Rachel Atherton Ride Clinic - Photo Epic
Following an incredibly successful race season last year, Rachel Atherton reflected upon her year and success, and looking beyond her own achievements, decided that she wanted to begin to take action to encourage and support female riders like herself, in progressing and achieving success and fulfilment in their riding. As the current record holder for the most successive World Cup victories, often displaying dominating performances, Rachel found herself in the perfect position to be able to recall and share all of the hard work, expertise, and lessons learned through years of striving for success. By sharing this invaluable experience with other female riders she hopes that more women will be inspired and confident in their riding and pursue their racing and riding ambitions, and perhaps one day equal or surpass the success pioneered by Rachel.
This ambition resulted in the formation of the Jeep Rachel Atherton Ride Clinic. An open call for submissions from female riders required the submission of a short riding edit. From all of the entries received Rachel then selected 13 individual riders to come and join her, Trek Factory Racing Technicians, Fox Suspension, ride coach, Ally Campbell and strength and conditioning coach, Alan Milway, at the infamous Revolution Bike Park in North Wales for an intensive day of fun, learning and experience. The race proven venue provided the perfect training grounds for the varied skill level of riders, with a number of tracks to choose from, each packed with features varying from jumps, techy roots and ruts, flowing berms and high-speed compressions to smooth and floaty gaps. The dry and baked tracks gave plenty of opportunity for riders to test their abilities and knowledge, find confidence and speed and have fun.
Wales, the setting for the day.
By ten o'clock there was a full house of female riders buzzing around the Trek Factory pits anxious to get started. The morning sun was scorching in Llangynog valley, providing perfect conditions for the dusty shredding, chilling between runs and demonstrations and talks that were about to begin. Here's how the day went.
Before the riding began the girls were taken through some basic bike checks to ensure their bikes were safe to ride. Tyre pressures, basic suspension settings and the positioning of controls were just some of the areas covered to ensure that all were prepared.
Checking tire pressures and fixing any problems with bikes.
King of the mountain getting the girls up the hill and providing plenty of runs.
Rachel encouraged the riders to inspect sections of the many tracks at Revolution Bike Park prior to riding, allowing line choices to be demonstrated and riding technique to be discussed before setting off for the first run of the day.
Trailing down the hill for the first run of the day.
After each and every run the women excitedly discussed sections and features whilst the adrenaline was still coursing.
 | I really wanna get the women racing so I thought I would do a ride clinic. Ally Campbell is a riding coach and she came to help out. We split into groups. We spent time going over line choices and technical ability. I'm pretty impressed with the girls. The first group race a bit. They were pretty competent so it was really hard to tell them what to do. The second group I could do a bit more with. They all rode this one drop they didn't ride before. It was pretty inspiring seeing them step up. The women's side of the sport is massive and it's great to see everyone. - Rachel Atherton |
After getting a feel for the track and its features, further changes were made to their bikes. Perfecting suspension setup with expert guidance from Fox technicians.
Rachel personally helped to check each girls' bike, aiding with any further adjustment if needed, allowing for a better riding posture and more control for the rough and challenging tracks.
With bikes sorted it was down for second runs.
Lindsay Hanley leads the way for the group whilst Rachel follows close behind, able to observe riding technique and line choice in action.
| I can't narrow it down to one thing that I will take away from this experience, to me it was the whole package from bike setup, the importance of fitness - well, the right type of fitness. The little coaching tips and just having a blast down the trails with a bunch of girls - Lindsay Hanley |
Trek were present with a fleet of current bikes ranging from the Session 9.9 to Remedy in a range of sizes. Riders were free to take a bike of their choice and to have it set up and prepared by the Trek technicians.
Ruts...Rach encouraged the girls to try a more open riding stance on the bike to get more stability.
Getting the girls to carry more speed through a difficult and momentum-sapping section of the track.
Question time.
Showing the girls some different line choices.
| My favourite part was line choices. There was a high line and a low line and I did see either, I just went through the middle. - Louise |
Having recently held the British National Championships, Revolution Bike Park provided the perfect venue for a day of progression and learning.
