Georgia Gould solos to XC win at Sea Otter.

Two wins in two days in Monterey, CA for WN & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish users!

Gould solos to win in the heat!

This is an area of extreme weather. It can be cold/wet or 6 inch mud, but this year they even shortened the race due to the extreme heat. Georgia has a history dealing with heat, she is more of a snow bird and her motor runs hot (lots of horsepower) and works very well in the cold, but not this time, she flew away for the win! She was off the front in clean air and never looked back!

Sea Otter is a race where Georgia first started to make a name for herself on the Luna team. She has a few tricks about the straights and learned to haul it on that kind of course. Wobble-naught fast!

Georgia Gould (Luna) hit the gas early and launched an attack early on the very first lap. She has learned a few things from the elite level cyclocross. You race from the gun. As normal, long time teammate Katerina Nash (Luna) went with her to set the fast pace.

"I was first into the first downhill and Katerina was right on my wheel and said, 'We've got a gap," but then I blew a corner and she went by. That was great since she's an awesome downhiller. She let me by on the first singletrack and I was able to get a gap."

Within the next 15 minutes, Nash was caught by the chasers including Catharine Pendrel (Luna), Lene Byberg (Specialized), Kelli Emmett (Giant) and Emily Batty (Trek) until Pendrel and Lene Byberg (Specialized) escaped the others. The pair battled each other until nearly the finish.

Pendrel was under no obligation to chase her teammate Gould down. As she pointed out, Georgia in the beginning was really strong today."

All the racers appeared to suffer some in the heat. "It was really hot. My hands were hot and the skin on my legs was hot," said winner Gould.

Gould likes a long race. "Orginally I thought that I was not that happy about the race being shortened because that's what Sea Otter is about. It's long and it's one of the few races where we get to do the same distance as the pro men. As it turns out, it was good for me. I ended up on the dehydrated side a little. When it's this hot, it's hard to drink enough."

Georgia Gould knew her chasers were never too far behind but kept looking forward (kept the focus on each stroke) - toward catching more guys (the men started 15 minutes ahead of the women) - rather than looking back.

Elite women  

1 Georgia Gould (Luna)                 1.22.45    WN & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish

2 Lene Byberg (Nor) Specialized           1.07

3 Catharine Pendrel (Luna)                1.14 

4 Kelli Emmett (USA)                      3.58 

5 Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru Gary Fisher 4.09    

6 Pua Sawicki (USA)                  4.15     WN & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish 

7 Katerina Nash (Luna)   5.22         

8 Heather Irmiger Subaru Gary Fisher  6.17             

9 Jenna Rinehart Specialized         7.02   

10 Lorenza Morfin                         7.37 

11 Emily Batty (Can) Trek Store           8.08  WN & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish