Leadville Trail Qualifiers Announced

The six qualifying events for the 2012 Leadville Trail mountain bike race have been announced. Last year was the first time the race was built on a qualifier system, rather than the previous lottery system, and this year will require racers once again to prove their mettle to get into the elite event.

We're hoping to see Suunto superstar Rebecca Rusch in the scrum, defending her women's champion title at the tough, high-altitude race, which happens August 11th in Colorado.

Cycling News has a great story about the qualifying events, including the list of locations. Read it here.

And if you want to relive Rebecca's awesome domination of the race in 2011 - including setting a new course record - here's Cycling News' coverage of that too! Of course, you'll also want to check out Reba's recap of the day, as well.

Hooray for The Queen of Pain!

La Ruta Day 2

photo: Cycling News

Suunto superathlete Rebecca Rusch is tearing it up at La Ruta de los Conquistadores.

Here's a sample from her blog of what Day 2 was like for her:

I’m in the hotel room after day 2 with ice bags on my legs. There’s no bath tub here, so I can’t take a full ice bath.
It was a really tough day with about 45 miles of riding and 11,000 ft of climbing. The climbs were so steep that some of them were unrideable.

Ouch.

Rebecca is keeping pace with Adrianna Rojas, who is currently race leader, and they spent a portion of day 2 riding together.

And what does Day 3 hold?

Tomorrow is the big climb up the volcano. There are some really steep parts at the beginning, but most of the climb is a steady paved road where you can settle into a smooth pace. At the top, you head down for about 40 km. It sounds amazing, but the descent is really technical and tiring.

Keep tabs on the race at Rebecca's blogsite.

Great videos of the race here.

Ask Reba Giveaway

Every month Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch gives away some of her favorite products. Today is the last day to win a Suunto T6d from the Ask Reba contest on her website.

Rebecca says, "It's my training partner, my motivation, and my record keeper. This little red number tells me how my training is going, if I'm on track, if I'm over-reaching and keeps me honest." The Suunto T6d may be simple but it gives you a lot of information: distance, speed, and altitude. Not to mention a whole physiological analyses on Movescount.com

So Ask Reba A Question and win this awesome training partner who will help you analyze and improve your performance. Just one day to go!

Reba 3, Leadville 0

Saturday, August 13 was a gorgeous day in Leadville, CO. It was also the day that Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch smashed her own record in the Leadville Trail 100 ... winning the famed mountain bike race for the third time in a row.


Reba rolled across the finish line with a time of 7:31:45, almost 16 minutes faster than the course record she herself set in 2010. Rusch spent the first half of the rugged Rocky Mountain race in fifth place, charging up the epic Columbine climb to take the lead.

"I'm a diesel, so it takes me a while to get going sometimes," says Rusch in this cyclingnews.com article.

And 'get going' she did, once again conquering a race that is no small feat: 103 miles long at an elevation of 10,152 feet.

We knew you could, Reba -- congrats on another record-breaking win!

Reba vs. Leadville Trail 100 ... Round 3

"I was blown away ... by the magnitude of the race and the spirit of cycling and endurance racing..."
--Rebecca Rusch

That's what Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch had to say about the Leadville Trail 100 2010, not long after she pedaled it home for the win. And that was the second time. For the past two years, the "Queen of Pain" has won the infamous Leadville Trail 100. In 2010 she crossed the finish line as both a victor and the women's course record holder, with a time of 7:47:35...and on August 13, 2011 she'll be back to do it again.

At 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, Rebecca will join her fellow Leadville competitors on a starting line that sits at 10,152 feet. From there she will cover some of the toughest trails the Colorado Rockies have to offer, conquering country that is unforgiving as well as figuratively (and literally!) breathtaking.

It's Reba vs. the Leadville Trail 100 ... and it's going to be one incredible race.

In addition to the Leadville 100, August also means it's time for another great Ask Reba giveaway -- and you'd better start brainstorming, because this month's prize is definitely worth a good question.

