No looking back: Jack Wilson has made the decision to step away from full-time cycling and pursue a career as an electrician. The former national junior and U23 road race champion leaves the sport with no regrets and plenty fond memories (Photo: An Post-Chainreaction/David Pintens)
By Brian Canty
Jack Wilson has said he has no intention to return to racing in the immediate future having stepped away from the sport this summer following the National Road Race Championships in June.
He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of competing again in the future but he has only ridden the bike a handful of times since summer.
He has spent the interim working as an apprentice electrician, amongst other things.
The 23-year old has raced all the way up the underage ranks and won both junior and U23 national road race titles.
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But when he felt he was no longer progressing, the enjoyment went out of the sport for him.
“It wasn’t anything to do with the nationals that I decided to stop, it was the whole build-up,” he said.
“I hadn’t seen any progression in myself in months or years and it just sort of came to a natural end.
“I wasn’t enjoying it so I said I might as well call it a day,” he added.
Wilson has now walked away, but he is very positive about his future and working towards other goals. He also had a cycling career that many young riders would give their right arm for. He won the junior and U23 Irish road titles, rode for An Post-Chainreaction for virtually all of his senior career and competed on Irish teams all over the world, including at the Worlds, Europeans and Nations Cup.
Wilson had some good days, but plenty bad ones too and it was too much of the latter that had him thinking what the sport could offer him.
“When you’re in the mix with the World Tour guys and you’re getting absolutely shafted you don’t see it when you’re in it.
“I didn’t have too bad a season (this year); up until I stopped I had 40-odd race days but I was racing so much in the early season and I was just absolutely wrecked.
“After the Rás I did a stage race in France and after that I could hardly get off the sofa for two weeks I was so wrecked.
“That drained me so much that when I went to the nationals, I was going through the motions and I didn’t really want to be there.”
And following the title race in Kilcullen he swiftly drove home and racked the wheels.
Wilson, far right, with the An Post-Chainreaction Irish riders from four years ago. Left to right, Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Sean Kelly and Sean Downey.
“It’s a strange feeling and I’m still trying to adapt to (walking away); it’s hard to change over from what you’ve been used to,” he admitted to life after cycling.
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“The transition has been good though, it was the right time. I landed on my feet after I stopped and opportunities came up so I haven’t had too much time to think of it.
“I got an apprenticeship as an electrician and I had an idea for a while that this was what I wanted to do.”
Wilson spent four years racing for An Post Chain Reaction after racing as an amateur in France when he first came out of the juniors.
“My first year with An Post was good,” he reflected.
“Towards the end of the year in a race called Overijse I was in the mix all day and got up for 14th, that was a really prestigious race.
“That stands out and in 2014 the run of form I had in Kreiz-Breizh, it was one of those races where you couldn’t feel your legs.
“I was going with everything, covering everything and picking up results.
“At the time I was going so well and then a couple of weeks later in RideLondon I was 17th and that was an unbelievable experience; racing through London, up Surrey Hills with such big names.”
A very popular rider with his team mates and rivals, Wilson has been very honest and open about the challenges of competing against WorldTour riders (Photo: An Post-Chainreaction/David Pintens)
But in the ‘for and against ledger’, there were plenty things in the latter column that squeezed his dream of one day becoming an established pro.
And he is okay with that because since he started working he’s been able to do things he never could while being a full-time rider.
“The first thing I did was I bought a car after a couple of weeks. I couldn’t help myself!
“That’s one of the more rewarding things; having a decent wage going into your account.
“You’re doing all the hard work for years for free and now you’re getting paid so it’s good.
“I’d love to now do the things I missed out on; travelling, relaxing and having no pressure on myself and just enjoying life a bit more.
“That’s what got me down a lot; expecting too much and putting too much pressure on myself and when things didn’t work out it got my head down.
“Now I don’t have that pressure or those ups and downs and I’m a lot more stable.
“I’m looking forward to doing different things, maybe a different sport for the craic.”
Wilson said he will always be grateful for the time afforded to him by the likes of Kurt Bogaerts and Sean Kelly and the rest of the staff at An Post, while his parents were also a huge influence on his career.
Asked what he learnt during his time cycling he said: “The ethic you get from a full-time sportsperson is one of the things I definitely got.
“The discipline to get up out of bed, the motivation to get out of bed, it’s what I’ve learnt and why getting up at 6am is okay for me now.
“I spent so many years getting up early for flights, you just have to go and do it and not hit snooze 10 times!”
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