You Yangs Yowie, Saturday 3rd October.
So 'twas off to the You Yangs on Saturday last to pound my bike around the lovely national park thereabouts in the 33km Yowie (mountain bike marathon) run by the Geelong Mountain Bike Club. Four of us entered and headed down there en masse, but three of us were significantly harder than me and entered the 66km version. But all were too scared to tackle the 99km. And a good thing too.
So, a massive bowl of weetbix and several bananas later, we arrived at the park to get registered and prepare for the day. It was a really well organised transition area, if a little small, but it didn't lack anything....
Yes, the van on the right is a mobile coffee van. They LOVE their coffee here, in the same way we love tea.
I hung around the start area while the other lads got sorted out for the 66km start, which lifted off without a hitch and not much ceremony. Our start in the 33km was a fairly low key affair too, with everyone just cruising off the line apart from the few serious lads up front who sprinted away early on.
The course was fantastic, well signposted and really well prepared. The first section was all fire road, and pretty dusty at that. But it wound quite gently uphill for about the first 2km allowing everyone to spin their legs and warm up nicely. A slightly stiffer climb for the next km or so got us to the top of the first descent, a 60km/h downhill on very loose sandy gravel which kept your wits about you in the corners let me tell yer. Fortunately no-one went down, and if you were lucky you carried enough speed into the next, much steeper climb for another km or so to take you off the fire road access and onto the trails proper.
I'd heard a lot about how good the You Yangs were to ride, but wasn't really prepared for just how much fun the trails were. The track wound up again gently until it started to get pretty rocky. The You Yangs are a large area of granite outcrops just sitting in the middle of a very flat plain south-west of Melbourne, and christ, some of the boulders we were riding were massive.....
About this time, I started to curse at the lack of rear suspension on my bike. The downhills, which were part of a downhill course proper, were pretty technical and were a bit hang-on-and-hope for those of us with no rear travel. Thought I'd ripped a tyre off at one point, but no, just slid down a rock or two. So now not only are my legs burning and my lungs screaming, but my wrists are dust and my shoulders are made of jelly. Magic.
Ah good. The downhill has finished.......but oh shit, here's Vomit Hill.
The imaginatively, and wisely, named Vomit Hill was run up by me. It was impossible to ride it. Or so I thought until one guy rode past me. I say rode, he looked like he was surfing on a greasy tea tray, but you get the idea. I gave him a bit of encouragement to get to the top, then jumped back on my bike when it flattened out and chased him as much as I could to keep myself going. Long, long climb up a very narrow dusty track this one.....and then at the top, I fell off big style.
Right at the summit was a large boulder in the trail, which you needed to accelerate up and over, just when your legs had had enough.
And so I tried.
And so I failed.
And by failed, I mean wheelied a full 360 loop over my own head onto my back like a beached turtle and laid there pissing myself laughing.
But at least I was feeling ok. One guy came along as I was sorting myself out, he was shaking like a shitting dog, absolute mess, cramping up big time. He wanted to sit down and rest, but I figured he'd just seize up solid so tried to keep him moving and sorted him out with a load of my electrolyte drink and an energy gel. Miraculous stuff that......5 minutes later he was right as rain, ready to plough on, and full of thanks for me helping him out. Karma points for me I reckon.
From there, we had another VERY rocky downhill until reaching the singletrack descent back to the start, which was an awesome 8km or so down through the forest at the base of the rocks, winding round berms and jumps back to the start/finish line.
I'd set myself an aim of 2h30m for the 33km, and made it round in 2h22m04s, which I was pretty pleased with. I was more pleased with not having really stopped riding apart from two falls and a run up one unridable hill, plus an enforced 5 minutes or so to help that lad out, must be getting fitter. Felt good at the finish too, like I could have gone on. 66km for me next year then!
Post race birthday beers were supplied by Mikey, and a good time was had by all. Bring on the 24 hour at the end of November!
So, a massive bowl of weetbix and several bananas later, we arrived at the park to get registered and prepare for the day. It was a really well organised transition area, if a little small, but it didn't lack anything....
Yes, the van on the right is a mobile coffee van. They LOVE their coffee here, in the same way we love tea.
I hung around the start area while the other lads got sorted out for the 66km start, which lifted off without a hitch and not much ceremony. Our start in the 33km was a fairly low key affair too, with everyone just cruising off the line apart from the few serious lads up front who sprinted away early on.
The course was fantastic, well signposted and really well prepared. The first section was all fire road, and pretty dusty at that. But it wound quite gently uphill for about the first 2km allowing everyone to spin their legs and warm up nicely. A slightly stiffer climb for the next km or so got us to the top of the first descent, a 60km/h downhill on very loose sandy gravel which kept your wits about you in the corners let me tell yer. Fortunately no-one went down, and if you were lucky you carried enough speed into the next, much steeper climb for another km or so to take you off the fire road access and onto the trails proper.
I'd heard a lot about how good the You Yangs were to ride, but wasn't really prepared for just how much fun the trails were. The track wound up again gently until it started to get pretty rocky. The You Yangs are a large area of granite outcrops just sitting in the middle of a very flat plain south-west of Melbourne, and christ, some of the boulders we were riding were massive.....
About this time, I started to curse at the lack of rear suspension on my bike. The downhills, which were part of a downhill course proper, were pretty technical and were a bit hang-on-and-hope for those of us with no rear travel. Thought I'd ripped a tyre off at one point, but no, just slid down a rock or two. So now not only are my legs burning and my lungs screaming, but my wrists are dust and my shoulders are made of jelly. Magic.
Ah good. The downhill has finished.......but oh shit, here's Vomit Hill.
The imaginatively, and wisely, named Vomit Hill was run up by me. It was impossible to ride it. Or so I thought until one guy rode past me. I say rode, he looked like he was surfing on a greasy tea tray, but you get the idea. I gave him a bit of encouragement to get to the top, then jumped back on my bike when it flattened out and chased him as much as I could to keep myself going. Long, long climb up a very narrow dusty track this one.....and then at the top, I fell off big style.
Right at the summit was a large boulder in the trail, which you needed to accelerate up and over, just when your legs had had enough.
And so I tried.
And so I failed.
And by failed, I mean wheelied a full 360 loop over my own head onto my back like a beached turtle and laid there pissing myself laughing.
But at least I was feeling ok. One guy came along as I was sorting myself out, he was shaking like a shitting dog, absolute mess, cramping up big time. He wanted to sit down and rest, but I figured he'd just seize up solid so tried to keep him moving and sorted him out with a load of my electrolyte drink and an energy gel. Miraculous stuff that......5 minutes later he was right as rain, ready to plough on, and full of thanks for me helping him out. Karma points for me I reckon.
From there, we had another VERY rocky downhill until reaching the singletrack descent back to the start, which was an awesome 8km or so down through the forest at the base of the rocks, winding round berms and jumps back to the start/finish line.
I'd set myself an aim of 2h30m for the 33km, and made it round in 2h22m04s, which I was pretty pleased with. I was more pleased with not having really stopped riding apart from two falls and a run up one unridable hill, plus an enforced 5 minutes or so to help that lad out, must be getting fitter. Felt good at the finish too, like I could have gone on. 66km for me next year then!
Post race birthday beers were supplied by Mikey, and a good time was had by all. Bring on the 24 hour at the end of November!