#92 RACHEL AND GEE ATHERTON’S TREK SESSION 9.9s
The custom-painted race bikes of the world’s fastest siblings
In the early 2000s, the Atherton family broke out onto the downhill scene in a big way, with brothers Dan and Gee and sister Rachel clearing up every trophy that was going. Ever since, the tight-knit family unit have all ridden for the same team – Muddy Fox, Commencal, GT and now Trek. This is the trio’s third year on bikes from the Wisconsin-based giant, but the kit adorning their Sessions has undergone some shake-ups. Longterm sponsors Shimano are gone, and the spec list is now filled with parts from British brands Hope and Renthal.
Look good, ride good
The one-of-a-kind bikes we see here were created for Rachel and Gee for the Fort William and Leogang World Cups, complete with custom graphics and colour-matched componentry. Rachel’s has a baby-blue frame and dragonfly-inspired silver decals (1), while Gee’s gone for a two-tone silver and cherryred finish with camo detailing. The saying ‘look good, ride good’ rings true here, as we saw Rachel take her first World Cup win since returning from injury at Leogang and Gee finish 15th at Fort William – his best result since his brutal hip dislocation there last year.
Gee is back on 650b wheels, despite extensive testing and development work on the larger-wheeled Session 29 last season. This surprised us – with Fort William being a fast track and Gee a tall guy, we’d expect him to be able to reap the speed benefits of the bigger wheels. “Crashing on the 29er last year helped him make his mind up,” Gee’s mechanic, Pete Michaliszyn, explained. “But he just feels more comfortable on the smaller wheels too.” It sounds unlikely that we’ll see
Gee revert during the season, especially as Pete said it took them a few races to adjust and get up to speed after the swap last year.
Firmly does it
Rachel, too, is aboard the 650b Session. The big difference between the siblings’ bikes is in their suspension set-ups. They may have grown up riding together, but their styles are very different, and so their settings are too. Trek Factory Racing’s head technician, Joe Krejbich, explained: “Gee’s really aggressive on the bike, pushing it into the ground to get as much grip as he can and letting it slide out on everything, whereas Rachel is a bit more settled and rides further off the back.”
To deal with high-speed impacts, both run plenty of pressure in their Fox 40 Float RC2 Factory forks. Gee’s is set up superhard, with 85psi in the air spring – to us it felt pretty much rigid! At the rear, he runs a Fox Float X2 air shock, while Rachel favours the sensitivity of the DHX2 coil, fitted with a hefty 500lb spring. “It gives more grip initially and that comes into its own if the track’s a bit slick,” explained Joe. Gee’s air-sprung set-up sacrifices a little suppleness, but because the Session’s linkage isn’t super-progressive, using an air shock means he can add volume spacers to give support deeper into the stroke and resist bottoming out (4).
Grip from the suspension is backed up by traction from the Bontrager G5 tyres, which keep the two bikes glued to the floor and railing the turns. “We’re big fans of the G5,” said Pete. “They work well in all but the muddiest of conditions, so we run them 95 per cent of the time.” Rachel runs the same pressures front and rear (24 to 26psi), whereas Gee fluctuates a bit more, between 24 and 30psi. Both run a puncture-preventive insert in the rear tyre, which Pete said is something they never used to do. “With Gee not being a protected rider [one of the top 10 racers from the last two seasons, who are guaranteed a place in the finals] this year, it gives us a bit of a safety cushion for qualifying,” he explained.
Best of British
At the front of each bike is an aluminium Renthal Fatbar 35, bolted through an Integra directmount stem. Neither rider runs a particularly tall stack height, but Gee favours a 30mm-rise bar as opposed to Rachel’s 20mm. Widths are 790mm and 775mm, respectively. While Rachel uses lock-on grips, Gee prefers Renthal’s push-on numbers, held in place by wire (3). The reasons for this are that he hangs his hands right off the ends of the bar and that the softer compound gives better cushioning on long tracks. Clamped to the Renthal bars are British-made Hope Tech 3 V4 brakes, with anodised dials and piston caps that complement the frames. Hope’s Pro 4 hubs and cranks continue the colour theme, while SRAM’s seven-speed X0 DH groupset takes care of shifting (2).
There’s no denying that these are two pretty bling rides and, matched to the bold attire of their riders, you’re sure not to miss them coming down the hill. Saying that, at the speed these steeds are ridden, blink and you’ll miss ’em!