The Girl On A Bike, About Vanessa Ruck

As seen in The Bournemouth Echo: Bournemouth graduate defies odds in epic race, surviving crashes, extreme conditions, and an allergic reaction, triumphing against all odds.

A BOURNEMOUTH graduate has succeeded in one of the world’s toughest endurance races and described the experience as like ‘fighting for her life’.

Vanessa Ruck has become one of the few to complete the grueling Morocco Desert Challenge – an extreme motorcycle race over sand dunes. The 36-year-old battled blistering temperatures and covered 2,500km of African terrain over an eight-day period.

She also tackled an upset stomach and two huge crashes that deployed her life-saving air vest, plus an allergic reaction that led to her being barely able to open her eyes. But a determined Vanessa fought on.

She said: “I knew I was racing others, but it felt more like I was fighting for my life.

“Fighting the terrain, battling the heat, the mental and physical fatigue, I was riding for my life. In the vast dunes, I knew that if I had an issue that was me done.

“I even started wording a message in my head to record on my phone for my family if the worst happened. It was scary.” In 2014, Vanessa had a cycling accident which led to seven surgeries over seven years of recovery, and a reconstructed shoulder and hip.

Despite this, she went on to ride her first off-road bike, and discovered the thrill of motorcycles. Since then, she has endured some of the toughest races going, and is one of very few females that has braved the Morocco Desert Challenge.

Describing her final push in the race, Vanessa said: “Every bump felt excruciating, but I only had 70km to go. Just 10km at a time, I could make it. “But then I realised I needed to pee. With the pain, I knew I had no hope of getting my trousers and kit down”.

She added: “As I crested the penultimate dune the finish line flags came into view and my heart leapt with joy. Everyone heard my screams of delight.”

Vanessa was able to battle through to the end, finishing 25th in her category.

For the rest of the Bournemouth Echo article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The Bournemouth Echo: Bournemouth graduate defies odds in epic race, surviving crashes, extreme conditions, and an allergic reaction, triumphing against all odds.

A BOURNEMOUTH graduate has succeeded in one of the world’s toughest endurance races and described the experience as like ‘fighting for her life’.

Vanessa Ruck has become one of the few to complete the grueling Morocco Desert Challenge – an extreme motorcycle race over sand dunes. The 36-year-old battled blistering temperatures and covered 2,500km of African terrain over an eight-day period.

She also tackled an upset stomach and two huge crashes that deployed her life-saving air vest, plus an allergic reaction that led to her being barely able to open her eyes. But a determined Vanessa fought on.

She said: “I knew I was racing others, but it felt more like I was fighting for my life.

“Fighting the terrain, battling the heat, the mental and physical fatigue, I was riding for my life. In the vast dunes, I knew that if I had an issue that was me done.

“I even started wording a message in my head to record on my phone for my family if the worst happened. It was scary.” In 2014, Vanessa had a cycling accident which led to seven surgeries over seven years of recovery, and a reconstructed shoulder and hip.

Despite this, she went on to ride her first off-road bike, and discovered the thrill of motorcycles. Since then, she has endured some of the toughest races going, and is one of very few females that has braved the Morocco Desert Challenge.

Describing her final push in the race, Vanessa said: “Every bump felt excruciating, but I only had 70km to go. Just 10km at a time, I could make it. “But then I realised I needed to pee. With the pain, I knew I had no hope of getting my trousers and kit down”.

She added: “As I crested the penultimate dune the finish line flags came into view and my heart leapt with joy. Everyone heard my screams of delight.”

Vanessa was able to battle through to the end, finishing 25th in her category.

For the rest of the Bournemouth Echo article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The Bournemouth Echo: Bournemouth graduate conquers the ultimate test of endurance, surviving the treacherous Morocco Desert Challenge on a motorcycle.

A BOURNEMOUTH graduate has succeeded in one of the world’s toughest endurance races and described the experience as like ‘fighting for her life’. Vanessa Ruck has become one of the few to complete the gruelling Morocco Desert Challenge – an extreme motorcycle race over sand dunes.

The 36-year-old battled blistering temperatures and covered 2,500km of African terrain over an eight-day period. She also tackled an upset stomach and two huge crashes that deployed her life-saving air vest, plus an allergic reaction that led to her being barely able to open her eyes. But a determined Vanessa fought on.

She said: “I knew I was racing others, but it felt more like I was fighting for my life.

“Fighting the terrain, battling the heat, the mental and physical fatigue, I was riding for my life. In the vast dunes, I knew that if I had an issue that was me done.

“I even started wording a message in my head to record on my phone for my family if the worst happened. It was scary.”

