Georgia Gould
Title: Professional mountain biker
Bike cred: Former Luna Pro Team rider; Team USA rider in seven world championships and two continental championships; two-time Olympian (2008, bronze medalist 2012); multiple national championship titles.
Advocacy: As the only woman on the UCI Mountain Bike Commission, one of the first issues she brought up and fought for was equal prize money for men and women. She’s one of two mountain bike representatives on the UCI Athletes Commission.
Badassery: When she first started racing, it was expensive. Gould and her husband bought a 15-person van, removed the seats, tossed their camping stuff in the back and traveled around to races on the weekends while they were still working.
On mountain versus road: “One of the reasons mountain biking is more equal than road biking is that it’s a younger sport; from the beginning, women were always doing it.”
On her “aha” moment: “In 2007, I won a cyclocross race, and talking to the guy winner at the podium, he told me it was ‘a nice pay day.’ I was like, ‘what? I got $250. He got $2,500. Are you serious?’ I started a petition and sent it to every cycling commission. It didn’t get a response, but it generated increased scrutiny. Today, a lot of U.S. promoters do [equal pay] because it’s right.”
On changing the UCI prize money standard for women: “It’s easy to be like, ‘this is bullshit!’ Then when you start looking at what to do about the bullshit. . . Sometimes, just getting in there, rolling up your sleeves, and getting the ball rolling takes time.”
On sexist cycling advertisements: “The best way to fight it is not to buy that stuff. I don’t have time to worry about how some company is selling their kneepads. I try to just do me and be on the opposite end of that. To go out and kick ass on a bike, I don’t have to be wearing make up, and if somebody’s daughter sees that, it gives them options. Instead of getting mad, get on a board where you’re changing the rules.”
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