“You have to get to the pit because your bike needs a rider change.”
“Just think – they used to write magazine articles about you.”
These and many more gems were screamed this weekend to Georgia Gould (Luna) at the Exergy US Gran Prix of Cyclocross. It was all part of the #heckleme campaign that Gould launched on twitter.
Georgia Gould (Luna) being heckled at Saturday’s USGP race
After good results early in the cross season with a couple of second place finishes, Gould was just not performing to expectations, especially to her personal expectations. Results such as sixth at each of the Cincinnati3 Cyclocross Festival races spurred her on.
“I wasn’t being heckled and I was like alright, clearly I’m sucking.” Gould told podiuminsight. “And whatever works, grasping at straws, anything, maybe someone shouting at me will make me go faster.”
“I just thought it would be fun, I wanted to hear what people could come up with. I’m really honored that so many people contributed, it’s totally been awesome. It just made my sucking so enjoyable, as enjoyable as sucking can be I guess. But really just to see people come out in good spirits.”
The heckles, both on twitter and in person, ran the gamut. “Some people, Adam Myerson, weren’t afraid to go,” a smiling Gould gestured with her hands, “but you know what everybody has their own style of heckling, equal opportunity, I’ll take it all, I’ll absorb everything, do your worst.”
The heckles were flying on Saturday where Gould finished 11th. And then bad luck at the start on Sunday didn’t stop the heckles. After the first lap, Gould was dead last, more than 30 seconds from the last rider in the 51-rider field.
“At the start, got off pretty good right off the line but just chain suck, my chain was just so jammed in there that I couldn’t pull it out so I just, luckily this course does have some hills so I could run up the hills and jump back on and coast down.” she explained.
With a laugh, Gould added, “The real thing is that I just decided that the best warm up for a cross race is to run half a lap, get my jogging in.”
After an early mechanical, Georgia Gould (Luna) is charging ahead
At that point, some would have abandoned, but not Gould, she put her head down and started to chase. Ultimately, she finished 29th after having caught and passed almost half the field.
“In retrospect, if I had dropped out I probably would have been heckled more. If that was my true goal, I should have done that.” Gould said about pulling the pin during the race.
But the mountain biker is stopping her cross season. “I’m pretty much done with cross this season. Mountain bike season starts so early next season that I don’t really have time to be messing around. I’m not where I like to be, it’s kind of like this dead horse is started to decompose, it’s being beaten so hard.” she said with a laugh.
“I will miss it. I want to do all the races, they’re all great races, the USGP is the best series out there and I’m sorry that I won’t be able to make it to the last one but hopefully, you guys would have fun without me even though I know it won’t be as fun.”
Georgia Gould (Luna) talking with her hecklers the Trojan Warriors
After the race, Gould delivered the bars to one of the #heckleme winners, the Trojan warriors who were singing “all by myself” when she was dead last on course.
And that, combined with her determination, is why we love Georgia Gould.