The Women of Esperanto on Formation and Freeride

Chelsea Kimball charging at the bottom of Samantha Soriano's line. Izzy Lidsky photo.

Last week, an unprecedented amount of epic history went down in the Virgin desert. Lucky for us, four of the amazing athletes in our upcoming mountain bike shred film, Esperanto, were there to help make history. Samanatha Soriano, Hannah Bergemann, and Chelsea Kimball all rode the event while Blake Hansen helped the women choose and dig some epic lines. We were lucky enough to spend some time with these ladies during the event and hear their takes on the progression of women’s freeride, their careers, and what the future of Red Bull Formation looks like. You can find a full recap of the event here. 

Chelsea Kimball

Drops are one of Chelsea's favorite thing to incorporate into her riding. Izzy Lidsky photo.

Have you been a rider at all the Formation events?

Chelsea Kimball: No, this is only my second. I rode in 2021 too.

How have you seen the event change between last year and this year?

CK: The first thing that comes to mind is this year, we have a way better watering system. It makes everybody's lives at least a little bit easier. There's also more riders. It's definitely cool having more girls because people can work together on more lines if they want to.

How would you describe your freeride style?

CK: I seem to love drops. I really love drops. I like tech too. But I think Hannah's more the queen of it. Ah, maybe it's speculation. I love it. Yeah, I guess these three actual drops on my line so that’s something.

Chelsea testing the waters on the last dig day. Izzy Lidsky photo.

How does being featured in Esperanto feel career-wise to you?

CK: I feel like it's huge. What kind of mountain biker doesn't want to be in a mountain biking movie? Especially one by the legends that are putting it together like Jeremy and Aaron. It's gonna be awesome. I've watched and rewatched all the New World Disorders. And like so many of those classic movies are just like metal and sending. And then I want that in my life.

How do you see women’s freeride continuing to progress?

CK: I really hope that more and more young women get into it. But I also like, right now, one thing I think about when I hear that question is competition. For me, being a professional mountain biker has a lot to do with competition. Just like Red Bull Rampage. Those guys go huge because they want to be the best free rider in the world. But I think a lot of women aren't as eager to compete. We're seeing a lot of young women get into mountain biking, but maybe there's a gap in how many of them want to compete. And of course competing to compete is not the end all be all, but there's a lot of awesome things about it.

Chelsea rode her line with more confidence than ever on the final ride day. Izzy Lidsky photo.

Blake Hansen

Blake in her natural, desert habitat. Izzy Lidsky photo.

So this is your second Formation digging, right?

Blake Hansen: This is my second Formation, yes.

But you’re also a freerider?

BH: You could say that.

Can you talk a little bit about helping Sam [Soriano] choose and dig a line?

BH: Sam and I have become friends over the last couple of years, so it just made sense to be working together. We know each other pretty well, we have similar riding styles so choosing and digging and creating just feels pretty easy and comfortable just because we kind of naturally have the same aspirations and goals. Our line choice was made with the idea that we wanted to do something fun, creative and style-y rather than massive and big and scary. You know, and that's not necessarily Sam and it's not necessarily me either. Not that that matters because Sam's the rider, but it's certainly other people's styles. So it's kind of just cool to be able to come here and choose and build and ride the way we all want to.

Blake and Sam Soriano. Izzy Lidsky photo.

You’re coming off an injury, right? What kinds of goals do you have for the coming season following recovery?

BH: I'm finally back riding again. I was hoping to be riding Formation, but the injury had other goals for me. I learned a lot through that process, so my goals really are just to, to come back stronger than I left. And to just keep going, take the knowledge of having that happen and use it to help me be better.

Let’s talk about Esperanto...

BH: I actually got injured filming for Esperanto. We’re standing at the spot right now.

How does that make you feel?

