South America Winter Training Camp
South America Winter Training Camp
Three weeks down, one to go!
I am in my final days of a month long training and racing camp in the lakes district of Patagonian Argentina and Chile. This is my first winter cycling excursion in this part of the world and it has been a fantastic way to get in some early season riding and connect with the ultra friendly and cycling fanatic community down here. I have honestly never felt so welcome in a foreign place and have never experienced such varied riding in such a condensed area. There are bike parks, jumps, sweeping single track and long adventure rides all around here. The scenery is a mix of Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley all wrapped into one. I have also been semi-adopted by a wonderful Argentina family who loves to ride, ski and be outside every day. It’s quite a paradise.
However, a month is a long time to be away from home and I am missing Idaho a wee bit. I’ll be home in the snow by next week, but first I have one more race to top off the training. I already did the Trans Andes and won the women’s division for that six day race. Next, I am racing a three day stage race called Tour de la Patagonia. By the time I leave here, I will have crossed the Argentina/Chile border 7 times! They are starting to question me at the border crossings about my wanderings.
I’m competing in The Tour as Los Chicas de Specialized (team #318) with Heidi Volpe from the US. Heidi and I have never raced together and she is not a pro athlete. But she’s fast and experienced and we are doing this event together as a media and training event. We’re both writing a few stories on our adventure and also hoping to keep spreading the enthusiasm for female cyclists in this part of the world. Heidi’s husband and well-known photographer, Michael Darter, is also with us on the trip so we’re getting some great photos and videos to add to the experience. It’s a long way to travel down here, but we all agree that it’s worth the effort.
There are rumored to be nearly 500 two person teams signed up for this race. It’s only the second year for this event, but it’s already one of the best attended and most prestigious mountain bike races in the country. The format of the race consists of three cross country length stages, interspersed with glorious lakeside camping sites, a ferry ride and two border crossings. The majority of the competitors compete for the travel and camping experience, but there is also a top echelon of serious athletes who will be racing for stage wins and the overall title. We are told that we will also be racing against a Giant women’s team and a Trek women’s team, so it will be the battle of the big bike companies!
The stages are relatively short for Heidi and me and I cannot envision 1000 people in a mass start trying to dive into a single track trail. However, we’ll just take it as it comes. We’ve discussed race strategy, dialed in our S-Works Eras and packed all of our camping gear for three days. No matter how prepared we attempt to be, there are still quite a few unanswered questions about the course, the terrain, the logistics, our competition and how the whole experience will unfold. Part of the excitement of these foreign stage races is the unknown adventure that lies ahead. Of course, we are both competitive and want to ride our best, but there is just no way to be 100% prepared in a situation like this. I think flexibility, a sense of humor, and a few phrases in Spanish will all come in handy.
Stay tuned for our day by day account of the Tour de la Patagonia! We will share our experiences and images from each day, but since we are camping in remote areas during the race, you might not get to read all of the results and stories until we finish on Sunday, so be patient! This IS South America after all. Tranquillo! (translation: take it easy, chill out!?
Final Report: Trans Andes
The adventure of the Trans Andes stage race has come to a close. Jenny has left to head back to Colorado and I have been chilling in a cozy cabin in San Martin de los Andes with the Specialized dealer and his friends. The damp stench is finally washed out of my clothes and sleeping bag and the Era is all tuned up and shiny again. I’m relishing in long, hot showers and casual mornings where I can eat my food at a relaxed pace. The 6 days in the Patagonian wilderness were a fantastic experience and the riding was the best I’ve done in a multi-day stage race. The organization really did serve up some of the best trails they have to offer. In contrast to the thousands of racers in the Cape Epic, the small, multi-national field in this race made for a homey feeling around camp and the ability to get to know some very interesting people from around the world. We all bonded in our suffering and compared stories each night at camp.
