Breathless Agony is a bike ride in the mountains east of Redlands, CA. It consists of climbing 4 mountain passes with 11,000 feet of climbing over 112 miles.
My buddies Larry, Ron, Gary, Mark and I went out there to take our hand at conquering this beast of a ride and make it to the prize which is summiiting Onxy Summit (pass 4) at 8,443 feet.
We started the ride at 7am which we thought was early but we would find out was late in these full day ride standards. The ride is timed so at the start, end and at each rest stop riders check in and their times are recorded by their ride number.
We rolled out of the park and after about 30 to 45 minutes it was already getting hot, and it would continue to get hotter as the day rolled on. The first pass was Jack Rabbit Trail which was a very rough road with a moderate elevation, just enough to get your legs working.
While rolling in to City of Beaumont to rest stop 1 we missed the turn onto Beaumont Ave and were making such good time with the wind that we rode 3 miles in the wrong direction and had to ride into the wind back to the rest stop that was just about closing. (Really more miles – Ha!)
We got some water and started our ride out of town and toward our second pass Oak Glen. This was a real grinder with heat and no wind. Ron and I were riding this together and he kept calling out elevation percentages 8 then 9 then 10 then 11% – I was thinking really, what the heck. Then came the decent which was long winding and kick butt – loved it.
At the bottom of Oak Glen was the Rest stop #2 at the Ranger Station. Great to get off the bike and stretch the legs, get some water and head up – no more downhill now until we reach the summit.
I was really happy to roll into Rest stop #3 with Ron at Angelus Oaks, which was setup near a log cabin country store where we could rack out bikes, get some food and sit down for a short rest.
Ron and I hung up our bikes, filled our bottles and when Larry rolled up a few minutes later he said he was cramping and we serious considered going down from here. But in the end we decided to move on because we could always turn around at any point and descend from that point in the climb.
Leaving Angelus Oaks we had 20 miles to ride and 2,500 feet of climbing to go to the summit. I was feeling pretty good until about 8 miles to go when my right thigh started to cramp, then my left calf. I got off and stretched and the slowed way down and just kept going. Larry and Ron yelled to me when I got to the summit shortly after them.
After winding uphill turn after turn finally I could see that the road rounded up and all I could see was the blue sky and the finisher shoot.
This ride is unlike others that when you get to the top you are done – like a tour stage mountain top finish. The finishing shoot you can see on the left side of this picture with tarps on the ground for people to stretch and rest before heading down.
with tarps on the ground for people to stretch and rest before heading down the mountain.
The support and food was amazing, with great volunteers happy to help you out with water, food, they even grabbed our bikes and racked then at the top so we could relax and get some food – Awesome!
Ron, Larry and I got our picture taken at the top with the grim reaper, so awesome. Funny that I had that Blue Oyster Cult song you know it “Don’t fear the reaper” going on in my head many times during the day….
It was a beautiful day, a incredibility hard ride, with some great friends.
George
Nice Job to the whole group in meeting the Reaper & pushing ahead to the summit. How did the ride down the mountain go? So funny I got that song in my head.