On Oct 21st, 2020 Fort Collins’ Reese Ruland set a new FKT on Utah’s White Rim Trail with a time of 7:17:51. Since that time the FKT has been established twice. The current owner, Moriah Wilson, has a time of 6:57:01 just 17 seconds faster than second-place Alexis Skarda. But, this isn’t an article about women who are faster than Reese, this is an article about her loaner 2020 Santa Cruz Blur, affectionately known as Samantha.

Resse Deets- This bike was a demo bike that Santa Cruz loaned me for the White Rim. She definitely had a rough life before she got to me, but given that I rarely ride a MTB, this is a nice retirement home for her, for the time being. I’ll send her back to Santa Cruz soon ish. Maybe once the new Blur gets here (its here), she’ll want to leave. I hear that one is going to be a bit wild (it is).
Other race day things not on my bike: I had 96oz of water on me, which contained a lot of my calories as well. I ended up dumping out a decent amount of my frame bottle right before the Shafer climb because I hadn’t touched it.
Things I’d do differently: measure my setback, saddle height, and cleats better. Pretty sure all of them were off. I’d also ride my bike more than 5 times prior to the White Rim. I think that could have helped with the nerve pain and fit issues I experienced as well.
This was the perfect bike for me. She was great for the White Rim. I’ve actually taken her off some tiny drops and I feel like a real MTBer, even though the 110mm suspension hates me. It’s fun getting into the mountain bike scene. I’m pretty bad at all of it, but I’ve been fortunate enough to ride with very patient people who are just excited there’s a new member to the MTB dark side of bike riding.

Don’t forget you can see Reese and Samantha in action right now during the Bicycle Film Festival being hosted by Bike Fort Collins. They included her FKT film in the screening.