The Weekly Rider - Liz Young
Liz Young is the La Velocita Weekly Rider! Liz is a member of the the CYC'd cycling club in Brisbane, from racing in Europe and now looking to take out the world fastest time for her age group in the 2,000m pursuit! One thing is for sure... she loves to ride!
Name: Liz Young
Lives: Brisbane
Dream bike: I am currently working with Pete Spencer from GCbikefit (a total fit-wizard) to custom built a track bike – it will be based on the Duratec Cool R14 frameset and then customised to suit a very short pursuiter.
Favourite local ride: Climbs like Springbrook, Beechmont and O’Reilly’s – I'm no climber but these rides make me want to climb! My absolute favourite ride is in the Adelaide Hills, through the Basket Range. Quiet country roads, rolling hills and bakery stops – need I say more?
My current cycling goal is: well it was a secret, but it’s going to be out now – break the world’s best time for the 2,000 meter pursuit in my age group – so I guess I had better get that bike and start training!
When I am on the bike I: am ‘just me’. Whether it’s having a yabber to friends on a coffee shop ride, motor pacing on the track, doing a race – the person I am is the authentic me, without all the hoo-ha of daily life.
How did your love for bikes come about: when I was 2 or 3 years old there was a bike with no wheels near where we lived. I used to sit on it and pretend I could ride – so I guess you could say there was always something that drew me to bikes. But I didn’t buy a bike until my late 20's when a friend in Canberra encouraged me to buy a road bike and get cycling. I was hooked!
Share a cycling memory: a couple of years ago I went to Belgium to race. There was one day I rocked up at a Kermese (100km race made up of 10 laps of a 10km circuit) with about 70 other girls. I was feeling pretty good in the first lap as the terrain really suited my style of racing and I started think ‘maybe it’s my day’.
About two thirds of the way through the first lap we came to a cobbled section, that was on a descent, and had a corner at the bottom - and I thought ‘oh no!’. While I had ‘done’ cobbles in races, not with a descent and not involving cornering with speed. I sucked it up, and while I floated to the back of the bunch (in fear) each time we did that descent, I was strong enough to get back on.
By lap 7 we were down to 12 riders and I was no longer struggling with the cobbles. Much to my dismay, I noticed that massive black clouds of a summer storm were building and the next thing I knew it began to hail and in a few moments we were hitting the cobbles, in a hail storm. I don’t think you can print the word I was thinking. I wish I could say that I stayed with the leading group til the end. I didn’t. But I did ride down those cobbles. I didn’t crash and I finished the race in 12th.
That was the day that I conquered a massive fear – something that shaped many many things I have done in my life and on a bike since.
I love to ride because: because it makes me feel like I can fly.
Do you dream of the open road, riding through beautiful rolling country and breathing in the fresh country air? Of riding roads with little traffic and testing yourself against some very spicy climbs? Well, you can get this and a lot more from this year’s Newcrest Orange Challenge.