BH: Well, I hit it the other day, so that made me feel good because, hell yeah. Six months of sitting around thinking about the dumb little mistake you made is a long time and it can be frustrating. Coming back just to lace it up is kind of like the cherry on the cake that you can now just eat and get over. There’s definitely a feeling there now that it's done and dusted.

Hanging out with Blake is usually one of the best parts of freeride events. Izzy Lidsky photo.

How does Esperanto feel in terms of being a career milestone?

BH: It’s the first video that I've ever been a part of. That's like, obviously any professional athlete’s kind of career goal. I mean, if it's not everyone's, it was mine. I also think it was a really cool learning process to go through. I learned about what's hard, what's easy, what's frustrating. I came out of it kind of just like ready to do a better job. If anything, I just learned a lot, then I probably think that that's valuable.

How do you see women’s freeride continuing to progress?

BH: I think we have a lot of momentum right now and everyone is super psyched to see that there is finally an opportunity after a long time of people just working hard and dealing with hardships to try and make a career out of it now. Because of all their hard work, a lot of us are able to take that momentum and continue building on that. So I think we're in a really exciting time, lots of growth, lots of attention, lots of support. It feels like we finally have creative freedom to like to do it the way we'd want to.

Hannah Bergemann

Hannah took a massive digger on this drop before going back up and stomping it. Izzy Lidsky photo.

You’ve been a rider at each Formation, how have you seen it change over the years?

Hannah Bergemann: Every year, you get a bit more experienced. And then you can come back next year with that just that much more confidence in the riding, in the building and are able to tackle gnarlier projects essentially like hitting gnarlier features that are like crucial for your line or like or take taking on really big builds that previously we wouldn't have been confident we'd have time to finish.

Can you talk a little about your line this year and how you chose the features on it?

HB: One of my goals for this year was to step up my game from last year because every year so far, the first two picks were something that I thought seemed pretty gnarly. And then when I rode it, I was like, ‘okay, this is fine.’ I kept wanting to push that and like, try and find something that I knew I could do, but I knew it would be a challenge, more of a mental hurdle. It's trying to find that balance of something that seemed really gnarly, but I knew I could accomplish and I was kind of balancing that line. So this year, I definitely chose the gnarliest line that I've heard of so far out here. It's got like a super steep drop in entrance. I would say like 15- 20 feet, and it's like, straight down and super steep and you're on the top of the mountain. It’s very exposed and high consequence. That's the first feature on the line, you're just like straight into it.

Hannah was all smiles on the last ride day. Izzy Lidsky photo.

Do you think that formation has kind of been like a kickoff point in terms of progression for women's freeride?

HB: 100%. It's been huge. Like, yeah, I could go on about that.Just like having these resources and being in this environment with all the other women and having these opportunities. It's like an ideal space to be pushing it or riding it. It's a really good recipe for progression.

So you're in the new TGR film, Esperanto, with this whole crew of women versus Accomplice where it was just you and Vero [Sandler]. How was filming with a group of people different? Do you feel like you took on a mentorship role?

HB: Yeah, with me and Vero, we were exploring a new place that neither of us had ever been to before. And so we were kind of figuring it out together. Then this time around in Esperanto, we were filming here in Virgin, which is a place that I've ridden quite a bit. I feel like I could take on that mentorship role a bit and work with the other gals to help them ride their best and also push myself at the same time.

One of the many amazing features on Hannah's line. Izzy Lidsky photo.

How do you see women’s freeride continuing to progress?

HB: I think if you look at the progression, it was this event, in the last few years. The progression of the riding and films of and for women and for riding and the growth in the number of women doing what they're doing, like that just shows kind of the direction it's heading and where the future is going to be. Because like the growth and the progression has been exponential in the last few years, and I think it's just going to keep going.

Samantha Soriano

Since moving to Utah this winter, Sam's become familiar with desert riding. Izzy Lidsky photo.

So you rode last year at Formation and then at Proving Grounds too. How has your riding changed since then?

