After such a great experience with Breathless Agony I was really looking forward to another event sponsored by the Orange County Wheelmen. A friend of mine, Kent, was also signed up for the ride so we decided to hook up. He’d been doing Ride Around the Bear for years and even though he was recovering from a back injury he still wanted to do it. Talk about dedication.

I met him at his place in Torrance at around 5:00 am. We tossed our bikes in the back of his truck and headed out for Redlands. We made great time and arrived around 6:15. It was going to be a perfect day so I suited up light, just a bib and jersey. We queued up and were on the road at 6:57.

The route starts out by following the backend of the Breathless route.  You take a left, instead of a right, on University and then a right on Lugonia (Hwy 38). Kent had not been able to do any preparation for the ride so we took it easy. Since riders had been departing for hours, we pretty much were on our own.  We made the left onto Garnet which passed through some farmland and orchards and then swung a left onto Florida. A brief downhill took us to the right onto Greenspot. All along this part of the course we could see the mountains ahead and to our right. They looked pretty ominous. We headed across an old trestle bridge and then rolled downhill into town.

Along the way we started catching and passing other riders. As we entered town we sort of got consumed by a small group. Kents the talkative type so we hung with them up to the right onto Boulder. They were plodding along and I started getting twitchy. The slow pace, along with the late start, was not to my liking. We hit a couple of red lights on Boulder and the group grew to over a dozen riders. When it turned green I pulled ahead to get some breathing room. I made the right onto Highland and could finally see Highway 330 snaking its way up into the mountains.

At the left onto the on-ramp I waited at the red light for Kent to catch up. He and another rider shot through the intersection and I clipped back into my pedals and followed. There was a Highway Patrol parked half way down the ramp and as we wheeled past Kent breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he wasn’t going to get stopped. It’s a $176 ticket, ouch!

The highway was very busy since it’s the main drag up to Big Bear, but there was plenty of shoulder at first. I said my goodbyes to Kent and headed up. It was nice to finally be underway at my own pace. By now it was almost 8:00 am and the sun was well above the eastern hills.

The next 16 miles were pretty uneventful. It was a gradual climb at about a 7% grade winding up the hillside. I passed gobs of riders and basically kept my eyes on the road. Passing other riders had to be done with care or you could find yourself competing with some oncoming metal. There were now quite a few cars and big trucks passing on both sides of the road and the shoulder got very narrow.

I arrived at the first rest stop and parked my bike. There was a huge crowd with lot’s of riders just milling about talking. The supporters were in full force, orange wigs and all. I ate my fill, topped off my bottles and got back on the road.

It was a quick ten or so miles to the next rest stop at Snow Valley. I really didn’t have to stop, but since the day seemed so leisurely I decided to partake. The fresh fruit was great along with the cookies. It was also nice to finally be really up in the mountains rather than the foothills.

The next portion of the ride was quite fun. There were two mild climbs and then the road opened up and there was a long winding descent down to the lake.  Along the way I began to notice quite a few folks on motorcycles, mostly hogs. There had to have been some kind of event for so many to be out on the road at once.  The descent ended at the lake and wound around the north shore. At the 45 mile point I reached the lunch stop at Dana Point Park.

Made to order sandwiches were on the menu plus an assortment of just about anything you can think of. I probably should not have eaten as much as I did and I paid for it later on the climb to Onyx. I departed in short order and continued along the lake. It was mostly rollers winding in and out of the trees. Things got confusing at Greenway. A group of us shot past the right turn and only realized our error after about a mile. We made a U-turn, found the turn off and headed into town.  Harley’s were parked everywhere. It was the annual Poker Run so that meant we’d be seeing a constant stream of choppers going up to Onyx.  We then made a left onto Big Bear Blvd and then the right onto Highway 38 for the final assault.

The climb started off mildly and then kicked up for the final 6 miles. I was feeling sluggish, probably due to over eating a bit. I passed quite a few riders, but got passed by a bunch too. It was a slog-fest with lots of suffering. To top it off, there was a constant stream of loud motorcycles coming down the road.

The summit finally arrived and it was packed with spent riders. Ala Breathless they’d set up multiple tents and blankets to relax on. The food was great with hot Minestrone soup. There must have been 40 of us spread out recovering from the climb. I found an open patch and stretched a bit while enjoying my soup and watching other riders arrive.

Now came the fun part, a great descent down into the valley. I opened it up and flew down the mountain. I don’t think I ever touched the brakes. There were a few intermittent climbs, but you could easily power through most of them.  Around Angeles Oaks an ambulance passed, then another, and another. A helicopter then passed overhead, oh-oh. Something obviously had happened just up the road behind me. I later learned that a motorcycle rider had over cooked a turn and rolled off the road.

I took the last big sweepers and then the long descent down Damnation Alley. As usual there was a strong headwind, but I was able to keep my speed up and finished it in short order. The route then headed into town, again following a -2% grade that made the miles fly by. I hit red light after red light, but didn’t care so much since I knew my time was not going to be worth bragging about.

I reached the intersection with University and made the left turn to get me back to the park. I rolled up and they punched me in.  I turned out to be 47^th out of 334 riders. Not bad. My placing probably explained why the park was a bit deserted when I arrived. I wandered over to the truck, packed up my bike and changed in to street clothes.

Back at the park, they had burgers with all the fix’ins which I made quick work of.  I grabbed a few more snacks and found a comfy spot to lie down and wait for Kent. He pulled in about 1 hour and 20 minutes later. I couldn’t believe he'd done it. After no training and a back injury who would have thought. We hung out a bit longer and then headed out.

In summary I felt this was not the best of rides. The traffic was a huge distraction and the noise from all the hogs took away one of the main attractions of riding in the mountains, some relative peace and quiet to suffer in. The first half of the route was unmemorable. I may repeat, and if I do, next time I’ll be on the road at least an hour earlier and not eat so much.