Jenny and I got through the week with a pretty clean slate. Jenny had a flat on day one and a mechanical problem with her hub on day 5, but nothing that was race ending. We both went through a set of brake pads each and did the changes and maintenance on our own. Well, we did have a little help from Mike Broderick, our camp neighbor! We each had one rough day physically, but this was also nothing that was race ending. For early season miles, we were both really happy with how our legs performed and how quickly we slipped into pedaling again.
I was really happy that Jenny and I ended up being compatible race partners and camping companions. I can relate to her Kiwi sense of humor and we both have the racing maturity to get through multiple day events. It takes a lot of planning, patience, teamwork and self-preservation to come out the other end of one of these events unscathed. I am a little scathed from a high speed gravel crash on day 6, but otherwise all that remains from the race are some great memories and hopefully some killer fitness.
We both went into this race with the intention of some awesome early season training and a bit of adventure. We got both. Although some of the route information seemed inaccurate, courses changed during the event and my odometer died on day 5, we rode somewhere around 500km this week and an estimated 30,000 ft of climbing in approximately 25 hours of racing. Not bad for 6 days of training in January! I have no idea how we finished in the overall rankings. The race results that are posted do not add up, so it’s difficult to tell. I can tell you that only 18 teams finished day 5, including us, so technically less than ½ the field completed the whole course. It was not an easy task and I feel really good about our achievement. The Virgo in me would really love to see accurate race results and exact mileages and be able to compare our performance against the other athletes, but I’m practicing my patience and just chalking it up to a great travel and training experience.
I would recommend this race, but would caution anyone interested to come with the intention of being self sufficient with bike maintenance, camping comforts, route finding and bring plenty of travel and race experience. This is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world and getting to see it on your bike is the best way to travel.
I have two more weeks here of training and racing. The next stop is the Tour de la Patagonia, a 3-day stage race in this same area! I have created a set of photos on Flickr for all to see as well.
Cheers
Reba
Race Across the Sky Tour
Good Morning,
After seeing the success and enthusiasm for the limited showings of Race Across the Sky I have decided to put together a second tour that brings the movie to small mountain towns, where a lot of the core cycling community lives. Between sponsors and the PR firms I have helping me, I am extremely thankful for getting this show on the road! Yesterday, my best friend and production manager for the movie tour officially confirmed theaters in Sun Valley, Park City and Jackson Hole as stops on the Race Across the Sky movie tour! I just have a couple more towns to confirm and the tour route will be complete. Specialized has come on board as the presenting sponsor for the tour. Ergon, Red Bull and Adventure Medical Kits are also helping make this happen! Official times, locations and dates will be coming really soon.
I also came to the scary realization that in 2.5 weeks I will be starting a 5-day mountain bike stage race in Argentina, called the Trans Andes Challenge. I’m not proud to say it, but I have not touched a bike in about a month. I have been skiing, doing some off-season gym work and sort of staying active, but definitely not training. This race is absolutely a training race, but the thought of that much riding this early in the season is a little daunting. I vowed today that I will not watch any TV for the next two weeks, unless I’m on the trainer. Luckily, my teammate for this race, Jenny Smith, also lives in a really cold and snowy environment so we’ll both be jumping on the bikes for the first ride of the year as we line up at the start!
I’m going to watch TV and spin right now! Probably a bit of Grey’s Anatomy. I sort of feel like I’m studying my EMT stuff when I watch that show. At least I understand most of the medical terms they use. I also did a small photo shoot for Fitness Magazine yesterday with my friend Nate Galpin at the Fire Department, needless to say the other engineers were making fun of me! Check out the video trailer below, and I hope to see you at the showings.
Washington D.C.
Morning,
It’s been a great week here in Washington D.C. with the family. We did the early Christmas mumbo jumbo, and some birthdays as well. We also did the museums, ice skating, shows, and the typical tourist stuff. Being a tourist is great sometimes, and I needed a little break from training and the racing world! I am however ready to get some exercise when I get home.
I stopped by Conte’s in Arlington, VA again the other night to do some training talks, and am constantly surprised by the cycling community here in Virginia. They are super motivated, and don’t let the crappy winter weather get them down at all! Whenever I am in this part of the country, I will for sure stop into Conte’s when I get a chance.
