Yak Attack

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Yak Attacked!

Phil Evans (Extreme World Challenges) / 08.03.2011

<b>Stage 2 - Nawakot to Dhading Besi (48km with 1359m ascent/1739m descent).</b>

The day started with a 10km group ride taking the Yak Attackers down a 6km sealed descent and then through the busy market town of Trisuli Bazaar. The race proper started at the foot of a 12km rocky climb that followed the side of the valley, increasing in severity for the final 6kms before reaching the small village of Samari.

The going was made even tougher by the heat (25c+), lack of breeze and the rocky terrain, which meant that it took some of the riders over 2 hours to reach the first summit of the day!

From here the trail descended on equally rocky terrain for a further 6km. It was fortunate that the skittish pigs, encountered during previous years, were missing from the descent this year as a large number of riders, pushing themselves to the limit, took some serious tumbles, even without this added distraction.

The trail then followed the contours of the foothills with numerous shorter climbs and descents through the heat of the day inducing veteran Aussie Greg McGoldrick to utter into his headcam " This is not a race, this is torture". After crossing through numerous streams and travelling through a terraced landscape the trail finally descended 400m of sandy track into the bustling town of Dhading Besi.

Once again Ajay Pandit Chhetri (Genesis/Torq ) showed his credentials as Nepal National Champion finishing the 48km in 2hr 13mins, only 13 minutes longer than the last participants had reached the top of the first climb at only 12km! Narayan Gopal Maharjan (Ed Menzies) finished in second place just under 10 minutes later and Padam Sabenhang kept his title hopes alive with a 2hr 27minute third place. First placed non Nepali rider was again John McGillivray, finishing just under an hour behind Ajay, with the final riders to finish the arduous stage 2 of Yak Attack in just over 5 hours.

Steve Rysdale - plighted with a series of mechanicals yesterday, including a broken seatpost and 2 punctures, and having taken a fall on the first descent of today, on finishing threw down the gauntlet to the mountain bike community with the statement "You haven’t mountain biked until you’ve Yak Attacked"!

Tomorrow sees the riders taking on 1700m of climbing on the way to the ancient capital of Gorka.See All Event Posts