Rosie Holdsworth sat down with Rachel Atherton at the ladies’ Red Bull Foxhunt to chat about her year, last year and 2019.
Rachel Atherton returned in dominant form in 2018 after a 2017 that can’t have ranked highly for the Trek Factory Racing record-setter. Alongside racing Foxhunt, Rosie caught up with Rachel Atherton to talk shop.
Let’s start with a general one. How has your year been?
Thanks for having me!
It’s been a good year, it started off what seems like such a long time ago those first few races. It’s been a better year than I expected really…
Hold on… I’m going to put the dog away… (Rachel takes a second to usher her hound away into the team bus)
World Champs must have been a good feeling. What went through your mind as crossed the line and found out you’d won?
It feels like ages ago but it was only a few weeks. It’s been an amazing year really.
That World Champs race didn’t feel different to any of the other races to start with. I guess I was kind of just enjoying it a bit more. It was a really good track, really good fun, plus it was nice and dry all week, which always helps.
I kind of felt it was already the end of the season after winning La Bresse and taking the overall World Cup title.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
Was that a bit of pressure off then?
Yeah, I came home and felt like the season was over, but then no, hang on, you’ve got one more race left. It was a bit hard to get back into the swing of it, get the motivation back and crack on for World Champs.
I remember thinking at the top of my run, “f*ck it, I don’t care. I don’t care if I hurt myself, if I break my collarbone or I break my leg, I am fully committed to this.” I wanted to win that badly.
When you’re dealing with the World Cup series you’re constantly thinking about not hurting yourself, you have to keep going and to win the series you have to be consistent and be the best you can be for every race. So you hold back a little bit and don’t go full speed.
It was nice to race World Champs at full commitment, it was mint. It was so much fun, I wish I could do it over and over again.
There’s obviously been some highlights with World Champs and winning races. What other stuff have you done this year that people might not see so obviously that you’re really happy with?
I literally don’t do anything but race, so that’s a bit sh*t, isn’t it?
Well, when I go away in the camper, that’s pretty sweet. So just chilling out really. Riding at home when you’re back between races and that hot period in July, we were away for a lot of it but when we were back it was amazing. Just riding at home with your mates… It’s been a good summer.
Did you feel like the underdog coming into 2018 as Nicole had won the overall, Miller the world champs and everyone seemed to be talking about how Tahnee was going to dominate?
I think that pressure did get to me a little bit. 2017 was a hard year, there was a lot going on, a lot of injuries… It’s always hard when you’re at the top and you get knocked down a bit. It was hard to get the confidence back.
I feel like I’ve been doing this for so long now, I just feel how I feel, I know I can do well at races, it’s what I do, but it’s more about personal confidence and I didn’t know if I could commit as much to racing after that broken collarbone. Would I be fit enough, would I be too scared? You have to start slow.
In Croatia, I was second, and I was really, really pleased but then in Val di Sol I was second and I was furious, so that just shows you how your mindset changes.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
Do you still get the same satisfaction from racing and from winning as you’ve always done?
There are definitely races that stand out, there are the ones where you think ‘f*ck yeah, I wanted to win that one’, then there’s others where you’re really fired up and then you win and you feel a bit empty or a bit lonely.
It’s such a cliche, but it’s hard at the top. You’re just a target. I actually enjoyed last year, and I enjoyed not winning because I could be everyone’s mate again. It was nice to have the camaraderie with the other girls who hadn’t won back.
When you win, the respect’s there, no one’s nasty, don’t get me wrong but everyone is out to beat you and you’ve beaten them.
It was nice to have that year of sh*t results really in my book.
It gets the motivation up. I mean I had a good run at Mont Saint Anne last year, and I came fifth, and all I could think was ‘what’s going on?’, I thought I’d lost it, but that gave me the motivation to work hard. You question everything when you don’t win, well, even when you win, I question everything, but you question your whole setup, everything you do at the race, everything you’re doing at home and you try to improve it all.
How did you pull out that incredible run at World Champs?
I think a lot of it is your mindset. Like I said, I didn’t care if I hurt myself, I wasn’t trying to save myself for the next race.
Back in 2008 when I won my first one, I won it by 12 seconds and this one by nearly 10, sometimes you just have those runs. I was thinking that if anyone beats that then fair play, that was a good run.
It was a bit wild though, I set out of the gate and just thought, “sh*t, am I going to double this?”, having never doubled it before, then just decided to double it then I just thought “what are you doing?”, half did it anyway then almost crashed… Things like that where you’re going so much faster than practice, a bit wild and on the edge. I almost crashed times but you’re racing but it was just f*cking awesome.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
What’s a more satisfying win, a win with a small margin or one with a big margin?
Big margin. 100%. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, I know Tahnee likes to say it, she says she likes close racing, that is not true. Everyone wants to win by loads. Nobody wants to win by half a second…
And where do you see it coming from going into 2019?
That is one of the most asked questions is how do you keep your motivation…
It really comes from places like that run at World Champs that was so fun, and I would do it again every day if I could, and you only get a run like that in a race. That’s the only time you’re willing to risk it that much or push that hard. I don’t ride that hard when I’m on my own or riding for fun.
There’s still things I need to improve on, I still need to be a better rider, I can still be stronger, fitter… It’s the same as every year really, just some years it works and some years it doesn’t.
Will we ever see Rachel Atherton race a World Enduro?
I do want to race some EWSs, it’s definitely not my strong point… I’m not very fit. People always say you must be fit to race downhill but I’m probably one of the most unfit racers out there.
As a challenge, I love riding my trail bike so I’d like to do some next year for sure. It’s definitely going to be an eye-opener. I’m nervous already. I don’t know which one I’ll do but hopefully I can get along to one.
I’m going to regret that (laughs).
Photo courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
Where are you at with injuries? 2017 was a rough year, but you doubled up in 2018, are you back to 100%?
I think I’ve had so many injuries over my career, my shoulders are f*cked basically. I have a herniated disc in my neck, and it affects my arm and my shoulders are painful all the time. It keeps me up at night too. It’s definitely not fine but it’s what I’ve got and I don’t really have a choice.
It’s really important to keep working. When I stop, if I have a few weeks off, and I don’t move or I don’t do a sport, that’s when the pain is most noticeable. I think you’ve always got to be active and keep moving when you’ve had a lot of big injuries.
When you get injured, you obviously have some seriously good help to get you back to where you need to be… Any pros tips for anyone struggling through an injury?
Yeah, get physio all the time.
I’m suffering now because the race season has come to and end and I haven’t seen anyone for two weeks and I haven’t been to the gym and my back went on Friday and I was just at home laid out and I just thought “sh*t, I can’t do Foxhunt…”
It’s all about getting treatment and keeping your body moving but it’s also about knowing your weak spots, so if you have a bad back, then you need a strong core to counter it. I am honestly an absolute wreck if I stop.
Recently, I have been putting a wooden spoon against the wall, and you put the head of the spoon in the small of your back and you press onto it, it’s so good.
What are you most looking forward to in 2019?
I was genuinely looking forward to Crankworx in Les Gets and then I found out that they’re not even having it at Les Gets next year, so I’m gutted. Now I have to think of something else to look forward to.
It’ll probably be some sort of dual slalom I reckon…
We’re also in the process of starting this bike park (Dyfi Bike Park), so that’s probably the most exciting thing. We’re hoping to have it ready this winter.
