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.

Hello again from Australia,

May 12, 2010

Day 2, Stage 3

I'm glad I'm riding the full suspension Era. I was considering bringing my Specialized Stumpy HT 29 and now I'm really glad I didn't. I am using all of my suspension in this race and I'm glad for it. Stage 3 was another 50 km cross country type stage that was at least 50 % rocky single track. It seems relatively flat out here in the Red Centre of Australia, but the riding does not feel flat. The hills are really small, but they are relentless and technical. The single track here is nothing like the buff, smooth trails at home. It's super fun racing that is keeping me on my toes, but it makes it very hard to eat and drink. Before day 1, the medical volunteers gave a speech and suggested taking twice as much water as we expected to need. I figured I knew enough about racing to know how to hydrate so I did not follow her instructions on day 1 and I paid for it. For day 2, I wore a Hydrapak and left bottles at the aid stations. The air here is so dry, it just sucks the water right out of you. I was happy to have the extra water and I raced better on this stage. I'm not sure if it was the extra hydration, getting over the jet lag or just getting into the swing of racing again. Regardless of the reason, I felt much more like myself racing today and had a better result. The stage took me just under 3 hours which was good enough to move me up one space in the general ranking to 3rd position. The afternoon was packed full of bike cleaning, maintenance and packaging it up to be loaded onto the truck for tomorrow's stage. The trucks will drive 80 km out into the desert and drop our bikes off in the sand. There, the race director, John will sleep out under the stars and guard our bikes for the long stage.

Day 3, Stage 4

The 4 AM alarm clock wasn't necessary. I'm normally a hideously cranky morning person who dreads early race starts. However, I think jet lag has hold of me and I've been waking up at around 4 AM every morning anyway. So this morning it was no big deal to be ready for the 5:15 AM bus ride to the start. Our bikes were packed into the trucks and transported the night before. I had no idea this was the transportation arrangement for our bikes, so I ended up using hotel towels and electrical tape to package my bike for transport. Most other athletes had brought bubble wrap or more traditional forms of padding.

My bike survived and we arrived on the start line in time to watch the sun coming up through Trephina Gorge. Today's stage was the 98 KM big daddy. John said the tracks were in bad condition and extremely sandy. I was looking forward to a longer stage in hopes that it would play a bit more to my endurance strengths. The first 90 minutes of the stage were incredibly fun. It was like shopping for a line through really open scrub forest and sandy washes. There was no distinct trail, so it was a matter of quick thinking and watching the people in front of you to see which lines were a go. It reminded me of my adventure racing days of hunting for the quickest way from point A to B. I was having fun during this section and was happy jumping on and off my bike, jumping across huge erosion ravines, then jumping back on the bike. I was in the lead for this portion of the race, but then after about 90 minutes I got caught by race leader, Jodie Willett and U23 Australian National champ, Gracie Elvin, who was sitting in 4th in the GC. At this point in the race, we had more than 1/2 the race to go on primarily jeep roads with head winds and multiple deep sand bogs. The three of us made a great team and started working together, trading pulls and finding lines through the sand. The group effort was a huge benefit and way more fun than slogging it out alone through the sand. We all came in relatively close together with Gracie pulling ahead for her first stage win here. The solid effort also moved me up another placing in the GC and I am now sitting in 2nd. The top 4 women are all close. Jodie has a commanding 15 minute lead and I have about 6 minutes on 3rd, but with 3 more stages still to come and the Australian tire eating rocks out there waiting for us, anything could happen. Many riders finished today cursing the sand and the wind and hating the course. I'm not saying I had fun pushing my bike through the sand, but it was beautiful scenery and exciting racing.

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