While an event as substantial as the Tour de Big Bear can rest on its laurels, every year they look to raise the bar and the Dirty Bear 50 is no exception.
Already well known for the road rides, gravel has been relatively new and mountain biking was a new inclusion this year.
This year’s course for the Dirty Bear 50 was similar to the previous, but I was unable to make last year so maybe this was a holdover for me?
Starting out of the Bear Mountain Ski Resort, the first six miles were about getting to the northside where technically we’d be doing a thirty mile loop mostly of dirt except when on the highway.
Van Dusen Canyon was a our first climb and a good warmup never at a point to empty our gears out just beware of some bumps and oncoming traffic.
We got a good return on ascending investment plowing through the Holcomb Valley with my favorite meadow view I love coming back to.
Continuing west brought us to region new to me with three pitches in two miles taking us into a wonderful valley minus a little sand on the descent.
While our longest climb, the KOM challenge wasn’t the toughest at five miles but a nice effort with your best views of the lake for the day.
Making it down was a little bumpy making it to the highway starting a smooth ten miles untll the end got interesting.
This time I was better prepared to rocket the nearly three miles of single track behind the high school that was just enough before dizziness setting in.
With the last aid station six and a half miles from the end, take water if you’re questioning it because there’s a series of steep efforts that’s exponentially tougher on dirt because of how sharp and loose the surface is.
You coast the last couple of miles in where Tour de Big Bear has a great deal of activity going on almost like a mini Sea Otter and plenty of options to properly end the day.
Once again the Dirty Bear 50 is a class event and such a nice option to fill your summer schedule where it’s normally too ride to ride in the southland.