You Yangs Yowie, 2013

The start of the You Yangs Yowie had it's traditional bunch pace, no-one letting the wheel in front get away, everyone making sure not to push any harder than necessary on the opening 5km of fire road. I was riding the two lap, 66km race option, with a combination of endurance and respect for the technical aspects of the You Yangs. Hiding in the bunch as we approached the first real climb up Great Circle Drive the usual tussle began as riders tried to get a clear run at the up-coming single track descent. Brett Kellett and I hit this together, lead in by a couple of other riders that we were able to break past as we rode through the next cobbled gully ascent.

The climb up Lactic offered the usual pressure to not screw up. I miss-timed the early boulder step-up and dropped the bike, clambering aside while Brett rode past, then jumped back on in pursuit. I kept in touch through the remainder of the climb, and the next couple of descents and climbs, however, as we pedalled on the gap to Brett's wheel kept increasing.

Leaving the more technical side of the You Yangs, it was onto the flatter, Kurrajong side. 

With the constant twisting and winding of most mountain bike trails it is not uncommon to be within 30 seconds of the next rider yet hardly ever see them. After a couple of kilometres on the Kurrajong side the trail hit an open, straight, 800m stretch of fire road on a slight incline. Here I measured my time deficit to the group of four riders ahead of me to be about 45 seconds. Tipping into the next section of flowing trails that wriggle their way through the trees I was soon rounded by the next rider, Stuart.

Part of the attraction of mountain biking, for me, is the interaction on the trails with other riders, some known and many I am yet to meet. Until this point I had not met Stuart, but I was to share the trails wheel-to-wheel with him for a majority of the second lap. Stuart was stronger on the flatter sections and gradually slipped away in the early stages of the second lap, until Great Circle Drive once again steepened. Driving the climb I made back the gap. He then stuck with me for the descent of Trav's, By this time we were catching the slower riders of the 33km event that started an hour after we had. As Lactic began to rise we picked past a handful of other riders before the technical rock step-ups of the climb, getting through these cleanly this time. We picked up more riders on the flowing descents and climbs to get across to Boulder before winding our way across the flats of the Stockyards toward the final climb of Great Circle Drive. We caught up with about 4 or 5 other 66km riders that had broken away at the first descent of Trav's an hour and a half earlier.

After successfully descending the link track to the flatter Kurrajong side Stuart moved past and onward. This gave me a perfect chance to put some work into my flat track game. As the finish line loomed ahead I dug out whatever was left in the legs to cross within eleven seconds of Stuart. Once again, it was great to make the effort to be a part of this event hosted by Geelong Mountain Bike Club. It perfectly showcases the excellent trails of the You Yangs and the fantastic nature of the competitors.