I think Charlie I did a great job getting three past winners to describe the course, so we will quote racelistings.com from a ways back:
the annual Bear Mountain Spring Classic will once again dish out the pain and suffering the race is known for. RaceListings.com asked three former winners of the race what makes the Bear Mountain course so damn hard. Here’s what they had to say:
John Lieswyn / Team Health Net presented by Maxxis:
The Bear Mountain Road Race is one of America’s hardest circuit races, in league with the now defunct Panorama Point in Redlands and the Stillwater Criterium of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. It’s a great circuit incorporating a Nevada City Classic type u-turn at the base of a long, hard uphill slog through a beautiful forest. At the top is a chance for less confident climbers to make a breakaway attempt along the flats, in hopes of getting a head start into the next lap’s climb. Challenging courses like Bear Mountain are known throughout the peloton as producing winners who didn’t just know how to follow wheels and sprint, but tough guys. It may get less publicity in the national cycling magazine and some websites, but that may be due in part to the West Coast/Mountain focus of said media outlets. That relative lack of publicity does not in any way detract from the quality of the event. Yes, it’s a grass roots race with all categories and it runs without a huge prize list or pro attendance, but there is always a quality Northeastern field in attendance.
Billy Innes / GS Lombardi Sports:
Bear Mountain. The name itself can strike fear in all but the strongest of the strong racers. A hard man’s course to be sure, with neither towering climbs or smooth flat sections, it will select the men from the pretenders. You begin the Tiorati climb starts from almost a dead stop, just after rounding a hairpin turn that comes just after a 100 kph downhill. Hairy, to say the least. The climb is steep in some sections, and it stairsteps to the top, sucking power from your legs and never allowing you to find a rhythm. you think you’ll get some rest as you get to the top, but there are still some kickers coming along the tree lined road to the roundabout. After screaming through the traffic circle at 55 kph you hope for flat roads but only small sections between the soft rollers that snake along the lakes will offer some rest. Your legs will fight the wind that whips along the water and cuts across the road and you soon find yourself climbing the old feed hill, which you can see the top of, and that just mucks with your mind. The big rollers all the way to the finish will make your thighs wither but if you are strong and very determined you can win or at least finish what always turns out to be an epic day of racing.
Charlie Issendorf / GS Mengoni USA:
How do you know when a race is hard? Just look at the results. If riders are coming in groups of only 2-3 and many minutes behind each other then you know you had a death march. And that’s what Bear Mountain is – a death march. The course is World Championship quality and offers everything to test a rider. The funny thing about Bear Mountain is that everybody knows the difficulty of the course so you almost never see race-winning attacks. At the end of the race you’re often left wondering “when did the race explode?”. The field slowly withers away lap after lap. There is no hiding in a race like this.