Royal Street Cafe

September 8, 2010

The Deer Valley Resort PR folks set us up to go have lunch at the mid-mountain Royal Street Café, which is at the Silver Lake Lodge; either a drive around the mountain or a ride up it on a chairlift. Too bad we didn’t know about the chairlift option beforehand, because that would have been a fun way to arrive. The drive was short, though, and parking was free (and even underground) so no hassle was involved which was lucky because we were in a hurry to get there. Why, you ask? Well, one of us had just run the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase race (8 miles up the mountain, 8 miles down) on about 15 hours notice and the other two of us had just had our own little mini-epic as we tried to get to the race turnaround point on our mountain bikes in time to see our intrepid racer touch the pole marking the halfway point. We had a little trouble with our trail map and ended up doing massive amounts of climbing, pushing, and then some downclimbing (with bikes) only to miss our racer by about 10 minutes. Then we had to reclimb what we had just downclimbed to get back to our car. So, we were all very hungry.

We had also chanced upon a sample menu and pics of the Royal Street Café in our condo’s issue of Park City magazine, which featured a huge picture of the restaurant’s famed Crab Tower appetizer and listed other options like yellowfin tuna tartare, a buffalo bacon burger, and fish tacos that made us all want to drop everything and go straight to the restaurant and devour like six of those crab towers plus three of everything else. But we waited dutifully until our reservation time, which turned out to be a silly maneuver as the restaurant doesn’t usually take reservations (we are SPECIAL!), and showed up freshly showered and summery in what we thought were appropriate dresses for dining outside on a hot summer day. Except our photog; he wore shorts. We were shown to a lovely table on the deck where we had a nice view of mountain bikers going to and fro as they demo’ed Giant mountain bikes, and like the classy folk we are we were pretty excited about getting the front row seats to any potential wipeouts as we dined. Kind of like a better version of the Medieval Times dinner theatre.

Unfortunately a random gale blew in and our deck dining adventure rapidly became a lesson in survival. It just does not look cool to be wearing a beautiful summer dress and shivering your butt off. We are tough, though, and resigned ourselves to having to drink more wine to stay warm, but our server came to the rescue with the words “we do have jackets if you need them.” Did we ever! The jackets were lovely green Spyder brand, usually reserved for winter employees but available for use by summer guests stricken by random cold fronts such as the one we were experiencing. With the windblocker fleece in place, we stretched out our mountain bike crash viewing by just enough time to get our drinks and appetizers and to salivate over the menu.

For appetizers, we of course ordered the crab tower and the albacore tartare, which lasted approximately 2.5 seconds in the face of our sports-induced hunger. Even in our ravenous state, we couldn’t fail to notice that the appetizers were fantastic. I could happily make a meal out of either one of them and the thoughtful details such as handmade chips to go along with the crab tower were very impressive. It was really hard to not order another round of the same dishes; it was all THAT good.

Ultimately the food and the half bottle of wine I ordered for the table didn’t do enough to warm us, so we were graciously moved inside by our server where we finished perusing the menu. Like a good mountain biker, I settled on the maple bacon BBQ bison burger and fries, the Steeplechaser got the ahi fish tacos, and our photographer (who by the way took not one single picture at the lunch. Perhaps his mind was elsewhere after all that biking) went for the pulled pork sandwich which he may have chosen because of the Polygamy Porter used to make the barbecue sauce. I am proud to say that my dish was by far the biggest and most challenging to complete, but shamefully I was unable to meet the challenge and my photographer polished it off for me. But it was a fantastic burger – juicy, full of bacon, and loaded with delicious sauces – and I kind of want another one pretty much right now. No one told me what they thought of their own meals, probably because all conversation pretty much ceased when the food arrived. I think there were some mumbled “this is GOOD” phrases tossed out but the focus was much more on eating than talking. Don’t we sound high class?

Well, we couldn’t help our enthusiasm because the Royal Street Café fare was awesome. The service was prompt, friendly, and professional and the restaurant itself is beautiful. The deck would have been fantastic had we not had unfortunate luck with the weather. I know I am supposed to research as many options as possible but when I come back to Park City in a few months for skiing I’m definitely heading straight there. And speaking of research, I did my duty and saved room for dessert, opting for the frozen key lime pie which is even better than it sounds, as well as my portion of the ice cream sandwich option which was just enough ice cream mashed between two chocolate chip cookies to get me to finally stop eating. And then it was time for the food coma portion of our visit, involving staggering back to the condo and sleeping off our morning workouts. So next time I visit Park City in the summer, I’m forgoing the chairlift and the car when headed to Royal Street Café – I need to ride my bike up the mountain to justify all the food I plan on eating.

