World Champion downhill biker Rachel Atherton has debunked gender stereotypes since she was a teen and is now back in the game following the birth of her baby.
The 34-year-old athlete spends her weekends breastfeeding her daughter one minute before zipping up into her gear and heading down a woodland hill the next - at 60mph in a death-defying race.
Rachel wants to be a positive force in encouraging women that becoming a mother doesn’t mean calling time on your career - especially in the world of sport.
“I was keen even when pregnant, and when I told sponsors, that I didn't want it to be seen as a negative thing,” Rachel, who is also known as the ‘queen of downhill racing’ with a record number of overall World Cup wins to her name, says.
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“Often you hear ‘it's the end of the line’, the end of your career, and I just really wanted it to not be that way; you can do both.”
A few weekends ago, she competed in the UCI World Cup in Switzerland in a bid to become the most decorated female downhill racer of all time.
She came sixth, which means she still holds 39 World Cups while the record to beat is 41.
It was the first race the now mum-of-one had taken part in for more than three years.
In 2019 she seriously injured her Achilles tendon during the Les Gets World Cup and spent the following months trying to get back to full fitness.
And in August last year, she became a mother to Arna.
“I'm on my way to racing again and that's important to at least give yourself the option and try but at the same time, having a baby and having kids is amazing and it's so special - I don't want to miss any of it,” Rachel, who began BMX biking at the age of eight and mountain biking at 11, continues.
“So it's definitely hard for women to choose.
“You don't want to miss anything from being there with your kids but you don't want to put your career to an end either so it’s definitely about finding the balance that suits you”.
While it’s not a 9-5, long hours are put into maintaining her fitness in the gym and training on her bike.
Her job involves getting to the top of a mountain, either by a chairlift or driving up, with the next five minutes spent hurtling down the hillside on her bike at speeds of around 40-60mph over drops and dodging between trees.
“Crashes and falls are inevitable,” says the adrenaline junky.
“The adrenaline is addictive although it’s very calculated.
“I train really hard and it’s very precise.
“The rush you get from tackling the mountain, especially as a woman, that's so addictive. It really gives you fire for life."
She adds: "I think mountain biking or any sport really gives you so much confidence in your body and yourself and gives you a rush of feels good hormones.
"And I think sport in that way is absolutely amazing".
Between Rachel and her two older brothers Dan and Gee, who are also professional racing cyclists, they have broken or dislocated near enough every bone in the body - including dislocated shoulders, broken collarbones, legs, ribs, neck, and pelvis.
It was her brothers who encouraged her into the sport as a child.
The family lived in a rural village in Somerset and passed through woodland to get to school each day.
And when their parents split up, the children would spend weekends in Exeter biking through nature parks with their dad.
Her brothers began travelling the world in BMX competitions in their mid-teens, which spurred Rachel on to do the same with mountain biking - a sport that she finds exhilarating.
But she was met with criticism by her male peers as a teenager.
“The boys in my class would say ‘why are you mountain biking?’” Rachel, who now lives in North Wales with her partner, says.
“‘It's not for girls, it's weird.’
“Even with my clothes, they would ask ‘what are you wearing?’
“I remember thinking, ‘oh, maybe I shouldn't be doing this.”
But her siblings’ belief in her talent meant that she powered through and began competing herself.
“I remember thinking ‘why would I want to do that?’” she says.
“I wanted to be normal and fit in; play hockey and netball but I started racing and getting results.
“I think having someone believe in you like that, whether it's a family member, a parent, or a coach - athletes all have a story like that; you need someone that believes in you unconditionally.
“That just pushes you on to do it when you can't really see it yourself. I feel very lucky to have older brothers like that for seeing it when I couldn't.”
In her adult life, she has had nothing but support from her male counterparts at work, she says, and other competitors in the industry with children have praised her for being “the voice of parents”.
Although she admits the older generation still tends to feel awkward around her when she breastfeeds her daughter at bike parks, compared to youngsters that ‘“don’t bat an eyelid”.
“I feel really proud to be back doing my sport and still feeding her,” the 2005 Times Young Sportswoman of the Year says, who has her mum travel with her to help look after Asta when she competes.
“I think it's just as important that motherhood is shown in all its aspects and all its glory.
“And that it’s normalised to not even be commented on - you can be a breastfeeding mother and work.”
Juggling motherhood and her career has been an eye-opener for Rachel, who has gone from 12 hours of sleep a night which she says is important for an athlete, to a state of sleep deprivation with a crying baby.
She also raises that mums not wanting to head back to work following the birth of their child for whatever reason is also a commendable choice.
“Whatever you decide as a mother, whether you go back to work or not, I think it's fine either way,” Rachel adds.
“There is so much pressure - if you go back to work you feel bad for not being there and if you stay and home and don't work, well being a full-time mother is f**king hard.
“It's such hard work and that is not the easy option. Either way, it's a full-time job - it's incredible either way.”
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Rachel Atherton is a Red Bull athlete. Watch the highlights of Rachel’s return to action in the UCI MTB World Cup on Red Bull TV
