I spent the winter months competing in cyclocross where I had privilege of wearing the Team GB kit on multiple occasions.  The highlight race was the European championships on the famous Namur circuit in Belgium.

Prior to, and during, the February half term, I spent 14 days in Calpe (Spain) on a training camp with Trinity racing; one of the top u23 teams in the world. I put in a lot of work, including 52 hours’ worth of riding, some base endurance, and some specific work on the climbs. There were some very enjoyable rides in the sun and some, definitely not so fun, hours in the rain; but to quote the Dutch “we’re not made of sugar”.

For me, the 2023 season begins with a trio of races in Belgium. They are classed as UCI 1.1’S, which are the highest level of racing a junior (u19) can race, with some very strong global competition. The weekends are back-to-back, so coupled with my Year 13 mocks makes for an extremely busy time.

Belgium is the heartland of cycling, and no one puts on a better race them. The team presentation, the crowds and the media hype surrounding the peloton can make for an intense and nervous experience.

Usually, I meet my teammates, who are from all over the UK, as we travel to Folkstone before we hop onto the Eurotunnel to France, to drive into Belgium. On Saturday, we tend to check out key sectors of the course.  On Sunday we race.  Then, as soon as we are finished, it’s a quick pack-up followed by a dash to the Eurotunnel. I tend to make it home around 1am/2am and try my best to make it into school on Monday before I get back to training on the Tuesday.

We start with the “cobble classics”.  These have multiple cobble stone sectors and crosswinds, which combined with the dull grey skies can make for some epic racing. However, these first few races of the season are definitely not my strong point. Being a light weight, 57kgs, I’m better suited to dancing up the climbs, rather than using brute force to get over the cobble climbs. Later, with the summer months, comes the stage racing, and the hilly one-day races in France and Italy which suit me more.

The first race of the season for me was Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where I finished 27^th.  The following weekend I finished 26^th in the Nokere Koerse.  Last weekend, in the Guido Reybrouck Classic, after two stages consisting of a 13km individual time trial and a 130km road stage on the Sunday, I secured 11^th place despite a hard crash and a cracked helmet. In all races I am up against the 150 best junior riders in the world, so to be performing in the top 30 riders gives me confidence as I move into a block of intense training.  The next block of racing will consist of stage races in the south of France and Spain, as well as some prestigious one-day races in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Jacob Bush