Mountain Hardwear Yuma Pant

September 3, 2010

[All right! It's New Geargal Time! My latest writer contacted me last year to ask about writing reviews, and after checking out her creds and her writing style, I happily passed a bunch of gear to her and sat back to reap the rewards of letting other people do my job for me.

This Geargal is a Trail Ranger for the Forest Service in Alaska. I have to say that all the Forest Service folks I know in Alaska are pretty rad, and she is no exception. In her own words "I regularly hike, mountain bike (mainly in summer but am getting into winter riding), back pack, snowboard, cross country and skate ski, ski jour, ice skate and snowboard in my job." And I thought MY job was the best. -Ed.]

Yes, I love it, a cool looking pair of pants in a great color that fit me, can’t wait to try these out. Mountain Hardwear produces a women’s size 8 that fit like a size 8, hallelujah! Waist just below the belly, zip off pant legs, and the total length is just about right.

I was so excited to wear these pants on my next outing, a mountain bike ride. These pants have a loose leg fit, lots of room with a neat little elastic tightener on the bottom hem to snug the leg tight, for keeping bugs out, maybe? Even after tightening them I decided they were still too loose in the legs to wear while biking, because I didn’t want the poofy leg fabric to get caught in my chain. Instead, I decided, I’ll wear them on my upcoming weeklong backpacking trip.

The fabric is nylon with a good feel and look, and is thankfully quick drying (I sweated quite a bit on the uphill climb), and the pants have two front leg pockets with zippers for closures. The pockets are quite small and not too easy to get my hands into. The front closure is easy with a snap and zipper if you don’t bother with the tie that doesn’t serve any purpose other than to get in the way or to perhaps look cute. If these were my pants I would simply pull the string out. [Woman after my own heart. I pull the drawstrings out of all of my pants, ESPECIALLY when the pants already have a button closure. What's the point of the string? -Ed.]

I wore these on the first day of the trip, congratulating myself for looking so good; thinking “my, do I look stylish” in these cool nylon pants. Like all hubris, my smugness came before an inevitable crash down to earth. At the end of the day one leg was very sore – a raw section of skin was developing on my inner leg. I was so bummed. I had to take these pants off and couldn’t wear them again for the rest of my trip. Boy, I am not too smart wearing a new pair of pants for the first time on a backpacking trip. [Er - yeah, like we all have time to pre-test the gear before we test it. It's the nature of the job, sorry! -Ed.] It turns out there is an inner panel 2” wide sewn into each pant leg so instead of one inside leg seam, there are two. I’m not sure why they took the time to add this third piece of fabric, it’s not like it is for looks, as you can’t see this part of the pants very well. The extra seams rubbed like hell and felt horrible by the end of the day. I was sorry to have to throw these pants that fit well and looked great in the bottom of my backpack for the rest of my trip. If these were my pants I would have let the dog sleep on them and at least felt like they earned their space/weight in my pack. [Ouch! Truth hurts. But I hope the dog had something else to sleep on anyway. -Ed.]

I didn’t get to try the zip off legs. [The Alaskan "summer" this year didn't produce many bare legs, I'd imagine. -Ed.] I had intended on wearing these pants for a few days and knew I would wear them without the legs eventually, but the inner part of my leg cried “no, don’t put these on again, you fool for not trying me out before your trip”. Mountain Hardwear, thank you so very much, I have learned a huge lesson from wearing these pants. Try out your gear before you head into the woods with just a backpack you bonehead.

Rebecca Rusch Beats Every Guy In Alaska

September 2, 2010

…or at least I hope she tries. Because if anyone can shut down an entire state full of racers, it’s probably Rebecca Rusch, commonly known by her nickname, Reba. Reba took some time to chat with me last week about her latest victory and new course record in Leadville, what it’s like to be a 42 year old professional female bike racer, and why we’ll see more fast women as time goes on.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. You’re back home now, right?

Yeah, I am.

How is that?

It’s good! It seems weird that it was only a week ago. But I went to another race last weekend that was close by here, so yeah, I’m kind of in and out, but that’s how my life is.

It seems as if you’re used to that kind of thing with all of the traveling that you’ve done.

