Sebastian DeGeare was born for the bicycle.
The Crystal City senior started riding at age 4 – with no training wheels – and has developed into a standout BMX (bicycle motocross) rider, earning an athletic scholarship to Lindenwood University in St. Charles. This fall he’ll start riding for the Lions, one of the leading collegiate cycling programs in the country.
“I ran behind him, not even 10 feet, and I’ve never touched him since,” Sebastian’s father, Rob DeGeare, said about how it all started. “He never had training wheels or anything. He’s just always had the balance of a cat and picked it up really fast.”
Sebastian’s grandfather bought him his first bicycle, a used model, and Sebastian learned to ride while he and his family lived in Medellin, Colombia, from 2009 to 2018. The sport came naturally to him.
“My mom was a road cyclist, and she won a couple of big races,” Sebastian said. “My dad used to ride motocross, so I guess the combination of the two just kind of led me to racing.”
The DeGeares moved to Colombia in 2009 and Rob opened a bicycle shop in Medellin.
Colombia, as it turns out, has a passionate cycling culture that embraces all ages and skill levels and produces champion riders who compete in top international races like the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia (the Italian Grand Tour).
“(At) just one track by our house, they had more riders than the whole state of Missouri,” Rob said.
Sebastian developed into a strong BMX competitor, immersing himself in the sport right along with the native riders. Like many young athletes who pursue a singular passion year-round, however, he hit a wall competitively and motivationally and put away his bike for a time in 2016.
“I got really burned out in Colombia,” he said.
A turning point came on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, at “the Grands,” the USA BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, dubbed “the Greatest Race on Earth” in the BMX community. There Sebastian came out of his brief retirement and won the 12-year-old novice race.
“Going back to the States, it’s so relaxed here,” he said. “I was really nervous (at Tulsa) because I thought everyone was just going to beat me. But (in) my first qualifying race I got first place, and (then) I raced my main (event) and won that.”
The DeGeare family – including Sebastian’s younger brother, Daniel, a freshman at Crystal City – moved back to the Twin Cities area in 2018 looking for a fresh start. The bike business in Medellin had taken its toll on all of them.
“Here we were, going to the races, originally (wanting) to support our kids, and that turned into us not even being able to watch them race because we were working with the business all the time,” Rob said. “Since we weren’t there (at the races), with the motivation of the parents and stuff like that, (Sebastian) just kind of lost interest a little bit.”
Another pivot point in Sebastian’s career was connecting with Austin McKan, a 16-year veteran in BMX racing with collegiate and national experience as a rider and trainer. McKan and Rob met in 2019 and McKan attended one of Sebastian’s BMX races.
McKan then moved in with the DeGeares for four months and worked with Sebastian on sprinting, increasing pedal speed.
“At that point, I was still a pro, and he was keeping up with me, if not spinning past me down the hill,” McKan said. “He pushed me to my limit.
“It just kind of kept moving forward from there, and now (Rob is) like a second dad to me and Sebastian is like a brother.”
On to Lindenwood
Lindenwood University made headlines last year with its bold move up to NCAA Division I across all sports. But less widely known is the school’s stature in collegiate cycling. Lions assistant coach John Singleton said Lindenwood is one of only five schools in the country that competes in all five cycling disciplines—BMX, MTB, cyclocross, road and track.
The Lions also boast one of the nation’s top BMX riders, Joey Leto, winner of the men’s BMX Individual Omnium at the USA Cycling Collegiate BMX National Championships.
“I just don’t think it gets enough attention,” Rob said. “To have a program like that here in our backyard, it’s just really amazing.”
Sebastian visited Lindenwood on the recommendation from one of his friends back in Colombia.
“(From) the moment (Sebastian) stepped foot on the campus and found out there was a cycling program, he has just been in love,” Rob said. “The day that (head coach Julie Carter) told us that he would be on the team, he has been over the moon ever since.”
He’ll be joining a program that features more than 50 athletes ranging across all disciplines.
“Sebastian is a great example of the kind of young student athletes that we look for,” Singleton said. “Being able to be a part of such a team, rather than being so self-focused – that’s the kind of athlete that we’re looking for all the time, and Sebastian fits that mold.”