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.

Monday’s are great for catching up.

October 27, 2009

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 myFlickr 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. 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

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