Ronan McLaughlin has been going well off-road of late, and will ride the forthcoming domestic road season with the new Dig Deep Coaching-Inspired Cycling team (Photo: Gareth Gibbons, with homepage photo by Sean Rowe)
By Gerard Cromwell
Having decided to return home this year after six years of riding with Sean Kelly’s An Post team in Belgium, Ronan McLaughlin will ride for the new Dig Deep Coaching – Inspired Cycling outfit on the domestic scene this season.
The newly formed club will cater for riders of all abilities and came about after a discussion between McLaughlin and former An Post teammate Stephen Gallagher about who they were going to ride for this season.
Gallagher owns Dig Deep Coaching and with McLaughlin currently working alongside him, forming a new club was a natural progression for the duo.
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“I was all on for just joining my local club,” said McLaughlin shortly after finishing fourth in the final round of the Fixx Coffeehouse Supercross in Dublin on Sunday.
“Then Stephen suggested starting our own club under the Dig Deep banner. Stephen owns Dig Deep and I’ve been doing a lot of work with him since coming home. We got talking and just decided to set up this club. It’ll cater for all levels and we have some veterans and some younger riders too.”
Also on board is Chris McCann from the Inspired Cycling bike shop in Bellaghy.
A fully trained Retul 3D bike fitter, Commonwealth Games medal-winner McCann also uses biometrical force and pressure systems in his position setups to monitor saddle and shoe pressure points.
McLaughlin is hoping to capitalise on his best ever off-season form next season, which he puts down to riding cyclo-cross this winter. And is also involved in putting together a Donegal team for the An Post Rás in May.
“I was approached a few weeks ago and asked if I’d get involved in organising a Donegal team,” McLaughlin says of the project.
“There’s never been a full team in the Rás that’s been made up of just Donegal riders or guys from Donegal clubs but there are a lot of strong riders in Donegal now. We’ve had a couple of meetings so far but it’s still only in its infancy and we’re just starting to look for sponsors now to help us ride the Rás.
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“We have a group of about seven or eight good A1 riders from Donegal involved at the moment. That will whittle down to five by the time the Rás comes around.
“I don’t really think it will come down to picking five because there’s always somebody who gets sick and somebody else who doesn’t end up being able to ride or whatever. But with the guys we’ve got, we’ll be looking at going for the county team prize overall.
“Personally, I’ve kept myself in very good shape all winter, probably the best I’ve been in this time of year. So I hope to be competitive every day too.”
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Having finished fourth behind Ray O’Shaughnessy, Robin Seymour and Tim O’Regan in Ballawley Park on Sunday, McLaughlin will end his first flirtation with cyclocross at the national championships in Belfast this Sunday.
He says he has enjoyed every minute of the racing in recent months.
“I loved the course today. It was a very, very good lap. I started near the back but I eventually got up through the rows in front of me. I never caught up with the front guys, Robin and Ray.
“But I managed to catch up with Tim O’Regan on the last lap and just about got up to third. But then I crashed straight away and he went straight past me again. I was happy with fourth.
“It was a good day out and a good blow out for next weekend. I’ve done a bit of running this winter and even did a 5km race on Stephen’s Day so I might do a few duathlons this year too.
“I’m looking forward to riding the cyclocross championships on Sunday and then I’ll have a few weeks training before the start of the road season.
“I’m really looking forward to racing here this year and getting the Donegal team together for the Rás. We want to have a really professional set up and have some really good experienced riders so hopefully everything will run smoothly. I’m really excited about it.”
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