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A violent mountain bike crash isn’t just a physical trauma—it’s a massive pattern interrupt where fate demands attention.
On Veterans Day 2021, today’s guest experienced a powerful moment of synchronicity. While mountain biking in Arizona, she crashed and hit her head on a rock—right where she had painted coordinates on her helmet in honor of her father’s Vietnam War crash site. As she examined the damage, a plane flew overhead—a sign from her father. The impact caused a traumatic brain injury (TBI), forever altering the course of her life.
My guest today is Rebecca Rusch, a legendary endurance athlete known as “The Queen of Pain,” who has won seven world championships and is the protagonist in the Emmy-winning documentary “Blood Road”—an extraordinary film chronicling her 1,800 km mountain bike journey along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to find where her father’s plane was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War. After our initial conversation (episode 450), she returns to explore a different kind of adventure—perhaps her most challenging yet. Just as a caterpillar must completely dissolve before becoming a butterfly, her transformation required total surrender first.
Our conversation reveals how achievement and accolades can become a desperate cry for attention—a replacement for love that works until it doesn’t. We examine those bespoke coping mechanisms we all develop for survival. For this world-class athlete, extraordinary physical achievements had always been her sanctuary. The true test wasn’t pushing harder or going further, but learning to stop—to finally release the armor of constant motion and face the self she’d spent a lifetime outrunning.
“Acceptance is the strongest thing you can do. Everyone goes through pain and suffering. Will you accept it or deny it?”
– REBECCA RUSCH
Today, we navigate a Byzantine path through the healthcare system, psychedelic-assisted therapy, alternative healing modalities, and childhood abandonment. She shares her experiences with depression and lethargy, sleep disorders, and the devastating impact of TBI. Her metamorphosis from celebrated athlete to reluctant spiritual seeker reveals the exhaustion of being superhuman and the power of vulnerability.
“The crown, the cape is really heavy,” she admits. Through her journey, we discover that healing isn’t just about recovering from injury—it’s about daring to exist without the protective identity we’ve spent decades building, the constant motion that kept vulnerability at bay.
For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Her courage to share this path while still walking it—to be this vulnerable in service of others—might be more powerful than any race she’s ever won.
This isn’t just another story of athletic achievement; it’s a raw exploration of what happens when life forces us to redefine who we are.
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- Connect With Rebecca: Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube | Substack
- Brain Storm Podcast: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
- Rebecca’s Concussion Resources: Download Here
- Be Good Foundation: About
- Rebecca’s Private Idaho: Learn More
- Amazon Prime: Watch Blood Road
- Outside Magazine: Introducing Brain Storm, a New Podcast on Brain Injury from Rebecca Rusch
- Cycling Weekly: ‘I’ve been silently weathering a dark and tumultuous storm that broke my helmet and my spirit’ – Rebecca Rusch debuts podcast series about traumatic brain injury
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Thank The Team: I do not do this alone. Send your love to Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes and interstitial music; with additional audio engineering by Cale Curtis and additional music by Moby; Blake Curtis & Dan Drake for video, & editing; graphics by Jessica Miranda & Daniel Solis; portraits by Davy Greenberg, Grayson Wilder & Gizelle Peters; Additional images of Rebecca by Scout Media, Chris Burkard, copywriting by Ben Pryor; and theme music by Tyler Piatt, Trapper Piatt & Hari Mathis.
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