Erica's story: Tour de Big Bear

BaseCamp athlete Erica Ramos shared her experience at the 2026 Tour de Big Bear gravel bike race in California.

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This was definitely my most interesting race to date! On Saturday I rode the Tour de Big Bear Dirty Bear 50-mile gravel race. This was my longest gravel race by far (BWR Wanna was 29 miles). And my highest at up to 7500 ft elevation. And my hottest at an average temp of 97 degrees (according to my Garmin). But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is a long one; I had a lot of time out riding alone to think about it!

I decided to do this race back in May. I was originally planning to do the 70-mile road event with a friend, who promptly forgot about it after we talked about it in March. When he bailed, I decided to switch to gravel to give that a shot.

Things started a little rough in mid-June. Tour de Big Bear did an excellent weekend training camp. It was brutal on my lungs (asthma and allergies), and I was not feeling super confident after but did learn a lot! It was also right after a 2 1/2 week vacation, so that didn't help. I came home from the training camp a little stressed about this ride, but of course, trusted in my coach Lorri Lown and Lorri’s plan! 😉 I had a solid block of training, and we added a lot of climbing for my Saturday long rides, culminating in a second trip to Big Bear to ride Onyx Summit on July 11 (a 9-mile climb up to 8443 ft) and the Great Western Loop route on July 18 (43.7 mi, 3800 feet of climbing). The GWL ride was pretty similar in mileage and total climbing, and while I was riding it, I kept thinking of the famous quote about Ginger Rodgers that she did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in heels. The Dirty Bear was the Ginger Rodgers to the GWL's Fred Astaire, at elevation and on gravel.

My friend and I headed up to Big Bear on Friday morning and found a full-on party going on. Tour de Big Bear does it up right. We got our number plates, did a little shopping, and finally went out for a big late lunch, got checked into our cabin, and crashed early for our 5am wakeup call.

Saturday morning, we rode from the cabin to the Bear Mountain Resort. It was a nice little 1.5-mile warmup and Big Bear is all hills. My group rolled out at 7:30 a.m., and the sun was already up and toasty. We had a neutral rollout that took us down to the lake and across the bridge and then headed west along the water for the first 7-8 miles before heading up into the mountains and on to gravel. I felt really good for the first piece: breathing well, heart rate was responding the way it should, and my hydration pack was still nice and cool.

The first gravel section started with a 1.5-mile climb and a long descent. And repeat and repeat and repeat. Much like training weekend, the descents were not restful. We had three 2+ mile descents during that first section, and my quads were burning!

We also had a lot of sand; I joked to a fellow rider that I didn't realize the Sahara was in Southern California. Lots of hike-a-bike for everyone through those sections. And it was getting hot. Despite all of the trees, there were few shady spots, but as we continued moving, each time there was one, there were generally 1-2 cyclists hiding out from the UV rays. I tried to climb as much as I could and save the walking for the technical parts, but I did do a bit more than I thought I would.

Suddenly, around mile 25, the beautiful blue lake came back into view. A welcome splash of color after miles of brown and green, and a signal that we were getting close the end of the big gravel section.

After almost 20 miles of gravel, I felt like I was flying when I got back to the road, but the heat and traffic on that side of the lake were powerful. Fortunately there was an aid station shortly after we got off of the mountain.

A side note about Tour de Big Bear aid stations: I haven't done many races, but these will be hard to beat. Local nonprofits host the stations, and the riders vote for the best at the end of the day, so they go above and beyond. The ones back on the mountain were nice but on the small side. This one was at an elementary school hosted by teachers and students, and it was a party. On top of tons of fruit and bacon, they had a huge cooling-off station, including a group of kiddos with very cold, very full sponges who couldn't be more entertained than by squeezing them down your back. After swapping out my very warm Tailwind High-Carb for regular Tailwind and several scoops of ice, and getting a very cute "Have a really great race" from one of the boys who drenched me, I was (maybe too) refreshed and back on the road.

The next 3-4 miles went quickly, over to the other side of the lake and winding through neighborhoods. Then the heat started to sink in. My last few hard rides, I've gotten a cramp in my right adductor. I'm pretty strong on hydration and electrolytes, so it seems to be more related to exertion. It hit again around mile 34. I rode through it for a bit, and then I just rode with my leg stuck out like a kickstand, but I made it to the next chunk of woody single track right around mile 35. Stopped and stretched for a few minutes—in the sun, not the shade 10 feet away that the next guys stopped at because they were much much smarter than I was—and enjoyed a nice ride through a woody path.

Right after, I got an awesome surprise. A guy rode up next to me and said, “BaseCamp!" I had my own BaseCamper-in-the-wild encounter with fellow athlete Winty! It was great to have someone to chat with and get a little "we're in it together" energy.

Then we hit the last gravel section, about 2 1/2 miles of single track with lots of windy, sandy, lumpy switchbacks. I was doing well until I wasn't; I hit a sandy curve too slowly and on a bit of an angle and hit the ground. Fortunately other than a skinned elbow, a few deep bruises, and a hole in my pretty pink jersey, I came out pretty well.

Then the heavens parted and the Gravel 3 aid station came into view. An angel walked up to me and said the most glorious words I've ever heard: “Would you like a cold towel and a Coke?" I told her she was a miracle, and then she filled my bottles with water and ice and brought me to the watermelon. They even had a swamp cooler rest area; I was too afraid to go in, because I didn't think I would leave. I ran into several battle-worn folks that I had met along the way, and the universal sentiment was, "THAT WAS HARD!!"

After a quick photo op with Winty, I had to get finished. More weaving through neighborhoods. Two more climbs. Lots of carnage on the last; many, many walkers towing bikes. I understood it! I felt so worn out, but I saw that my heart rate was pretty low, so I knew it was just in my legs and that I could keep going, especially when I heard the announcer's voice echoing from the resort.

And they had chocolate milk at the finish line.

Out of 251 riders, there were only 22 women, and I hope to see more out there next year! I finished 16 of 22 and was out on the course for 6 1/2 hours. It was really hard and really hot, but as I have several times this year, I thought, What a difference a year makes. Coincidentally, last August 1 was the first day of the BaseCamp Gravel Skills Camp in Boulder. I had been on gravel for about two weeks at that time, and there were lots of times that I really struggled with the altitude, my asthma, and just my overall fitness and readiness. But our incredible team of coaches always made me feel supported and encouraged, and Lorri has helped me get so far in just one year. Exactly one year later, I finished 50 miles of gravel in Big Bear!