One of the great things about living in SoCal is that you are just an hour or so away from altitudes of 7000 feet, even though you live at sea level. Rose and I made a last minute decision to do the Tour de Big Bear this weekend for a nice weekend getaway. We drove up on Friday night to get “acclimated” to the elevation. Rose did the 50 miler and I did the 70 miler. This was a “non-competitive” ride, but folks were still pushing it along the way. We had a lot of fun and this was a well organized event. I felt the altitude mostly in my legs. The  climb up to Onyx Summit (the highest pass in southern California) was hard primarily due to a headwind, but the descent was a lot of fun (40+ MPH without tight corners). We had rain at the finish, but we were already finished. Rose got some major results on Strava, and I was happy with my overall pace. I would highly recommend this event in the future. They had over 1000 riders this year during Big Bear’s offseason, so I can see why the locals were happy. Thanks to them and organizers for a great time!

Photos by Hoffman Media & Graphics