Georgia Gould

It's been a tough past few weeks.  Here's a quick run-down:

I was really excited about the race at Worlds, so it was pretty disappointing to feel as bad as I did on race day.  I was riding all the technical stuff well (it was a GREAT course), but I only had one speed, and on the fire-road sections (normally a strength) I was getting passed by women who appeared to be riding twice as fast as I was.  Then I started cramping on the third lap.  Not that that changed anything, it was just another bummer.  On a positive note, I did make a sweet pass about 200m from the finish- so I got 15th instead of 16th.  Nothing worse than being really excited about a race and then sucking, but I guess that's better than if I felt awesome and still finished 15th.  So after the race, I flew back home for 4 days and then flew to Europe for the last 2 world cup races.

We arrived in Champery, Switzerland on Friday night, and the race was on Sunday.  We pre-rode Saturday, and the course was pretty similar to the one we raced on in 2007 (the 2011 World Championships are going to be in Champery).  I woke up on race day and my legs were sore- sore like I ran an all-downhill 10k in my sleep.  Except that I didn't (that I know of).  I warmed up on the trainer, but I could tell something wasn't quite right. 

The race started with a 4 minute paved climb into a 1k technical descent.  The gun went off, and I had about 30 seconds in me before my legs locked up and...well...at one point I did look back because I thought maybe everyone in the whole field had passed me (and I was mostly right).  Needless to say, by the time I got to the downhill, everyone was off their bikes, running down the slippery, rocky downhill.  I was dreading having to RIDE the downhill, because I could barely stay upright running it- it was that slippery.  (Turns out it was WAY EASIER riding it.)  I was able to make up a few spots, but not many.  I only had one speed, and it was not fast.  And the weird thing was, I felt the same on my first lap as I did on my last lap- BAD.  I have never seriously considered dropping out of a race before, but I was considering it, and I have never HOPED to get lapped and pulled, but I was hoping.  Unfortunately, I was going just fast enough to not get pulled (even though the leaders finished about 1 minute after I started my last lap).  After I finished, I was exhausted and light headed, so I headed straight back to the condo and took a shower and a nap.  My legs had gone from being sore to being sore to the touch, which was unusual. 

I was bummed.  I had never had my body mutiny like that before, and I didn't really know what to make of it- especially since I had another world cup the next weekend, a 'cross race the Wednesday after that and two 'cross races the weekend after that.  I decided (with Waldek's wise counseling) to cut my losses and go home early.  So I have been home, resting and taking it easy, hoping to be somewhat back to normal by 'cross vegas and the first USGPs.