So I live in Jamaica, and competitive cycling right now is all over the place. I became junior national champion in 2016 in the road race, and was 6th in the elite time trial. I believed and still believe that I have the potential to move up to more international competition. In order to do that, though, I first believed that I would need to represent Jamaica more in national team competitions (my only time doing so in cycling - which was that year - got ended by a pile-up).

Here's the problem with that. From that period on to about mid-late 2017 I believe, the JCF (Jamaica Cycling Federation) has only been focused on one single rider, Marloe Rodman. There was pretty much nothing in the way of actually contributing to the development of youth cyclists in that period.

The executive changed over, Marloe broke his arm, and then the JCF switched tack and only paid any attention to a different rider throughout the year, even with others who could beat him. The only exception was that a team was sent to the Junior Caribbean Championships last year, the light spot in a dark time in Jamaican cycling.

A lot of people don't respect the current national coach, it seems. He started the culture of only focusing on one single rider, neglecting the rest of the country. There have been few very bare bones development programs in Kingston, but Montego Bay - the second most populous center in Jamaica, and the home of most of the country's top competitive cyclists - has been completely neglected. The coach solely focuses on track, leaving all other disciplines with little to no attention, and actively discouraging those who choose to pursue other disciplines (the only 'coaching' interaction I've ever really had with him was when I told him that I preferred to focus on road and that I believed I had more potential there, and he responded saying that it was 'pointless' and 'stupid' for Jamaicans to focus on anything but sprinting (apparently track=sprinting even though Marloe did endurance track events, and was also the Caribbean Champion in the road race in 2015 which is his biggest result to date)).

The last race to take place in Jamaica was in July or August last year. The last race which was scheduled was track nationals in September, which was boycotted due to disapproval from most cyclists over the national coach.

By this time in the year, there would normally have been one or two development track meets, and a certain uphill time trial which is normally run around the same time annually. This year, however, there have been no races even announced or scheduled. There is a clinic for coaches taking place from today until the 20th (which I am participating in, but with muted expectations), which is the first and only thing that has been announced for the year.

Right now I really need to get abroad. There are three things I crucially need to keep my professional dreams afloat. First of all, I need to be in an environment where I can train effectively. Jamaica is already a bad enough place to go out riding in the dark of the morning, with crazy drivers, bad roads, and aggressive roadside crime and trickery growing in frequency. It is made far less worth it by the fact that high-level coaching is completely unavailable to 'most anyone.

Second, I need to be able to race. High-level racing, low-level racing, I just need to be able to race at all. I need to be somewhere that, you know, actually does racing, since apparently the JCF now doesn't.

Third, I need to get exposure. I need to get at least some races in where people and teams a step above my level are actually looking. I need a pathway up which has never existed within Jamaica, and now there isn't even a branching path out from Jamaica.