Josh's Journey to the 2028 Paralympic Games

Hi my name is Josh and I am 15 years old with Cerebal Palsy and fully blind in my right eye.

I am an extremely keen cyclist, and have been for over 3 years. It all started in the summer of 2022, when my dad bought me my first road bike. Where I fell in love with the sport instantly.

It all started with small 1 hour rides with my dad, around 20-30 miles, and this format followed through 2023. During this period I had no thought of professional riding, all riding I completed was all for social and fun.

As the winter rolled in, my miles dropped due to inclement weather, with high motivation and drive, I attended the local club New Year's ride on the 1st January 2024, where sadly I was unable to complete it due to my lack of fitness, this was a huge eye opener for me, fuelling a burst of motivation to crack down and train!

After my upsetting outcome with the club ride I got on my bike and attempted to face the elements of winter and get miles in the saddle, during February some miles were completed, nothing substantial.

March onwards was full blast! Spring made it's appearance gifting sunny longer days and warmer more pleasant riding conditions, the change in weather fuelled a huge motivation increase leading to hundreds of miles being completed during march and april!

Through the hundreds of miles completed, May made it's appearance the month of the extravagant Ixworth Crit race! A local fast paced race in Suffolk. My increase in mileage gave me a drive to compete, So on the 7th May 2024 I attended my first race, where unfortunately I was lapped multiple times. This event was another huge eye opener, I had no idea the level of the able bodied u16 riders were competing at, meaning I was greatly disappointed with the result, I also had no idea how to race contributing to the result, nevertheless this was another huge boost for morale to train hard!

Summer rolled in! The hot, sunny beautiful days made for optimum riding conditions! In June I found my coach, Tom Hartwell, (still my coach to this day) this is where the training got serious. Tom sets me training on a sunday for every day of the week!

Summer riding continued through July to September, no competing, but long beautiful rides through the Norfolk countryside really reminded me why I absolutely adored cycling!

In October of 2024, my school (Alderman Peel High) found out about my sporting aspirations and out of luck knew the development leader of Great Britain Cycling Team Para. On the 12th October I was invited up to Manchester Velodrome to attend a 'Talent ID day'. The day consisted of the trained coaches testing my sustained power output over certain times to see if I was eligible to join the academy, where I succeeded and was scouted into the Great Britain Cycling Team Para Development Academy, joining this academy paves the way to professional cycling with hopes of competing at World events and the Paralympic Games!

In November I attended my first velodrome training session, where I learnt the basics of riding on the track! The first session with the academy, really seeing how fast the impaired riders are!

December came around, the month of the Rapha festive 500 - 500km between Dec 24 -31! Which I completed! This was a real challenge and pushed me to my absolute limit regarding volume! I completed this on top of the festive period, work, and revision!

The next track session took place in January 2025, where I perfected my intial track riding skills, putting a little more speed into my riding! Impressing the coaches and showing some of my potential on the 2nd visit!

Still smashing 800+ miles per month of riding on the road, another track session came around in February 2025, where I suprised the coaches of my abilities! Riding with others and absolutely flying round the track! Riding with others at over 25mph really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I loved it! I also completed a gate start, something the coaches didn't expect me to complete!

Onwards and Upwards! I am dreaming of racing for Great Britain for years to come, but there is equipment I require to reach my full potential, including a track bike, shoes and a helmet. I also require equipment for road racing including a skinsuit. For my coaching a power meter is greatly needed to support my training. These all come at a huge cost which unfortunately I cannot upkeep.

Thank you very much for reading!