I’m ready to get home today and get the skis out for good. I’ve had down time since Ecuador and am now ready to get off my butt and back into some activity again. Matthew, my coach, is already asking me what the key races are for 2010 and getting the training program going again. It’s still officially off season, but the groundwork for 2010 races starts to be built right now, so i can’t sit on my butt for too long.
I’m still trying to piece together a logical race season for 2010 and I’m finding there are too many good endurance races to choose from. I’m shopping the globe for the best ones and there basically is not enough time to do all the races I want to do. The biggest challenge will be putting together a realistic schedule that won’t kill me! On paper it all looks amazing, but I have to juggle travel, speaking engagements, training, and of course being ready to race. I am scheduled to be in Argentina for a month from January 20th-February 20th for two stage races and a bunch of training, which will be awesome. I am also eyeing the TransRockies race in British Columbia for the upcoming season. Either way it is going to be a great season again, and I can’t wait to get home and make some turns on the mountain.
Cheers
Reba
CrossFit vs. KFD
Morning,
I am currently in Washington D.C. for a little early Christmas celebration with the family. Flying here was a bit like the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The stereotypical holiday travel image was firmly in place, plane de-icing delays, holiday mayhem, and general chaos across the country. I have to admit though, that my favorite part of traveling is people watching. All the jet lag and discomfort is easily outweighed by the things you see while on the road.
Right before I left for D.C. we did a fire department workout that was similar to CrossFit. Although I have done these tire flipping and explosive workouts before, I had never done them with my pullups on. Keith Potter is a KFD member and personal trainer and he’s been designing workouts that are sort of like CrossFit, but that mimic the weights and work we have to do on the fire ground. He has 5 different workouts. The one we did was “overhaul”. It’s only 20 minutes long, but I’m definitely sore! We did the workout in full turnout gear. Got some funny looks from other gym members, but it was really fun! I will check in soon from the road.
Cheers
Reba
Short Vuelta Wrap-Up
Morning,
Whew! Back on the internet for the first time since the race. The race went great and we won the mixed team division by about an hour. I’m not sure of exact times, but we had about 25 minutes lead each day I think on the next mixed team. We were somewhere between 10th and 15th in the overall classification. Again, i haven’t seen exact results, but we finished pretty high up overall.
Settled and Ready
Morning,
We are racing today, but I thought I would fill you in on what I have been doing down here leading up to now. This place is awesome by the way, and if you can travel to Ecuador do it! Basic race facts for Vuelta al Cotopaxi: 2 day stage race that circumnavigates Cotopaxi Volcano. It is the most popular and best known mountain bike race in Ecuador that sells out in less than one hour. Teams of two with a maximum of 200 teams allowed in the race. (mixed/coed, male and female race divisions). Each day is about 65 km of double track and single track racing. All the racers camp together after the first stage and re-start again on day two.
Settling in Ecuador
Hola!
I am online and settled in. We are staying with friends we met last year, a local Specialized sponsored rider and his wife. We’ve got a sweet view of Quito out our window, and it’s a very comfortable place with bikes and gear all over the place. Reminds me of our house at home actually. The Panaderia (fresh bread bakery) is about a 2 minute walk away and the bike shop, Cikla is about 1 minute away. The Parque Metropolitano is about a 2 minute ride away and has tons of kilometers of single track riding, with a bunch of jumps, logs and skill areas to practice on. It’s right on the edge of the city, but nestled in a dense Eucalyptus forest. It’s hard to believe we’re one the edge of a giant city. We slept late yesterday, it’s amazing how trashed a 14 hour travel day can make me feel. The ride yesterday felt really fun, but a bit hard to shake the cobwebs out of my legs, I felt better towards the end than at the beginning. Which is probably due to that travel thing again, sitting for 14 hours doesn’t keep the blood flowing.
