Top Secret Training Camp 2024 – Recap!

If you were an unknowing passerby who happened to stumble upon Devo’s Top Secret Training Camp, you would almost certainly encounter a cluster of voracious, sweaty Devo 3000 riders stuffing piles of homemade oat-and-pecan pancakes into their packs before heading out for their eleventh ride of the day.

Almost as likely, you’d spy a helmeted middle schooler in full kit sitting in the sand and picking burrs out of his dust-encrusted socks or quietly coloring on the cool floor of the kitchen tent, or perhaps a line of industrious youth riding their bikes to a jump-building project, shovels and rakes balanced across their backs. 

Once those jumps — a centerpiece of the TSTC experience — were built, you would undoubtedly witness a herd of kids loudly applauding for a confident rider landing an athletic jump — then applauding even more wildly for a hesitant rider trying something new for the first time.

Later, you might smell the crackling bonfire before you even see it through the densely packed mass of campers gathered round. Huddle in closer and you’d see Coach Cheeney flinging swag across the flaming hearth at a wildly cheering crowd as the surroundings dim and the stars turn on. Creep in even more and you’re all but guaranteed to overhear a tween referring to the Guns N Roses song playing over the speaker as “oldies,” and spy a dozen campers pretending not to doze off by the campfire after a long, satisfying day in the sun.

There’s definitely a “you’ll get it when you get there” flavor to our famed Top Secret Training Camp, but what’s near universal is the sentiment among those who have attended that it is a highlight — maybe THE highlight — of the upper level Devo experience.  

For some, it’s the first taste of overnight independence — something that’s clear in strolling through the tent encampment watching young people try to figure out which part of a tent goes where. For others, it’s a rare opportunity to spend quality time with riders on other Devo teams. A select few might even admit to enjoying the mandatory sunrise yoga up on the cliffside.

Over shared rides, shared meals, and shared quiet campfire conversation, bonds build and solidify that are not easily broken. It’s a level playing field for Devo athletes of all disciplines and levels, a rite of passage, and a beautiful thing to partake in.

We, the Devo staff and coaches, are grateful to all the remarkable young people who entrusted us with their care and entertainment for this most cherished annual tradition this year. We are ever-impressed with the maturity, kindness, and commitment of our program’s youth, and we can’t wait till next year’s camp.