New tracks and record visitors to You Yangs Regional Park From Parks Victoria
Parks Victoria staff are preparing for a busy summer with mountain bike trail counters at You Yangs Regional Park reporting a 150 percent increase in visitor numbers since the site reopened in August. Realignment works on Track 4 ‘Rockwell Run’ are complete and the trail is open for use.
Chief Ranger Siobhan Rogan said the newly opened 1.8km trail is the result of a Healthy Parks Healthy People community grant received by You Yangs MTB Inc to realign the trail using sustainable trail building techniques and aligning it to International MTB Association standards.
Ms Rogan said apart from Track 11, all mountain bike trails have been reworked and are now open. She thanked a team of volunteers, including You Yangs Mountain Bike Inc and Geelong Mountain Bike Club, for their support and hard work.
“It’s a credit to our staff and volunteers that less than a year ago the You Yangs was completely closed. Since then we have repaired more than 30 kilometres of mountain bike tracks and put the You Yangs back on the list of must-do trails for riders.”
Richard Grant, President of the Geelong Mountain Bike Club said, “The new realignment of Track 4 - Rockwell Run provides a perfect climbing option for cross country riders looking to get up to the Stockyards Management Track. The club has the new track pencilled in for round three of the Gazebo MTB series event in March.”
Principal trail builder and founding member of You Yangs MTB Inc Travis Williams said, “The new alignment provides a good stepping stone for beginner and intermediate riders to move from the flatter Kurrajong MTB area into the more technical trails found in the Stockyards.”
Track 4 - Rockwell Run is a 1.8km trail located at the You Yang’s Stockyard area. The difficulty of the run is graded as ‘blue square’: an intermediate trail designed as a climb that requires an above average level of fitness.
For more information about mountain biking and the trail network in Victoria’s Parks please visit www.parks.vic.gov.au or call 13 1963.
Round 1 of the 2011/12 Victorian DH MTB Series You Yangs Regional Park
Latest from the ranger: Cressy (Track 13) now One-Way Trail.
We hope everyone is enjoying the Youies now it is open again. One thing we have noticed is increased use on the trail network. It is great to see so many mountain bikers out enjoying the park. Parks Victoria has placed a trail counter on track 13 and the track is getting ridden over 1000 times per week (around 900 p/wk outside of shuttle days or events).
As a result track 13 - Cressy Climb will now be known as Cressy Descent and will be a one way trail ridden from top to bottom (Stockyards car park to start of track 5 - Quarry Pit).
We realise that not all park users will be happy with this decision, however, the decision has been made to minimise the risk to trial users.Track 4 - Rockwell Run is in the process of being rebuilt as a long gentle climb option in the Stockyards.
