Breathless Agony PREVIEW

[Brandy]

We're planning a preview of the Breathless Agony course this coming Sunday March 25th. Sorry for the late notice, but I just thought about posting here. Details can be found at Bike Forums in this thread...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=275610

114 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing. Yeehaw!

[smilingcat]

Its a fun ride... Jack Rabbit Trail is an old abandoned road of sort. you can see some pavement and at other places its just hard surface. Long as you don't use 18C or 20C wide tires, you'll be fine.

Jack Rabbit road is pretty easy to miss so keep a sharp eye for it. It's a left hand turn off the main road.

The road up to Oak Glen isn't too bad except near the top where the grade temporarly hits about 11% but its really short. coming down from the apple orchard at top of Oak Glen (elevation 6500ft ??) down to the ranger station is cold, really fast(1.) And keep pedaling on the way down else you'll cool down and bonk before you can begin your climb up toward Onyx summit. It's a long long grind as mill creek station is only around 2,000 ft elevation if I'm not mistaken. You turn right onto hwy 38 the back side to Big bear. from the next stop to top of Onyx sumit is pretty short so if you make it to the third rest stop just grind away to Onyx summit. On the way back down there will be that little whoopty doo hill up to the third rest stop so keep pedaling again else your legs will lock up. Once you safely climb the last 200-300ft back to the third rest stop its 20 or so miles of straight downhill back to sylvan park.(2)

IT WAS A FUN RIDE... DRESS IN LAYERS CAUSE IT CAN BE WARM DOWN BELOW AND COLD NEAR THE TOP. AND TAKE A CHAP STICK IN CASE WIND IS BLOWING. RIDING WITH SEVERELY CRACKED LIP IS ENOUGH TO GIVE IT UP.

Oh and if you like this road, may I suggest you try Redland Classic Fun ride. It also goes up to Oak Glen and Climb the Bear Fun ride. Climb the bear also starts at Sylvan Park, You head west toward town of high land then begin your climb into Big Bear on Hwy 330 then ride on the north side of big bear. On north side of big bear lake, keep your speed below 25MPH or you might take a spill on the hairpin turns on the scenic route. have a quick bite then ride up to Onyx summit. DO THIS BEFORE 1:00PM or else you'll be riding into a dry hot prevailing wind. Then same as the breathless ride back to the Sylvan park for well deserved lunch.

The nice thing about the Redland Classic fun ride and the breathless in agony is you can dump the ride by simply turning around and coming down hwy 38 back to Sylvan park or downtown Redland.

Bear ride well... you can't dump the ride. Only thing you can do is SAG back.

1. I almost went off the road at one turn and good thing there weren't any car coming up other wise... I knew I approached the turn too fast and couldn't slow down in time so I went across the street to way outside and shot back to way inside apex and back out just to make the turn. And I'm talking going outside onto the edge of the shoulder where the pavement stops and rough dirt ground starts.

2. One year I had a guy riding my wheel from mill creek station back to sylvan park and never did ask for my permission to draft or willing to take the lead. I really should've done what my brother in law taught me to do. close off one of my nostril with one of my finger and clear the open nostril by blowing really hard and aim carefully. and about a quater mile from finish he passed me without ever thanking me. On the bear ride we get timed. I wanted to punch his lights out!!

[Brandy]

Thanks for all of the info smilingcat. Are you doing the BA ride this year? I'll be doing the workers ride the week before and then volunteering for the official event.

[smilingcat]

Hi Brandy,

No I'm not riding BA ride, Ride Around the Bear, Redland Classic, Death Ride, El Canejo or even Climb the Kaiser, (Sierra Classic seems to be gone). And many others...

After the last accident, I've more or less retired/quit. I can't afford any more head injuries so I stay off from more strenuous ride. It would be fun but I just can't take the risk.

And if I volunteer to help out, it'll tempt me too much to stay off...

Anyway enjoy the ride. And dress in layers... Oak Glen can be pretty chilly.

Shawn

[Brandy]

Thanks Shawn.

