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Hi everyone
Sorry to say but our coverage of the Coolest 24 is nixed this year, my wife and I are both under the weather and making the drive to Cool to report all weekend did not fit the schedule this weekend. Apologies to those who tuned in, we’ll do what we can to share any news if it comes in from a few other friends we know who are at the race.
Cheers,
Karl
Live from California
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Looks like another clockwork performance by Eatough for the win and a rough night for a lot of riders favored to make the podium - Marenchin, Tostado, Harris all look to have bailed early, Ernesto said he ran into some asthma issues, dont know about the other 2. Rebecca Rusch came in second behind Jari Kirkland in the women’s field. I’m not surprised given how ambivalent she seemed about the race at IB. You gotta be in 100% for a 24 IMO. Watch this space and the blog feeds at Ride424 for more news.
BTW 24HoA schedule for 2008 is now posted on the calendar.
cheers
Karl
From Utah
I neglected to write much in my Interbike report about the best part of the show - the poeple, either the ones I meet for the first time or the old friends I get to reconnect with. One person who I finally got to speak to was Rebecca Rusch, the Specialized-Red Bull rider who just a month ago took the Solo 24 Hour World Championship Title at Laguna Seca. I followed up our brief introduction in Vegas with an interview, in which Rebecca spoke about her background as an adventure racer, her current focus on mountain biking, and her somewhat unlikely prep for 24 hour Worlds.
Rebecca thanks for taking some time with Ride424 today, I noticed on your website something about you living out of your Bronco for a few years, tell us about that experience.
At the time I was running a climbing gym in LA, and I started to get a lot of invitations to join adventure racing (AR) teams, since every team needs a female. The only way I could make it work financially was to not pay rent, and I was traveling all over anyways - all over the States, France, Vietnam, etc., so I put all my stuff in a storage unit and loaded the Bronco with the kayak, bike, computer and adventure racing gear. It was pretty much packed to the seams. I figured I better take advantage of the opportunity while it lasted. I wouldn’t call it a mid-life crisis, I was too young for that, but I definitely felt the days might be numbered so I better take the chance. Now I’m in Ketchum, where the training is really good and there are a lot of other riders, just long winters. I’ll break out the Nordic skis soon.
Home Sweet Home, for a while
Were you part of a structured AR team, or more of a free-lancer?
Well for a while I floated among teams, then I put together a mostly women’s team for Eco-Challenge which was a first for that type of thing. Pearl Izumi was actually the first financial backer and that group turned into Team Montrail, which is probably the best known of the teams that I headed up. Once Montrail was bought by Columbia, the sponsorship came to an end and it was too hard to find a backer to keep the whole team together. I thought my wild ride had come to an end and I would have to go work at Starbucks. Luckily I had Red Bull as a personal sponsor and they did not care what type of racing I did, so I gravitated to the MTB racing where I could go it alone. I did a few big races, including La Ruta, and this is now my second year of focusing on endurance MTB racing.
How did you approach the race at Laguna Seca?
Worlds was definitely my number one goal for the year, I started training for it in February. My coach, Matthew Weatherley-White, planned my training around this one peak for the year, and it took a lot of choreography to make it work out right. I felt pretty flat at Nationals, I thought “Oh it’s only a month before Worlds, I should be strong” but I came in second by a long way. It was hard for me to accept the idea that I would build the whole season around one day and live with the less optimal race performances at other times, you always want to win. At Laguna Seca though things came together, I don’t want to say it felt easy, but it was very different from Nationals.
My lead up to the race was actually pretty crazy, I am on the firefighting squad in my town here in Idaho and the week before the race we were fighting a massive wild fire, the whole town was evacuated and the military came in to help. I was breathing dust and fighting fires up until I had to leave for the race, it was not the rest week I had planned but I had to help out.
Tell us about your tactics during the race itself.
I never go out too fast, I like to wait for the night and this was especially important with the heat at Laguna Seca. The first lap I was riding in third, with Lynda Wallenfels just ahead of me and Pua up by a few minutes. On the second lap Lynda and I started what would be 5 laps of riding together, we passed Pua who was really struggling in a sandy section. We chatted a bit and I tried to watch how Lynda was riding, I knew she had been racing bikes for a long time and was really well known as a technical rider, she had won Moab before and was strong. It was the most civilized competition I’ve ever been part of, at one point I was thinking, man I really have to go the bathroom but I did not want to let her get away or go in my shorts so early in the race, so we agreed to take a break together, that was really nice. We have totally different riding styles and on Lap 5 I put in a little pressure on one of the climbs, and got a gap.
I kept asking my pit crew about the other strong women - where is Louise (Kobin, 3 time La Ruta winner) or Kim (McCormak, Aussie national champ), but they kept telling me they were nowhere in sight, it was just me and Lynda. So many others were dropping out, I don’t want to sound cocky but I was wondering when the race was going to start.
You’re one of many ultra racers using the Wobblenaught fit, when did you start on that and how do you like it?
I got introduced to Tom Coleman (Wobblenaught founder) about 5 years ago when I was adventure racing, I actually hated the bike section of the races and would have been happy if adventure races had no biking. I had a very nonchalant attitude to the bike in general, but my coach suggested I visit Tom for a fit. He took into account the pack I would be wearing in ARs, how it affected my weight distribution, and as we rode around Tom talked a lot about pedal stroke, all these details that noone had ever spoken to me about, it was always just jump on the bike and go hard. I started to notice muscles that had previously been unused, my calves were always sore for a while but once I got the muscles trained right it made a difference. It was kind of a revelation.
This year I had new bikes from Specialized and I tried to set them up like last year, but they just were not quite the same. After Nationals I visited Tom and got them both dialed in, besides the physical difference there is a mental advantage to knowing that you have everything just right, there are no exuses.
How many races did you do this year?
I did 4 solo 24’s and 2 12 hour races, although for two of the 24s I got to sleep for 5 hours as there was not a lot of competition. That felt like a lot of races, right now I am considering Moab but it seems like it might be too much. The recovery for these events is so massive, and even though I’m a pro I don’t get to just lounge around and rest all day. There is always travel, and of course fire fighting. This year I’m also doing a little sportscasting for the local TV station as well.
Two World champs in the early season Dirt Sweat & Gears race in Tennessee
Any idea what next season will look like?
That’s a good question, I know I want to defend my World title and regain the National title but other than that it is up in the air. I really like to travel and do bike races that feel like an adventure, so maybe Trans Rockies. Possibly visit South Africa early in the year to train and race. Maybe also some marathons in Europe, I like the marathons and 100 milers because I think they keep me faster for 24’s. I’ll be racing for Specialized and Red Bull again so having that all settled is a big relief at this point of the year. The main thing is to do events that I am passionate about, that keep me motivated and satisfy my need for adventure.
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