When she’s headed out on the trail, Rebecca carries essential gear to make sure she’s ready for anything!
- Red Bull: because it #GivesYouWings, Seriously I drink Red Bull to energize a hard workout, to get me out the door if I’m feeling tired.
- GU Roctane gel: GU is my go to nutrition for riding.
- CrankBrothers multi-tool with chain breaker. Plus an extra SRAM quick link for a chain repair if needed (this is in the red packet below the tool) The bike tool is an essential item for trailside maintenance and adjustments on the bike.
- Park Tool tire boot: For big tears or cuts in the tires.
- Sunscreen stick
- Duct Tape
- WD40 Bike Chain lube
- Tire Lever: for changing a flat. I like this wide kind so I only have to carry one instead of two.
- Petzl E-lite mini headlamp: this thing is so small and runs forever.
- SRAM Shock pump
- Spare tube: for flats.
- Bike gloves
- Thin rain jacket or vest
- Crank Brothers mini bike tire pump
- Surgical gloves and plastic shower cap: for emergency cold weather protection of hands and head. Yes, this does work.
- Cell phone: for taking selfies, but also calling for help if needed
- Camelbak pack and hydration: you can survive quite a long time without food, but not very long at all without water.
- Adventure Medical Kit Utlralight Watertight .9 First Aid Kit
About Rebecca Rusch
When describing Rebecca Rusch’s athletic achievements, it may be easier to talk about what she hasn’t done, but, like Rebecca herself, we’re doing this the hard way.
Her national and world titles in whitewater rafting, adventure racing, orienteering, and cross-country skiing certainly impress, but they only set the stage; it’s the two-wheeled victories that really lengthen her resume. Rusch’s mountain bike accomplishments would strain the pixels on your screen. National wins across multiple off-road formats top the list, as well as record-setting victories at storied ultra endurance races like the Leadville Trail 100, Dirty Kanza 200, and 24 Hour MTB World Championships. Not content to wait for the race to come to her, Rusch also claimed the record on the 142-mile Kokopelli Trail, coming in more than an hour and a half faster than the previous champion. It wasn’t her idea, but it doesn’t take a professor to see why she earned the moniker “The Queen Of Pain.”
While maintaining this laundry list of accolades would be enough for most athletes, Rusch takes no such time to rest on her laurels. Her SRAM Gold Rusch Tour has been traveling to races and events across North America to help get more women in the saddle and riding their bikes through skills clinics, social events, and group rides. She created Rebecca’s Private Idaho, a grueling gravel road event in her hometown of Ketchum that attracts hundreds of riders to her backyard every year, all for charity. Organizations like the International Mountain Bike Association, World Bicycle Relief, PeopleForBikes.org, the National Interscholastic Mountain Bike Association, and the Wood River Bicycle Coalition can count her as an official ambassador and, in some cases, board member. Visit her site at https://www.rebeccarusch.com/.
