Redlands to Big Bear

I had planned on going to Mammoth to do the downhill thing for the weekend, but instead I ended up doing the uphill thing. I've been thinking about riding from my house to Big Bear for a few years now, but it's just been recent when I've gotten serious about it. I decided Thursday night I'd finally attempt this ride.

The Numbers
Roundtrip Mileage - 102 miles
Day 1
Mileage - 44 miles
Starting Elevation - 1419'
High Point Elevation - 8140'
Elevation Gain - 6721'
Day 2
Mileage - 58 miles
Starting Elevation - 8180' (after chairlift ride)
Ending Elevation - 1419'
Elevation Drop - 6761'

The Plan
I wanted to carry as little as possible with me. With a restaurant in Angelus Oaks at about the halfway point I didn't need to worry about carrying too much food. There were also a couple other water stops along the way in addition to Angelus Oaks so I didn't really need an excess amount of water either. I'd spend the night in Big Bear and then ride home the next day.

It took me 11 hours to get up (44 miles) and 9 hours to get down (58 miles). The most unexpected thing was the heat. I really wasn't ready for it. The previous weekend I had driven up to Seven Oaks to check things out and it was 75° in the middle of the afternoon. On the Saturday I did my ride weather.com reported highs of over 100° in both Redlands and Angelus Oaks. The heat took so much out of me and I was hurting by the time I got to Angelus Oaks.

The Route
Stage 1 - I left my house at 8:30am and rode through Redlands and Mentone on the streets. Once I got to the Beef Jerky place towards the end of Mentone I turned and picked up a dirt road that went towards the wash. then I was back on Highway 38 for a couple miles until I took a short break at the Ranger Station. From there it was about 3 miles up the 38 until I got to Loch Leven.

Stage 2 - This is where the majority of the offroad riding started. At this point I was really starting to feel the heat. Loch Leven is a nice 7 mile ride up the Old Highway 38. Parts of it are still paved, but most of it is now dirt and there is even some singletrack on the ride. I took almost an hour at The Oaks restaurant to eat lunch and recover.

Stage 3 - The was my first of 2 downhill sections on the day. I took a section of the SART down and then picked up Middle Control Road and took it the rest of the way down to Seven Oaks Road.

Stage 4 - This was the big uphill of the weekend. The elevation went from 4790' to 8140'. Luckily it was a little cooler, but it still had to be at least 90° at this point so I was anything but cool. I took 1N04 right when I got to Seven Oaks Road. Then climbed about 1000' with occasional little downhills and it met up with 2N06 (Radford Truck Trail). I had one last stop for water at a fire station there right where 2N06 started. It was then up 2N06 and it was all uphill and it was at a pretty steep grade. I was so worn out at this point there were sections I walked. The views up this section were great. I was seeing things from angles I hadn't seen before. I was essentially looking straight down the canyon between the Big Bear mountains and the Gorgonio mountains. Finally I got to the hump and had that feeling of sitting on the bike and having it move without me pedaling. This was the 2nd best moment of the trip.

Stage 5 - It was up and down for a bit on the fireroads (2N06 to 2N10). I then got to Grandview Point and turned onto the Pineknot trail to take it into town. This was the 2nd of the 2 downhills on the day. The sun was just starting to go down at this point. I rode into the Village and found the Big Bear Hostel (A great place to stay) and was finally able to fully rest.

The Ride Back

After a stop at the bike shop to get some new tubes I headed to Snow Summit. I decided I wanted the full experience of riding all the way from the top of Snow Summit to my house. I took the chairlift up and it felt incredibly good to gain that elevation while sitting back and taking in the scenery. I took Falline down and then headed towards the golf course. From there I picked up 2N27 and took it to 2N93. this was a gradual 5 mile climb on a fire road that essentially took me around Sugarloaf Mountain. Then I took the Wildhorse singletrack down to the 38 and then down to Southfork.

Once at Southfork I was in territory I knew well. At this point I was just ready to get home and I was dreading every little climb. I was also nearing the Middle Control Rd. climb which I had been dreading right from the start when I was planning the ride.

At about 80 miles I got to Middle Control Rd. It's about a 3 mile fireroad climb up to Angelus Oaks. When I got to it, it was as bad as I had imagined. I just didn’t want to pedal anymore at that point. I wasn’t on it more than 2 minutes and I got off and started walking. I was figuring on it taking me about 45 minutes to get up those 3 miles with a mixture of walking and riding. I was walking for about 30 seconds and a car came up behind me and the guy rolled down his window and said something like, “hey, want a ride, grab on and I’ll pull you up.” I grabbed on to his back window and held on for dear life. It may have actually been the hardest I worked on the whole ride. He certainly didn’t slow down and take it easy for me. I was just holding on with every muscle I had and trying to keep the bike steady with my other arm. My triceps felt like they were going to fall off. It was worth it though, 7-8 minutes of intense work was much better than 45 minutes of moderate work. Thank you to Jeff and Melissa for the ride. I've ridden up that road close to 100 times, and never has anyone asked if I wanted a ride up (possibly because I've never been walking before). If anyone were to ask at any other time I would have declined and kept on riding. This was different though. When I got to the top I went to the restaurant and had some pancakes and even after I ate I was still feeling it in my arms. For the official record, I did subtract those 3 miles from my 105 mile total to make it 102 miles.

From this point on it was all downhill. I decided to take the Old Highway down rather than the SART. I wanted the easiest and most direct way at this point. There still would have been a little climbing had I taken the SART. It was about 18 miles to my house, the first 8 on trails and the final 10 on pavement. The absolute best moment came in Mentone when I looked up at the mountains and looked at what I had just ridden. I've seen those mountains hundreds of times, but never had I seen them in quite that way before.

I won't entirely rule it out, but I doubt I'll ever do this ride again. If I do, the number one priority will be checking on the weather more closely and making sure it's not too hot.