We are off to on Stage 3 today, and are loving every bit of this race so far. Chris Carmichael and I are having a great time racing together, and have definitely been suffering! Day 1 ended up great with Chris and I placing 1st in the 80+ mixed category, and 5th overall in the mixed teams. Stage 2 was a bit rainy and sloppy, and thankfully was a bit shorter than all the other days, at only 50K. You can check out my Garmin Connect page for a view of the ride.

There is good race coverage on the following site for everyone to enjoy:

Trans Andes Website

A great blog by Jason Sager on Cyclingnews.com

I have also added quite few photos to my Facebook page and to my Flickr account so check them out! We are off on Stage 3 today, and I’ll check back in as soon as I get some quality internet time.

Stage 3: Distance 72 kilometers. Total Climb 2496 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 26. Feed Zone 2 Km 49.

We are racing today! Stage 1 is all set to go. Day 1 Panguipulli to Huilo Huilo (try to say that three times as fast as you can)!

Trans Andes starts today and I’m racing with Chris Carmichael from Carmichael Training Systems. Greg and I traveled down here with about 25 athletes and coaches from CTS. It’s the royal treatment with CTS and my friends from Adventure Store in Argentina as our support crew. Being in such a big, organized group is a logistical luxury and it’s also great to have so many instant friends to hang out with. The group ranges from a neurosurgeon to tech wizard to a BLM employee. The one common thread through us all is a love for riding bikes. Everyone here is addicted to cycling and are super stoked to be in the Andes. I am the only on in the group who has raced Trans Andes, so my role has been to share my experience and help get everyone excited and prepared for the event. This race is one of my favorite stage races in one of the best places in the world.

Today’s stage is long with lots of climbing. It will probably be a rude awakening for my legs and my body. My training leading up to this race has been less than ideal and breaking a rib also put a damper on things. My rib is feeling OK, but it’s definitely not 100% and falling is pretty much not an option for me during the race. We did a shake out ride today to check out the bikes and the legs. It felt great to sweat and be outside in the warm summer weather. I know my fitness is not where it could be, but I’m excited to ride and I know it’ll be a great training week.

Chris and I have talked a little about race strategy and his thought was “to attack each other as aggressively as possible right from the start to find out who’s boss.”
I’m not sure I like that strategy, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough who really is the boss. With 6 long days in the saddle, perhaps the title off “boss” will change hands a few times.

I am using my brand new SRAM Quarq power meter and Garmin 500. I used them both today for the first time on our pre-ride. Luckily, there are a bunch of Garmin veterans here who have educated me and I’m dialed in with the system. I will be sharing all my power and GPS data on Garmin Connect and Facebook. There are no secrets this week, so you’ll all be able to see exactly how fit (or not fit) I am! Here is the file from todays warm up ride.

Stay tuned. I will check in again from the amazing Huilo Huilo wilderness spa.

Stage 1: Distance 82 kilometers. Total Climb 2287 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 23. Feed Zone 2 Km 55.
Stage 2: Distance 50 kilometers. Total Climb 2237 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 22. Feed Zone 2 Km 38.
Stage 3: Distance 72 kilometers. Total Climb 2496 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 26. Feed Zone 2 Km 49.
Stage 4. Distance 77 kilometers. Total Climb 1892 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 32. Feed Zone 2 Km 54.
Stage 5. Distance 78 kilometers. Total Climb 2162 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 27. Feed Zone 2 Km 53.
Stage 6. Distance 53 kilometers. Total Climb 1177 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 21. Feed Zone 2 Km 38.

Thanks to Corey for inviting me on this job and to Greg Martin for being the best photo assistant ever!

Check out the video here.

Here are  few pics from the shoot that I wasn’t allowed to publish until now.
The flying remote control camera helicopter was the coolest thing ever!

Q: What is your #1 tip for being a better Rebecca Rusch everyday??

 A: Here are two things I do that keep me working to better myself and feel happy.

 1.  Practice Appreciation:  Every night before falling asleep, I ask myself, “what was the best part of my day?”  Even if it was a horrible day, I find some little thing to appreciate.  Believe me, sometimes I have to dig deep to find something to feel good about, but I do it anyway.

2.  Live with Intention:  In the morning before getting out of bed, I spend a few moments setting mini goals for the day.  I decide what I intend to do and then try to live up to that.  I fail on a regular basis for various reasons, but I also succeed some days.  The practice of being intentional about how you want to live each day helps me stay focused and on track.

Remember, I do answer all the questions I get so please search through the Archives to see my response. Thanks everyone for participating, I really do love reading what everyone sends in. Happy New Year!

My sister, her kids and my mom all arrived on Christmas Day, so we did a little holiday celebration at my house around my tiny tree. It was fun and the kids had 6 days here for me to thoroughly wear them out. We went up to Galena for an overnight stay in the yurt, which was very rewarding for all. Kira and Haley are 9 and 11 and have never really spent much time in snow. Night time sledding and learning how to make a real fire were on the agenda that night. The rest of the holiday week has been skiing, ice skating, indoor rock climbing, visiting the fire station, tubing and playing in the limited fresh snow we received this week. My mission was to be the coolest Aunt ever and expose them to a bit of Idaho adventure, and I think I succeeded!

Ketchum Fire Dept has been busy with some fun fire calls and EMS calls. Nothing to major or devastating, but enough action to keep us busy. We have been going through the same lack of snow problem as most of the west, and luckily we received some new wet snow this week. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm temperatures followed and graced us with the winter enemy, rain. This of course led to some significant avalanche danger in the mountains. However, as some were debating bringing their mountain bikes back OUT of storage, the high pressure systems of the last month brought us a New Years gift. Over two feet of snow has fallen up north!

I’ve been avoiding 2012 plans and really wrapping my head around work. Nothing like a brand new year to get me going again. From here on out it is back to training, season planning, and hopefully some good backcountry skiing. I wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year, let’s all make 2012 one to remember.

Drew Bezanson from Justen Soule on Vimeo.