Gee Atherton's "The Ridgeline"
December 2nd, 2020
Above Dyfi Bike Park, a grassy ridge runs down from a 666m summit. The views are stunning but just 2 metres to the left the land falls away, dropping hundreds of metres...
Of course, for Gee Atherton, this was the perfect challenge
"It's pretty rare that a film project is this scary"... when Dan Atherton is nervous, you know that something big is going down. The Ridgeline project is bleak, inaccessible and brutal to work with, the slightest mistake will come with great consequences.
The Ridgeline is nestled between Snowdonia, the Cambrian Mountain Range and the Irish Sea.
When asked about his vision for The Ridgeline, Gee's answer was simple - "I wanted it to be really fast, really big and really cool - I knew that it would be spectacular".
On top of the Ridge, any gusts over 6mph were a no-go. Fortunately, there was a quiet window for a couple of hours every morning where we'd squeeze in as much as we could before the Wind God's had their say. We had 4 lads with walkie-talkies at points along the ridge checking the wind speeds. Once it was ok all the way along Gee would drop in.
From the first day, the build was really hard. Some days we’d be hiking up here with the generator and a jackhammer on our backs in 30 degrees, others we’d be lashed by storms and soaked to the skin. It became a personal battle. trying to tame this beast, but without the dig crew, I’d never have made it.
The Atherton bike was amazing. Going in at these speeds I needed to be 110% confident, it’s just so strong. On the last gap of the last day, I overshot and had such a savage landing, it was like dropping off a house to flat...the bike was fine, I’m still riding it.”—Gee Atherton
The outcome of the new breath-taking film, shot by We are Peny shows how Gee Atherton and the dig crew have taken mountain bike riding to a new extreme, all driven by the confidence that the Atherton Bike gives them. Watch the full video here.
Photography by Dan Griffiths, Moonhead Media