[Brandy]

Here's a post from my blog about Sunday's ride. There are pictures posted there too.

http://cyclemama.blogspot.com/

Breathless Agony Preview

Breathless Agony...the name alone implies a painful ride. 112 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing in the mountains of southern California, it promises a long, hard day in the saddle, challenging one both physically and mentally. The organized ride is taking place on May 5th, but that's not enough for some of the members of the so Cal Bike Forums. They need to preview the route. Ride a portion of it in the name of training, you're thinking? Nope. Their idea of previewing is riding the route. The whole route. Every. Single. Mile. Of. It. I didn't register for the BA ride prior to it selling out, so this was my chance to do the route. George posted the idea of the BA Preview ride on Bike Forums back in January and the response was great, with many of the members willing to come out and ride with us. One last detail...finding someone to drive SAG for us, and Mandy came through. I had heard of her superior SAGging abilities and was assured that if she did this, we would only need one support person despite the fact that we would be all over the mountain with our varying abilities.

Fast forward to late Saturday night and the tickle in my throat, stuffiness and general feeling that *CRAP! I'm getting sick!* Bad timing, but this event was on my calendar for way too long to bail on it now. I woke up on Sunday morning feeling worse, but trying to tell myself that I felt just fine. My pride (sometimes I wonder if this thing I often call pride is really just stupidity masking as pride...maybe I'll figure it out someday) wasn't going to let me back out now. No way.

I had planned to start the ride at civil twilight, which was 6:20 a.m. but didn't arrive at Sylvan Park in Redlands, until shortly after that. I didn't feel like rushing to roll out quickly, perhaps it was the feeling of hesitation, not knowing how the ride was going to go in my current state of stuffiness and snottiness. After greeting some of the other riders and meeting some of the new ones, I gave Mandy my bag with some clothing and decided to roll out with Bob at 6:49 a.m. He stayed with me for a while, but I was having a hard time warming up so I wasn't making any effort to keep up with him. I knew at this point, having rolled between the anticipated slower group and the fast guys, that I would be riding this alone.

The first pass of the ride was Jack Rabbit Trail, which is an unmaintained road. It was so quiet and peaceful and I really enjoyed this section. It was somewhat of an obstacle course, as I found myself swerving and turning to avoid potholes and patches of gravel. Mandy came by to check on me and give me a report of where the other groups of riders were. She assured me that the fast guys were a couple of miles behind me, so I took the opportunity to find a bush before they caught me. <~~~yes...it's been a long time, but I'm back to posting about my public urination. Such a lady, I am. Back on the bike quickly, I enjoyed the rest of the traffic free first pass and was on my way to Beaumont.


The second pass on the route is Oak Glen. I think I had found my rhythm by this point and it didn't hurt as much as I had anticipated. I was finally warmed up and feeling good and even managed to grab the camera out of my jersey pocket to snap a few pictures of this gorgeous area. Every so often, I would look back, expecting the fast group to catch me. Finally, there was one. I couldn't tell for sure, but it didn't look like Phil or George, so I assumed that it was Pat closing in on me. When he reached me, we were almost to the top of the Oak Glen climb, where we rode together for a few minutes before he took off and said "see you at the bottom!"


The descent from the top of Oak Glen was a blast. As I was riding, I was looking at our route sheet, which was the original one from the Breathless Agony organized century. Calculating the cut-off times that they had listed, I felt like I was doing pretty well at this point coming into the second rest stop at Mill Creek Ranger Station. As I arrived all of the guys cheered for me which on one hand was great...it's nice to feel supported. On the other hand it's slightly embarrassing and you wonder if they would do that for the guys, or if you're getting special treatment for being a girl out there. Perhaps I should just stop analyzing it, shut up and be happy that I had a bunch of smiling men there to greet me. There could be worse scenarios. I ate some Fig Newtons here, used the restroom and accepted the Dayquil that Pat offered to me. George pulled in shortly after I did and asked me if I had found my special bottles in the SAG vehicle, which I hadn't. He had bought me my favorite Gatorade that morning and stashed them in Mandy's car with my name on them. I filled my bottles and George said he was rolling, so I took off with him. I was only able to hang on until the next group that left the rest stop caught and passed us. Once again, I knew that I couldn't hang and realized that I would be climbing alone.