Yeah, but I love coming home here, it’s a great place to come home to.

Yeah, in all the interviews I’ve read with you, I keep thinking that I want to come visit Ketchum.

Where do you live?

I’m from Alaska but have been spending this year in Bellingham and Vancouver BC.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, a little break from the cold. So, just in conversing with you over Twitter a couple of times, and reading your blogs and other interviews that you’ve done you’ve given me some great tips on how to get better as a biker…

Good!

I think the biggest one was, strangely enough, to get on a road bike more often. I never expected that to make such a big difference but it really really does, so I wanted to thank you for that.

Cool.

It’s really fun to see a woman of my generation out there kicking ass and living life really big and bold and you have a really rare job, as a professional female athlete and a well known one at that.

It is a rare job, yeah, I kind of laugh about it all the time, especially now that I’m turning 42 this week, I just keep thinking…oh my god. For a bike racer…I was watching football last night and they were saying “oh, Brett Farve, he’s 40 and in the NFL” and I just thought “he’s younger than I am!” But I don’t get hit, I don’t get beaten up like football players do.

You don’t, even on a mountain bike?

Well, at least I don’t have people trying to hit me on purpose.

True.

It’s really cool to have been able to have extended my career like this and to be able to do stuff I love to do. It’s a blast.

Do you see yourself as an unusual person?

It’s not unusual for me, because my life has always been a little bit, um, not by the books. But when I look around or go to my high school reunions or what have you, and hear “oh ,you’re so lucky” – I just think that it’s not “lucky”, it’s choice! I know I have an unusual job, but I’ve just kind of followed my heart and things have fallen into place. I never set out to be a professional athlete, and I never set out to be a bike racer, and all these things just kind of fell into place because I was open to opportunities. So it’s been cool (laughs).

Yeah, to say the least, that’s very cool. It reminds me of being out riding a bike and getting comments on the trails about how unusual it is to see a woman on a mountain bike. For me, I know a lot of women that ride, so why do you think so many people are still surprised to see women on bikes?

You know, I’m kind of blown away by it too, because where I’m from, you all get beaten in a race by a 60 year old woman or whatever. It’s normal here to look at the race results from ski races or whatever and you’ll see a 25 year old girl, a 60 year old guy, all in the top three – a 14 year old ski race kid – every type of person. Here it’s not unusual to see everyone and their parents and the kids and the wife all participating in sports, but I guess when you go to places that aren’t super heavy resort towns or just aren’t outdoorsy then you start to realize that there still is a little bit of discrepancy. Like the number for Leadville; there were 1500 racers and only 250 of them were women. So I think wow, really? So there is this disparity that exists.

Somebody asked me in an interview “are men rude to you when you pass them?” and I say absolutely not, they’re used to seeing fast women. So I definitely think it’s changing. This year there were a couple first ever in the US women’s only bike races that I read about, so I definitely think it’s changing which is very cool to witness. I love to teach women’s clinics and to encourage women to get out there so it’s changing for sure – but we’re still a little bit in the minority.

Do you think that the numbers in the races are reflective of the numbers of women that are riding? Do you think women are a little reluctant to race?

Yeah, I definitely think that to a lot of women, and a lot of people, that race is a four letter word. A lot of women are out there riding just to have fun, and the idea of a race – lining up and being timed and having a whole bunch of people around is intimidating. I mean, it’s intimidating for anyone but I think even more so for women. A lot of women don’t want to measure themselves against other people, it’s not why they do it. But I really try to encourage women to race because you are measuring yourself against yourself. You are putting yourself out there on the line to get outside of your comfort zone, and whether you are first or last I think it’s a really valuable experience. So I really try to encourage women to get out there and race, not because you need to beat anybody, or be in front of anybody but to push themselves. It’s intimidating you know, with a bunch of guys, you think, “oh god I’m going to be plowed over,” and it takes years to learn how to hold your own. That’s why I think the women’s races are great – and now they separate out the short track races so that all the women race together, and that’s gotten more people involved, because they’re not afraid to line up and lead the way.

Yeah, we’ve all had that experience with guys trying to kill themselves going up a hill to avoid getting passed by a woman, right?

Right, and I just think “all right, go ahead, I’ll pass you later.” (laughs)

There was an article that came out in a newspaper in Alaska last summer, stating that many male racers have the single goal to just not get “chicked” and I thought “Really? Still?”

