TDW - Big Bear Challenge 2

Present? Please write up your experiences. These will remain here all year so next time around you can again read them to refresh your mind of this ride and hopefully give you second thoughts.

Well, this is my recap of the this ride. At first it seemed as it would just be 4-5 of us, but as 5:30 came and went more and more pulled up. In the end it was some 12 riders. To tell you the truth, I really had no idea of what the day would have in store for us.

We headed casually out to UCR and across towards Grand Terrace where we went up towards the dump and from there across to Reche Canyon and over into the hills by Loma Linda. That is where most of the riding began. I was the first to flat just before there. This would by far not be the only flat tire. After w good stop at Razor Back we split up and joined back up by the rail road tracks close to Redlands. From there we stayed together and fix many flats (the most I have ever fixed). From there I fixed more flats on my bike than ever. Seemed, no I did fix a flat pretty much every 15 minutes until we reached Mentone. There we had a big lunch break and that was ground zero for the worse. More flat fixing, refuel on drinks and off we went.

Many started to suffer on our way to Green Spot road and we should have taken that as a hint. There many split off and took the road to Loch Leven while the "men" of fools, headed up to Morton Peak. Dave had the last flat heading up to Upper Workout and out he headed with Ray as they stayed together. Pete and me (El Presidente) went on ahead to look for Greydog as he went on. Right there is where Pete passed me and I started to fight my inner self. At the trail head to the up hill singletrack Dave didn't look too good and some convincing we managed to get him to ride further but 1/4 of the way up he turned back around with Malcolm and , Bob. Ray, Greydog, Pete and me went forward. Mainly walking.

Half way up I realized we had much to go and a good hour more to reach Thomas Hunting Ground. I kept pushing but at one point I felt I was passing out. Keep going but the second time around I stopped and told Greydog that that was it for me. I am sure they were glad I called it a day. Though Greydog would have gone al the way to Morton Peak and same as Pete.

Greydog tried to call RC many times for rescue but nothing. I really didn't pay much attention to this as I was trying to maybe recuperate and try to make it to Morton Peak and find more energy to push on. Either way the way down was kind of a blur for me as I was bordering consciousness. At the bottom I managed to turn a short cut into a long cut and got my last flat. I wasn't going to fix this one so I rode it to the store at Greenspot.

Greydog managed to call home and leave a message to his lovely wife Carolyn. I wish I never overheard the message as all I heard was we were riding back home and if they saw us to pick us up. I was not going any further. As soon as I heard that I didn't say nothing as, well I don't know Greydog that well to complain, but now I do. He stayed on the phone and called RC and told us to pick him up. I am sure he saw the shape I was in and made a good call. At the store I sat down and stayed there until RC showed up. In the car I confessed to all and I owe Pete, Greydog, RC, Pat and Carolyn quite a bit for letting me live one more day.

In the end it was 9 hours for the three of us. As far as the rest of the Morton Peak group, I am sure Malcolm took care of them and the rest that went up Loch Leven? Let me know your stories.

We all now know and I am going to tackle this again later on the year. It seems the heat did play a big part.

Where's Ray you ask? Last time I saw that man he was putting up Morton peak. Did he make it to Big Bear? Don't know but he did look good.

We were playing in Ray's World and well it is a tough playground and he was kind of the bully :)

Thanks Ray, Malcolm and Greydog for putting this little hurt experience in my life resume.

By the way the flat is still not changed and it took me roughly 2 hours before I can even think about eating as my stomach kind of hid itself in either anger for the hurt of fear. Another hour before I could even think about hitting the shower as I was so exhausted. Sunday's mountain bike ride? Yeah, right. I didn't get up until roughly 10am on Sunday. Today I got a great suntan with well defined lines and a nice bruise in my right leg from walking so much and the pedal hitting me. Not to mention still exhausted. Thanks Ray, I owe ya'

I'll pick up the story at the last time a saw Victor except to say that I've never seen such a flat tire hell. What a picture, 12 guys on a ride, and everyone fixing a flat at the same time.

About 1/4 the way up Morton Peak we came to a switch back and Dave didn't turn up the trail. Someone said no Dave this way but he rode straight to end, dropped his bike, and dove into the shade of a bush. There he lay for the next 45 minutes.

I called my wife Jean on my cell phone. She and Pam were siting in Marie Calenrders having iced tea. The place to be when it's 100+ out. They drove back to the Ultramar gas station in Mentone and we rode down to meet them. Bob split off and rode home, he lives in Highland, and Jean and I took Dave back to Canyon Crest while Pam went up to Angelus Oaks to meet the rest of the group.