Ahead of us was climbing, climbing and oh...get this...some more climbing! The section after Mill Creek Ranger Station was really hard on me. It appears to go on forever and ever and having driven it in the car before, I kept thinking to myself that I didn't remember this portion of the drive before the hairpin turn being this long! Later I found out that this is referred to as "damnation alley" and rightfully so! As you are riding, it doesn't look like you're doing much climbing and I actually had to turn my head around several times in an effort to assure myself that there was a reason for my snail's pace. I actually contemplated turning back at this point, thinking that I couldn't ride this slowly and still make it to Onyx Summit. Of course, my pride and the thought that George would kick my *** if I bailed just 45 miles into a ride snapped me out of it. Once past the hairpin turn, I felt like I was actually climbing the mountain, actually getting somewhere, and mentally I was in a much better place and on my way to completing the third pass of the route. I enjoyed the views along the way, including a waterfall on the side of the road that I had noticed the last time that I drove up to Angelus Oaks. A few miles from Angelus Oaks I started cramping in my left leg. I've never experienced this before, but knew that I needed salt...just then Mandy pulls up in the SAG vehicle. Perfect timing! I asked if she had anything salty in the car and she pulled off to the side to check. The only thing we saw was trail mix and that didn't sound good, so I settled for a banana, hoping that the potassium would do me good. I was still cramping, though not as badly as I pulled into Angelus Oaks and the third rest stop. I arrived once again to cheers from the group and promptly started searching for salt! There were potato chips in the car but they didn't sound good and licking the salt off of them was taking too long so I went off in search of some V8 after Ian loaned me some cash. I chugged two cans right away and talked to Jason and Phil for a few minutes before heading out alone for the final pass.

Leaving the store at Angelus Oaks I was trying to calculate how long this last section to Onyx Summit would take me at various speeds. It was something to do to pass the time and though I knew that there was some descending and rollers to come in this section, I wasn't counting on them when I was doing my doomsday *I'm never going to get there* calculations in my head. Before I knew it I was descending and it lifted my spirits...just what I needed. Of course, with the descending came the thought of "CRAP! I'm going to have to climb this **** again on the way back!" I quieted those thoughts and told myself that the only thing that counts is my time to Onyx Summit. The clock stops there and I'll worry about those climbs later.

I'm not sure where I was when people started passing me on their way down. Some had turned around early, though seeing them descending while I still had so far to go was mentally crushing for me. They had left the store not long before me and I just kept thinking...how could they have made it to the top that quickly?!?!?!?!?! It wasn't until later that I found out that they had turned back early and I was fretting for nothing. Mandy drove by to check on me and I asked her to tell George to come back for me after he reached the summit. He had promised that he would and at that point I was lonely and craving some company. The next time I saw her she said that George was at the top, so I expected to see him coming down around a curve at any time. Time kept passing and no sight of George so I figured that one of two things had happened. He was suffering and needed to rest (the best assumption since he had done a Palomar Century the day before) or that he had decided I needed to do this climb alone because it would be more rewarding. I didn't really think that he'd go back on a promise, but I would have been okay with either scenario. Finally...there he was, slowly descending in his search for me. From across the road I see the smile of someone who has conquered the climb and had a chance to recover, which was a stark contrast from me on the other side of the road. I was happy to see him, but barely able to smile in return. I've ridden with George enough to know that he can sense my mood and react accordingly, first with the encouragement and praise, telling me that I'm kicking *** and that he's proud of me. Next comes the nurturing aspect where he tells me to hand him my bottle of water, which he exchanges for one of his that was full of Gatorade, or something...I never asked, just knew that it was more than water! He told me that we were 1.8 miles from the top and then came more praise, this time when he noticed that I was climbing with my heels down. It's one of the things that I get sloppy about at times, but was able to stay on top of throughout this ride. Riding beside me he asked me if I wanted him to pace me up and I said yes, so he got in front of me and and rode nice and easy. He counted down for me...0.7 miles, 0.3 miles, you're almost there. Look! There's the Onyx Summit sign!


