Life has been a bumpy ride for Georgia Gould. Her path is cobbled with rough terrain - rocks and roots, stumps and streams - but she glides across it.
What more could you ask of America's top-ranked mountain biker?
"I get paid to ride my bicycle through the woods," said Gould, who was raised in Baltimore. "That's the coolest thing. It's the best job ever."
At 28, she spends her time churning through the wilderness, pedaling 20 miles a day up fire roads and down ski trails in preparation for the Olympics. Gould is one of two U.S. spokes women headed to Beijing next month to compete in the demanding two-hour race.
Mountain biking is spine-jangling work, but she's up for it.
"I like being challenged - both by other riders and by the course," said Gould, who is ranked No. 7 in the world. "Each race is different; there are scary parts to every course.
"You're thinking, 'Can I ride my bike up this steep hill with the big rock in it?' Or 'Will I slide down the loose dirt on this downhill run?'
"At the same time, you're watching the rider up ahead, studying her body language to see if she's suffering. That's when you summon every ounce of every muscle and put in a hard attack, hoping she'll be too blown up psychologically to chase you."
Those who know her say Gould of Fort Collins, Colo., has found her niche, flying over fallen logs and roaring down mud-caked slopes at 30 mph on a $5,000 bike in world competition. The woman who attended Roland Park Country School as a child, they say, has morphed into a strong-willed, gifted athlete with an unparalleled work ethic.
"Georgia has focus, fire and the ability to dig deep as a competitor," said Ben Ollett, her coach. "She's never intimidated. She takes full responsibility for messing up. She's as professional as they come.
"Can she medal in the Olympics? On a good day, she will be in the hunt."
The 2006 national champion, Gould has come far since that day 23 years ago when her father took the training wheels off her first two-wheeler.
"I remember running beside her and holding on to the bike as she went down Chancery Road [in Guilford]," Paul Gould said. "One minute, she was pedaling away and chatting with me. Then I let go.
"I can still see her face when she realized she was riding by herself. It was a look of surprise and accomplishment."
And then?
"I crashed," Georgia Gould said. "I thought my dad was still holding on to me. When I saw that he wasn't, I fell."
