Day 6: Short and Raw

From Yucaipa, we are headed to Big Bear Lake.  In order to get there we have to finish about 35 miles of climbing uphill.

After the last few days, we decided that it would be best to break it into two days and plan to camp in one of several Forest Service campgrounds a little past the half way point.  It also should make for an early end to the day so we can try to catch up on rest.

At last night's grocery stop I purchased a large bottle of sunscreen and a bottle of aloe.  I have had a couple of tubes of sunscreen since the start, but since they were small to save weight I have been overly conservative with it and now have some pretty good burns in a few places.  This morning with the big bottle on hand I slathered it on all over. It worked great, the first two hours of our ride were in thick fog...no sunburn.

We spent the rest of the morning climbing up about 20 miles.  We eventually made it out of the fog and had some great views.  We managed to get most of the day's climbing out of the way before it started to get warm.

Nice to see that some of the hill is behind me

Everything on two wheels takes a break at the top of the hill

I had two issues pop up that are threatening to put a crimp in our mileage plans: a knee problem and an ass problem. I noticed my knee a bit yesterday but this morning it started to get really uncomfortable.  I pulled over to raise my saddle height a bit and that seemed to help quite a bit.  The second issue is the bigger problem.  What had been a bit of a sore spot on my butt is becoming a full blown saddle sore.  It made for some really uncomfortable climbing today and is a growing concern.  If I can't get it under control shortly, it may require some layover days.

Fortunately today was a low mileage day anyway so even with the sore ass pace, we finished our riding by a little before one o'clock.  We generally get started around seven but today we took 30 minutes back at the White Rabbit for coffee and a couple phone calls home.

The early finish meant napping in the sunshine and doing some butt sore treatment. The glamour of life on a bicycle is amazing, isn't it?

Hmmmm...napping

More napping

The sunshine also means the solar panel is earning it's keep.  Getting everything charged up so I can keep writing takes some time.

This blog is powered by the sun

We have taken a look at the next few days and have decided to stay in Big Bear Lake tomorrow.  There is a long climb to get there but not quite as bad as today.  It should also be a pretty manageable mileage day as we get a long downhill into town after the climb.  Tomorrow will take us up to our highest elevation so far as we cross Onyx Summit at 8443 ft.  The stay in Big Bear Lake will also set us up for a layover day if I need it to take care of my butt.

One bad thing about looking at the map several days out is knowing that one if our biggest climbing days in only a few days out.

The rest of the afternoon will be cooking up some rice and beans for dinner (made better with some tomato and red pepper) and settling into my tent for an early night.