Georgia Gould 5th at UCI World Cup

Georgia Gould 5th in Opening Round of World Cup Competition. Sea Otter Classic a Huge Success for Honorary Teammate Angela Mysliwiec
Berkeley, CA: The LUNA Pro Team was busy on many fronts this past weekend. Waldek Stepniowski, the team soigneur, and Zeph Wadsworth, team mechanic, joined Georgia Gould, Katerina Nash, and Catharine Pendrel for a three week trip to Europe to contest the opening rounds of the Union Cycliste International World Cup series. Chris Mathis, and past mechanic Zac Demeritt were joined by Alison Dunlap, Marla Streb, Chloe Forsman, Danelle Kabush, and Shonny Vanlandingham for three days of fun at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. Angela Mysliwiec (pronounced "my sleeve itch"), winner of the Breast Cancer Fund Auction, was also on hand to experience the excitement and chaos of being a LUNA Chix for the weekend.

Houffalize, Belgium World Cup #1: Houffalize is a small town in the Ardenneregion of Belgium. It is historically significant because the town was decimated during World War II at the Battle of the Bulge. In the mountain bike world, Houffalize is better known for its beer, rice cakes, and the World Cup race. It has become an annual event and is embraced by thousands; thirty-five thousand fans to be exact. It is one of the premier races on the World Cup circuit, and this being an Olympic year, the race was a qualifier for almost every rider.

In Georgia's own words: "I knew it was going to be a long race, so I didn't want to blow myself up at the start. Maybe I was a little too conservative. I had a decent start, but by the top of the climb I had been passed by at least 20 women. I had to run a couple of the downhills because there were so many women off their bikes. The nice thing about the course at Houffalize is there is plenty of room for passing, so I was able to move up steadily through the field. I was riding in 4th for the last two laps, but was passed at the beginning of the last lap by the woman who went on to win the race. Overall, I felt good and rode a solid race to end up 5th- my best result in a European World Cup. I'm looking forward to next week!"

In Katerina's own words: "Houffalize is a very cool place to race and the fans are unbelievable. I was riding well but with every lap I was loosing more places and more power in my leg that got injured in Arizona. Those are the tough times for athletes to go through but I know my strength will return soon. With some good training this week and good Euro coffee I will be ready to fight again."

In Catharine's own words: "I felt fantastic in my first World cup of the season....well till about 1.5 hrs in then I really started to suffer! I had a great start and found myself in the top 7 by the end of the start loop. From there I moved up to 2nd, but rather than being patient I burned all my matches early and it became a fight to just finish. I feel confident as the team heads to Offenburg, Germany, that we will be holding onto our position as the top women's team."

The LUNA girls are ranked #1 in the team standings after the first World Cup.

Sea Otter Classic: The rest of the LUNA mountain bike and XTERRA team was busy competing at the Sea Otter Classic, a three day event at the Laguna Seca Raceway outside of Monterey, CA. Also joining them was Angela Mysliwiec, winner of the Breast Cancer Fund auction.

Super Downhill: Marla Streb was the only one slated to compete in the Super-D event on Friday afternoon. Super-D is a combination of downhill and cross country racing. The best courses are designed so that neither rider is favored. Sea Otter was a mass start event, meaning everyone started together. Marla had this to say about her race. "After three practice runs and all warmed up for the Super-D, I was pedaling to the top before the Le Mans mass start and my right thumb stopped working. Then, I noticed my trigger finger stopped working too. Immediately I was imagining some sort of delayed onset fast acting nerve agent from an exotic Haliconia that I had brushed up against back in Costa Rica, or maybe it was a parasite that was crawling along my forearm taking over my manual controls. I was just about to check on the status of my pinkie finger when I glanced down and saw that my derailleur was dangling. It had sort of exploded into springy bits and twisted metal the like a wind-up toy gone bad on Christmas morning. So, I sprinted down to the Luna pits, and Chris expertly repaired everything in less than 5 minutes. I raced back through the sea of Sea Otter crowds convincing myself that the effort was a good way to open up my lungs for the race, only to find that the pro women had already taken off. The first (and hopefully only) time I've ever missed a race due to dangly bits."

Short Track Cross Country: With the top US and Canadian riders racing in Europe, the Short Track Cross Country event was wide open and it was anyone's guess who would get the win. LUNA's Shonny Vanlandingham finished in 5th after a slow start. Shonny is like a diesel truck. It takes a while for her to get warmed up, but once she gets going her power and speed are amazing. With her focus on XTERRA, the STXC races are more for training. Chloe Forsman had a strong ride finishing 10th. Danelle Kabush didn't have a great start position which made for a difficult race. The STXC is only 20 minutes long which doesn't give riders much time to move up through the field. Despite being pulled she rode well and gained valuable fitness for the upcoming XTERRA races.

Circuit Road Race: Angela Mysliwiec did her first event of the weekend on Friday. She entered the Category 4 Women's Circuit Race. Riders negotiated the racetrack of Laguna Seca for 50 minutes. It was a challenging course with one steep climb followed by the famous corkscrew descent. Being new to the sport of road racing, Angela struggled on the descent and came off the back of the field. However, she continued to fight and got faster each lap, using less and less brake down the corkscrew descent. She finished with a big smile on her face.

Sport Cross Country: Angela raced one lap of the cross country course for a total of 20 miles. In only her second mountain bike race, Angela rode like a champ and finished in 2hrs 13min. She loved it and thought the course was awesome.

Pro Cross Country: The conditions were much improved for Sunday's race. The 30mph winds had died down and the skies were clear and sunny. The women went off at 12:25pm for two laps of the cross country course. The LUNA girls rode hard. It was a long race thanks to the winds that picked back up during the second lap. Shonny in 9th and Danelle in 21st gained valuable fitness for their first XTERRA event in Temecula, CA in May. Chloe, despite severe back cramps, finished in 3hrs 16 minutes.

Dual Slalom: Marla had this to say. "Saturday was the Dual Slalom, and in a stacked field I qualified 10th, my right foot popping out of the pedals both runs (my last Dual Slalom happened when gas was $1.75). So, I tightened things down for the next round. During the intervening years, the courses have become much more technical, and the turns much more aggressive. In my qualifying runs I felt the turns were coming at me so fast that I was not surfing down the course as much as I was being tossed up on the beach like a seal carcass. The next two runs went well, and I slipped past European Anneke Beerton both times, mainly due to muscle memory. Then, I was up against World Cup winner Rachel Atherton. She beat me the first run, so the second run I wanted to go brakeless. Usually thinking "No brakes!" while I am getting sideways on a berm takes my mind off how I will get down off the berm. But this time I almost two-wheel drifted into some fans from Bakersfield. Barely saved it, but lost valuable seconds. Rachel took the round, which sat me down on the sidelines early to watch everyone else like it was prom night back during the slow Duran Duran song."

Alison Dunlap: "I spent four days taking care of Angela. I picked her up from the airport and we laughed the rest of the weekend. With Waldek in Europe I got to play soigneur , minus the massages. I also led a clinic for 20 girls from the Northern California High School Mountain Bike League, of which Clif Bar is a major supporter. High school clinic It was great fun watching these young women learn things they never knew how to do before. I gave each girl some LUNA Moons and a signed poster. You'd think they died and gone to heaven. It was great!" feed zone

What's next: Katerina, Georgia, and Catharine will race in Offenburg, Germany at the second World Cup event this coming weekend. Marla heads back to Costa Rica and the rest of the team is home training. The LUNA Pro Team will be reunited at the National Mountain Bike Series event in Santa Ynez, CA in late May.