For Devin Walker, route creation started as a way to share favourite local rides around Utah. A few years later, it has grown into official ROUVY routes across national parks, mountain roads, Mississippi backroads and gravel events, along with plenty of unexpected problems along the way.
For riders curious about creating routes themselves, Devin’s experience gives a very honest look at what actually goes into it, from equipment and planning to weather, traffic and the occasional park ranger.
How did you start creating routes for ROUVY?
Some people don’t realise there are actually some pretty large mountain ranges in Utah, even though it’s a desert. I’ve ridden all over the state, and when I joined ROUVY and saw what was back then the original route creator option, I immediately wanted to share some of my favourite local rides so people around the world could experience them too.
Some of my first routes included Arches National Park and roads around Moab. In 2022, I shared the Suncrest Drive route in Salt Lake City. It was only supposed to be a test route, but ROUVY liked it so much they added it to the platform and started using it for races and group rides.
That was the point where creating routes became something much bigger than just experimenting with the software.
What equipment do you need to record routes?
Right now, most ROUVY route creators are using a GoPro 13. When I first started, I was using a GoPro 10 with a standard suction mount on the roof of my car.
The newer GoPro cameras created a problem I didn’t expect, though. The wider field of view on the GoPro 13 meant you could suddenly see the hood of the car in the footage, which obviously breaks the immersion completely.
To fix that, I switched to a three-point suction cup setup with an extension arm. That allows the camera to sit further forward over the hood while still keeping a stable position during recording.
The actual recording setup stays fairly consistent regardless of the route itself, but getting the camera position right matters much more than people probably realise.
What makes a route worth recording?
When I first started recording routes, most of them were long, sustained climbs because that’s naturally the type of riding I enjoy most.
I love a good, challenging climb!
Over time, though, the routes became much more varied after discussions with ROUVY about creating more balance in the route library. Now there’s pretty much every type of ride, from long mountain climbs to flatter and faster routes.
The planning itself is very collaborative, too. Before travelling somewhere new, I usually send route ideas to ROUVY for feedback and approval. Sometimes we start with one or two route ideas and end up recording four or five instead.
That process has also introduced me to routes I probably would never have considered on my own, including gravel projects like Crusher in the Tushar.
How did the Mississippi routes happen?
The Mississippi routes came about after my daughter and her husband moved there in 2019. During a family visit in 2024, we spent some time driving around Vicksburg, and I immediately started thinking it would make a great ROUVY route because of the short, steep climbs and all the Civil War history around the area.
At the time, I didn’t have any recording equipment with me, so nothing happened then. But when we went back the following year to visit our new granddaughter, I brought all the recording gear and planned to record as much of Mississippi as I could.
Compared to filming around national parks, Mississippi was actually much easier. There was much less traffic, and the roads were quieter overall.
