DIRT ISSUE 148 – JUNE 2014
Words by Steve Jones. Photos by Steve Jones and Laurence Crossman–Emms
Spring time in North Wales 2005, early days for the new inhabitants of Penybont Fawr. A season of change for the Atherton family as they settled into the new Atherton HQ, a new country and a new team structure that was gaining momentum as a major brand and force in mountainbiking. Gee, Dan and Rachel Atherton on the sunny side of the barn of anarchy.
At this moment in time Gee had come off the back of a couple of World Cup podiums, including that famous win at Schladming that dissected Peaty’s wins the previous week in Les 2 Alpes and the following weekend in Mont St Anne, firing a king size warning that he was beginning to put it through the gears.
It turned into an average season for Gee however, one in which Greg Minnaar was on the big Honda outfit and it was brother Dan who was showing his pace, only just missing out on the top step at the Willingen World Cup. Most famously it was the year that Rachel brought back Britain’s first downhill World Championship gold medal.>>
