Over the course of a more than 30 year career, Rebecca Rusch has become one of the foremost athletes in ultra-endurance adventure sports. Whether rock climbing, white water rafting, gravel racing or bikepacking, Rebecca has demonstrated time and again that she is the undisputed “Queen of Pain.” Four time winner of the Leadville 100, 24 hour solo mountain biking world champion, Emmy Award winner, multi-time Eco Challenge competitor, author, public speaker, and philanthropist—the list of her accomplishments is extensive, and she is far from retirement.
In this conversation, she and Payson talk about using success as springboard for pursuing projects outside of cycling, and why it’s important to her to keep pushing the boundaries of her sport alongside running her own charitable foundation Be Good. They talk about harnessing the surge in enthusiasm for the outdoors that the pandemic has created, and how she’s changing the business plan for her popular gravel event, Rebecca’s Private Idaho, to accommodate the changing landscape of mass participation events. They also talk about the whirlwind following her 2015 film, Blood Road, which documented her journey mountain biking the 1,200 miles of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in search of where her father had been shot down as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. The film won an Emmy and gained her an even wider audience, many of whom connected with the project through personal experience. Rebecca talks about the power of sharing her story, but also the moment she realized she needed to take a step back and refocus her attention on personal health and wellbeing. They also talk about what it feels like to have been inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame before retiring, her 2021 goals, and the four "navigational handrails" she lives by.
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