Did you just take Beaumont’s word that the bike was OK?
Rach: We just went up Moelfre for the afternoon.
Gee: We tested it, we had too, even if you jumped on the best bike in the world if it didn’t suit you it’s no good. I personally know really quickly when I get on a bike whether I can win races on it. It’s not something you need weeks and weeks of testing on. Plus you know quickly whether you can work quickly to adapt it to how you want to ride it.
The Fury (GT’s downhill frame) just needs tweaking from production to World Cup standard, pretty simple, bit of offsetting here and there.Marc: I’ve worked on it quite a bit since 2009, the angles are completely different, especially for Champery this year we managed to squeeze the angles out of it to get it to work with, as you say, offset hardware and offset cups in the headtube.
Sat deep in North Wales terrain where the family have lived for many years, the new location has given Dan Atherton room to create. A field fashioned into a Welsh Woodward. Sheep Hills literally brought back to where it belongs. Dan got bust, but here he is going bigger, higher, longer than ever. A World Cup podium racer in both downhill and 4X Dan Atherton comes with a profound understanding of everything two wheel and is a true competitor. The world enduro order might just be about to be turned on its head Been a quiet few years for Dan Atherton?Dan: Been busy
Yeah I can see from the bloody fieldDan: I guess it’s just been a few years of injury. But hey…
Where does Dan Atherton go from here?Dan: Next year, I’m just going to be doing a lot more enduro stuff.
Not just a case of ‘just’ surely?Dan: I don’t know. I feel like downhill is at a very high level now and I wasn’t comfortable going at the speeds required to be the best downhiller in the world and tried a few enduro races this (2010) year and felt a lot more comfortable riding a shorter travel bike. Enduro is a lot more in my comfort zone that’s for sure.
Beaumont, what are your feelings on that comment? Were you in comfort zone in France at the Transprovence?Marc: Not at first no, but the speeds they go for the distance they travel is different, but I was trying to go fast on something that I didn’t know, completely above the level I should have been going at…Nico and them go 75% with no mistakes, I was like 90% and going wrong for two days.
Dan, what you got lined up?Dan: All the major events, Enrico’s Superenduro series, Transprovence, Mountain of Hell, Mega and as many Maxiavalanche as I can do. I enjoy those races. I think it’s a big turning point in Enduro now as to where the format goes. Whether it goes down the stage route or down the mass start route. I personally think the timed stages seems a lot more professional and maybe think that that’s where it should go, take it to major cities around the world, you don’t need to have a massive mountain.
Can we talk about the potential race you might be organizing?Dan: Later.
What is it about enduro racing that you like?Dan: I think it’s like Marc says you know. It’s like in downhill you know exactly where you are going, you know every stone, every root and route and the only way to get in the top five is to go 110%, and to do that everything has to be inch perfect. I think enduro is won slightly more in preparation in terms of training and the overall way in which you have prepared for the event as opposed to your line on the day. Of course you have to be prepared in downhill, probably more than in so many other sports because the pace is so fast, I definitely think there is a little bit more leeway in enduro and I think it’s more about your fitness and preparation before the event.
Yet as Nico and Clementz proved – a ten second gap separated them over seven days of racing and you can mess it up in last forty metres of the event. Enduro can still be tight?Marc: It is. But it’s a different kind of race craft. You have to be smart and alert, some places you don’t know where it goes, so smart and instinctive, whereas downhill…well you need a little bit of instinct sometimes maybe where you have got something wrong and have to wiggle out of a position you shouldn’t have been in, but it’s so much longer. In the first few days of TP (Transprovence) trying to go hard and ten minutes in I’m absolutely blown to bits. And then you spend five minutes recovering and then that five minutes in the middle of the stage is wasted whereas those boys will be going at the same speed the whole way and that’s how they pick up time on you. It’s a totally different thing to try and train for.
Lets talk more about GT. Is developing bikes part of the deal?
Dan Brown (team manager): We want to have the most competitive bikes on the circuit. Or at least one of them.
Enduro and downhill?Dan B: We are confident that the Fury can do that and there are a few bikes in the range including the Sanction and Force that can do that for enduro, but it’s a three year deal and there will definitely be an element on working on a new machine.
Let’s focus back on downhill, Rachel, big injuries last few years, must have been moments when you thought, ‘that’s it, I’ve had enough of this’? At this point there was another long silence so I swiftly moved the approach, moved to tactful mode. OK I’ll start somewhere else. Bloody good year last year Rach’?Rach: Thank you.
Podiums every race, considering what you had been through that’s pretty strong?Rach: Having an injury or two is pretty easy to deal with, it happens to everyone, but having them consecutively year after year, they are not life threatening but they do take their toll on you and definitely there are moments where you think ‘is it worth it’. For me this year has been such a big learning curve, I have learned that you can do well without going 100% and like Gee said, we all do well under change and I am super excited to…I don’t want to say put the last few years behind me, but it’s not been that bad, but it’s nice to say this is a fresh start. And lets go.
But still building on a successful season in 2011?Rach: Yeah I was pleased with the way last season went, but it ended a bit…no I was pleased with last year. One win at Windham, you need to turn seconds and thirds up a bit. New people and products. Change is an easy way to do that.
