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National Mountain Bike Series #5 (NMBS) - NE
East Coast National, Windham, New York, USA, July 11-13, 2008
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Race 4 - July 12: Elite Women Cross Country
Gould rides solo to victory
By Dave McElwaine in Windham, New York
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Georgia Gould (Luna Women's MTB) appears to have fully recovered from the heat stroke suffered several weeks ago at Santa Ynez, CA, as she went off the front from the gun today and never looked back, winning by 87 seconds. Team-mate Catherine Pendrel made things interesting as she briefly caught Gould at the top of the first climb, but Pendrel could not stay in contact on the tricky descent.
"I tried to go my hardest the whole time," said Gould. "Catherine passed me on the first climb then I kind of closed it down on the first part of the downhill. Then I passed her."
Pendrel was happy with her race, despite not being able to hold her team-mate's wheel on the descent. The rider suffered a mechanical at a crucial point of the race which allowed Gould to draw out a comfortable margin.
"Georgia set a really tough pace but I was able to catch her at the top of the climb," said Pendrel. "Then she overtook me and got onto the descent first, and was descending super well. She put some time into me but I may have been closing on the second lap.
"The third lap I was hoping to put in a good strong attack but right before the last fire road climb I twisted my derailler, and all the way down could not use my big ring," added Pendrel. "So I tried to just maintain for second, and I was able to do that so I'm happy."
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In what has become the norm, Luna's Katerina Nash made sure that her team took the top three spots on the podium, as she finished 1.5 minutes behind Pendrel. After being locked in a race-long battle Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth) finished fourth ahead of Heather Irmiger (Subaru/Gary Fisher).
The temperature at Windham Mountain was a steamy 87 degrees. Gould could be seen after the second lap with an ice bag under her skinsuit.
"It's something I've been doing since Santa Ynez, just having a little bit of ice with me," said Gould. "I felt good the whole time."
Sawicki and Irmiger rode close to each other the entire race in fourth and fifth place. Irmiger was happy with not only her podium finish, but also how she held up in the hot conditions.
"I'm really surprised I was not affected by the heat," said Irmiger. "I was really consistent today and went as hard as I could. I was pretty much at the same gap with Pua, but the second half of the second lap it looked like she was putting time into me.
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"I'd say it was a climber's course, but the downhill was actually pretty long and you had to keep it smooth, and keep your energy going," she added.
The new cross country course at Windham Mountain drew rave reviews from most of the professional riders this weekend. Comments ranged from "World Cup Class" to "the best domestic course this year" and "the most fun course of the season". Course designers made excellent use of the mountain's 1,500 vertical feet with many singletrack climbs and descents, long traverses across the ski trails, and a couple tough fire road climbs near the top of the track.
"The course was super fun," said Gould. "They did such a great job building this course. You could tell they put a lot of work into it so I would say 'great job' to all the people who were involved in putting on this race. It's really great."
Competitors were faced with about 30 man-made bridges, two fly-overs, and technical trails where every rock placement was well thought out. Tons of flat rock had been placed in strategic places to make the course flow like few others the riders face in North America. Manmade burms allowed riders to carry high speeds through the turns on the descent.
Due to the bumpiness of the grass traverses, and the rocky sections in the woods, most women rode full suspension bikes for the first time this season.
How it unfolded
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Gould won the start, as usual, with Pendrel close behind. As riders entered the first single-track there was a massive log jam which had riders outside the top 10 brought to a dead stop.
At the end of the first lap Gould, Pendrel, and Nash were all separated by 30 seconds. One minute behind was Irmiger closely followed by Sawicki.
By the end of the second lap the gap between the Luna women had grown to one minute. Sawicki came through in third position, chased by Irmiger.
Little changed on the third lap as Gould increased her lead by nearly another half minute over Pendrel. The Luna women showed again why they are ranked the number one women's team in the world.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Dave McElwaine/www.trailwatch.net
- Georgia Gould's Olympic bike with prototype Mavic wheels and hollow carbon spokes.
- Jenna Zander (Sobe Cannondale) warming up. Zander went on to finish 11th.
- Lea Davison (Trek/VW) is having a storybook season.
- Mical Dyck (Trek/VW) goes on to finish sixth.
- Georgia Gould (Luna Women’s MTB) has recently been named to the Olympic Games team.
- Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth) has been improving all season.
- Georgia Gould (Luna Women’s MTB) winning another start.
- A log jam at the entrance to the first single-track section.
- Catherine Pendrel (Luna Women’s MTB) rides over one of many bridges.
- Heather Irmiger (Subaru/Gary Fisher) riding in fourth place.
- Emily Batty (Trek/VW) riding in eighth place.
- Sue Butler (Mona Vie) finishes 15th coming off a long B.C. Bike Race.
- Jennifer Tilley (Velo Bella) descending on the course.
- Mical Dyck (Trek/VW) riding one of the flyovers.
- Katerina Nash (Luna Women’s MTB) riding in third place.
- Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth) riding single-track.
- Wendy Simms (Kona) riding in top 10.
- Lea Davison (Trek/VW) trying to stay cool
- Chloe Forsman (Luna Women’s MTB) racing across a flat section.
- Former World Champion Alison Dunlap (back row, second from left) and some of the Luna ambassadors.
- Georgia Gould (Luna Women’s MTB) wins with her mother watching.
- Georgia Gould (Luna Women’s MTB) is pleased with her comeback.
- Catherine Pendrel (Luna Women’s MTB) finishes second.
- Podium (L-R): Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth), Catherine Pendrel (Luna Women’s MTB), Georgia Gould (Luna Women’s MTB), Katerina Nash (Luna Women’s MTB) and Heather Irmiger (Gary Fisher/Subaru).
Results
1 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Womens MTB Team 1.21.20 2 Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna Womens MTB Team 1.27 3 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Womens MTB Team 3.07 4 Pua Sawicki (USA) Ellsworth 4.29 5 Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 5.40 6 Mical Dyck (Can) Trek/Terrascape Racing 6.25 7 Amanda Sin (Can) 3 Rox Racing 6.56 8 Emily Batty (Can) Trek Bicycle Store Toronto 7.41 9 Wendy Simms (Can) Kona 7.55 10 Lea Davison (USA) Trek/VW 8.38 11 Jenna Zander (USA) SoBe Cannondale 8.47 12 Zephanie Blasi (USA) Kenda Titus Hayes 10.20 13 Jamie Dinkins (USA) Devo/Vantaggio 10.55 14 Judy Freeman (USA) Tough Girl/Contessa 11.51 15 Sue Butler (USA) Monavie/Cannondale 12.24 16 Chloe Forsman (USA) Luna Womens MTB Team 14.04 17 Caitlyn Tuel (USA) Trek/VW /Rocky Mountain 14.32 18 Annajean Dallaire (USA) SoBe-Cannondale 16.05 19 Heather Holmes (USA) Kenda/Titus/Hayes 16.45 20 Emily Van Meter (USA) SoBe/Cannondale 17.23 21 Krista Park (USA) Kenda-Titus-Hayes 17.37 22 Maureen Bruno Roy (USA) 17.55 23 Jane Pearson (USA) 18.47 24 Aleksandra Rokita (Pol) Lechia Piechowice 19.15 25 Jennifer Tilley (USA) Velo Bella/Kona 19.24 26 Theresa Richardson (USA) SoBe Cannondale 20.14 27 Sarah Kaufmann (USA) Titus/Roaring Mouse Cycles 20.39 28 Marci Titus-Hall (USA) Desalvo 21.56 29 Lindsey Bishop (USA) Mafia Racing/Felt 23.33 30 Kimberly Flynn (USA) Vantaggio/Specialized 25.06 31 Bryna Nestor (USA) SoBe Cannondale 26.44 32 Nina Baum (USA) SoBe-Cannondale 29.09 33 Kyia Anderson (USA) Ekho/Cannondale 29.38 34 Joy Duerksen (USA) Cole/Marten Transport 31.12 35 Rachel Throop (USA) Devo 33.15 36 Danae York (USA) Velobum.Com/Turner Suspension Bikes 42.01 DNF Kathy Sherwin (USA) SoBe-Cannondale Overall standings after five NMBS rounds 1 