In 2014, Vanessa had a cycling accident which led to seven surgeries over seven years of recovery, and a reconstructed shoulder and hip.

Despite this, she went on to ride her first off-road bike, and discovered the thrill of motorcycles.

Since then, she has endured some of the toughest races going, and is one of very few females that has braved the Morocco Desert Challenge.

Describing her final push in the race, Vanessa said: “Every bump felt excruciating, but I only had 70km to go. Just 10km at a time, I could make it.

“But then I realised I needed to pee. With the pain, I knew I had no hope of getting my trousers and kit down”.

She added: “As I crested the penultimate dune the finish line flags came into view and my heart leapt with joy. Everyone heard my screams of delight.”

Vanessa was able to battle through to the end, finishing 25th in her category.

For the rest of the Bournemouth Echo article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The Tailwind Nutrition: Vanessa Ruck, aka The Girl on a Bike, conquers the Morocco Desert Challenge, enduring extreme conditions, crashes, and health challenges.

British female finishes one of the world’s toughest endurance races…

• Facing 2,500km of brutal African terrain with peak riding with an attrition rate so high that only 40% of the motorcycle category riders successfully completed
• The gruelling Morocco Desert Challenge is an extreme 8-day motorcycle race over sand dunes in blistering temperatures hitting 52°C / 125°F
• Tragically two lives lost to the desert during the race
• Vanessa Ruck fought to the end finishing 25^th in category, showing the male dominated industry that women can too
• It was not smooth sailing for her with huge challenges from upset stomach, hydration, allergic reactions and two big crashes

Here’s the story…

Vanessa Ruck, also known as The Girl on a Bike, has successfully battled for her life to complete the gruelling Morocco Desert Challenge, an extreme rally-raid over sand dunes in blistering temperatures. As one of the world’s toughest endurance events, the 36-year-old Ryancompleted the 8-day event, covering up to 420km each day and became one of the few who finished. With an attrition rate so high that only 40% of the motorcycle category riders successfully completed, it’s a serious achievement for the British athlete. But it wasn’t all sunshine!

She endured the heat wave hitting North Africa with temperatures peaking at 52°C. She tackled an upset stomach and hydration challenges from the extreme heat, faced two huge crashes that deployed her life-saving air vest, and confronted an allergic reaction that led to her barely able to open her eyes just half an hour before taking to the start line. Many would have quit.

Unforgiving extremes in the desert

But with pure grit and determination Vanessa fought on, “I knew I was racing others, but it felt more like I was fighting for my life. Fighting the terrain, battling the heat, the mental and physical fatigue, I was riding for my life. In the vast dunes, I knew that if I had an issue that was me done. I even started wording a message in my head to record on my phone for my family if the worst happened. It was scary.”

The heat in the dunes is exceptional and unforgiving, and the human body is incredibly vulnerable on bikes when the temperature peaks at 52°C / 125°F in a heat wave. “I recall cresting a huge dune peak higher than a multi-storey house and scanning the horizon…there was nothing but sand and dunes in every direction and not a soul. It was me and my bike. My body was exhausted, I wanted to rest but the heat meant I had to keep pushing. The only way out, was onwards. I had to dig deep mentally to fight to the finish.”

Mental and physical extremes

Competitors are navigating but also tackling the rugged and rocky terrain of Morocco. The tricky navigation means following a series of symbols, compass bearings, and distance on a scrolling piece of paper mounted to the handlebars, called a road book. Road book navigation events, such as the infamous Paris-Dakar, are far more than just riding. Riders have to navigate accurately, retaining mental and physical focus for upwards of 6-8 hours of racing, and do this off-road day after day. Could you stay calm on your own in the middle of nowhere, digging deep into your energy reserves with only the supplies you can carry?

It would be easy to question Vanessa’s sanity and decision to enter such an event but when a cycling accident in 2014 threatened to derail the adventurous life Vanessa loved, she refused to take it lying down. Instead, she handled things the only way she knows how. Brushing herself off, she put herself back together. And then she upped the ante.

With a reconstructed shoulder and hip following a 7-year recovery with 7 surgeries, Vanessa discovered the thrill of motorcycles. Fast forward 7 years since she mounted her first off-road bike and she’s taking on some of the toughest races going and is amongst very few females braving the brutalities they put you though. Vanessa’s journey has not been smooth with pain now a daily feature in her life, but what she has learned is that it’s vital to never let your past control your future. It’s likely the resilience her recovery forced her to gain, helped her through many of the brutal Morocco Desert Challenge obstacles.

For the rest of the Tailwind Nutrition article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The BBC Radio Solent: Vanessa Ruck’s triumphant journey in the Morocco Desert Challenge, revealed in a captivating interview with Fern Buckley on BBC Radio Solent.

