You Yangs Yowie 2012

9/10/12

It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since the last You Yang’s Yowie marathon race!  The last year has certainly been jam-packed full of racing around the globe.  The Yowie is one of those local races I try get to each year as Geelong MTB club put on such a great show and who can forget those scrumptious hampers you can take home if you have some good legs on the day.

This year I had chosen the longest 99km option, consisting of 3 x 33km laps.  This race has a real mix of terrain and each section can suit a totally different type of rider.  The first section consists of an open fire-road which is quite flat for a few km’s, before kicking up into a fairly nasty climb.  Then it is down into the stockyards trails which are more technical with many rock gardens, drop-offs, twisty single track and a fair few steep pinches. The last section is an endless maze of flowy single track over flat terrain.  For me, I love the Stockyards section however once into the flatter sections I tend to struggle as my legs don’t seem to punch out quite enough power!

I lined up along-side 2 top-notch LivGiant riders Niki Fisher and Jess Douglas and of course 50 other fit looking male riders ready to tackle the 99km distance.  The start was a little like a road race although the witches hats set up in the middle of the road made things a bit hairy with the pack having to negotiate which side to ride on.  About 1km into the race someone came a little too close to one of these witches hats and came down, causing a domino effect and taking out a few riders.  Poor Jess Douglas came down quite hard and as I found out later was taken to hospital to get checked out.  Luckily she had only sustained some soft tissue damage and she should make a speedy recovery.

This shot was taken by Jordan Lucas

After this horrible start, things settled down and once the climb started the bunch soon spread out. From then on it was time to find a good rhythm and settle in for an estimated 4.5-5hr race ahead.  It generally depends on the type of course as to whether I push a little harder early on and try to stay with a bunch or if I chose to just find my own tempo pace.  Over the technical and hilly stockyards section of the course it was definitely best to ride at my own pace.  I would have liked to have had a small bunch to work with once into the flatter section of twisty trails; however it didn’t really pan out this way and for the remainder of the race I pretty much rode alone.  It can be hard in a longer race like this, when riding alone, to keep the mind on the job and keep focus on the track.  I found my mind wandering a little to be honest, thinking about random things. I was probably lucky that I had ridden these trails quite a bit and could get away with a little less concentration!

You would have thought that after 3 consecutive years of racing the Yowie, I should have been well truly ready for the Yowie monster hiding in the trees.  However I think on each of my 3 laps my heart-rate lifted at least 5 beats when some guy (or girl?) dressed in camouflage jumped onto the track making a kind of odd noise.

The Yowie Monster Scared a few!

This race seemed to pass by really quickly and before I knew it I was onto the last flat section for the day. It took me by surprise when I glanced behind to find Bryce, one of the talented vets riders whom I coach, very rapidly gaining on me.  This made me lift a notch or 2, in effort to stay ahead. Bryce is the master of pacing and had kept very consistent lap times throughout.  He proved too strong in the finishing straight and out-sprinted me to win our battle.  I was very happy with my race however, having taken out the women’s category. Niki Fisher rode strong to claim 2nd spot. In the men’s category Sam Chancellor is showing some strong form for next week’s 24hr race and claimed top spot.

Most importantly I was happy with my energy levels throughout the day proving my nutrition plan, consisting of a mixture of Torq energy powder and gels, had worked out well and also my form seems to be coming together at the right time.  The plan is to really freshen up this week and hopefully hit my first peak for the season at the beginning of next week when the Langkawi MTB tour kicks off.  There will be some World Class riders from Europe, South Africa and America racing, so I’m certainly going to need all the form I can get!