This month Rebecca will be giving away a Suunto T6d (with Movescount), which she has deemed her "single most beloved piece of gear."

The T6d is an in-depth, easy-to-use training tool that will help you push your workouts and races to the next level. To enter the giveway, just visit Rebecca Rusch's website and ask away ... may the best question win!

The 'Queen of Pain' Claims National Title

The "Queen of Pain" has done it again.

On July 16, for the first time ever, Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch competed in the single speed division of the 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships ... and won. She won it by a long shot, too, pedaling past the finish line with a time of 1:31:43 -- more than nine minutes ahead of the next competitor.

The Ketchum, Idaho native was thrilled to race on her home turf, and was ready as ever to tackle a new challenge. In this pre-race video, Rusch discusses the choice to race single speed and the 22.25km course that involves "...a lot of climbing -- it's either up or down."

Well, the Queen has definitely earned some big ups -- way to go, Reba!

For a breakdown of Rusch's race activity, check out her Movescount profile ... 100 percent motivation guarantee.

Rebecca Rush Dishes on her t6d and Movescount

Hey look--we caught Rebecca Rusch sitting down--and not on her bike seat! The Queen of Pain took a break from globetrotting, competing and training to talk on her website about what she calls her "most honest training partner," her Suunto t6d elite training wristop. That red watch has been an important part of her life in the past several years, and we've been so honored that she's taken us along for this fantastic ride. Thanks, Reba, for being an amazing athlete and person. And thanks for giving your fans and followers an easy-to-understand description of the product and a better realization of why you use it. To see the video, visit Rebecca's website by clicking here.

Keep Motivated with Rebecca Rusch

What keeps you motivated to stay fit during the winter months? We asked Suunto athlete and two time Leadville 100 record holder Rebecca Rusch what keeps her going.

I spend much of my training time in the winter skate skiing and backcountry skiing. Skate skiing is the best workout in the world and is a really good supplement for cycling training. I do all the same interval and intensity workouts on Nordic skis as I do on a bike. I use the backcountry ski days to put in my slow, distance workouts. Those days I end up hiking uphill for hours and get rewarded with powder on the way down.

Where I live, it's impossible to ride a bike outside in the winter and I just don't get super-stoked to spend hours on the trainer inside. So, I spend a couple hours a week on the bike trainer inside just to keep up my muscle memory for cycling and to work on cycling specific pedal stroke drills. I also get to catch up on movies and TV watching while on the bike.

The other training components I add during the winter are strength training, yoga and a little bit of swimming to make sure I stay healthy and balanced after a season hunched over the bike.

All the cross-training is great for my body and mind. Come Spring, I can't wait to get on my bike.

Thanks Rebecca for your insight on staying pumped in the off season. You can follow Rebecca on Movescount.com and see exactly what keeps her moving.

Follow These Athletes On Movescount.com

Do you love keeping up with your favorite athlete? Then Movescount.com powered by Suunto is the thing. With Movescount.com you can follow some of the most interesting, accomplished athletes and see how they train. Movescount.com allows you to get tips and become part of growing online sports community. Want to know what makes two-time Leadville champ Rebecca Rusch tick? Or what the workouts are like for XTERRA Champion Conrad Stoltz? We have a list of some top athletes who are on Movescount.com and sharing their moves.

Rebecca Rusch: www.movescount.com/members/RebaRusch

Conrad Stoltz: www.movescount.com/members/Conrad_Stoltz

Kilian Jornet: www.movescount.com/members/kilianjornet

Daron Rahlves: www.movescount.com/members/Drahlves

Julian Carr: www.movescount.com/members/juliancarr

Kim Havell: www.movescount.com/members/kimhavell

So who are you going to start moving with?

Rebecca Rusch Wins Big In Brazil!

Fresh off her second consecutive record breaking win at the Leadville Trail 100, Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch gets to add yet another impressive title to her staggering resume. This past week Rebecca was in Brazil for the UCI Master’s Cross Country World Champions and blew the competition away. From her website she writes:

Done. 16.5 km of pure pain and I’m the new UCI masters’s cross country World Champ (35-44)with a set of rainbow stripes! I”m adding this world title to my three 24 Hour Solo Worlds titles, one Adventure Racing Worlds title and one Masters Cross Country Skiing World title. It’s kind of cool.