I hurried back from Riverside thinking that if I could get to Angelus Oaks by 4 o'clock I could hook up with the others and ride on into Big Bear. I did get there by 4 and the only one there was Paul. He was the first of the group that went up Old Hwy. 38 to arrive. He was followed shortly by Wiley. He was one beat looking puppy. But no one from the group that headed up Morton Peak. At the time we didn't know Ray was the only one left. At 5 o'clock still no Ray so Jean and I headed down 1N12 in our pickup to try to find him. We finally found him about 2 miles below Thomas Hunting Grounds. He was almost out of water. We gave him water and headed on down to the bottom of 1N12 and then back up to Angelus Oaks.

When I got back to Angelus Oaks at 6:30 Ray had just arrived. He rested a bit, had some food and against the advice of many, headed out to Big Bear. He estimated that he would get there between 9 and 10 that night. Pam and us drove up there to have a dinner in a nice restaurant while Ray rode up Clark's Grade.

What we didn't know was that Ray left Angelus Oaks with NO food. BIG MISTAKE. Pam went up to the trail head to wait for Ray. Jean and I sat in the Jacuzzi at the motel. At 11 o'clock Pam came back to the motel, NO Ray. We had a backup plan that if he had problem he wait at the top of Clark's Grade for help. It took us nearly 45 minutes to drive up there in the dark. I didn't really know how to get there by truck having only done it by bike. Ray was hungry and getting cold but on the way down to the motel we planed next years ride.

Dan and myself started on this sick little jihad of a ride at 5:20 am in my driveway on a near comatose sprint up to the Canyon Crest parking lot. We slid in there just in time for the group picture and then made way for the hills with ten other riders. The morning started cool and clear but that came to an abrupt end as soon as old El Sol poked his yellow head over the horizon. If only that foggy weather from the days before could have hung around a little longer...

Now the plan was that myself, Justin and Dan were to ride with the group from Riverside to Mentone at which point we were to break off, head up Hwy. 38 to Loch Leven and then take the Santa Ana River trail on into Jenks lake. I'm not ashamed to say I didn't make the goal I set for myself because it was a lofty bastard. But I did get within ten miles and it was good enough for my first attempt at anything like this.

We made good time until Redlands. I must say that task master Ray made damned sure of it too, goading and bitching at us all the way. But don't get me wrong, it was a good thing to have, and even though I found it annoying he was the one with the most experience at this sort of ride and knew what it would take to get us there. Thanks Ray, I'd not of had it any other way. After the Loma Linda Ridge Malcom and Grey Dog decided to lead me on another route that came out at Hilda Crooks and onto Redlands Blvd. where we waited at the train tracks for the rest of the gang who had three more hills to clean. Paul joined our shortcut as well, having just recovered from a nasty fall on one of the DH sections. It was going on 9 am and at this point it started to heat up. I think I noticed it first but I always bitch about the heat. I hate it, but enough said. From there we ended up in some citrus grove and found the vortex of existence of all goat head stickers in the known universe. It's quite a sight to see 12 riders swapping multiple tubes all at the same time.

Shortly after jumping on another set of tracks we had another flat tire festival. The ever resourceful Wiley had previously taken a detour to a nearby bike shop for tubes. After this he quickly convinced me that we should just hit the road and "just fu*@kin' git there!" to wit I whole-heartedly agree. The "no pavement" rule caused allot of trouble, e.g. the flat-fests we endured. And an aside if I may about Wiley. That dude is nothing short of amazing. When he talks about getting from Redlands to Onyx summit in 3hrs or so he means it. I saw him do this ride fueled on some twinkies, lots of water, a couple beers, and allot of spirit. And he was riding one of his famous 30 pound plus "Wiley Bikes". Anyway, me and Wiley peddled away a few miles on the blacktop and met up with the gang at some coffee house where I thought we were breaking for food. I ordered a Turkey sandwich that took forever to prepare and hence held up the gang. Sorry. Afterwards me and Wiley detoured again and ended up waiting for the gang about a mile up 38 from where they all had lunch. We caught 'em and from there started up the River bottom to Morton Peak and where we broke off. At the Mill Creek Ranger station some pretty kewel guy from a local bike club thought I looked done and offered me a ride up to Angelus Oaks but I graciously declined. Justin and Myself needed a bit more of a rest so Dan and Wiley dropped us at this point.

By the time we made the bridge at the mouth of Mill Creek canyon on 38 Justin was hurting bad. Keep in mind that I had taken a couple shortcuts and I also learned my lesson last week at Julian and had been hydrating all week and I was also munching and drinking the whole ride. All that as well as keeping a relatively low pace. Justin rode pretty hard to this point and I don't think he hydrated or ate enough so in my opinion he could have cleaned it all the way to Jenks Lake if he'd taken his time and ate and drank more. At this point I don't think any of us realized the temperature was well over 100 degrees either. Dan and myself got him to wait at the picnic grounds for a ride where he took a well earned nap. Now all that hydrating I did bought me about 40 miles. I got bad heat cramps in my legs after riding about 3 miles of Loch Leven. After that I could only ride in short sprints and just had to walk it off. I was walking just as fast as I could ride anyway. We had some two-way radios and Wiley was up top at Angelus Oaks yelling at me on the radio to hurry up. That was funny and it helped. BTW, that's the hottest weather I've ever felt up on that trail. The wind didn't blow and the sun was just blistering. Malcom showed up at the store and I bummed a ride back to camp where after we went after Dan and Justin. Back at the store I got to see Ray briefly. He looked like hour 18 of the 24 hour race I crewed for him last summer. Tried to talk him out of going on but I knew better, so I just shook his hand and wished him luck.

