Bellingham mountain biker looking forward to sharing her ‘Esperanto’ with her community

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from experiencing a premier for the first film she was a part of, but there was no way Bellingham mountain biker Hannah Bergemann was going to let an opportunity for her second film pass — especially when it’s being shown in the town she now calls home.

Bergemann will be one of several current and future stars of mountain biking featured in Teton Gravity Research’s latest film “Esperanto,” which will have a special showing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, at the Mount Baker Theatre.

The movie takes its name from a new language created in 1887 by Polish-Jewish doctor LL. Zamenhoff, according to a news release on the movie, after he combined a number of existing, widely-spoken European languages.

“’Esperanto’ is known as the universal language,” Bergemann told The Bellingham Herald. “The film is sort of a ode to bikes being a from of universal language and how they can bring people together and connect communities in unique ways.

“The film highlights a number of athletes from all over the world riding in various locations. It’s pretty incredible.”

In a way, Bergemann said mountain biking has been her own personal universal language — or Esperanto — right here in Bellingham or when she travels as a professional rider.

“I go to a variety of locations to ride around the world, and wherever you go you have this form of connecting with people that is really strong,” Bergemann said.

Bergemann grew up in Hood River, Oregon, but it was her love of mountain biking that drew her to Western Washington University and Bellingham when she was choosing a college in 2015. She never left Bellingham after graduating in 2019.

With Galbraith Mountain and countless other mountain biking opportunities in Whatcom County and elsewhere in the region, it’s a choice Bergemann said she never regretted.

“You have riding in every direction — more trails than you can ride in a number of years,” Bergemann said. “I love the opportunity I get to travel and experience other places as a professional rider, but I always feel like when I come back here it feels like home. After riding all over the world, this is my favorite place to ride.”

Her riding in the movie was filmed near Virgin, Utah — a free-ride mecca for mountain bikers, Bergemann said.

Filming her first film with Teton Gravity Research in 2019 “really kick started my career,” Bergemann said, but she felt more experienced this time around and got the opportunity to bring in some more female athletes to be a part of the film.

“It is super important to me to showcase females riding and participating in action sports, because it is such a male-dominated sport,” Bergemann said. “Having women featured prominently in a project like this will hopefully bring more females into the fold.”

And getting to share this movie with her community — something that she didn’t get to do last time because there just weren’t public gatherings at the time — has Bergemann even more exited.

She said she attended the June world premier of “Esperanto” in Salt Lake City, and all that did was whet her appetite for what she’ll experience Wednesday evening in her hometown.

“I feel like that is one of the most special things about these types of big format movie productions, is getting to share them with your community and getting to enjoy mountain biking in such a cinematic and highly produced way that you don’t usually get to see it — kind of be with all your friends and showcase your riding,” Bergemann said.