Ride around da Bear

[Pain Freak]

Second year for me doing this. Sorry no pix as I forgot my camera. This is a century ride with lots of climbing. Just over 9,000 feet, but the grades are not killer steep, they just go on forever.

My friend Mr Bonk and his two brothers decided to go along for this ride. I've been climbing a lot lately and was quite proud of myself on our local club ride so I thought it would get a little easier then last year and it was, but it was still very hard. We start out from over by Redlands University and almost immediately we get into some climbing, but it's gardual and a nice way to wake up the legs. I'm thinking I'll be helping to pull today...wrong! Seems everyone has been riding hard and training hard for this ride and before I know it I'm off the back. Shiat!!! Well, I consign myself to the fact that I'll be bringing up the rear and ride on. It kind of works to my advantage though as it gives me time to look at my surroundings more and what beautiful surroundings they are. We start up the 38 and although not overly steep you'll know you're climbing. At the bottom part here theres a good shoulder and cars are kept at a distance so there is no stress where that's concerned. Farther up though, that's another concern. Very narrow in some places and some people in cars can be real a holes. As I'm riding up I have time to look over on the other side of the guardrail and I'm suprised to see we are riding on a cliff in some areas and in one particular place the sides have given way and I don't really know what's holding the road in place. This freaked me out and I had to stop to see if I could figure it out. I couldn't and I'll never feel comfortable going that way again. So on we go. I pass Mr Bonk, but his brothers are no where in sight. We regroup at Snow Valley somewhere close to 4,000 feet. As I'm there I notice a group of mountain bikers wearing Switchback Cyclery jerseys all on 29ers and sporting knobbies! And rigid carbon forks. Ned, Garrett, and a lady who I forgot her name. These three are STRONG!!! They managed to pass me a couple of times and a lot of other roadies too. Anyways as we pull out we now have a little bit easier of a climb and even some downhill on our way to Big Bear Lake. I started to cramp again and had to slow way down, but again this wasn't all bad as this area is really nice and I even got a chance to talk to a few fisherman. Seems the bite is on right now. At BB we have lunch and get ready for the final push up to Onyx Summit,@ 8813 feet. This climb is bizarre, any other time we all fly up grades of 3 or 4 % but not when you have about 60+ miles of hard climbing in your legs. I dropped down to 6 to 7 mph and that took all the strength I had. Some of the younger guys were flying up that thing like they were on the flats. Motoring over 15 I think, very impressive.
We finally summit and the Orange County Wheelman always know how to put on a good time. Food was excellent and the soup was just what we needed. So after a while we take off and I'm not paying attention and miss the opportunity to grab on to my friends wheel. He outweighs me by a lot so he really flys down the hills and if I get on I can hang and get a great ride (very fast) down. So I end up with the Sho-Air guys and they are going about perfect but they have a rider falling off so they are continually slowing or stopping for him. Good guys! I ride with them for the most part all the way into the last reststop where most people just go on by because it's nothing but some great downhill from there. My buds are waiting for me so I pull in have a soda and some gatorade and a couple of pieces of watermelon and the guys are asking if we are ready. I am and so is Mr Bonk, now remember we have been playing catch up all day long. Mr Bonk pulls out and I grab his wheel. Seems he seen some younger guys go out and wanted to grab some of their wheels and get a fast and fun dh. So here we go chasing after the young guns and it's not easy to catch them but we do. I look down and we are at 40 mph and we haven't even got into the steep stuff yet. I look back to see where our rabbits were and they were no where in sight...sweet! I jump on in the back and we just motor like crazy all the way. We are hitting as high as 48 mph and then Mr Bonk decides to take it up a notch and jumps to the front of the pack and he's gone. These guys that we got on with are experienced but for some reason they're a little slower then we go on the descents but I'm happy with the pace and although I end up going around the leaders a few times I always fall back to let them dictate the pace as I'm one tired old dude! Finally after keeping a pace for over 5 miles at over 40 mph we catch Mr Bonk. Hot damn! But the group is spent and we all take it down to a reasonable 24+ mph and for the most part coast in the last 3 or 4 miles. The rabbits finished over 10 minutes behind us. Kind of funny they waited for us all day and our recorded time is better then theirs by more then 10 minutes,LOL

This really is a difficult ride, but one that feels very rewarding when you finish it. I'll be back next year for sure.

[bvader]

Nicely Done. My wife volunteers for this ride (except for today, long story) she is part of the group that was dressed up like pirates at the rest stop last year!

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by bvader

Nicely Done. My wife volunteers for this ride (except for today, long story) she is part of the group that was dressed up like pirates at the rest stop last year!

Yeah, they had on some weird colored wigs this time. I believe they were orange?

[surlygal]

Mike - We drove up the 38 yesterday and I swear I saw you! but wasn't sure

[Pain Freak]

Originally Posted by surlygal

Mike - We drove up the 38 yesterday and I swear I saw you! but wasn't sure

Gawd knows I spent enough time out there. I was wearing a "Winner Triple Crown Jersey", Looks like a CA flag, red, white and blue. If the person you saw was sitting on the side of the road sobbing and yelling stupid damn hill, then that wasn't me.

[xhuskr]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

I'm one tired old dude!

I call BS!!

tired...never........old...it's relative...........slow, not in his lifetime!!

Way to go Mike!!!

[Pain Freak]

Thanks, Kev. I sure was feeling slow when those young guns went flying by me.

[bvader]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Yeah, they had on some weird colored wigs this time. I believe they were orange?

Yep that would be them, then they wore them at the Camp Pendleton Mud Run the next day, which was loads of gun.

[Scutr]

Good to see a STR bro on a brutal ride like this

[Ciclista]

My girlfriend and I did it in our tandem for the first time. It was one of the best if not the best century we've ever done! The climbs were awesome, I agree Onyx was painful, and the views around the lake incredible. Definitely a must do it again.