More photos from Big Bear and Oak Glen >>
One of the things we wanted to do while out west was to go to a ski resort and take the lift to the top of the mountain with our bikes and ride down. With Bear Bear Mountain only an hour from Oak Glen where we were staying it was a perfect day trip.
;The drive there was amazing on highway 38. Wide open mountain vistas, cool rock outcroppings and roadside waterfalls. I was so excited to be high in the mountains. There is something about a rugged peak high up that makes me want to dream of hiking it to the top and looking out across the valleys below. And today I felt like I would get that chance again.
We arrived at the resort and loaded onto the lift and began the ascent to the top. The view of Big Bear Lake below was incredible. The anticipation to get riding in this great landscape was killing me! I was greeted with some disappointment when we got to the top of the mountain as I checked my camera bag and found no memory card anywhere (which became a blessing in disguise later).
The ride started off great, perfect blue skies, green trees all contrasted against big gray granite boulders. We rolled along, down a smooth rolling fire road. But to our dismay the trail turned uphill, for quite a bit. I remember thinking, “werent we at the top already? Shouldn’t we be going downhill soon?” And later I would realize that would be the most ironic statement I have made in some time.
The trail continued along, and turned downhill, not steep just fun. So far so good, Sharon is still smiling having fun and so am I. We hit a really nice singletrack winding through the woods, but most of it seemed uphill. “When do I get to downhill on something a little steep and technical?”. Well after getting back on a fireroad for a bit we hit the trail going back to the resort. It was overall a blast. But soomething was bugging me. I wanted to know what the expert section was like and I never got any photos up there. So I decided to go back up solo to tackle the expert section.
As I first got on my bike on the top I was excited. I began to take a fire road to get to the Upper Fall Line trail. I passed through a free ride section with stunts built by crazy unbreakable teenagers and almost killed myself trying one. I found the trail head and began going down, and I mean steeply down. I had not adjusted my seat for this descent and upon hitting a rock my front tire locked and I was sent over the handlebars. Landing on my helmet and rolled over to mt butt and skidded down the hill a few feet on my rear. I was fine, I had scrapes but was fine. I could not help laugh when I thought back to my statement of demanding to find a challenging downhill. Well I found it. After lowering my seat all the way I proceeded to dodge rocks as I descended down the gnarliest downhill i have ever ridden. I was worried I could not ride stuff like this anymore as I had no attempted a hill like this since West Virginia. Once I relaxed and got a feel for the hill I had a blast!