Teenage bike rider Luca Thurlow has come a long way since he started out in the sport in Kent.

Thurlow is a mountain bike racer these days and has been involved in the 17-18 juniors World Cup Championships right across the globe this season.

The 18-year-old had first begun bike riding at Cyclopark in Gravesend. He has come some way since.

“The season kicked off towards the start of June,” he said. “I ended up getting special consideration for my A-Levels and I did an A-Level - then flew to Switzerland that night!

“We did Switzerland, Austria and Italy, which was pretty nice. Then, there was the Cycling World Cup in Fort William. There was sort of a French leg - which was Andorra and two French regions.

“I think there were something like 70,000 supporters there! The track was up in the Alps. It was packed with crazy French people. That was next level.

“We finished up in America and Canada.”

Indeed Thurlow, who has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram, did well in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, in October.

He said: “I got fourth at the last race in Canada.

“I’d started off a bit ropey at the start. I think it really depends on the track. Sometimes, you get tracks that suit you.

“A lot of people compare it to the Formula 1 of cycling. There’s so much work to do every week. Me and the mechanics had to work hard most weeks.

“There’s a lot of setting up that goes into it.”

But the chance to travel the world was one Thurlow relished.

“It’s incredible,” he stated. “As a 17 and 18-year-old, travelling all around Europe - and further afield - that was amazing.

“In Andorra, we started at nearly 3,000m high. We got the most incredible views. You’re going to drop into some scary track - but you do get some special views.

“The atmospheres are just so good.”

The first challenge on every race weekend for Thurlow was to make sure he qualified for the Final to ensure he got points.

He explained: “We have qualifying that takes the riders down from around 100 to roughly 25.

“You have to really get your head around the mentality of qualifying. You have to go fast - but not too fast!

“That was a big thing to think about. If you don’t make the Final, you don’t get any points. That’s the really hard bit.

“Once you are in the Final, you can relax a bit. The worst place you can get is 25th.

“But you, obviously, want to be pushing to finish around the top 10 or the top five in the Final.”

More than a decade ago, Thurlow first started bike riding in Gravesend at the age of just seven.

“That’s really, for me, where competitive riding started,” he recalled.

“I started riding BMX bikes from there. I then made the switch to mountain bike riding.”

Thurlow races for a side called Muc-Off Young Guns these days.

“It’s a small UK-based team with the idea of developing riders from National into World Cup riders,” he explained. “It’s kind of like a development team.

“We had a lot of funding from all the sponsors. That helped with everything bar travel - all the tyres, gears and brakes.

“If we broke anything - we went through about eight or nine wheels in the season - we had a new one and cracked on with it. That was very good of them.

“At the moment, it’s a small team, based out of the UK. But next year, hopefully, it will have a bit of a bigger budget.”

Thurlow, who has since moved away from Kent, now coaches at Surrey Hills and lives in the nearby area while his nan, Anne, still lives in Gravesend.

He said: “The coaching I have found very useful.

“I do think about it differently with that. You really think about your own technique and what you’re doing on the bike.

“Seeing riders develop from week to week is pretty cool.”

On his plans for the winter, as he edges towards the senior ranks, Thurlow added: “My plan is to have a massive off-season and do a lot of training.

“I’m looking forward to it.”