This trip started with a theft and less than ideal preparation with a ton of travel, too many days off the bike and too much time in a police station. However, it ended up just great. The course took me a few days to master the technical parts, but today’s race went off without a hitch. My bike and legs both did the job. I rode my Specialized S-works Era with Sauserwind tires for this course. My race group started 30 seconds back from the 30-34 women. The course started straight uphill with about a 5 minute climb. As my coach told me to do, I laid it on the line and pinned it from the start. By the time I reached the top of the climb to drop into the single track, I had caught and passed all the women in the previous age group, except for one woman from Argentina. I kept her in sight for most of the race. Behind me, I just wanted to keep opening a gap on the climbs so I could ride the descents without traffic and focus on being smooth. I buried myself on the short, sharp climbs and then held on for the desents. I rode all of the descents with no crashes and I was really happy about that. I had to walk one uphill that was about 29% and just seemed faster to run. My throat is killing me and my Suunto HR numbers will be really fun to download on Movescount. Quite different from my 24 Hour World Champs experience. It hurt, but was over so fast. It is a different sort of suffering. My race was about 1:18 and I was about 11 minutes ahead of the next woman. It was a blast to jump out of my element and race XC. It was great for me to put myself out there and work on some of my weaknesses like starting fast and riding technical terrain. The awards were a blast and I must admit it’s hard not to get a bit choked up when they played the American National Anthem. Augustina was the Argentine woman who won 30-34 and finished in front of me. I almost broke into tears when she took the podium because there were about 30 Argentine racers all singing their national song and waving their arms in unison. It was quite a show of national pride.

I spent the afternoon doing a few interviews, socializing and watching the dowhnill qualifying runs. We also swam in the ocean, had lunch on the beach and drank Caipirinha to celebrate! I owe huge thanks to Martin and Pinano, from Argentina, for taking care of me this week. They have been my mechanics, translators, feed zone crew, transportation and technical riding coaches this week.

For more on Rebecca visit her website here.

You can also follower her on Facebook, Twitter, and Movescount.

Rebecca Rusch WINS and Sets New Course Record at Leadville

YEAH REBA!!!!!

Suunto's Rebecca Rusch, the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 Women’s Champ and three-time 24 Hour Solo Mountain Biking World Champion, has done it again. This weekend Rebecca not only defended her 2009 Leadville Trail 100 title, to become the 2010 Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 Women's Champ, but she also smashed the course record set back in 1997. She beat her 2009 time by nearly 30 minutes and broke the course record by 11 minutes to finish the grueling 100-mile race with a time of 7:45:35. She finished 22 overall in a field of 1022 finishers. From the press release:

After a chilly morning start, Rusch says the blue-bird skies and temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s were a stark change over last year’s freezing conditions.

She spent most of the first half of the race trying to shake second place finisher Amanda Carey. Rusch finally gained a sizeable gap at the Columbine climb.

“I said it’s now or never,” said Rusch, “I just knew it had to happen then. And I put the screws to her and it worked.”

Rush battled through leg cramps during the last stretch of the race to cross the finish line 25 minutes before Carey and an hour before the 3^rd & 4^th place female finishers.

“Another win at Leadville is huge. This race is unreal,” said Rusch, “I’ve been training with this being my main goal all year. Still, I surprised myself. I wanted the course record, but I didn’t expect to beat it by 11 minutes. This was the most painful day I had on a bike, but it was worth it.”

The Life Time Fitness Leadville Trail 100 is one of the most high-profile mountain bike races in the sport, as well as one of the most punishing, with steep climbs and harrowing descents totaling approximately 14,000 feet in elevation gain. This year the race had more than 1,500 riders from 48 states and 21 countries. The race covers 100 miles of peaks and valleys all above 9,000 feet in elevation in Leadville, CO. It draws some of the top names in the sport, and at least 20,000 spectators. The race is an out-and-back course; 50 miles to the highest paint on the course, the Columbine Mine Aid Station at 12,600’. 90-percent of the race is on back-country dirt roads, with some short sections of paved road.

