Rebecca Rusch and riding partner Huyen Nguyen cycle the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Vietnam.
skills, teamwork, and logistical planning that I developed while adventure racing were also essential tools. When you combine the strain of disruptive sleep, the hours each day on the bike, exposure to the elements, and perpetual motion day after day, they take a massive, cumulative toll physically and emotionally. It takes years to develop the durability and the maturity required for multiday expeditions like this one. Thankfully, I had these years of experience and training to fall back on, because we had just a couple months’ notice once the documentary and journey were approved in November 2014. Planning accelerated and I kicked my training into high gear. I live in the mountains and as the Idahoan winter deepened, I spent hours training indoors on my bike, while outdoors I
Don has spent 15 years motorcycling and exploring the Ho Chi Minh Trail, so he was essential in our planning. But the remote location and the lack of information left so many unknowns that we would have to uncover along the way. Even the trails that are mapped change each rainy season. Bridges get washed out all the time and roads that are supposed to be there aren’t there. During the war, the trail was constantly shifting. It still is. There was so much that we couldn’t plan for. Instead, we had to be flexible and face the challenges as they came up. My whole life was a preparation for this journey. Every sport I’ve competed in honed the skills that were needed on this ride; even whitewater rafting and rock climbing expertise came in handy. The navigational
76 | September 2017
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