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Womens Mtb 718 pts 2 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Womens Mtb 689 3 Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna Womens Mtb 662 4 Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 582 5 Pua Sawicki (USA) Ellsworth 567 6 Mical Dyck (Can) Trek/Terrascape 554 7 Lea Davison (USA) Trek/VW 554 8 Kelli Emmett (USA) Giant Mtb Team 479 9 Chloe Forsman (USA) Luna Womens Mtb 453 10 Emily Batty (Can) Trek Bicycle Store 435 11 Nina Baum (USA) Sobe-Cannondale 432 12 Jenna Zander (USA) Sobe Cannondale 427 13 Heather Holmes (USA) Kenda/Titus/Hayes 402 14 Amanda Riley-Carey (USA) Kenda/Titus/Hayes 401 15 Judy Freeman (USA) Tough Girl/Contes 394 16 Krista Park (USA) Kenda-Titus-Hayes 390 17 Sue Butler (USA) Monavie/Cannondale 387 18 Emily Van Meter (USA) Sobe/Cannondale 383 19 Caitlyn Tuel (USA) Trek/VW /Rocky 381 20 Amanda Sin (Can) 3 Rox Racing 359 21 Jennifer Tilley (USA) Velo Bella/Kona 309 22 Zephanie Blasi (USA) Kenda Titus Hayes 300 23 Jennifer Smith (NZl) Trek/VW 297 24 Theresa Richardson (USA) Sobe Cannondale 291 25 Wendy Simms (Can) Kona 290 26 Carolyn Popovic (USA) Cicle/Bear Valley 273 27 Kathy Sherwin (USA) Sobe-Cannondale 265 28 Jamie Dinkins (USA) Devo/Vantaggio 255 29 Heather Ranoa (USA) Intense 254 30 Joy Duerksen (USA) Cole/Marten Trans 236 31 Maureen Kunz (USA) Lost Coast Brewer 231 32 Melanie Mcquaid (Can) Bmc/Natures Path 212 33 Annajean Dallaire (USA) Sobe-Cannondale 207 34 Rachel Throop (USA) Devo 203 35 Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 201 36 Sarah Kaufmann (USA) Titus/Roaring 186 37 Shannon Gibson (USA) Velo-Bella/Kona 177 38 Kimberly Flynn (USA) Vantaggio/Specialized 164 39 Dellys Starr (Aus) Dales Pale Ale 163 40 Catherine Vipond (Can) Norco 156 41 Kyia Anderson (USA) Ekho/Cannondale 149 42 Patricia Buerkle (USA) Vanderkitten 148 43 Jana Repulski (USA) Team Tamarack 147 44 Danae York (USA) Velobum.Com 137 45 Rachel Lloyd (USA) Proman/Paradigm 132 46 Susan Haywood (USA) Trek/VW 127 47 Lindsey Bishop (USA) Mafia Racing/Felt 126 48 Stacey Scanlan (USA) Team Tamarack 117 49 Sonya Looney (USA) Sobe Cannondale 114 50 Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) Luna Womens Mtb 111 51 Kc Holley (USA) Subaru/Gary Fisher 105 52 Jennifer Gersbach (USA) Dales Pale Ale 102 53 Jennifer Hanks (USA) Revolution/Peak 93 54 Sarah Barber (USA) Teambobs-Bicycles 90 55 Sarah Kerlin (USA) Another Bike Shop 90 56 Maureen Bruno Roy (USA) 84 57 Jane Pearson (USA) Yorkstown Cycles 81 58 Danelle Kabush (Can) Luna Womens Mtb 81 59 Aleksandr Rokita (Pol) Lechia Piechowice 78 60 Sonya Bugbee (USA) Yeti Beti 78 61 Megan Monroe (USA) Dales Pale Ale 75 62 Mikaela Kofman (Can) 3 Rox Racing 75 63 Becca Blay (USA) Sobe/Cannondale 69 64 Marci Titus-Hall (USA) Desalvo 66 65 Shannon Edson (USA) Velo Bella 66 66 Jennifer Sica (USA) Schampa 60 67 Bryna Nestor (USA) Sobe Cannondale 58 68 Erin Huck (USA) Tokyo Joes 56 69 Kathy Bodie (USA) Gu 54 70 Mary-Elle Ash (Can) Easton/Sugarcrm 48 71 Alexandri Fabbro (USA) Velo Bella 44 72 Jamie Stamps (USA) Another Bike Shop 40 73 Melissa Buhl (USA) Khs Bicycles 39 74 Jennifer Tribe-Wilson (USA) 37 75 Paz Bash (Isr) Spider-Kona 36