I should come to Alaska and do a race then. (laughs)

Yeah, I really think you should. I think that would be great. Not that they don’t already get chicked sometimes up there.

I guess in the weird male sort of way, it’s a compliment, they’re like “aw, I don’t want to get beat by a girl”, but they’re thinking about it “oh, maybe I’m gonna get beat by a girl!” So I guess it’s an offhanded compliment.

That’s one way to look at it. I like the positive spin. Men don’t grow up hearing that getting beaten by a man is shameful but they grow up hearing that getting beat by a woman is shameful for whatever reason, so…

..or someone older, or whatever, you know, there are always those extremes…you know, a 60 year old woman beats you then – then she’s stronger than you are.

And that’s the reality, right?

Exactly.

So you started getting serious about mountain biking at around the same time you started your EMT/Firefighting work, correct?

Actually yeah, it was about the same time.

Are there any parallels there or was that just a coincidence?

No, I think it was just a coincidence. I’ve always been interested in fire service and I went through some training in LA when I was there, and I had a bunch of friends I was palling with – women that were firefighters – and that was years ago, but I thought “wow, these women are super strong and this is really cool, and I’ve always been interested in that job. And the beauty of being in a small town is that you can do it part time. They won’t take just anybody, but they’ll take people who are fit, and interested. When I am home I have a really open schedule so it actually worked out really great. It’s a nice diversion for me to do something else that is still athletic and motivating. Every day is different, it’s not all bike racing all the time, and I can give back to my community. And I’ve met a whole new group of friends as well, a bunch of them are cyclists, but some of them are hunters – all these different groups of people that maybe I never would have hung out with if I was just hanging out with my little bike clique.

That’s a good point, you’d think that bike racers and firefighters might be a bit different, but actually in your town it sounds as if everyone has their hands in a few different things.

Yeah, it’s probably a lot like Alaska, everyone does a little bit of everything here. Firefighting is a blast. Not that I hope for fires, but when the pager goes off I think …yeah!

So you once said that you were a lousy cyclist…

..well yeah!

…and I think you turned out to be the fastest woman in the first race you entered, I believe, so why did you think you were lousy and was it winning that convince you otherwise?

Well, I would still say that technically I am way behind someone like Sue Haywood or someone who has been a cyclist since they were a kid. The reason I’ve been able to win races is more fitness, you know, I can go uphill pretty well but I’ve really had to work on the downhill, and learning how to pedal efficiently. That comes back to the road biking as well. I’ve gotten better but I’ve put a lot of time in to try to ride better technically. I am still for sure a late bloomer, behind some of the women who have been riding since they were kids. It’s harder as an adult to make up for lost time with the technical skills. So I put a lot of attention into that. But I’m still not, you know, a really ripping descender, but I’m working on it.

An article in 2008 in Mountain Bike magazine was entitled “Winning Ugly” –

(laughs) uh huh!

– and it cited your lack of technical skill in the ‘ 07 24 Hours of Adrenalin race. So when you read that, how did it make you feel and what made you rise to meet that challenge rather than backing down?

You know, I wasn’t insulted when I read that, because it was true. That was the first race where – and I’ve mentioned Sue Haywood’s name already – when I was riding behind her on one of the laps and was just blown away by how smooth and beautiful she was riding on the technical stuff and it was like this light bulb went off in my head, that oh my gosh, I’m wasting so much energy. And watching Sue, and then riding the same speed as her, but I’m burning way more calories because I’m overcorrecting and oversteering and overbraking, and if you watch her, she’s just like water, like a river flowing over rocks, and I definitely wasn’t (laughs). Because I was like this beach ball, just bouncing through them, instead. It was this really visual illustration of wow, that is the way it’s supposed to be done. And I did want to rise to the occasion because there’s nothing worse than passing someone on the uphill and then having them pass you on the downhill, those parts when you’re supposed to be resting. I was just working way too hard and I didn’t want to give up time there any more. So I entered Super D races recently, and short track races, and cyclocross; all those are ways for me to try to work on my technical skills. My boyfriend Greg helped me out a bunch, and I got more of a downhill bike that I played with, and it’s making me more of a complete cyclist. And it’s fun to get better at something, it’s fun to see your skills change and be able to ride something you couldn’t ride before.

For someone like me, who is very strong, but is not as strong with technical skills, it’s a constant frustration for me. So what is the number one thing that I should be doing to improve?

