Cougar
Well-Known Member
So I'm blessed with the ability to never need an alarm clock to wake up, however the downside of this is that I start sleeping very light for the hour or two before my alarm clock is supposed to go off.
As such, I was planning on waking up at 4:30am this morning to head out to Pioneer town, when in actuality I was already out the door at 4:30am.
I got there at dawn (oh; I got to see the Lunar Eclipse as I was driving, that was kinda cool), and snagged myself a number.
This is a panoramic in facebook, not sure why it linked poorly.
512!
I had some blue painters tape on my hydration pack with COUGAR written on it, but not a single person flagged me down
Were any of you there!? However, problem with my plan; when I'm in the back 1/8th of the pack, not many people are behind me to see that (Bwhahaha).
I started out fairly well, just focusing on riding at my own pace. I found a few people to ride alongside with that didn't have me trying to chase rabbits or anything of the sort and away we went. The first ~5mi were pavement, the next section was a dirt road which wasn't bad, and then it went to the sand road. Oh god the sand road. It was pretty bad climbing, and pretty bad coming back down as I was tired and had a few slips and slides.
I really enjoy taking scenery pictures when I ride, and it also helps that it is a not-so-subtle way to get a bit of a break. My first picture was around mile 13.
Mile 13!
Somewhere around here, the climb got pretty intense. Miles ~13 to 15 really had me questioning my decision to ride the 50. I had to get to the first aid station (at mile 17.5) by 11am. I was at mile 14 and it was 9:30, and the pace I was going with the nasty climb actually had me somewhat concerned.
And then we got to descend for the first time around mile 15.5. Blessed descent (even if it was more flat than descending). That gave me enough speed and rest that once I hit the aid station, I didn't think about turning around and only doing the 35mi version.
Immediately leaving the aid station you were smacked in the face with another climb and I started losing my impromptu ride buddies. Except as soon as we hit the summit of that climb, I got my first honest to goodness downhill bomb. See, I'm riding my Burner, an All Mountain machine that so far has not been very well suited for this ride.
I passed 10 people on that downhill section (which included a few rock gardens amazingly). Yay All Mountain bike paying off. haha
This was right before the downhill section above, I needed a break from the climbing
Then reality hit me in the face as we crossed a river crossing... a river crossing (a creek perhaps?) means I have to climb back out. Oh god. I usually ride 18-20miles when I'm by myself, but only about 2-3k elevation gain and I'm usually VERY done at the end of those rides. Here I am at mile 22, close to 4k elevation gain, and I haven't even reached the turn around point yet.
Mile 22 picture break.
There was a small downhill section that led to the second aid station at the turn around point, just to the left of the very dry Baldwin Lake just to the East of Big Bear.
The ladies here were pretty cool.
At this point I had been dropped by almost everyone I had been keeping pace with, and that was okay. At this point there's nothing else I can do except keep pedaling. There is no other way off this mountain.
I ended up passing 4-6 people after turning around, which was more than I thought I was ahead of, but ya I was in the back of the pack
I think I first started walking some uphills on the route between the turn around point and the middle aid station. I knew I was going to get to bomb back down some of those sections, but I also knew I was going to have to CLIMB that section I bombed down earlier. Cry.
A different picture of the area where the second aid station was at.
Between 1-2miles after the second aid station they added the only course deviation to the ride; a jaunt through some chunk. I was perfectly happy to ride through rock gardens, but I really wanted to be done climbing at this point. I walked most of the rock garden climbs because I knew I didn't have much left in my legs, and I didn't want to burn through my remaining stamina having to really punch through some technical sections.
Some of the chunk.
The fully rigid bikes were hating themselves in this section, but I was doing fine. (Although not as fast as earlier)
NEED BREAK NOW picture... hehe
The rest was just a slog back home.
I'm done with the technical stuff, and just have the sand and dirt left.
I finally hit the pavement here back at mile 44. Almost back.
In the end, it took me 7 hours to do the ride, far slower than most people and the parking lot was mostly empty by the time I got back (Although the raffle was still going on!).