Congratulations to Rebecca on an amazing accomplishment. Reba uses a Suunto t6c for all of training, and she uploads her race reports, routes, accomplishments, and training data at www.movescount.com. So see how many calories she burned during Leadville, her heart rate, her mileage and route, check out her movescount profile here. http://www.movescount.com/members/rebarusch

For more on Rebecca Rusch visit her website.

Photos by Dave McElwaine and Rob O'Dea

Rebecca Rusch is on Movescount and Loving It

Suunto’s Rebecca Rusch has recently joined Movescount.com and couldn’t be happier. The Three-time 24hr Solo World Mountain Bike Champion and Leadville 100 Trail Women's Champion says--

“I LOVE Movescount. I’m encouraged to use it more often [than Training Manager] because it’s so easy. I am also sharing it with my coach and he loves it too.”

If you aren’t familiar with Movescount, read from the press release below.

“Movescount.com is Suunto’s next step in the consumer’s training journey,” says Suunto President Mikko Moilanen. “We wanted to create a unique place that was open to everyone, whether you’re a Suunto fan or just someone who enjoys sports. It’s all about sharing, exploring and enjoying our everyday sport experiences.”

Incorporating social networking, Movescount.com offers a place for like-minded active individuals to share their stories. Members can swap experiences, join groups, post tips and share training routes. With a click, members can share their Moves through other social networking sites such as Digg, Facebook and Twitter. They can enhance their personal profiles by posting routes using Google Maps, adding images of their adventures from their own Flickr account and scenic or exciting videos from YouTube. Movescount.com members can follow the progress of their friends, running partners and favorite athletes.

A simple online Sports Diary allows users to chart their Moves each day – managing runs, swims, and bike rides. Movescount.com will generate an overview of each month’s activities to measure where adjustments in exercise should be made. Never before has an online sports community given the user such detailed analysis of every Move through easy-to-understand graphs and charts. Members can clearly see how many calories they’ve burned in the last workout, week or month; what their maximum heart-rate was on that challenging run; their EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), speed and distance.

Compatible with both Mac and PCs, Movescount.com is available to members with and without Suunto devices. Compatible Suunto devices include the t3, t4, t6, memory belt and X10. There is also an option to transfer old training data from Training Manager and Training Manager Lite. The website will be compatible with the new Suunto M-Series M4 and M5.

To follow Rebecca on Movescount click here.

Rebecca Rusch in Australia

Suunto Athlete Rebecca Rusch was busy last week, competing in the five-day Red Centre Enduro mountain bike race across Australia's Outback where she placed 3rd!
Rebecca's been blogging about the entire race on her website, www.rebeccarusch.com.
Here is just a taste of Reba's Outback experience, and the last few days of her race.
The following is an excerpt from Rebecca 's blog -- The Ingkerreke Commercial Red Centre Enduro is in the record books and hopefully the 5 days of hard racing is stored in my legs for further use in the season. The final stage was a 45 km mass start and might have been my favorite stage of all. I was sitting in 2nd at the start of the last stage with just a one second margin over third. Given the crazy terrain and tire eating rocks, it was still anyone’s race. I felt strong on the last day, but not fast. I still rode hard and kept it in the back of my mind that a flat tire would be all it would take to change the rankings. It was one of the hottest days of the week and drank all my water and was still wanting more. Gracie, who is 1/2 my age, won the stage and moved up into 2nd overall. Jodie finished off a super solid week and held onto her first place finish. I finished 3rd and was really happy with my performance. I would have liked to have been able to drum up a bit more top end speed for some of the shorter stages, but I know it’s early season and this race is preparation for bigger goals later in the year. I was super impressed with the race organization and the level of competition in Australia. It was also really fun to see the Aussie spirit alive and well. People here just seem unbelievably happy to be riding their bikes and pushing themselves. They have a way of being super competitive, but with a smile on their face and a kind word as they pass you.