After successfully finishing the gruelling Morocco Desert Challenge Vanessa Ruck spoke with Fern Buckley to share more of the extremes she faces in the desert. As heard live on BBC Radio Solent on 15th May 2023.

For the rest of the BBC Radio Solent article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The Biker Chick Chat: Join Biker Chick Chat as we delve into Vanessa Ruck’s inspiring journey from accident to enduro, exploring how it transformed her life.

In this episode of Biker Chick Chat I speak with The Girl On A Bike, Vanessa Ruck all about her accident and how it’s shaped her life today!

I had the honour of having Vanessa Ruck join me on the podcast, and we talk about a whole range of things from the accident through to racing and her love to Harley-Davidson. You can watch and listen here:

For the rest of the Biker Chick Chat podcast listen here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in Road Dirt: Join Vanessa Ruck, ‘The Girl On A Bike,’ as she fearlessly embraces life, overcomes challenges, and inspires others to live courageously. Nothing is impossible when you want it bad enough!

Vanessa Ruck is on a mission- To courageously squeeze every drop out of life, and to help others overcome their adversities and step into courageous living as well. To quote her directly, “I’m on a mission to prove nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough.” Gauging from the many adventures in her young life, and the inspiration she is to so many who know her and follow her travels, Vanessa is realizing her dream. She is the one and only, “The Girl On A Bike.”

There are endless scores of youthful “influencers” across social media and the wider web today, probably too many. Most are silly, self-absorbed superstar wannabes, posting selfies and videos to promote only themselves. Vanessa doesn’t like to counted among that ilk. Her vision is much larger than herself, or any social media notoriety. She’s an “influencer” no doubt, although she dislikes the term. But she influences in the right way, by encouraging others to look deeply into their own lives and find the courage to get outside and really live beyond their confining circumstances.

Born and raised in merry old England, Vanessa attributes her love for the great outdoors to her parents and upbringing. She states, “I was very lucky to have an incredibly outdoorsy childhood, with my parents always telling me, ‘Boredom is a lack of imagination. To entertain yourself, go outside and climb some trees or play with some sticks.’ I was incredibly active growing up, doing all kinds of sports my parents could get me into, from rock climbing to boogie boarding and horse riding.”

Everything suddenly and shockingly changed on March 25th, 2014, when she was struck by an automobile while bicycling her way home from work. Pedaling through a green light, a driver jumped out in front of her from her right, running their red light and impacting Vanessa on her right side, bicycle and rider flying. She never lost consciousness, she remembered- “It seemed to happen almost in slow motion. I hit the ground on my right side, could feel my heartbeat, my pulse thumping through my veins, my surroundings almost a blur.” Still tangled up with her bike, passersby immediately came to Vanessa’s aid, and an ambulance arrived in short order to transport her to a local hospital.

“While my initial injuries were not life-threatening, they were definitely life-changing.”

Inexplicably, she was sent home with orders to rest and let all the inflammation go down in her right shoulder, knee and hip. Turns out, she had major injuries deep in each, that would soon require multiple surgeries. As Vanessa states, “While my initial injuries were not life-threatening, they were definitely life-changing, and it was going to be a long road back to full fitness.” In the years since, Vanessa has undergone seven operations to her shoulder and hip, with full reconstructions of each, and the possibility of more in her future. She has worked hard to rehab, following doctors and PT directives in her recovery, and despite living with and managing chronic pain, Vanessa has gradually returned to an active life, albeit with some care and modifications.

The mental recovery from her trauma was more difficult. Diagnosed with several mental health disorders such as overwhelming fear and anxiety and bouts of depression, exacerbated by the chronic pain she manages, meant Vanessa had to find a way to not only cope, but press through, to get her life back. She married, and for their honeymoon, her husband booked something truly epic- a motorcycle road trip through the heart of America on a pair of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

“When people say ‘recovery’, you typically think of returning to how you were before the accident,” says Vanessa. “But there is no going back. You do not merely recover, you reinvent yourself. You learn so much as you fight through; it’s an irreversible journey. While my journey over the past several years has been brutal, I feel somehow lucky. I have friends now I would never have met, I have a Harley-Davidson I would never have bought, I have realized the importance of a work-life balance, I’ve become even closer to my husband and soulmate, and I have a fire in my soul only this type of recovery could light.” Well-said, Vanessa.

For the rest of the Road Dirt article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.

As seen in The Dirt Hub: Vanessa Ruck, The Girl on a Bike, conquers Morocco Desert Challenge, a grueling rally-raid, battling sand dunes and scorching heat.

