About

BEAR NATIONAL TEAM was founded in 2011 in Santa Cruz, CA by Stu Bone and a committed group of 10 team riders. In 2013, Julia Violich and Chris Burnham joined Bone at the helm of the program. Together, they built the program into the elite development platform that it is today. Julia is still the director, while Chris now coaches a handful of athletes. Jason Jablonski and Julie Young were added to the coaches roster in 2019 as the High Performance Directors. This year, we are welcoming Luke Vrouwenvelder to lead the high performance program.

Since its founding, BEAR Team Riders have won 60 National Titles in the past six years in both mountain and cyclocross disciplines.  To date, 62 different Bear Team Riders have been invited to race at World Cup and World Championship events with Team USAC in North America, South America, and Europe.  BEAR has excelled in a race schedule including events as varied as the US Cup MTB race series, USAC MTB Nationals, World Cup Races, Canada Cup Series, Life-Time Series, and other long mountain and gravel events.

9 years ago, BEAR expanded its roster to include Elite U23 riders at the professional level. Keeping consistent with our development focus, multiple Team Riders have graduated into elevated international programs, as well as factory UCI teams after their time with BEAR; Trek Factory, Giant Factory, Trek Future Racing, Scott Factory Racing, Santa Cruz Rockshox, and Decathalon Ford to name a few.

The current BEAR Team has 15 U23 riders and 20 junior riders ages 15 – 18, supporting student-athletes from 17 different states.

BEAR believes that lowering the barrier of entry is important in this inherently expensive sport. As a result, the BEAR platform is free of cost for Elite Team and Race Team Level athletes. Our Club Team athletes have a small fee of $1,200 to cover race support. Products and equipment are at no cost or heavily discounted.

While BEAR’s racing results and development track record is impressive, this team believes that relationships make good things happen.  We feel a strong sense of gratitude towards our teammates, sponsors, directors and supporters.  BEAR maintains a focus on fun, awareness of other and personal growth driven by values and goals. 

Mission

We invest ourselves in the success of our team and teammates. Together, we make good things happen.

We understand that the gifts given to the team by our families, directors, supporters and sponsors represent an opportunity, not an accolade.  We show them our gratitude.

The joy of contributing to and being supported by a real team is a dynamic some people will never experience. We appreciate this opportunity. We give more than we take.

Every day we ride our training plans and communicate with our coaches and directors.   We take care of our bodies, our equipment and our teammates.

There may come a day when, despite our best efforts, we reach the ceiling of our abilities in the sport.  When this day comes, performance-enhancing drugs will not be an option. We stay focused on school. We create opportunities for ourselves in other areas of our lives. We have a strong sense of who we are apart from what we do on the bicycle.

There is no better place than here. No better time than now. No better teammates than these.  We’re healthy.  We get to ride bikes with our friends.  We’re stoked.