Beauty at Bear Springs

This year my teammate Ryan Eisele and I decided to make Bear Springs Trap XC our first race off the year. This would also be my first race in the single speed category and Ryan also chose to race the SS. Bear Springs is one of my favorite races especially when the course is 99% free of snow. It is a true cross country race with sweet single track sections but enough double track and gravel roads for convenient passing. The course has a couple of very technical trails. I rode 32-16 gearing, but it was a bit tall for this course especially with 29″ wheels. I struggled to make the climbs, but felt fast in the flat sections. By half-way through the race, I had only been able to pass a few single speed riders so I thought I was pretty much last in the class. I had hit a wall with about 3 miles to go, but I managed to latch onto a geared riders wheel and cruise to the finish. I was pleasantly surprised to check the results and discover I had crossed the line in sixth place and Ryan had finished in fourth!

Jeremy Warnicke