Local cycling talent Josh Johnson is ready for his next step, but needs a push start to get there.

The 15-year-old cyclist is a two-time national XCO (cross country) champion, adding three further national wins on the road.

He has also claimed titles in Europe and is now fundraising to get a chance to test his mettle against some of the world’s best youth cyclists in Belgium.

Johnson hopes to spend almost a month in the cycling heartland of Flanders between March and April, taking on between seven and nine road races in that time.

It would allow him to measure himself against the truly elite and bring back real-world experience to his training programme back home.

“Racing in Europe is a necessary part of the process required to gain the invaluable experience needed to perform at a high level when it counts,” said Johnson’s coach, Tyronne White of DriveTrain Academy.

“Unfortunately the racing experience and formats in SA don’t have the participation numbers, which means that our riders do not always get the competitive elbow-to-elbow racing experience that is required to be at the front when racing on the international stage.”

But as you might expect, a month in Europe is an expensive endeavour and Johnson is trying to raise the requisite funds via backabuddy.

If you would like to help, search for ‘Beating the best in Belgium’ on the fundraising platform.

At the time of print, Johnson had raised R18 450 of his R96 000 goal.

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