We three had just enough energy to take hot showers, cook some grub and recount our 47 miles of hell. I apologize for the long recountanence but I've kinda had a religious experience or a funky hallucinogenic trip to top all those of my controlled substance experiences of long ago. At least I perceive it that way with me being new to a ride of this caliber. I'll do it again but not in that heat and unless I've gotten in way better shape I'll try make it to Jenks Lake again. Thanks to my friends at TDW for having me along on this ride. It's one I'll talk about when I'm a nasty old man in a rocking chair at a home in another 40 years or so ;)

I met the Chuckster at his house at 5:15. We rode to the meeting place for the ride at Canyon Crest Center. I thought only 5-6 rides were going to attempt this ride. Chuck, Justin, and I were only planning to ride to our camp site in East Barton Flats. Chuck had estimated this ride to be 30 to 35 miles. I have never been on a ride on my Mtn bike over 25 miles, so this seemed like a good challenge.

When we started the ride at Canyon Crest Center, we had 12 riders! I knew the ride would be long and hot, so I tried to reserve my energy and rode towards the rear of the pack. I really had no idea what to expect from this ride because 100% of the trails we rode, I have never rode before. As we went thru I believe Mentone, everyone got at least one flat tire. That is, everyone except me. Don't ask me how or why, I just got really lucky. The group of 12 riders split around Green spot. iley, Paul, Justin, Chuck, and myself went up to Angelus Oaks via Lock Leven, the others via Morton Peak.

The five of us headed to the Ranger Station via the 38. We regrouped there and headed to Lock Leven. I arrived at Lock Leven behind Paul and Wiley. At this time is was really getting hard to cool off. I took cover under a tree and waited for Justin and Chuck. To my surprise Chuck pulled in before Justin, who pulled in shortly after. Justin stated he was done. I tried to push him to continue but he was done. At this time Wiley and Paul already took off to Angelus Oaks. After a brief rest Chuck and I headed out together. Chuck explained the trail to me, then I rode on ahead. I came to the end of the trail, as Chuck said I would, then I started a hike a bike to the other side of the trail. After 15 min of hiking thru dense forest, I knew this was not the right way. So I turned around. Since I did not know the way, my plan was to go find Justin and wait for a ride. On my way down, I ran into Chuck. He was walking with bad heat cramps. I walked with him and he showed me the correct way to go. After the hike a bike section, I gave Chuck some water and took off. After 1/2 mile I got my first flat. I repaired it, then discovered that my pump sucks. After around 4,000 pumps in 130 degree heat I got about 10 lbs in my tire. I finally made it to Angeles Oaks store. The 30 to 35 mile ride was actually 48 miles. Chuck, Justin, and I had steak and beer that night at our camp site.

The next day I manage to talk Justin into doing a ride from Barton Flats to Angeles Oaks store via the Santa Ana River trail. Chuck wanted to sit this one out, but he said he would shuttle us. It was a 16 mile ride that was gorgeous. I even got the Sh*t scared out of me when I turned a corner and saw a bear on the trail about 15 yards away. But that is another story. My helmet is off to Chuck for making the ride. Good job Chuck. Also thanks for planning a great weekend!!!

It was an experience that I will never forget. I think everyone has explained the beginning of the ride and all the flats we had on the way and even the heat. I had never ridden in heat like that before. When we started to head out after the last stop from lunch, which I didn't eat anything, I Knew I was in for some trouble but I wasn't going to let it stop me. ( That's testosterone for you, wife speaking) So as we split off and headed up 38 it hit me hard. When we stopped at the ranger station I knew from there I was not going to make it, my stomach was not feeling so good and my ass became more like a monkey's. So when me and Chuck hit the road again I was starting to get light headed from the heat and the food I should have eaten at the lunch stop. I started to get sicker and sicker as we road so I knew it was time for me to stop before something bad happened to me. So I told Chuck and Dan to go on and I would wait for them at the picnic ground. As I made it down to the picnic ground I found myself a bench and past out for 3 hours and then my wife picked me up after waiting for 5 hours of hell smelling people cooking chicken and every other kind of food. I felt like some Ethiopia boy after that long ass day. Oh and not to forget that I found out that there was a pool to cool off in after I'd sat there for a good part of 3 hours, so I wasn't able to get to it in fear that I would miss my ride if they came looking for me. Well, it was a lesson learned, A challenge that is still waiting for me to conquer. All and all it was a good weekend so hats off to TDW.

Thanks again,

2nd Annual Big Bear Challenge