We had a personal escort from Daniel, the race director, owner of Cikla bike shop and the Ecuador distributor for Specialized. He’s a busy guy, but sort of like the mayor of all cycling related activities in this country. He is a ripping rider and it was awesome to ride with him on his home trails. Today is an acclimatization day. The town of Quito is at about 2800 meters. For those of you Americans out there, I’m working in kilometers and meters over here! The race takes place between about 3200 and 4200 meters. Last year, the altitude was a killer and Greg got really sick from it. This year, we have a little better plan to get up high this week before the race. You can take bikes up on the Teleferiqo tram just near Quito to the top of Pichincha Volcano at 4100 meters. From there you can get off the tram and ascend even higher to 4600 meters. The best part is that you can ride your bike on single track all the way down the mountain and back to the bottom. We plan to hit the Teleferiqo at least two times this week if possible to get up into the thin air. If that doesn’t work, at least we’ll have enjoyed ourselves on the huge descent!
Wednesday, I am running a women’s only ride in the early morning at the Parque Metropolitano with Amanda, a strong local female racer. There have not been many women’s clinics here, so I am motivated to ride with some of the locals and work on some riding techniques. Here’s the flyer and info about the clinic (in Spanish!) The shop has already been getting a few complaints from some male riders wondering why they cannot come to the riding clinic!
Here is a link, for those who can read spanish on Cikla Net. And yes I am chasing llamas in that photo!
Cheers
Reba
Ecuador Baby!
Morning,
Grabbing some internet here at the hotel in Quito after what seemed like a weeklong flight. I highly recommend not flying with bikes, but sometimes duty calls. Greg and I took both the S-Works 29er and my S-Works Era down to the race, but we are also doing some riding clinics at various Specialized dealers. Cuenca is one of the main riding destinations in Ecuador and that is where we will be doing both riding clinics. Then it is off to the Vuelta al Cotopaxi, the largest MTB race in Ecuador. It is a two day stage race, with each day averaging 70km. The hardest part is dealing with the altitude since the course is between 10,000 and 14,000 feet. Needless to say, your power output is a little lower here. At least when I get home I will feel like a champion at 6,000 feet!
I am excited to see some old friends from last year, Daniel from Cikla Bike Shop gave us the best riding tour ever, and we met one of the closest knit cycling communities I have ever seen. I will keep you posted throughout my trip along with some pictures, Ecuador has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Cheers
Reba
Packing for Ecuador, or cleaning and repacking I should say!
Boot Camp and Pump Tracks
Morning!
Boot camp is going well. Last week was multiple days of long threshold intervals. The last one of those was yesterday and consisted of 8 minute hill repeats, five times on Trail Creek Road. It was brutal but better than the intervals a couple days before. I already feel like my form is coming back a little and my body is being reminded of what it is supposed to do. I did enjoy the casual schedule for the last month, but now it does feel good to get back into some work and feel my legs and lungs responding appropriately. This week will consist of intervals again every other day, but way shorter and way harder. After this week, it tapers down until Cotopaxi. This has been a super compressed training peak, but I’m sure I still have residual fitness from the whole year of racing. I also trust my coach, Matthew. He has never steered me wrong and he’s way smarter than I am. The weather has cooperated really well for the training schedule too. It has been cold, but clear. It’s the time of year where each day, I look outside and hope that I won’t have to do a workout in the rain or snow. So far, so good! I’ve also been able to rally a few training partners to join me on some of the workouts, so it keeps me honest. Yesterday, the Ipod was the motivating training partner. A friend of mine plays in a disco band called Sparkle Motion. He made me a disco playlist and I must say, I was ripping up those hill repeats to Shake Your Booty, Disco Inferno, It’s Raining Men, etc. You KNOW you remember those lyrics!
This week is also full of planning for the encore showing of Race Across the Sky, the Leadville 100 film. This time around, I’m heading to Boise to introduce the film and host a pre-party before the show. Click here: http://georgescycles.com/ for info on the Boise showing and pre party at G Fit Studio.
If you don’t live in Idaho, but still want to see the film, click here: http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Sports/RaceAcrossTheSkyENC.aspx Put in your zip code to see if the movie is playing near you. It’s one night only, so don’t miss it.
