Girls gone biking

This is one of those cobbled together in 30 seconds posts. It may also contain some wrong conclusions, some assumptions and it's all about girls, their mentality and their attitude to each other. Some of it might be wide off the mark and I might not make friends with this post but I'm intrigued by what I just noticed - I think it's interesting.

The first link in the chain was discovering the outcome of the womens qualifing for the World Cup Downhill racing currently being held in Maribor, not from the myriad of mountain biking organisations, magazines and manufacturers/sponsors I follow, but from Miss Atherton herself. No mens results had been posted either at that point, I Googled. Cool, I thought, it's ace she bothered to tweet that, it looks like I'd never have known otherwise. I was a bit less happy about the content of her tweet, being as how it referenced an injury I didn't know she'd picked up, and that said injury was seriously twanging. Here we go again, I thought.

The second link in the chain was a tweet from @dirtmagazine linking to an article on the Mens Downhill results. The results are notable, admittedly, because the difference between 1st and 2nd is, quite literally, into the 100ths of a second. That's close. That's exciting. That's what people want to read about.

I wonder how Rachel Atherton did, I thought, and looked for a link to the womens results, and sure enough there was an article already written on Dirt Magazines website. No tweet link to this one though.But they wrote it, which hopefully means someone other than me cares about the womens Downhill as well as the mens.

So I read though the results, misread the difference between 1st and 2nd as being in the 100ths again, reread and discovered that actually, no, it's 10 seconds that Rachel Atherton has won by. And there's a sense of here we go again, because the 2008 womens World Cup Downhill, I seem to remember that involving the gap between 1st and 2nd being quite hefty too.

Now, I want you to bear with me on this next bit. I think it's absolutely fascinating. Compare this picture of the men on the mens podium (courtesy of Dirt Magazine) to this picture of the women on theirs (courtesy of Dirt Magazine).

Notice anything?

Nope, not talking about the blonde girl scratching her head. Not talking about the slightly unfortunate look on Pugins face. Certainly not talking about Jonniers Monster Energy socks though I am still argueing with myself about whether they're the worlds biggest fashion faux pas or so totally cool I want a pair.

Look at all their legs. And tell me the only person who is still covered in mud. Now go back to the mens podium shot and tell me how many of the blokes bothered to go back to their pits and have a quick wash and brush up. None. Now this is a leap. I know it is, and it's a massive one. But I wonder how much of the attitude that puts you on the podium still covered in mud, also takes 10 seconds off everyone elses time. I wonder whether when other people are focusing on something entirely different, whether she is focusing on nothing but racing and pushing and finding more mud. I wonder if it's all about attitiude, focus and determination, and less about skill and technique. I wonder if technique comes from attitude, focus and determination. I wonder if fearlessness comes with getting covered in mud and not caring. I wonder if growing up with 2 brothers who push and push and push the limits of own boundaries and bodies has an intrinsic and irreversable effect on the way you approach life. I wonder if watching 2 lads hurtling and hooning switches something on inside someone watching, whether they one day decide that not only are they going to have a go, but they're going to try and beat the boys at their own game. I wonder if the limits which most girls have imposed on them from the moment they're born (pink, don't do science, don't do math, don't play football, wear dresses, don't live in jeans, wear high heels not trainers, always wear make up, don't play with lego, play with the Barbie) disappear when you spend a lot of time in the company of two blokes who expect so much of you that the lines between genders disappear, because they're not acknowledged as existing, never mind being a constraint.

That picture - just one picture. If I could interview anyone, dead or alive, sit them down in a worn out locals pub in the middle of nowhere, with a decent darts board and a pool table and a few hours to kill, it would be Rachel Atherton. Because I want to know how 1 women out of a row of 5 comes to be standing there still covered in mud. I want to know if she notices. I want to know if she cares.

I'll never get the chance, of course. But it really has made me ponder the nature of gender when it comes to sport in general, but mountain biking in particular.

What is it that makes someone want to beat everyone?