You know, I really think that for me, it was getting out of my element. When I go on a ride, instead of working on my strength, which was going uphill – which sounds like you, with the fitness – I spent a few days riding up the chairlift at Baldy and just riding down a few times. And entering cyclocross races which I think are great bike handling sessions. So for me it was just getting out of my element, trying new things, you know, if I didn’t ride over something, instead of getting mad and moving on, it’s more like “okay, I’m going to go back and try that.” And just kind of working yourself, kind of take your medicine. (laughs)

Does that sometimes come with some bumps and bruises and frustration?

It does, but I also think that there are learning atmospheres that are more supportive than others. I’m actually considering going up to Whistler this fall and taking a women’s class, and doing stuff like that, which will be really fun. And all these lift access places – Keystone’s really fun for that, and Winter Park – there a bunch of places where if you can take a lift up and take a few downhill runs, it’s a lot faster learning curve than having to go out for a normal XC ride and maybe only do one technical section. I think the repetitive nature of it is really important. And there’s tons of women’s classes and ways to start small. I also think the bike makes a big difference, you know, getting off the cross country race bike and getting on a squishier bike that is more forgiving and makes you think “oh! I can go over that.” (laughs) Hopefully then that transfers to your cross country riding.

That’s really interesting that you mention that because up at Crankworx last weekend I spent some time demo-ing the Specialized bikes. I took out some of their women’s bikes and I thought that the suspension design was by far the most noticeable difference.

Uh huh. Which bikes did you take out?

I took out the Safire –

-oh, nice, that’s a great bike.

Uh huh, it’s a great bike. I took out a few other ones too, but to me the suspension difference was very very noticeable, and I’ve read some comments from you about it as well. So how important has that difference been for you?

Two ways, the suspension on my race bikes, you know, with all the Brain technology, which is awesome – you can have full suspension but basically it rides like a hardtail. But like you said, in working on technical stuff, getting on something like the Safire that has a slacker head tube, more suspension, it’s more forgiving, but you can also pedal it uphill, that makes a big difference because the bike is built to go over more things than perhaps the Era might be. But even when I first got the Era, I rode over things I could never ride before, and that’s the suspension, 100%.

The Era is a 29er, correct?

No, not yet. The Era is the women’s version of the Epic, and for 2011 they have a 29er Epic but they don’t have a 29er Era; the Era is 26. So for more technical races, cross-country type races, I’ll ride the Era, and then for Leadville I rode the 29er hardtail because it’s not a technical race, it’s a little more of a roadie race.

I found a really big difference when I rode a 29er; I’m really excited to get one now. But it’s been a little difficult busting through that resistance in shops; I’m not a tall person and the assumption is that I shouldn’t be riding one, but I know a lot of women racers ride them.

Yeah, and it’s like you said, you’re demo-ing them and trying them out, it’s the only way to tell if it’s right for you. A lot of people ask me about it – I’m just barely 5’7” and I’m sold on the 29 wheels for someone of my size; I think it’s fine. And the bikes have gotten so much lighter now that there’s not really a weight penalty to it. Initially I would have said that if you’re small and it’s that much heavier, maybe it’s not worth it, but now there’s not that weight penalty anymore.

I decided to try one because of all the things you were saying about it in interviews I was reading.

Yeah, you gotta try, it’s the only way, and that’s what’s so cool about the demo program. I even went to Crankworx Colorado last year because I wanted to demo a whole bunch of bikes, and try some of the downhill bikes – it’s just such an awesome way to work on skills and try new bikes. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes without trying them on, yet people will buy bikes without demo-ing them, which I don’t really understand. (laughs)

So I read another quote from you, that “people are more used to seeing fast women.” We talked about that already a bit, but do you think we are going to be seeing more fast women?

Absolutely. If you look around, like at our local pump track that we have right here next to my house, and you see all the little girls on their bikes, and they’re ripping it up. It’s definitely going to be the trickle effect; when those kids are 15, 16, they’re going to be so good at whatever sport they chose whether it’s skiing or cycling, and those opportunities are available for girls, now, in riding. There’s the whole high school league that’s taking off, are you aware of that?

No, tell me more!

