Paul Weymouth

I have ridden a mountain bike all my life mainly just riding down to the shops for lollies but in 2004 I watched Lance Armstrong win his sixth Tour de France and I was hooked, so I bought my first road bike when I was fourteen and started riding every weekend with the Mornington cycling group.  At first I was very nervous riding in a big group and struggled to ride anything over 40km, but with the help of a few people from the club I gradually became confident riding in a group and I also started to ride faster for longer.

At the start of this year I rode in my first road race, a criterium at Sandown Raceway. I wasn’t happy with my place overall, this made me realise that I had to do a lot more training to be competitive. So I started riding nearly every day and found my self constantly watching cycling DVDs and learning how to be more ‘race smart’.  My next race was a few weeks later, I broke away in a group and managed to get a place. From then on I consistently got places and made my way up through the grades, from D-grade to A-grade in less then one season.  I was asked by Torq to fill in at a mountain bike race. I had always thought about racing mountain bikes but never really looked into it. When I was asked to race, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I rode in a two-man team and I loved it even though I crashed once and got so muddy that I didn’t recognise my self in the mirror.

Previously to cycling I competed in cross-country running, winning the Victorian All Schools Team event in 2005. I also swam competitively for several years, competing at state and national levels.

My goals at the moment are to race and place in the State School Championships and also next year to race in the National Championships. I am also looking forward to racing in some more road classics this year.  My long-term goals are to represent Australia at an International level and maybe one-day ride in the Tour De France.