Mountain biker Rebecca Rusch rides Ho Chi Minh Trail

Ultra-endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch has won competitions all around the world in several disciplines, however she faced her toughest challenge yet in new Red Bull Media House documentary Blood Road.

The American, who is also known as “The Queen of Pain”, set out on an arduous journey of healing and self-discovery in search of the site where her father’s plane went down during the Vietnam War. Rusch and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, pedalled 1,200 miles along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, including the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, to reach the site where Rebecca’s father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was shot down in Laos.

The 48-year-old explained, “The most alarming discovery of the entire journey was learning about the vast amount of unexploded wartime ordnance that still remains and continues to threaten human lives.

“I went there searching for my Dad and pieces of myself, but came home with the understanding that I can use my bike for a bigger purpose than just winning races.”

Blood Road is not only a powerful story of a daughter’s love letter to her lost father, but also one about how two women forge a deep bond triggered by a shared experience of war and loss.

Director Nicholas Schrunk’s documentary is Red Bull Media House North America’s first feature film to be written, produced, directed and edited entirely in-house.

It has won the Sun Valley Film Festival Audience Award and “Best of Fest” at Bentonville Film Festival ahead of its June 20 digital and retail release.

Images credit: Josh Letchworth/Red Bull Content Pool