Oh my gosh. Well it started as California high school league, and northern and southern California, and it’s like a normal sport like basketball or track, and it’s been so successful that now there’s a national high school league called NICA – National Interscholastic Cycling Association – and it’s spreading to Colorado, Oregon, there are new chapters everywhere around the country this year and it’s super exciting. In talking to the guy that runs the whole program and started the California one, he said that last year he had to separate out all the girls classes because they had too many female racers. It’s just growing and growing and growing so all these kids are getting the opportunity in high school to race bikes as their sport, and stuff like that is just going to make it all take off. It’s pretty cool.

So are you taking any steps to bring along new women riders?

Well, Specialized is a sponsor of the high school league, and hopefully I’m going to be signed up for some clinics in 2011. I do some local stuff here with the women’s group but I definitely want to get more involved in the high school league for sure, and as my racing slows down hopefully I’ll have more time to be doing clinics. I took the Leadville movie around and showed that as a fundraiser last year, and there were a bunch of girls and a bunch of young people at the show, which is really cool. Hopefully what I’m doing is inspiring other people.

I can speak for myself, it’s definitely inspiring. You seem to be having a great time with the Ask Reba contest, and fans seem to really love conversing with you. You’ve been called the “most accessible elite level athlete of any stripe.” Is this something you consciously strive to develop?

You know it’s kind of twofold. Selfishly, I keep up the web site and all that because I want to keep doing my job because I like what I do for a living, and sponsors definitely want that kind of communication. But I also do it because I really like it. And I spend the time answering the questions myself for Ask Reba, and I do it because I want to be an approachable athlete, and I want to share my knowledge – I have a master’s or a PhD or whatever in endurance racing and if I can share that with somebody else, I’m all for it. It’s a ton of time and effort to keep up with blogging, and Twittering, and everything (laughs) and some days it’s a little overwhelming. But it’s also really cool, for instance, to chat with you and hear from you “oh, you gave me advice on Twitter” – that to me is super rewarding, and if people are actually reading it, and it’s going somewhere and it’s not just my mom reading it…

(I crack up because that’s sometimes what I think about my own web site at times)

…and if it helps then that’s awesome.

Well it definitely helps and I definitely notice that you’re willing to talk to people and talk to fans and I think that’s great.

Cool, thanks.

So I was curious about another thing I read about you. I read that last year you were put on warning for riding a race along with Greg, and I was curious about that – were you both put on warning?

Yeah, we were actually. It was the 24 Hour World Championships last year. He and I were put on warning during about 6 hours into the race, our crew was notified and all this hubbub was created because Greg and I were riding too close together. We were accused of helping each other, but I thought, you know, hmmm….what is the official amount that we can be together? Because we train together all the time we finish close together in almost every race – we’re about the same speed, so it’s a coin toss as to who will be in front of the other in most races. What was weird about that is that he’s racing single speed, he’s the defending 24 hour world champion, I’m the two time defending 24 hour world champion, so Greg and I are thinking “well, if we’re cheating, then who’s the domestique?” We’re both going for the win, so who is sacrificing their race to help the other person? And, I don’t know – it was kind of a bogus call. It’s a very technical singletrack course, so there’s no draft, so how can you help each other?

So it was a pretty unfortunate situation and it soured a little bit of the race for both of us because our crew was being accosted, and Greg and I were thinking, you know, “I don’t understand – what are we doing wrong?” Being accused of cheating, when it’s not like we came out of nowhere, and [it’s not as if] we’d never won a race before – so yeah, it was kind of hurtful and the race director and I had words about it afterwards. And I said that if there is an official protest then we all should sit down and talk about who is protesting and what the problem is. It wasn’t great communication and we never got a straight answer about what we were doing wrong. So what happened in the end is that my crew actually sat me down and said “you don’t talk to Greg during this race” and they held me for half an hour, and I stayed in the pit to put enough of a gap between myself and Greg so that we didn’t see each other the rest of the race, just to be safe. I trained all year for that race, I’m not about to get disqualified. So I sat for a half an hour and we didn’t see each other the rest of the race and we didn’t speak to each other. So it ended up being fine, we weren’t disqualified and we both won and got the titles, but it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for sure. I’m not that type of an athlete, I would never cheat. If someone is accusing me that’s fine, but come right to my face and tell me what I did wrong, and I’ll correct it. So it was a little weird.

If you had caught up with him do you think there would have been additional problems?