Trek Factory Racing's chef attended to keep riders fuelled. Podium Catering provided the girls with top notch, healthy and energising food.
Alan Milway got into expert detail about how being strong, flexible and prepared will aid your riding and recovery.
| We wanted to give them an insight as to what me and Rach do over the winter but also try to help them improve if they're wanting to race. We've looked into some simple techniques that they can translate and take. We also talked about the fitness and strength aspect of it so the importance of being healthy, mobile, flexible and the fitness to underpin the riding. - Alan Milway |
Warming up is a key component for Rachel. She sometimes spends up to an hour making sure she is warm before a race run.
Stretching time. Alan took the girls through a range of mobile stretches to help reduce injury while riding. He also provided a range of strength exercises to try out.
Throughout the day riders were able to talk to Trek Factory Racing mechanics about setup, mechanical issues and how they may affect their riding and comfort on the bike.
| I just had the most amazing day. It feels better than Christmas day! I've felt like I've learned loads about pumping jumps, taking it a little bit slower to clear jumps. It was really good having Rachel just take that little bit of time to show you a cool line, and then I just had the run of my life because she slowed down in front of me so I could follow her all the way down. - Kat |
On the run of her life.
| I'm no longer scared of people watching me if I come round a corner and there are loads of people there. Rachel said, 'Just ignore them, follow your line and you'll be fine,' On the last run I was fine. I loved it! - Molly |
It was smiles all round from the girls after a full day of fun!
MENTIONS: @trekfactoryracingdh / @trek / @BellBikeHelmets / @iXSsports / @shimano
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he's a great laugh, if a little hard to understand, told me about his canal boat
I am paranoid about being natural and not licking anyone's arse because I know no cool guy expects that. On that World Cup in Hafjell when Stevie Smith won and Brannigan got second, I saw some 30 year old dude talking to Sam Hill in the middle of the pits and he was raving on how amazing rider Sam is. And I saw it in Sam's face expression how embarassed he is and how much he wants this thing to end. Sam just said "thanks for the support, I appreciate that", in "please disappear" tone. Everyone has their own approach and pros react differently. Important thing for me is always to respect their privacy and their business. I stood for 30 minutes in Spec tent in VDSole and I saw some ugly scenes on how fans behave. Troy had a broken finger and some dudes saw it, they still wanted an autograph, even though he could barely write and was in pain while doing it. He was fine with it, but still. Half of people were coming up and asking for a jersey or anything, then saying quick cold thanks and going away as if they were on a round tour trying to get as many free belongings of racers as possible. I did a selfie with Aaron Gwin but only after I saw he was in the middle of doing just that with the fans. I left him alone when he was resting and chilling out. It's been cool, but fk, I wish people treat them like human beings, not puppets.
The simple function of human brain is to admire someone, but when that turns into a worship, things get weird, because in order to worship someone you must put yourself down. You must rape your own sense of dignity, to put another human so high, and that is never healthy. It leads to issues like needing affirmation of your worship, than means looking for likely minded peers, which consequently and inevitably makes your brain look for enemies...
...I only understand as my wife and I are expecting our son any day now and through reading various materials on birth partners I've reached the logical conclusion having someone "on your tits" is not always the most pleasant experience.
Are they on craigslist during the Interim time? ;-)
Good on her sponsors (Jeep, Trek, and Fox) as well for supporting her and making this clinic a reality and what seemed to be a top-notch event!
Well done Trek i wish this is only the beginning.
I know, I know "Cool story, bro." Point is, living where I do, I actually encounter quite a few pros I admire, but I never say anything unless it's natural. I don't want to intrude.
And I would LOVE to follow Rachel down a trail if she would ride it at half speed. I could learn a lot.
Rach is a heck of a lady. So passionate and giving. The world needs more individuals like her. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and have a chat with her (probably about food).
Louise sounds like a girl after my own heart.
- Hunter
www.mtbtoday.com
Where were we... yes skills clinics are awesome, one of the best ways to spend money on MTB, and I'd love to take some with Rachel or Gee in Wales. I think they are really awesome proffessionals, some of the best ambassadors mountain biking has ever had. And I mean it, without a tiniest bit of vaseline.