PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When most of us see a rock or bend in the trail, we see just that. But not Hannah Bergemann. When she sees a feature in the forest, she sees something to rise, and she’s blazing a trail for the women who come after her to see mountain biking in a new way.
Growing up in Hood River, Bergemann’s backyard was an outdoor paradise. By high school, she had tried nearly every outdoor and adventure sport her world had to offer, but it was mountain biking that stole her heart.
“I kind of just fell in love with it,” said Bergemann.
As a freeride mountain biker, she is constantly pushing the envelope.
“For me, it’s mostly about that personal progression piece. I really like to keep building and taking my riding, or whatever it is that I’m focusing on, to the next level,” said Bergemann.
It’s that focus that causes Bergemann to look at a massive granite slab most just admire and say, ‘That’s rideable.’
“The beauty of freeride is it’s riding how you want to express your riding,” said Bergemann.
Her key to riding the previously unrideable? Visualization..
“Each feature that you’re wanting to tackle and take on, you slowly build up your confidence so that by the time it’s there in front of you, you know you’re ready,” said Bergemann. “You’ve visualized it and you can visualize yourself doing it, and that’s the key.”
It’s that same ability to visualize what she wants to happen—and make it so—that brought Bergemann the opportunity that would change her life.
“2019 was kind of a big progression year for me, from taking this thing that was a passion to an actual career,” said Bergemann.
In a sport that’s in its infancy, like women’s freeride, that looks different than you might expect.
“A lot of it is media, film segments, video projects, you know. It’s really open to interpretation,” said Bergemann.
Sponsored by Red Bull, and having participated in a premier women’s freeride event in Utah, Bergemann is well on her way to setting a new bar in her sport, which, for her, is what it’s all about.
“My goals with this opportunity to have mountain biking as a career is to open the doors for the next generation of female shredders, to have a different path they can take to be a mountain biker, to push freeride to the next level,” said Bergemann.