Posted: September 21, 2016
No, I didn’t actually ride a bear.
But now that you’ve clicked, I’ll tell you about my experience riding my bicycle around Big Bear Lake, California.
I travelled up toward San Bernardino National Forest Friday afternoon, picked up a few of my close friends (traffic was horrendous even just to get out of LA, of course) and arrived late Friday night. We stayed in a cabin and the weather was nice that night, around 65 – 70 degrees. But by the time we woke up in the morning (around 6:30am) it was a frigid 36 degrees. I immediately regretted the ride during the first two minutes and even considered turning around. The ride we chose was just one lap around the lake, about 15 miles. Eventually my fingers went numb and I settled in and enjoyed the great views and good times.
Below is a screenshot of my Strava profile for the day.
The cold weather wasn’t the only tough part of the ride. The entire ride averages about 6,700 feet elevation, making the air thin, dry, and hard to breathe (especially when cold!). I highlighted one of the downhill sections on my Strava profile, above. I thoroughly enjoyed taking those banked turns down the side of the hill, maxing out around 33mph. I should probably mention I was on a track bike too. Here’s a picture of my bike (only one gear, haha).
It rides really nice and smooth, but not exactly the ideal bike for the mountains. But with views like these, who can complain??
Published on July 25th, 2017
Last updated on August 10th, 2017