Pictures here are Greg and I playing on the new pump track a block from our house. It’s so much fun and now makes me realize, I need another bike!!! A friend of ours won this Specialized P3 in a raffle and he’s been kind enough to “store” it at our house. We’re just making sure it gets a good workout. The track is awesome. I just usually have to wait for all the kids to go home for dinner before I drop in, so I don’t embarrass myself.
Cheers
Reba
Race Across the Sky Encore!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hilary Hutcheson, PR Director
hilary@outsidemedia.com
Leadville 100 Champ to Make Special Guest Appearance
At Encore Showing of “Race Across the Sky”
Rebecca Rusch will be featured at the Boise screening of the highly-anticipated documentary
Boise, ID – November 5, 2009 Rebecca Rusch, three-time reining 24-Hour Solo Mountain Biking World Champion, will attend an encore presentation in Boise of Race Across The Sky, the new documentary about one of the most intense endurance mountain bike races of all time, the Leadville Trail 100. The Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race covers 100 miles of challenging terrain, climbing 9,000 feet in elevation and dipping into the valleys in Leadville, Colorado. Rebecca won this year’s Leadville event, sharing the podium with Lance Armstrong.
The film will show nationwide on Thursday November 12th. Rebecca will be on hand for the screening in her home state of Idaho at the Edwards Boise Stadium 22 & IMAX, 7701 W. Overland Road. Showtime is 9pm, and Rebecca will be at the door to greet attendees of the show, sign posters and hand out free gear from her sponsors, including Specialized, Red Bull and KT Tape. She’ll also mingle with riders and fans at a special pre-party for the documentary beginning at 7pm at George’s Cycle & Fitness G Fit Studio,1414 W. Grove Street in Boise.
This one-night encore screening of Race Across the Sky will be shown concurrently across the county. The documentary, depicting the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 bike race, features candid conversations with elite and amateur riders, including Rebecca, as they compete in one of the most high-profile mountain biking races in the sport. Rebecca was in New York City last month for the film’s premiere. The first screening was intended to be a “one time only” showing, but this special encore presentation of Race Across the Sky was added after fans packed theaters and demanded another shot at seeing this incredible film.
“I’m so excited to be a part of this documentary,” Rusch said. “The race itself was amazing. But to be able to share the experience through this film is going to be awesome for racing enthusiasts. The premiere showings sold out so quickly, I’m glad they’ve added a second screening for all the people who couldn’t make it or missed out on tickets the first time around.”
Rebecca is available for interviews. Contact hilary@outsidemedia.com if you’d like to meet her. Tickets for Race Across The Sky are available at individual theaters or online. Check the Fathom website for locations and ticket information.
Adventure racing calls for a deep well of skills: paddling, rock climbing, biking, navigating, skiing, and more. Since turning pro in 2001, Rebecca Rusch has proven to the world she has what it takes to execute any of the above even after going beyond her limits in far flung places like Kyrgyzstan and Tibet. After winning adventure races became routine, she added 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike racing to her résumé and proceeded to dominate the sport, and is currently three-time World Champion. Rusch blogs daily about her adventures and training and her thoughts can be found here at http://rebeccarusch.wordpress.com/.
Fires, Ecuador Bootcamp, and Leadville Encore
Morning,
This week has been hectic. The three-week boot camp that my coach Matthew concocted is under way in hopes of pulling one last mini peak out of my body for the last race of the year. I head to Ecuador in a couple of weeks for an awesome 2 day stage race around Cotopaxi volcano. Since Moab, I’ve had a bit of downtime, but the party’s over right now. The next two weeks are hard workouts every other day. Monday started with two 20 minute lactate threshold intervals. Today will be four 8 minute hard efforts. The intervals get shorter and more intense as the race approaches. I’m enjoying the structure, but the fall mountain weather is making it tricky to get out and motivate. Some days, the weather is majestic with a little frost in the morning to keep the trails firm and temperatures warming into the 60’s. These days, I am on cloud 9 and loving the fall leaves, the sun, the dusting of snow on the peaks. Other days, it’s bitter cold, gray, icy with temperatures in the low 40’s. These days, my teeth chatter and my hands are numb and the workouts creep by much more slowly. The neoprene booties, wool socks, knickers, hats, jackets are all right at the front door and ready. Rain is in the forecast in the next couple of days, so it could make these already hard workouts even more character building.