I don’t know! And that’s what was so confusing is that I just didn’t understand what we were doing wrong, because we weren’t right together – he’s on a single speed and I’m on a geared bike, so the way that it was working out I’d see him throughout the course; on the climbs he’d be faster, on the flats I would catch back up. So it was kind of ebb and flow, but we’d always end up coming through the aid station within a couple minutes of each other, even if I hadn’t seen him the whole lap. So that’s why I wondered “how are we cheating if we’re not even seeing each other?” So I don’t know. I have sort of let it go, water off the duck’s back or whatever, but I was frustrated for that race. But I guess it provided Greg a lot more motivation and I think he went a lot faster because he was mad. (we both laugh) So I don’t think I could have caught him if I wanted to. But the result ended up fine and everything was fine, but at the end I was just sort of “hmmmmm….I’m not a cheater!”

Well that sounds frustrating.

It was frustrating, especially having put my heart and soul into that race, it was my peak event of the year and a big goal of mine, and if I had been disqualified, especially for something I wasn’t doing, I can’t imagine a worse outcome. But luckily that didn’t happen and it all turned out okay. But I guess I learned….well I don’t know what lesson I learned.

That’s unfortunate because it’s got to be usually a good experience going through a race like that supporting each other.

Well it’s definitely nice, you’re all alone out there in the middle of the night to then see somebody that you know and just say “oh hey how’s it going?” and just exchange a few words, it’s definitely a nice little bit of motivation. But like I said it turned out okay and everybody’s recovered from it (laughs).

Well good, I didn’t mean to drag up old issues then.

Oh (laughs) it’s okay, no problem.

So how does it feel to have a backpack, the Gregory Arreba, named after you?

You know, that was really fun. That was an old project from adventure racing days. With any sponsor it’s really fun when they get the athletes involved and want our feedback, and ask us about products and let us try prototypes. It’s definitely one of my favorite things and when they are using their athletes in that way, I think it’s great. I don’t know – is the Arreba still in production, or is that long gone?

I think it’s gone at this point. (I try to speak with authority having just met with Gregory at ORSM to go over their 2011 line.) I still think it’s neat, and I wondered what else you might want to have named after you at this point?

Well, Light in Motion did a light for me a couple years ago called the Rusch, they did a limited edition of their Stella and called it the Rusch, and made it orange which is my favorite color. It’s definitely fun, and I keep one of each – I have an Arreba and I kept one Rusch – I keep one of each of those little items. But it’s cool, it’s an honor that someone wants to name something after me and ask for my input – it’s great.

Do you see a Reba or a Rusch bike in the future?

Oh man, I don’t know, you know Specialized doesn’t really name their bikes after people so, I don’t know…it’d be very cool, I’d be honored, but I can’t call them up and say “hey, you should name a bike after me!” (we both laugh)

You can always try, the Specialized folks are pretty fun.

It would be cool. People always ask me if the Rox Shox Reba fork is named after me, which it’s not…it’s actually named after a dog, who’s now dead, but somebody’s dog was named Reba, so the fork got that name. People always say “your name’s on your fork!” and I have to say “no, it’s not really named after me…”

Is that a conversation stopper when you say “no, it’s someone’s dead dog?”

No, I don’t always say that, it depends on the person. Mostly I just say it’s named after a dog. I never met the dog.

(I resist cracking some Indiana-Jones-named-after-the-dog joke) So in a more general sense, what do you think is the biggest obstacle for women mountain bikers – recreational riders, racers, and women who just want to get into it right now?

I think probably finding a group or learning from other women, because I definitely see that women will sign up for, or find it more encouraging to sign up for a women’s class, or ride in a women’s group, or do a women’s race – it’s not as intimidating. And while those things are out there, they’re not as prevalent as, say, the Wednesday night group ride that’s mostly men, or whatever. We have a local women’s mountain bike group, and I think most communities are starting to get that, but I think it’s super important for women to seek out other women to ride with. It’s a different experience, it’s an easier learning curve, it’s a little bit more encouraging – not that guys aren’t encouraging, but they’re just different than girls. If you see your girlfriend riding over something you’ll think “oh, she did that, I’m going to try it!” when a lot of times when you see a guy do it you’ll think “oh, well he’s a guy” or “oh, he’s been riding longer than I have” and you might not try to ride it. I do think that it’s important, whether you’re starting out, or whether you’re getting into racing, or whether you’re like me, a pro, it’s still important to seek out the girlfriend opportunities and make sure you’re not always riding with the guys.

After we just talked about how common it is to have women out there riding, we’re now talking about how tough it is to find women to ride with!

