OISIN O’CALLAGHAN, DH RACER
Oisin is the definition of prodigy, spotted and signed by the YT Mob at the age of 16, he’s already chalked up multiple wins including the downhill junior rainbow jersey
My favourite trail has to be one close to home called Gauntlet, in the Ballyhoura mountains in County Limerick, Ireland. The highest elevation is 528m, meaning you can get some good-length runs in without having to uplift all the time. The Ballyhoura mountains also has a trail centre which has one of the largest marked trail networks in Ireland, along with the Trailriders bike shop which is handy for getting mechanicals fixed.
Gauntlet was built before I was born and is a wild one! It’s got a mixture of trail features such as drops, swtichbacks, rock gardens and a few trail gaps as well. The Irish bog also makes an appearance on the trail, which makes hitting some of the root sections quite wild – being able to unweight the bike in the right place is an important skill on this trail, that’s for sure. The top section follows the plantation lines of the trees and gives you a real sense of speed. You’ve also got to time your pedal strokes well as it’s easy to clip a pedal and go over the bars. The middle section dips in and out of hardpack a bit so you’ve always got to be alert to grip levels changing. The bottom section gets a bit faster and includes more rocks, which are a good challenge to try and carry speed over.
Over lockdown, I added an extension to the top section which brings up the full ride time to between five and six minutes, making it more of an enduro track. I’ve had some of the best times during the summer doing trains with friends as the sun goes down – it never gets old. I still remember the first time I rode Gauntlet – I was around 10 years old and it definitely opened my eyes to what mountain biking could be like. From then on, I’ve ridden it almost every ride in Ballyhoura as it always provides the good times.
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It’s got a mixture of trail features such as drops, switchbacks, rock gardens and a few trail gaps as well. The Irish bog also makes an appearance