1
Pre 2007
Racing takes a back seat
As you'll see from our bios, racing was everything for us in the early years. DH, XC, CX, Enduro, Road. You name it we did it! But from 2006 onwards we began to take a different look at life on two wheels.
2
2007
All Mountain Experience at Lake Garda
We established a company called All Mountain Experience which offered mountain bike holidays in Lake Garda in Italy. We soon saw the future of what Irish mountain biking could be like and set about planning our next steps.
3
2008
Bike Rental from our spare room
We started out renting bikes from our spare bedroom which was right next to Ballinastoe Mountain Bike Trails. The learning curve was steep but we soon had a slick system and began working on expanding our services.
4
2009
Tarja becomes first Irish Tutor
Tarja qualified as the first mountain bike tutor in Ireland, offering leadership qualifications under the banner of SMBLA (Scottish Mountain Bike Leader Association), now owned and run by Cycling Ireland as the MBLA, which offers TCL and MBL qualifications.
5
2010
First cabin in Ballinastoe
Thanks to the support of Coillte, we opened our doors in Ballinastoe, offering bike rental, lessons and tours. It was a green 20ft steel container powered by an old generator, far from ideal but got us started!
6
2010
The Biking Blitz
The Biking Blitz was our first official event series, designed to help beginners get into the mountain bike community. Back then there was a big focus on racing and competition but nowadays biking for pure fun is far more popular!
7
2011
Bike rental delivery service Ticknock
Following the official opening of the Ticknock mountain bike trails by Leo Varadkar, we offered a bike rental delivery service to Ticknock on weekends.
8
2011
Gravity Enduro Ireland
Djouce Mountain held the first edition of the Gravity Enduro Ireland Series which saw World Champions Tracey Moseley and Jerome Clementz take part in the opening event.
9
2012
Ballinastoe Expands
We dipped our toes into the cafe world, offering some hot drinks and snacks. We also added a second cabin for bike storage and workshop for repairs.
10
2013
Team Biking.ie
We setup our own development team to help young aspiring Irish riders make the jump to the World Stage. Graduates include Gavin Carroll, Killian Callaghan and Ronan Dunne. Watch out for the latest speedster, Darragh Ryan!
11
2014
European Marathon Championships
The European Marathon Championships held in Ballyhoura was the first ever UCI Championship event in Ireland and received incredible praise for the quality and length of singletrack, something never seen before on the world stage.
12
2015
Roundwood Osteopathy
After many trips back and fourth to the UK studying, Tarja added a BSc (hons) in Osteopathy to her many previous qualifications (BSc Sports Science, MNT, Dip Applied Physiology) and opened Roundwood Osteopathy Clinic in County Wicklow.
13
2015
Enduro World Series comes to Ireland
From 2015 to 2017 we hosted the EWS on Carrick Mountain in County Wicklow. Enduro was booming at the time and the Irish fans went wild as Irish rider Greg Callaghan won the first two editions!
14
2019
Niall recruited as EWS European Coordinator
The Enduro World Series set about organising a European series as a feeder for their incredibly popular world series. Niall travelled to each venue and worked along side local organisers in the delivery of the events.
15
2020
Trail Designers of National MTB Centres
Niall (Bsc hons Eng) was appointed as the lead Trail Designer for the expansion of the national mountain bike trail centres, which included Ballinastoe, Ticknock, Coolaney, Slieve Blooms and Ballyhoura.
16
2023
Mountain Bike Festivals
During the winter of 2023 we set out our plans to develop a number of mountain bike festivals in Ireland, starting with the Slieve Bloom Mountain Bike Festival and then the Wicklow Mountain Bike Festival in 2024.
17
2024
Gravel Ride Series
We had been watching the growth of gravel riding for a number of years and in 2023 the GRS, or Gravel Ride Series was born! The series has three great locations with a fun and relaxed format.