Samantha Soriano: I think, rather than in a physical sense, most definitely, in a mental sense, it's changed a lot. The level of progression is really high right now and it's really easy to kind of get down on yourself, if you're not kind of keeping up with that level of progression, which is definitely emotionally and physically challenging. So rather than like getting frustrated, because maybe I felt like I wasn't keeping up with that particular like level of progression, I took it into my own hands to do things that like, I knew that I can progress at my own pace, such as like learning how to dig and like, being better on a little bike, because I know that that will translate over really well to my big bike. Kind of working the steps almost backwards, so almost like reverse progression to help further progression.

Do you think Formation was kind of a kick-off point for a lot of women in Freeride?

SS: 100%. I mean, to be quite honest, I didn't really see myself in a career path ever in freeride until I saw the first Formation. Honestly, I had a lot of FOMO that I wasn't there. That kind of started the fire and I was like, ‘I want to be there.’ I want to work on things towards that, while also keeping in mind, like my racing aspirations. Then slowly, the racing aspirations kind of bled out and like the freeride dreams, like really came to a head.

Can you talk a little bit about your line and how you chose it?

SS: It's a lot of it is mostly technical riding. It doesn't have very many big drops and or jumps. But I think this year, I'm taking kind of an approach that's going to be tangible for where I'm riding right now, rather than pushing my limits so hard. Obviously, yes, I am still pushing my limits, but I'm pushing my limits within a safe reach.

'Techy' is an understatement when it comes to some of the features on Sam's line. Izzy Lidsky photo.

How has having Blake [Hansen] as a digger for you influenced your line and riding?

SS: I think Blake's been the biggest influence with just being a supporter. And like, kind of allowing me to stay in a good headspace. Even though it’s not a competitive event, it still is stressful. I think it's really hard not to compare yourself. Like characteristics are very prevalent in girls, and this is obviously an all girl event, so it's hard to not let yourself kind of fall into that mentality. And Blake's did a very good job of keeping my head above water.

How does it feel to be feature in TGR’s new mountain bike film?

SS: Actually pretty insane. I've had ‘be in a mountain bike movie’, in my goal journal for about two years and to actually be able to check that off kind of felt very surreal. When I got asked to do it, I kind of was just taken aback and I was like, ‘Wow, I'm gonna be able to cross off a goal.’ It was really, really, really cool to just be really stoked on that.

You hosted some all women’s rides in Utah this winter, right? Can you talk about finding and helping curate that all women’s space to ride?

SS: I read a book called The Upside of Stress and it’s about goal setting, and the more self centered goals that you have, the more stress you have. I definitely felt that last year, like I had so many me-me-me goals. I really struggled to find the happiness in that because I was just so focused on myself. So when I moved to Utah, I kind of took on this approach of okay, like, how can I create a bigger than self goal, which is usually like what you want to aspire towards. And so my best friend and I go on these networking rides with all men. And Lex and I were the only people at the networking rides that were women. I was like, ‘this is such an amazing place to ride, I don't understand why there's not more women’. So we created that space for them. And it's honestly been the highlight of my whole year to have given back to the community also to help a safe space. I use that word lightly, but create a safe space for women who are trying to get into the mountain biking community out here.

Sam attacking the big drop on her line which came right after spicy corner. Izzy Lidsky photo.

What does the future of Formation look like?

SS: I think obviously, more athletes with different faces and different riding styles. I know for me, I feel like I'm more of a relaxed rider, but I like hitting big features, but I love feeling in control and then you've got people like Robin [Goomes], who are just like absolute senders, they've got a huge bag of tricks. As well as Hannah [Bergemann], too. I think just like in the future, you're just gonna get a more variety of just like different and unique riding styles, that's what's gonna continue to push the sport because there's not really one template for female freerider there's going to be it's going to open up many doors for like, okay, these are multiple templates for how female freeriding goes.

Esperanto premieres in Salt Lake City on June 16th. You can buy tickets to a tour stop near you at tour.tetongravity.com