Vanessa Ruck, also known as The Girl on a Bike, has successfully battled for her life to complete the gruelling Morocco Desert Challenge, an extreme rally-raid over sand dunes in blistering temperatures. As one of the world’s toughest endurance events, the 36-year-old UK based completed the 8-day event, covering up to 420km each day and became one of the few who finished. With an attrition rate so high that only 40% of the motorcycle category riders successfully completed, it’s a serious achievement for the British athlete. But it wasn’t all sunshine!

She endured the heat wave hitting North Africa with temperatures peaking at 52°C. She tackled an upset stomach and hydration challenges from the extreme heat, faced two huge crashes that deployed her life-saving air vest, and confronted an allergic reaction that led to her barely able to open her eyes just half an hour before taking to the start line. Many would have quit.

Unforgiving extremes in the desert

But with pure grit and determination Vanessa fought on, “I knew I was racing others, but it felt more like I was fighting for my life. Fighting the terrain, battling the heat, the mental and physical fatigue, I was riding for my life. In the vast dunes, I knew that if I had an issue that was me done. I even started wording a message in my head to record on my phone for my family if the worst happened. It was scary.”

The heat in the dunes is exceptional and unforgiving, and the human body is incredibly vulnerable on bikes when the temperature peaks at 52°C / 125°F in a heat wave. “I recall cresting a huge dune peak higher than a multi-storey house and scanning the horizon…there was nothing but sand and dunes in every direction and not a soul. It was me and my bike. My body was exhausted, I wanted to rest but the heat meant I had to keep pushing. The only way out, was onwards. I had to dig deep mentally to fight to the finish.”

Lives lost to the desert

Competitors all accept the risk of extreme desert racing but sadly disaster struck twice, with the desert taking two lives during the race. Motorcycle rider Bram van der Wouden succumbed to the heat and exhaustion. Participants found him lying next to his motorbike, where he lay presumably having stopped to rest. The medical intervention team arrived very quickly but there was nothing they could do. The day before, a terrible racing accident took Laurent Lichtleuchter in a vehicle crash.

Competitors are navigating but also tackling the rugged and rocky terrain of Morocco. The tricky navigation means following a series of symbols, compass bearings, and distance on a scrolling piece of paper mounted to the handlebars, called a road book. Road book navigation events, such as the infamous Paris-Dakar, are far more than just riding. Riders have to navigate accurately, retaining mental and physical focus for upwards of 6-8 hours of racing, and do this off-road day after day. Could you stay calm on your own in the middle of nowhere, digging deep into your energy reserves with only the supplies you can carry?

It would be easy to question Vanessa’s sanity and decision to enter such an event but when a cycling accident in 2014 threatened to derail the adventurous life Vanessa loved, she refused to take it lying down.

Instead, she handled things the only way she knows how. Brushing herself off, she put herself back together. And then she upped the ante. With a reconstructed shoulder and hip following a 7-year recovery with 7 surgeries, Vanessa discovered the thrill of motorcycles.

Fast forward 7 years since she mounted her first off-road bike and she’s taking on some of the toughest races going and is amongst very few females braving the brutalities they put you though. Vanessa’s journey has not been smooth with pain now a daily feature in her life, but what she has learned is that it’s vital to never let your past control your future. It’s likely the resilience her recovery forced her to gain, helped her through many of the brutal Morocco Desert Challenge obstacles.

Fight to the finish

By day 8, in these conditions, the finish line is all the competitors can focus on. Vanessa describes her final push;

“I wish I could say the final stage was smooth sailing, but I had the biggest and most painful off of my riding career so far. With my rear tanks full in preparation for hitting the sand and dunes, my bike’s weight was not ideal for the first 30 km of rocky tracks. As I braked into a right-hand corner my rear tyre smashed into a submerged bolder sending my backend up and sideways like a rodeo bull. Feeling the bike unsettle, I smashed on the throttle to straighten out and held it, but the corner was on me…and with no way to pull it around I flew off the rocky track edge jumping and landing into a rock garden. Fighting I held him down, knees gripping and heart pounding, whisky throttling I managed to keep him straight but the rocky step ahead was the last straw. We launched and smashed in. I hit the jagged desert rocks HARD! My airbag magically knew before we hit the ground, deploying to my defence but a bolder impaled my left abdominal straight into my pelvis.

Winded, I screamed. The air sucked from my lungs. I couldn’t tell if I was ok, kicking myself for killing my chances of a finish. I hurt. Was that me out!? No! I refused to let the pain stop me! I’ve fought through worse…’’

For the rest of the Dirt Hub article see here.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding, Harleys and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.