Paul smashes them in National Round # 2

In another enormous performance, Paul Van Der Ploeg has again hopped up on the top step of the box at the second round of the National XC series in Tasmania over the weekend! Smashing them from the get go, he proceeded to beat all comers, putting 4m30s into the field, including other Australian representatives.

Paul has tightened his grip on the #1 plate for U19 men, and we looked forward to having him on our side at the upcoming Kona 24hour this weekend.

Hopefully we will see a race report from him in the next few days, so check back to see how it all went for him!

This weekend coming is the last round for the Felt Racing Enduro team for this year, so make sure you come say g'day some time over the weekend won't you!

In news just in, Paul has sent in his race report. Have a read!

From Paul Van.

"Waking up at 4:00 in the morning must be one of the most fun things you can do, don’t you think? This seems to happen a lot when I fly anywhere. Maybe it’s because flights are cheaper at those times? So for that reason a group of mountain bikers flew down to Tasmania on Friday morning, for the second national round at Glenorchy, Hobart.

Race Day (Saturday)

I woke up at 8:45am, left the Palace at 11:00am with the elite guys (Chris, Jimmy and AJ) then relaxed and took some photos of Tim R as he went round for the elite men race. Early in his race, he had a big crash in the dust and was completely covered in it. As he rode past the DH'ers they cheered him as ‘Dusty’ which was an appropriate name since he was barely recognizable.

I started my warm up an hour and a bit before the race so I could hit it from the start. Guess what, it worked! When the gun went off, I sprinted from the line putting a small gap into the chasing U19 pack. On the first climb, Nathan Hass and David Johnston caught up momentarily but I stayed out the front for the first descent, not wanting to get caught up with the riff raff. On the second and major climb of the race there were just three guys including myself. Once I got over the top, I decided to open it up and let the Felt RXC Pro have its head. At the bottom, I washed out a corner and cut up my left knee, but when you are as TonkaTuff as me, you just keep on keeping on (editorial embelishment- A.). Getting a bit dusty and a little sore, I still had a 15 second lead over Nathan and David. On the big climb, I could still see Nathan and decided to stay steady and put in more time on the awesome descent. My plan appeared to work for the second time today, no longer seeing Nathan at any point on the lap.

Coming around the on the third lap my lead seemed to blow out a bit. I was riding well until I hit a corner way too hungry near the end of the lap, burping my tyre (the tyre rolls off the bead a little, air comes out and then it rolls back on). I pulled my head in a little after that to make sure it didn't happen again! As I came through for the fourth lap, I heard Nathan cheer me on which was quite strange because I thought he was chasing me. So for the last lap I had a half flat back tyre, but still managed to roll over the line with a 4 and a half minute lead. It was a very lucky result in the end. (Ya think!!!!?- A.)

So I again found myself standing on the top step of the box, National Series Leader #1 plate in one hand and a cheque in the other. I just want to thank Gerald for fixing up my bike a few days before the race, Felt bikes for all of their support, Hutchinson tyres for supplying me with the best tyres that you can get (seriously they were hooking on that descent), Tory and Tim for looking after me and organising flights, accommodation and all the details and last but definitely not least, my parents bankroll the whole shebang and allow me to do what I love doing (and seem to do okay at...! -A.).

If you want to read about the Elite races (men and women) go to the cycling news website, I didn’t feel like I needed to elaborate on those races when there is a full report on the web already.

Bring on Kona 24hr and Thredbo (National Round 3)