I did miss my planned long workout over the weekend, but for very good reason. All of the Wood River Valley fire and medical resources were stretched thin when a call for a multiple car accident with numerous patients was paged out. Ambulances, air ambulances, fire engines with extrication equipment and emergency medical personnel were all called to action. Less than an hour later, a page went out for a house fire in the rural district. This meant more engines, more people and more resources. Our department is a combination of full time and on call staff. At any given time, we could be paged out and most emergencies cannot be handled by the full time staff alone. It’s up to the on call staff, like me, to drop everything and go help. I ended up on standby for the motor vehicle accident because at least one ambulance had to remain within city limits in case of a third emergency. After the first motor vehicle accident was cleared, my crew was released to go out and assist with the house fire. The fire was extinguished by the time I arrived, but there were still hours of work doing overhaul and clean up. Much of the roof had to be removed to be sure the fire was not still smoldering within parts of the building. There were also hours of cleaning hoses, equipment and getting the engines back in order for the next call. Although I missed a cycling workout, it was still a huge physical and emotional effort.
On a happier note and related to my other job, Race Across the Sky, the Leadville 100 movie will be showing for an encore in about 50 different theaters around the US on Thursday November 12. The first showing was so well received that they’re showing it again! For those of you who missed it the first time, check out
http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Sports/RaceAcrossTheSky.aspx
for tickets, show locations and to watch the trailer. I am not shown in the trailer, but I promise you’ll see me in the film. It’s a great movie and a very dramatic portrayal of endurance mountain bike racing. If this film does not motivate you to ride, I don’t know what will!
Cheers
Reba
Media Success in NYC
Hello,
I wanted to write a short blog and thank everyone who helped make my trip to New York City such a success. I would never have thought that such a short trip could have afforded me such exposure in mainstream media. The crew at Outside Media set up a wonderful trip and made appointments all over for me. Now that I am in planning mode personally for next season, I don’t know how they do it full time, it’s amazing.
During my trip I met with Laura from Travel & Leisure, and she wrote a blog about me and my favorite places to ride. Well lo and behold, it was picked up by the New York Times! You can check it out and share it with your friends, it’s a great feeling to be recognized by a media outlet that usually focuses on baseball and football. Already I have been receiving some queries from Women’s Health looking for bike tips, and Shape Magazine also confirmed an article for March. The trip is paying off.
Thanks again to everyone who made this trip possible, and thanks to all my fans on all my social media sites. That is a new avenue I started this year, and the interaction is really fun for me. I look forward to more to come, and now I have to pack for South America!
Cheers
Reba
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
Catching Up in Delaware
Whew,
In the last week I have been in three states, doing media and sponsor obligations, group rides, and now I am in Delaware. Yes, “The First State”. I am have switched roles from professional mountain bike racer to mother and student. It is quite the change. As some of you might have seen from pictures I posted on Facebook, I am teaching my sister’s daughters how to ride their bike, as well as taking them to school, and making their lunches. My nieces Kira (9) and Haley (6) are assuming the roles of my temporary children while my sister is at a work conference. Some time off from my life and taking on the role of someone else’s is fun! I will be here until Friday morning, living the quiet life on a military base and watching plenty of animated movies.
When I get back to Ketchum, I re-group and head south to Moab for the 24 hour race, where I am racing a duo team. This is one of my favorite races since tons of my friends from Ketchum travel down, Moab has awesome riding, and it is towards the end of the season. Nevertheless it is one more chance to put in a solid race finish!
Keep your eyes peeled for a new rebeccarusch.com as well, my friends on Montana at Chewy Creation are putting in the long hours doing a complete overhaul!
Cheers
Reba