Now, I'm going to collapse
https://www.strava.com/activities/279295697/
As such, I was planning on waking up at 4:30am this morning to head out to Pioneer town, when in actuality I was already out the door at 4:30am.
I got there at dawn (oh; I got to see the Lunar Eclipse as I was driving, that was kinda cool), and snagged myself a number.
This is a panoramic in facebook, not sure why it linked poorly.
512!
I had some blue painters tape on my hydration pack with COUGAR written on it, but not a single person flagged me down
Were any of you there!? However, problem with my plan; when I'm in the back 1/8th of the pack, not many people are behind me to see that (Bwhahaha).I started out fairly well, just focusing on riding at my own pace. I found a few people to ride alongside with that didn't have me trying to chase rabbits or anything of the sort and away we went. The first ~5mi were pavement, the next section was a dirt road which wasn't bad, and then it went to the sand road. Oh god the sand road. It was pretty bad climbing, and pretty bad coming back down as I was tired and had a few slips and slides.
I really enjoy taking scenery pictures when I ride, and it also helps that it is a not-so-subtle way to get a bit of a break. My first picture was around mile 13.
Mile 13!
Somewhere around here, the climb got pretty intense. Miles ~13 to 15 really had me questioning my decision to ride the 50. I had to get to the first aid station (at mile 17.5) by 11am. I was at mile 14 and it was 9:30, and the pace I was going with the nasty climb actually had me somewhat concerned.
And then we got to descend for the first time around mile 15.5. Blessed descent (even if it was more flat than descending). That gave me enough speed and rest that once I hit the aid station, I didn't think about turning around and only doing the 35mi version.
Immediately leaving the aid station you were smacked in the face with another climb and I started losing my impromptu ride buddies. Except as soon as we hit the summit of that climb, I got my first honest to goodness downhill bomb. See, I'm riding my Burner, an All Mountain machine that so far has not been very well suited for this ride.
I passed 10 people on that downhill section (which included a few rock gardens amazingly). Yay All Mountain bike paying off. haha
This was right before the downhill section above, I needed a break from the climbing
Then reality hit me in the face as we crossed a river crossing... a river crossing (a creek perhaps?) means I have to climb back out. Oh god. I usually ride 18-20miles when I'm by myself, but only about 2-3k elevation gain and I'm usually VERY done at the end of those rides. Here I am at mile 22, close to 4k elevation gain, and I haven't even reached the turn around point yet.
Mile 22 picture break.
There was a small downhill section that led to the second aid station at the turn around point, just to the left of the very dry Baldwin Lake just to the East of Big Bear.
The ladies here were pretty cool.
At this point I had been dropped by almost everyone I had been keeping pace with, and that was okay. At this point there's nothing else I can do except keep pedaling. There is no other way off this mountain.
I ended up passing 4-6 people after turning around, which was more than I thought I was ahead of, but ya I was in the back of the pack
I think I first started walking some uphills on the route between the turn around point and the middle aid station. I knew I was going to get to bomb back down some of those sections, but I also knew I was going to have to CLIMB that section I bombed down earlier. Cry.
A different picture of the area where the second aid station was at.
Between 1-2miles after the second aid station they added the only course deviation to the ride; a jaunt through some chunk. I was perfectly happy to ride through rock gardens, but I really wanted to be done climbing at this point. I walked most of the rock garden climbs because I knew I didn't have much left in my legs, and I didn't want to burn through my remaining stamina having to really punch through some technical sections.
Some of the chunk.
The fully rigid bikes were hating themselves in this section, but I was doing fine. (Although not as fast as earlier)
NEED BREAK NOW picture... hehe
The rest was just a slog back home.
I'm done with the technical stuff, and just have the sand and dirt left.
I finally hit the pavement here back at mile 44. Almost back.
In the end, it took me 7 hours to do the ride, far slower than most people and the parking lot was mostly empty by the time I got back (Although the raffle was still going on!).
Now, I'm going to collapse
https://www.strava.com/activities/279295697/
Last edited by a moderator:
