Rebecca Rusch

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Rebecca Rusch wasn’t thinking about world championships when she joined the Downers Grove North High School cross-country team. “I just wanted the free track suit,” recalls Rusch, who, 28 years later, finds herself among the ranks of the world’s elite endurance athletes. In July of 2009, Rusch won her third straight mountain biking 24-hour Solo World Championship.

Since donning those gray cotton sweats and Lycra shorts, Rusch has outfitted herself in the kit of numerous other disciplines: racking up ascents of big walls from Yosemite to Zion, paddling on the world-famous Offshore Canoe Club’s women’s outrigger team in the brutal Molokai crossing and winning adventure races around the world.

When not training in one of the five mountain ranges surrounding her hometown of Ketchum, Idaho, the 41-year-old known as the “Queen of Pain” can be found chasing adrenaline from Tibet to New Zealand to Kyrgyzstan, constantly adding titles to her impressive and extensive resume.

In addition to those three 24-hour solo mountain bike World Champion rainbow jerseys, Rusch is a three-time national champion in 24-hour team mountain biking. She’s Idaho’s Short Track state championship (twice), and its Cyclocross state title. An accomplished Nordic skier, she’s won the Masters Cross Country Skiing World Championship, in addition to taking the top prize at Raid Gauloises Adventure Racing World Championships. And although that’s just cross-section of her palmares, it’s easy to see why Rusch has been profiled by Sports Illustrated, Outside Magazine and Adventure Sport Magazine.

Talking about age draws a laugh as she gestures at her surroundings. "People around here are all 10 years younger than they actually are. And I don’t mean they just look it; they are actually 10 years younger," she said. "Everyone’s out there constantly doing stuff, from biking to skiing to hiking. There’s a collective mentality that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it."

This mentality, along with what she calls "perfect terrain for training," provides a home base for the typically itinerant Rusch. She is part of the community; for more than two years she has been a stalwart volunteer emergency medical technician and firefighter for the Ketchum Fire Department, and a homeowner. On breaks from her race schedule, she works on her condominium, though the domestic idea continues to bemuse her; the last home she owned was a 1975 Ford Bronco.

24 Hour Nationals!

October 14, 2011

October 1-2 was a really fun riding day, and I mean a full riding day.  I haven't raced a 24 Hour event all season.  When I heard that USAC National Championships was being held in Colorado Springs, home of SRAM's Avid and Rockshox office, I decided that SRAM needed to have a women's team represented!  It was a last minute effort, but I rallied some fast Colorado friends who I normally have to race against.
Jenny Smith, Sonya Looney and Kelly Boniface are regulars on the endurance, XC and XTerra podiums.  We've lined up against each other multiple times this season.  If I couldn't find three other fast friends, I was stuck with the thought of racing 24 Hour Nationals as a solo or duo.  I had not really wrapped my head around that and it wasn't my first choice at all.  To commit to a solo 24 Hour race takes a rock solid desire and focus to put yourself through that kind of an ordeal.  My mind just wasn't in that place this late in the season.



Instead, the four of us got our schedules coordinated and entered the race just four days before the event!  The last minute entry worked out fine because we've all raced a ton before and everyone showed up with their bikes and gear dialed.  The big difference with 24 Hour racing is all the camping gear and extra comforts you need to bring for a full day of riding and racing.  I just showed up with my bike and lights and pretty much borrowed all the camping gear.



I was sort of in the middle of a rest phase, so the thought of 5 all out race pace laps was a little scary.  I wasn't sure how my legs would respond.
We pre-rode the course and I have to admit I was intimidated.  We stopped multiple times to work out lines and muster up the courage to ride them.  It was so much easier as a group and I pretty much let everyone else go first to test out the lines.  Seeing Sonya or Kelly ride them first always helps and gave me a bit more courage.  After the pre-ride, I went back to SRAM and asked them to put a Reverb dropper seatpost on my bike.  I was able to ride all the lines, but at night, when you are tired, the confidence of being able to drop your saddle was worth it.



Jenny led out the first lap since she loves to run and is a super fast starter.  She ripped a super fast lap and was the first female into the hand off zone.  I was 2nd, then Sonya and Kelly.  We kept our same order the whole race and all ended up doing the same number of laps.  My first lap was the slowest for the whole team and I was a bit bummed about it.  I was riding really conservatively because I didn't really remember all the technical sections and kept thinking something hard was lurking around the next corner.  I rode way to conservatively and when I finished my lap, I realized they had removed two of the really technical sections that we had practiced.  After that lap, I vowed to take a few more chances and make up for my slow lap.  The 2nd lap was better for everyone once we got to know the course and the lines.  It was a super fun course and for sure kept your attention the whole time.  There were sand pits, rock drops, lots of twisty turns and really abrupt direction changes.  It was a blast for a team racer, but I kept feeling really sorry for the solos because it required some major power to get up and over the rocks.  Even the descents were not relaxing.



With nighttime came my favorite part of 24 Hour racing.  I absolutely love riding at night because it changes your whole perspective.
I raced with a ton of light!  I ran the Light and Motion Seca 1400 on my helmet and Seca 900 on my handle bars.  Since I was only doing one lap at a time and not worried about conserving batteries, I cranked them both on high power and lit up the trail.  Both my night laps were exactly the same time and the fastest female night laps for the race.

The whole team was super supportive and I loved having three built in cheerleaders with me.  24 Hour team racing is so much fun because you are sort of racing your teammates in order to churn out a good time for the group.  It's the best of individual riding combined with team camaraderie.
It's so rewarding to share the effort with a team.  I loved the 24 hour solo racing I've done, but the isolated feeling of being out there all day and night alone is quite different from running high energy hot laps on a team.

Thanks Jenny, Kelly and Sonya for a really great day and a National Championship Stars and Stripes jersey!
I'm adding this one to the 24 Hour solo, two person and four person collection!

Stats for Rebecca Rusch are coming soon.
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