As part of a Rider Profile Series we are kicking off, we were talking to International Mountain Biker Greg Callaghan about his journey on the bike. 

Check out his interesting path in cycling: 

My name is Greg Callaghan and I'm a 22 year old Gravity enduro mountain bike racer from Rathfarnham in Dublin.


Growing up as a child in a family where two wheels were the topic of most conversations and every weekend was spent at some kind of motorbike race or event coupled with living at the foothills of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, it was a pretty straight forward path for me to find my way onto a bike of some form.

 

I started out riding in motorbike trials where I represented Ireland twice and won several youth championships before the age of 15. It was then that I stumbled across some jumps near my house where I met some guys who raced downhill mountain bikes and I was introduced to these new two wheeled things without engines. I started out racing downhill in the u16 category and worked my way up through the ranks, becoming junior national champion, elite series champion and representing Ireland at two European and two world championships at junior and elite levels.

 


Downhill was what I loved but with the nature of the Irish hills and tracks, I found myself doing a lot of my training on a smaller travel enduro bike in order to cover more ground and get more quality time on the bike. My enjoyment for this kind of riding grew and grew untill the Irish Gravity Enduro series started in 2012 when I was instantly hooked and quickly became a fully converted enduro racer.

 

In my first year of racing enduro I won several of the Irish series races, placed 2nd overall in the series, was elite National champion and was also part of team Ireland when we finished 3rd at the enduro des nations race in France and Italy, all while still racing downhill and competing at the world championships, placing 2nd at Irish National championships and winning the Irish National series.

 


So after a successful 2012, in 2013 I was picked up by the Dirt Norco Race Team and decided to travel and do as many rounds of the newly formed Enduro World Series as I could afford in order to try and really make a go of this new enduro thing! I also squeezed in numerous other races around the UK and Europe and picked up some great results during an amazing year of travelling. To note a few, I was 3rd at a round of the UK national series, in the world Series my results were; 37th, 27th, 26th  and 25th at the rounds I attended and I also achieved some very credible results in stand alone events with large fields of professional riders along with also winning the Irish National Series.

 

It was great to prove my potential and to most of all, be consistent throughout a season where many were plagued by issues in such tough races. I steadily improved throughout the year and finished on a high at the last race of the series in Italy which left me extremely motivated and confident coming into the winter off season. This was when I started to work with a new coach, Chris Kilmurray of Point1 Athletic Development, who has helped me no end this season to be the best that I can be.

 


The success of 2013 gave the Nukeproof Factory Enduro Team the confidence to sign me up to support me for my 2014 season where things are now going better than ever.
Not only has this new team given me the opportunity to travel to complete the full Enduro World Series in amazing places such as Italy, France, America, Canada, and Chile, it has given me the opportunity to really achieve my goals by supplying all the right tools for the job at hand.


So far this season things are going great for me and I achieved a career best result at the Scottish round of the world Series where I placed in 8th place, something that I had imagined would take me several years to achieve.
This was a standout result from the other races so far this season which have also been great where I have finished in 39th (puncture), 24th and  most recently, 19th just last weekend in Italy which was enough to bump me up to now being ranked 19th in the world!

 

I'm currently sitting on a flight to America for the next two rounds of the series where I hope to get myself into the top 15 and mark myself as one of the top guys in the world who can really be in the mix when the time comes. For the next few years I really want to keep on improving and working my way up the ladder until I am at the top and competing for wins. Something that I believe I can do if I keep doing what I'm doing and working as hard as I am.

 

I'm absolutely loving the travelling, racing and riding my bike in all these amazing places and I really can't wait to see how everything pans out for me, hopefully it's something I can continue doing for many years to come!