Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
Lost and Found on the Blood Road: 1,200 Miles that Changed Rebecca Rusch's Life
You don’t get handed the nickname “The Queen of Pain” because you're some kind of Scrabble wizard or ping-pong prodigy. Rebecca Rusch came by that title the hard way. Drowning, dehydration, dysentery, frostbite, hypothermia, and heat stroke were all things Rusch actively courted for years—first as one of the world’s preeminent adventure racers and later as one of the toughest competitors to straddle a mountain bike.
And yet the hardest thing Rebecca Rusch ever attempted in her life didn’t involve setting another world record or dismantling the field of competition. It was a long ride, sure—1,200 miles and 380 hours spent slogging through unforgiving jungle. Rusch, however, will tell you the physical toll wasn’t the worst of it. This ride, which took her to the very spot in Laos where her father died more than 40 years earlier, also took Rusch to a place inside herself that neither she nor her sponsor, Red Bull, anticipated.
The movie, Blood Road, chronicles Rusch’s journey through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and if you’re expecting Red Bull Media House's first full-length feature film to brim with corner schralping, cliff hucking and the like, you may walk away surprised. This is the story of how Rebecca Rusch wound up on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and what she found there.
You can find the whole story and pictures here: Lost-and-found-on-the-ho-chi-minh-trail
Just a small part of the whole movie "Blood Road" showing biking along bomb craters and a bit of background on the war
You don’t get handed the nickname “The Queen of Pain” because you're some kind of Scrabble wizard or ping-pong prodigy. Rebecca Rusch came by that title the hard way. Drowning, dehydration, dysentery, frostbite, hypothermia, and heat stroke were all things Rusch actively courted for years—first as one of the world’s preeminent adventure racers and later as one of the toughest competitors to straddle a mountain bike.
And yet the hardest thing Rebecca Rusch ever attempted in her life didn’t involve setting another world record or dismantling the field of competition. It was a long ride, sure—1,200 miles and 380 hours spent slogging through unforgiving jungle. Rusch, however, will tell you the physical toll wasn’t the worst of it. This ride, which took her to the very spot in Laos where her father died more than 40 years earlier, also took Rusch to a place inside herself that neither she nor her sponsor, Red Bull, anticipated.
The movie, Blood Road, chronicles Rusch’s journey through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and if you’re expecting Red Bull Media House's first full-length feature film to brim with corner schralping, cliff hucking and the like, you may walk away surprised. This is the story of how Rebecca Rusch wound up on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and what she found there.
You can find the whole story and pictures here: Lost-and-found-on-the-ho-chi-minh-trail
Just a small part of the whole movie "Blood Road" showing biking along bomb craters and a bit of background on the war