To read about all of the stages and hear Rebecca's exciting and descriptive account of the adventure, check out her blog at www.rebeccarusch.com.

Rebecca Heads Down Under for the Red Centre Enduro

Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch is at it again -- she's traveling the world in search of awesome adventure and new tracks to ride. Right now, she's in Alice Springs, Australia for the Red Centre Enduro, a five-day seven-stage Mountain Bike Race.
Here are some updates from the first two days of the race from Reba's blog.

Day 2
G’day! Stage one and two are in the books and I feel really good about my performance. The first stage was about 45 km of technical, rocky, sandy singletrack. It was actually a blast and I really enjoyed the stage. The riding was one of the best XC courses I’ve ever done. The scenery was really beautiful and I even had a kangaroo jump out in front of me! I’m satisfied with my placing and now know what type of riders I’m up against. The three women that were in front of me today are some of the best XC racers in the country, including the marathon national champ and world cup racer, and the U23 XC national champ. The women’s field is super strong, but I know there are still many more hours of racing and I hope to get some time back in the longer stage. There were multiple athletes carrying and walking their bikes due to flats, broken frames and mechanicals. There were also a couple of broken people who suffered crashes. The desert out here eats bicycles and people, so I feel really grateful to have made it through the day with no crashes, no mechanicals and in a decent overall position. I was about 8 minutes back from the leader, so it’s still anyone’s race. Stage two was in the afternoon. It was a 300 meter TT hill climb and it hurt! It was a traditional countdown and just over a minute of pain. It was sort of fun because spectators were lining the road and cheering the whole time. I finished up 3rd in the hill climb and got myself a 5 second bonus for that! I’ll take whatever I can get!

Day 1
I’m sitting in my hotel room in the middle of Australia. Literally the middle of nowhere, Alice Springs. I’m as far away from home as I can get. They say it’s the Death Valley of Australia, but it doesn’t feel that hot to me yet. I’m sorting my bike, nutrition and gear for tomorrow’s first stage of the Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro/Red Centre. It’s a five day stage race that is run by my adventure racing teammate, John Jacoby. John and I raced side by side for nearly 8 years traveling around the globe through Kyrgysztan, Vietnam, the ALPS, covering what seems like a million miles together. He’s like a brother to me, so when he invited me to come experience his race, I could not pass up the opportunity. The riding is super rocky, thorny, with sandy red dirt everywhere. The big topic of conversation for this race is the flat tires. The race website and other competitors all drilled it into me that this area rips tire side walls to pieces and that the thorns are relentless. This race is 7 stages spread over 5 days. The stages are all varied and range from a 45 second hill climb to a 100 km all day affair. Tomorrow’s stages are a 40 km mass start cross country stage and a 40 second hill climb in the town. The longer morning stage is rumored to have a section of the most difficult single track that we will see all week. It’s called the Hell Line trail, so I’m sure it’ll be rough. Since I’ve never raced here, I have no idea what to expect. What I do know from John is that he loves to challenge people and this race will be far from easy. Most of the stages are quite short for me, so this will be a great training week of lining up each day and pinning it from the gun. The field is stacked with the best racers in the country, so I expect a really tough bit of racing. I will do my best to keep you all up to speed as the week progresses.

Suunto Cyclists in the front of the pack at the Sea Otter Classic

Suunto athletes Rebecca Rusch and Conrad Stoltz both fared well this weekend at the Sea Otter Classic Cycling Festival and Competition.
Rusch came in 2nd at the Super D on Friday afternoon. Stoltz placed 14th in the Cross Country race.

The Sea Otter Classic is a four-day celebration of cycling and outdoors sports with a full schedule of amateur and professional cycling events. Amateur events included 200 classes of road and mountain bike competitions for all ages and skill levels. Professional and elite competitions include Mountain Bike, Road Circuit and Gravity Mountain Bike Races.