. It feels like the first time we have taken a true vacation in a very long time! We leave tomorrow and just heard that we are returning to two feet of new snow at home.

A very rare moment of vacationing on Lago Lacar!

I guess the bikes will go back into storage and the skis will stay waxed and in use for a bit longer. For full results click here.

"Mixtos" Podium

This place is full of amazing volcanoes, mountains, crystal blue lakes and great riding trails. However, my favorite part is the strong sense of family and community. I was welcomed back here by my Argentine friends from last year and they treated me like their own family. Once again we were staying with Anibal, Gisele and their two sons Tomy and Benito. Flavio owns the local bike shop and they spent their days taking us riding, making asado (BBQ) for us and sharing their wine. Every night, the whole neighborhood seemed to gather for a family style dinner where we practiced Spanish and English and showed each other videos of our own skiing, riding and hiking.

This place is very similar to Sun Valley and I think I have convinced them to come visit me as well. Greg and I filmed some of the action on out GoPro’s so you can get a feel for the action. Until then, check out the video from the race organizers website, to give you a feel for the beauty of this area.

Why Argentina you ask? Well when I first went down there for the Eco Challenge in the Patagonia region, I simply fell in love with both the people and the landscape. I returned again for the Raid Gauloises in 2004 and was hooked. There are more high mountains and crystal blue lakes than you can take in with your eyes. In 2009 I returned again, this time as a mountain bike racer, for the Trans Andes and Tour de la Patagonia stage races. I met some great cycling friends in the San Martin de los Andes area and even imagined myself living there. When the local race organizer asked me to consult with them and help them put on Argentina’s first 24 Hour race, I said yes immediately. My boyfriend Greg Martin has also been involved with educating them on how 24 Hour racing works, what sort of lights to use, how to set up a good course, etc. I was able to view the property for the race last year and we will be going back in a few weeks to pre-ride the course and help sort out final details.

24 Hours of Argentina – Introduction from Rebecca Rusch on Vimeo.

When we return for the race, we will hopefully be witnessing history in the making for the Argentine mountain bike community. I will be racing with Jimena Florit, who is Argentina’s most successful and well know mountain bike athlete. Greg will be racing solo single speed.

This format is totally new for Argentina, but I know they are going to love it. The country is all about community, family, spending time together and pushing themselves. The 24 hr format is going to allow them to have friends and family at the race and I expect it will be a really competitive race and and even bigger after party.

For Greg and I, we are looking forward to traveling to one of my favorite places in the world, but are even more excited about sharing our knowledge and love for endurance racing with Argentina. We are really excited to share this intense and unique type of racing with some of the friendliest people on earth. For those in North America, you should really try and come down to race if it is possible. Thanks to companies like Light and Motion, this is truly going to be more than just a 24hr race, it will be something really special.

This week in San Martin de los Andes has been an awesome week of rest, training and the time honored tradition of having the locals show off their home trails.  I’ve had a sweet cabin all to myself and the opportunity to catch up on sleep and emails.  Every day consists of a lazy morning drinking coffee and communicating with the world, then some bike training in the morning, a group ride in the afternoon and home made cooking in the evening. Yesterday I did a great workout and rode up to the base of the ski area called Chapelco.  There was a dusting of snow on the top of the mountain.  I did two 20 minute sub-lactate threshold intervals with the Kings of Leon in my ears for motivation.  In the afternoon, I did a 2nd workout with the local riders during siesta.  It was a mixture of ages from 15 to 45 and a huge variety of downhill and XC bikes from brands I have never heard of to carbon Enduros. The ride was a complete maze of cow tracks, hand built jump trails and dirt roads.  There is a complex network of trails here that are shared by the cyclist, the local Mapuche, horses and hikers.  It seems to work pretty well.  It’s sort of like the streets in the town.  There are no stop signs, stop lights or any sort of traffic controlling measures.  However, the flow seems to work and everyone just moves fluidly around each other in cars, on bikes, on horseback and on foot.  I have not seen one altercation yet.  It’s the mellow South American vibe, I guess.

The other day also included a trip to the local fire station to check out their equipment, say hello and see how the emergency services function here.  The fire community is a family just like cycling.  You can go anywhere in the world and have an instant connection due to a shared passion.

This weekend I went to Chile for a marathon mountain bike race around the volcano in Osorno.  It seems every town has their local volcano. There were supposed to be a bunch of riders from San Martin heading over there, but the weather forecast was for high winds, rain and 40 degree F temps. Most people bailed, but my coach put this on the training schedule so I begged a ride from some locals and went for a good dose of suffering. I figure that’s why I’m over here anyway, so I might as well get in as much training as possible. We drove for 5 hrs, stayed in the Bates Motel, stood in the rain for 3 hrs, then they cancelled the race! To top it off our normal 5 hour drive home took 8, as we were stopped at the border for no apparent reason. It wasn’t a total loss though as I did plenty of EMT studying in the car. It’s a good thing I’m doing all of this riding because this area is famous for three of my favorite things:  red wine, beef and chocolate!

Reba