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Get a closer look at that special custom Trek Session 9.9 that Rachel Atherton will be racing at the 2018 Fort William World Cup.
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Hello everyone, this is Will from
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Singletrack Magazine and we're here at
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the Fort William World Cup and I'm
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joined by Joe who's one of the mechanics
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for Trek Factory Racing team.
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Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so
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here I am again. Um
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second round of the World Cup this year.
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Yeah, 2018. Hopefully it's a good one,
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so.
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How many Fort Bills is this for you?
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This would be my fifth World Cup round
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here, fifth national here and
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well, I've raced a cup here a couple
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times back in the past as well, so yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, you're pretty familiar with the
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track and the the demands of the track?
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Yeah, well, um that's the thing apart
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from the one little section through the
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woods, the rest of it doesn't change.
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Like riders can turn up here having not
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raced it or been here all year and be
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like 78% up to race speed already, so.
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Right. Right.
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What does this
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What does this course do to bikes? Like
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what do they What do they need to be
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prepared for? What kind of, you know,
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what does it destroy?
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Well, what doesn't it do? That's the
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thing. Um
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Yeah, like it's renowned for being
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brutal. So many rocks up there and and
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well, last year the wooded section,
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roots as well, so
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it's hard to kind of get everything set
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up. Like it's so dry and marbly at top
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as it is at the moment. Like with no
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rain, it's so slippy and everything,
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yeah. So, uh
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Yeah.
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And we've obviously got this beautiful
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bike here for Rachel Atherton. Uh can
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you tell us some of the highlights on
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this bike? Are there anything that's
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particularly special or any custom kind
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of tweaks we've got on here?
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Well, um yeah, it's obviously the paint
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job, that's the main thing and changed a
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few things on the on the Hope V4 brakes.
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Um just getting them nice uh
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color coded, really.
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It looks absolutely
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that make everything uh
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Yeah, that brings it all together, yeah.
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Yeah.
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Okay. And can you tell us a little bit
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about setup on here? For example, like
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what kind of tire pressure and what kind
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of tires are we running for this track?
1:44
Yeah, so um
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with the track here
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being so dry and even in the
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well, even if it's soaking wet here, you
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can always run a dry tire cuz the
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ground's that hard, so you don't really
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need those spikes to find the grip
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there. Uh we're running the Bontrager G5
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in a 2.5.
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Uh, pressure-wise, we'll go as low as 24
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in the front and probably 25 in the
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back. And then,
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depending on how much grip there is and
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how fast rolling it is, then uh, go up
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to sort of 26, 27. So, uh,
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So, yeah. Um, and suspension set up, um,
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you probably know we were here a couple
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of weeks ago for the national.
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Yep.
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So, that was a good time to get, well,
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the riders spend time on the bikes, get
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used to the track, and adjust everything
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we need to for this race. So, that's
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always a good
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a good test to get, well, the priority
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for that national race is almost to get
2:31
everything ready for the World Cup. So,
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we can come here fighting really. So,
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uh, so no guessing games or anything,
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just uh, get up there straight away and
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get riding, yeah.
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Got you. Got you. And uh, all right. So,
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let's say uh, after practice, for
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example, uh, Rachel comes back with the
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bike. Uh, what are you checking for?
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What's your standard procedure for going
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over the bike to uh, to work out what
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needs attention or what doesn't need
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attention?
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Yeah, so normally,
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um,
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well, suspension being a big part of it,
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we'll normally check fork pressure
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because it can change, you know, well,
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two or three PSI here or there due to
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temperature, like uh, well, obviously
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going higher up the hill, atmospheric
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pressure, so on, it can change that. And
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uh,
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more often than not, Rachel's come down
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and be like, "Actually, yeah, it wasn't
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feeling quite right. It felt a bit too
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hard there." We'd check it and yeah. So,
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um,
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it is that. Um,
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So, checking air pressure in the forks.
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What about things like brakes um, and
3:19
drivetrain stuff as well?
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Yeah, so um,
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well, with the Hope stuff that we've
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moved onto this year is been really
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solid. Uh, we've not had many issues
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with them at all. Um,
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this being such a long track, you'd
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maybe expect stuff to overheat, but the
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Hope's got there, well, the Hope brakes
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is just consistent all the way down. Um,
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one thing we will be checking is spokes.
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So, again, we'll we'll check if tires
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have lost any air pressure, see if
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there's any flat spots, see if there's
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any loose spokes. Um,
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we always have at least one or two wheel
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sets ready to replace straight away with
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the same tires on, ready to go.
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Just in case anything happens to the
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rims. But um,
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Yeah, I'd say that's that's the main
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thing really, yeah.
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Got you.
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And checking chain rings, bash guards,
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everything just in case they get smashed
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to pieces.
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Fanta- Well, I hope not too many smashed
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pieces, especially this lovely new
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frame.
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Yeah, yeah, that'd be disastrous,
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wouldn't it?
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All right, Joe, well, I hope you don't
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have too much work this weekend.
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Hopefully, fingers crossed, yeah.
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No worries. Thank you very much for your
4:11
time.
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Thank you.
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Cheers.
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Cheers.
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