Mountain Biking: Keegan Wright makes Devinci global team

Devinci Global Racing Team's newest member Keegan Wright in action during the New Zealand Downhill Series. Photo / Cameron Mackenzie

The only thing faster than Keegan Wright on two wheels is the speed with which his fledgling mountain bike career is gaining momentum.

He grew up tearing around the local mountain bike trails and now the Rotorua rider is set to take on the world, having signed with the Devinci Global Racing team for the 2018 Enduro World Series and the downhill series of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

He raced in the Enduro World Series last year, but making a global racing team would make life a lot easier.

"I'm signed to a global factory team now, so that means they pay for your flights, accommodation, your allround travel, then you get your bikes and your gear all sorted pretty much.

"It's awesome, since I was 4 or 5 that's all I've ever wanted, to ride professional. Now that that's happened, it's like a dream come true, it's such an awesome feeling," Wright said.

While signing for the team was a dream come true, he has not exactly been sitting around waiting for it to happen. After putting in hours upon hours of training and picking up some impressive results in the last two years, he quite rightly feels as though he has earned it.

"Even when I was working, I was training as much as I could. I've always had a sort of hard-working mentality and always gone hard. I'm always trying to get faster and faster and fitter and stronger.

"I'm pretty lucky, but I've worked hard for it. It's cool to see it paying off, been doing it my whole life really and it's good to get the support to go as well as I can," he said.

The Enduro World Series includes eight rounds across three continents, starting in Chile on March 24. During the following six months riders will race in Colombia, France, Austria, Italy, Canada and Spain.

"I'm really looking forward to going to Colombia and Chile, those are countries I've never been to before. It's awesome, I'm really looking forward to going there and having a lot of fun.

"I'd like to get on a couple of podiums for the Enduro World Series, even try to win one if I can. I know I'm capable of it, I just need to stay fit and healthy and I'll be there or thereabouts."

He said the level of competition in the world series was intense.

"There are heaps of standout riders overseas. You get the three or four Kiwis we have here, then take that out of all the other countries. You have three or four standout riders from each country, sometimes six or seven, and they're all capable of winning.

"It just comes down to whose day it is, who goes out there, gives it their all and comes out on top. I think the only way to get race smart is racing, if you're racing fast people you're always going to push that bit harder.

"A lot of it is mental, you have to be 100 per cent and believe in yourself."

Devinci president Felix Gauthier said Wright set a good example of enjoying what you did.

"Supporting this type of athlete is exciting, because they bring out the best in the sport. As a manufacturer, this is the best type of inspiration you can ever find because beyond races and professional performance, the important thing is to have fun on your bike and that applies to everyone," Gauthier said.