Big Bear Single Track Epic - Thank you!

On a crisp and clear Saturday morning up in Big Bear, about 40 riders gathered to take on the first ever Big Bear Single Track Epic. Nobody really knew what was really in store, but in the end, everyone manged to survive the challenge.

Bike For Bender
This was the first ride of the Bike For Bender series: a set of fundraiser events we are hosting to help our teammate with his fight against cancer. You can learn more here. To our surprise, Rob and his whole family actually showed up to help support the event. They even offered to manage the aid station half-way through the ride, which each and everyone of us appreciated more than gold as we rolled in later in the day!

So at 9:00 AM, we lined up and we were ready to go! Here are some of the highlights of the day.

The Goal
Regardless of the course, 25 miles of up-and-down single track at 7000-8000ft is challenging for any rider. Our goal was to get everyone around the course and back in one piece. The short loop was lead by my fearless wife Katrina along with Russell and Margaret from the Don's team. Jimmy Johnson and the other boys were also lending a helping hand. I lead the more advanced riders on a longer loop, and to face the ultimate challenge - "Bender Mountain".

Section "Unknown"
Both groups started out together and formed a giant peloton as we headed eastward. This area had some of the most challenging and least traveled trails in the area.

It consisted of a short fireroad climb and then transitioned in a tight single track that was a ton of fun. At the top, the short loop riders road down a killer single track towards Bear Mountain and the advanced group went on to take on the mountain.

Bender Mountain
Every good ride has something everyone remembers for one reason or another. For this one, if you were an advanced rider, it was "Bender Mountain". Even though I spent hours raking and preping this part of the course, this proved to be one of the toughest hill climbs in the area.

Keep in mind that these were some of the best riders in SoCal and every single one them had to push or carry their bikes up the hill climb. We all suffered for a short time, but the top offered one of the most spectacular views in the area. We took a quick snapshot by the "B" and descended off the back through a secret canyon trail. Everyone was smiling.


After a unanimous vote, we started the climb across Bear Mountain. This section included a painful set of granny gear climbs or simply pushing your bike up the hills.

By the end, most of the "men", including me, were reduced to "mice". After that, we managed regroup and powered up fireroads to next single track. Our goal was to catch the other group by the water station.

Half-way, well sort of...
When we hit the water station both groups merged. Despite a few flat tires and a few crashes, everyone in the first group was still smiling when we rolled in.


Rob and his family set up the pits in a great spot with lots of shade. They had water, gatorade, oranges and thanks to my wife, an assortment of cookies for everyone to munch on. As usual, Rob was walking around (still smiling) and helping people fix their bikes. Right Cy?

At this point, I could see that everyone was pretty much spent, and it was getting late in the day, so we brainstormed and decided to shorten the course. We came up with a plan that allowed us to get some of the best trails in but still get back at a reasonable hour. So in just a few minutes, we got everyone together and were off.

Here's a quick snapshot of us coming off some more secret trails on way back to Town Trail. Only a couple of riders actually cleared the whole decent.

The Raffle
So after over 4.5hrs of slugging it out, everybody made it back to the restaurant just fine. Our volunteers had everything set up and we gathered under the patio at the back of La Montanas.

It was time for the raffle!

Thanks to our sponsors, we had over $1000 of prizes to give away including everything from a set of 29er American Classic rims, helmets to $25 and $50 gift certificates. So between a barage of beer drinking and burrito eating, we managed to get our tickets sorted and the raffle began.
In the end, almost everyone walked away with something. It was awesome!





A great ride, for a great cause...
At the end of the day, the whole event was huge success. Like we said at the beginning, the course would definitely be challenging, and it was, but everybody made it back in one piece and everyone seemed to have a great time. That was the whole plan. The interesting thing is that nobody actually finished the whole course, so the good news is that there's still miles of untapped single track out there for next year...

The Challenge
Although we all faced a challenge today, it's nothing like the real challenge Rob and his family are facing right now. Through every one's support and generosity, we were able to raise over $1400 at this event. That was totally awesome and we thank everyone. Rob's dad also thanked us (and everyone that came out) over and over again. At the end of the day, it brought tears to every one's eyes.

So on behalf of the entire Don's Team, we'd like to extend a huge thanks to the whole mountain biking community for making this such a success. Big thanks go out to all of the sponsors, volunteers, and special thanks to Rob and his family for coming out and supporting us.

AL

If you missed this one, be sure to mark your calendar for the other Bike For Bender events coming up! The next big one is the SART Hell Ride - 30+ miles of single track from South Fork to Redlands!

1. Big Bear Single Track Epic
2. Orange County Adventure (TBA)
3. SART Hell Ride - Oct 23
4. 12hrs of Temecula - Nov 13 (sign-up in the "Bike For Bender" category at the race)

PS - If you are wondering what happened to the Intense Tazer frame, we decided to give people more time to buy tickets and extend the raffle across all events. The final draw will take place Nov 13th at the 12hrs of Temecula. If you can't make the event, the winning ticket number will be posted online and valid for 7 days.