This year we decided to host a low key riding camp in Rotorua for riders to get to know each other, ride lots and have fun. We timed the camp for the final 2W Enduro, so most riders also raced this. Not all riders could make it, but we still had a great crew turn up.
We stayed at the Southstar Evergreen, which was an amazing house designed for MTBers, just perfect for groups like us and located just next to the forest.
We spent one morning on a private shuttle thanks to Mountain Bike Rotorua and were lucky to be able to use Direct Road instead of the regular shuttle hill. This allowed us access to fun trails such as Tumeke, Ultra Rosa, NGT and others.
We spent some time working on specific skills and helping each other improve on sections.
It was great to have Joe Millington and Dylan Walton, both from our original Devo team, join us for most of the camp and help share his experience with the younger riders.
And sometimes it is important to remember that bikes are not the only way to have fun as well and its good to do something completely different !!!
Rotorua is spoilt for options on this front, but our personal favourite thing to do with friends from out of town is rafting on the Kaituna river. Thanks to friends Sam and Kat from Rotorua Rafting, we managed to get the team out to
experience this amazing trip, which included a 7m waterfall... the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world !
Finally we all competed in the final round of the 2W Enduro, which was a fun way to cap off an awesome week together!
A few of the riders took podiums spots, including Joe and Poppy taking 1st and 3rd overall in mens and women's respectively.
These camps are great fun and we finished it off in style with a dinner at the Good Eastern.
Most of these photos (all the good ones) were taken by the amazing Rachel Hadfield, thank you so much for your support Rachel !!!
Thanks so much to Roshni for co-ordinating all the meals and giving me the space and freedom to run the whole Devo programe.
And also to all the parents that came and helped us with the cooking each night. It was a massive effort.
And as always, we are forever grateful to our partner/sponsors. We got some fresh helmets from Lazer and clothing from Yeti for this camp which we were so proud to wear. And thanks to our other sponsors Shimano, Fox, Maxxis, DT Swiss & G Form.
Written by Kashi Leuchs, 6th Feb 2025.