Yeah, they’re out there, but finding the right group, finding the people who motivate you, who are about your same speed – you know, that’s hard for guys too. But that would be my biggest advice, to start a little group or club, or find one near you, or go to Whistler and take a women’s class, or – you know there’s a Dirt Series that’s all-woman mountain bike clinics and they do stuff in Canada and in the U.S. So the stuff is out there, it’s just a little more research. Or start your own group, you know, your own little posse of girlfriends that you ride with. I have a few training buddies that are all women who I rely on pretty heavily. Even though they are slower than me, they’re willing to go out and do whatever training day I have on the roster.

That’s got to be a challenge, to come out and try and keep up with you during one of your training days.

Well we just kind of circle back, or I’ll do intervals, or we’ll meet up during the down times, and we just kind of make it work. But for me it’s really motivating, and way better to have someone out there with me – we do the warm up together then do the hard work on our own, then meet back up and it’s just so much easier for me to have another person there than to go out all by myself and do that alone.

On that note, with all the training that you’re doing, and I know that you have no plans on stopping anytime soon, do you think you’re at the top of your game, or do you think there is more to come?

I don’t know, you know, every time I think I’m at the top of my game – you know, for Leadville I thought there’s no way I can go faster than last year and then something else works out, and I was 30 minutes faster than last year, so I just learned a lot more about resting and recovery and nutrition and training, so I still think there is room to grow, for sure. Especially in races like Super D races and stuff like that, where I have more technical skills to learn, for sure.

Your Leadville race was so much faster than last year but you also said this was one of the hardest, biggest sufferfests you’ve ever had.

Yeah, I went pretty deep. I worked really, really hard. It was interesting, in his pre-race speech the night before, the race director Ken mentioned something about how all of you out there who think it’s easy for the winners and those at the front of the pack, they suffer just as much as you do if not more. I definitely agree with him. Someone who’s last, they might think “oh it’s so easy for somebody at the front,” but whether you’re first or last – I’m giving 110%. So it definitely wasn’t easy for me in any way. I went super hard and had the course record in my mind, but that’s what it’s like to be a competitor I guess. You are digging super deep. Yeah, Leadville was hard. Even though my time was much faster, it was much harder than it was last time.

So when you think about next year’s Leadville, do you kind of look forward to the pain, do you dread it, or is it just part of the job?

Yes and no, I have mixed feelings about it, I mean I just won this race and everybody’s already asking me about next year, and I just think “ahhh, can’t I just enjoy this win for a couple months?”

(I feel guilty for asking the question)

But the competitor in me is already thinking about next year, and, oh, I know the course…so it’s a little bit of both. Part of me wants to just sit on my butt and rest on my laurels a little bit, and part of me can’t.

Yeah the athlete part of you probably doesn’t spend too much time on her laurels.

…sometimes I feel like I do! (laughs) But races are really motivating for me. I went to a race this weekend, not because I needed to tick off another race, but it was a really fun course and it was close to home, and I’m much better lining up and doing something like that than I am at going out and pushing myself for five hours by myself. So I really like to use racing for training, it’s fun – but not everybody’s like that.

Yeah. I admit to being one of the people who is a little intimidated about racing and I’ve never tried it, because I got into mountain biking a little later in life. It’s been hard to convince myself to take that step.

Have you considered signing up for a women’s only mountain bike race rather than a mixed one?

I’m actually signed up to do a mountain bike leg in an adventure race, so we’ll see how it goes.

Oh, nice. Right on.

So I’ll remember the lessons I learned from you in this interview.

Sometimes the hardest part is just signing up. Once the gun goes off and you’re actually in it you just sort of deal, you just get through it.

Yeah, I guess at that point you have little choice.

You’re there, you gotta – you either quit or get to the finish, so figure it out.

Way to break it down and simplify it – either quit or get to the finish!

Yep, those are the options!

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me.

Well that was a great interview, you’ve done your research.

(I just included that part so that you all could read that Reba thought it was a great interview)

Thanks again to Rebecca Rusch for taking so much time to chat with me. 45 minutes! That was a LOT to transcribe, believe me. More than once I was remembering Reba’s words “either quit, or get to the finish….”

So if you’re as tired of reading as I am of transcribing, have a look at this video from Specialized, featuring Reba’s awesome record breaking performance at Leadville. Then put your reading glasses back on and check out Reba’s blog post about her Leadville experience.

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