Finally off of the bike at mile 74.3, I was so thrilled to have done it! 7 hours and 33 minutes to the top and I was happy with my time. I found a place to rest my bike, was ordered to start eating and immediately downed two Gu packets. After resting for a few minutes Mandy arrived, George gave the remaining riders a quick lesson on changing tubulars and then we were off for our obligatory Onyx Summit elevation sign picture. We bundled up for the descent we were off. The rollers that I had worried about weren't bad at all, and I felt fine climbing, knowing that I was getting ready for a long downhill once we hit Angelus Oaks. We stopped once to strip our jackets off and then at the store for a quick restroom break and were off again, enjoying the warm temperatures that rose as we descended. We rolled into Sylvan Park, I changed clothes and split quickly in an effort to find food.

This route was amazing, I can't wait to do it again. In five weeks. Say what? Yes...I'll do it again in five weeks with the other Breathless Agony workers and then I'll be up there the day of the official ride, cheering all of the riders on. Of course, that won't be enough, this unofficial version gets planned again as a Bike Forums ride for the fall, after temps cool off. I'm hooked on the agony.
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[jobob]

Good freakin' lord!

Fabulous job there. And with a head cold to boot.

That route profile you posted on your blog is really something else.

So what does it take before you consider yourself a climber?

[Fredwina]

On the "Damnation Alley":
I can remember doing that climb and some riders passed me. They jokingly asked me "how many hills are on this ride?"
I replied "there's only one. The only problem is it's 30 miles long"
Congrats It was fun enough doing 12,000 feet on gain over 190 miles thei weekend (http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=14261), I can't imagine doing it over 75.
Cramping - it's one of those things that you need to keep ahead of like drinking and eating. I like Endurolytes from Hammer. I forgot those this past weekend, but really didn't need them (I cramped a little coming thourgh San Simeon, but that was it)

[Trekhawk]

CONGRATULATIONS BRANDY!!!

Bl**dy hell that route profile is scary.

Yep its official you are a mountain goat.

Love the ride report. Cant wait to hear about your next adventure.

[Brandy]

Thank you so much ladies! I'm hard on myself, I know that for my current ability level and how long I've been riding (started in May '06 didn't start doing good mileage until July and then was off the bike for two months in the early fall) that I'm progressing well. The problem is that I want to be at the level that the people I ride with are at...and only time in the saddle will get me there.

As for when I'll consider myself a climber? Hmmm...not yet! I just asked George and he said I can call myself a climber when I've done Palomar Mountain repeats and a Palomar Century followed by the Breathless Agony route the next day. He chuckled, so I'm hoping he was kidding. I'll get there someday!

Edited to add that I just found out the the workers ride for Breathless Agony has been bumped up by a week, so I now have Mulholland Challenge on 4/14 and then Breathless Agony on 4/21!

[maillotpois]

Great ride report! I liked the pictures on your blog as well!

So when are you going to come up here and do the Death Ride???

[slinkedog]

Good for you, Brandy! Great report and YOU GO!!

[jobob]

Well, you might not consider yourself a Climber yet, but we sure do.

[Brandy]

So when are you going to come up here and do the Death Ride???

I'm thinking that I will shoot for that one next year. We'll see. I will definitely be thinking about putting some of the harder doubles on the schedule next year as well. I went with some of the "easier" <~~~is there anything easy about a double century? doubles on my first attempt. Who knows...I have dreams of Furnace Creek (probably a relay the first time around) and Hoodoo 500 dancing around in my head, but 508 is out this year because I'm crewing for George.

[Brandy]

Well, you might not consider yourself a Climber yet, but we sure do.

Thank you!!!