Our aim was to do the first 3 passes (of 4 total) of the Breathless Agony ride for a total of 75 miles or so. Unfortunately, after getting really cold and wet on Oak Glen, we lost our enthusiasm and cut the ride short by 10 miles or so. I like Colin's post-ride writeup, so here it is, in his words. Eight of us got started about 7:40. Michael and Rebecca Nickodem, Doug Dietel and Maureen Wolfson, Lois Rubin, Jim Schreder, Mark McClure, and I took off on damp streets to follow the route of the Breathless Agony century. As we made our way south and east, we encountered fog, dampness, and cool temps. One of the well kept secrets of the route is Redlands Blvd. It is a fairly lengthy stretch (2 miles) of 5 - 7% climbing, well before any of the four "passes" that they talk about on this ride. We reached the first "pass", Jackrabbit Trail pretty easily. This is an unmaintained road, which was in bad shape when I first rode it 20 years ago. Since it can't be ridden at any speed, it doesn't seem too tough - you just slog along, dodging the roughest spots as best you can, and trying to stay upright on the rare sandy stretches. This was four miles at about 5% grade. At the top, you find yourself on CA Hwy 60 - a near freeway, which we rode for a bit over two miles to the Beaumont 6th St exit. A few blocks along 6th St, and you turn north on Beaumont Ave. It's not too clear at the time, but you've now started the second "pass", because Beaumont is slightly uphill, and it eventually turns into Oak Glen. We stopped at a shopping center that had a Walgreens and Stater Bros market, but we went to Starbucks. I ate a Clif Bar there, and got left behind as everyone else started, and I had a few bites left, which I ate on the road. The grade was 2%, then 3%, then 4%, and then it got serious as we turned slightly to the right and Oak Glen began. This road has plenty of 6 - 7% stretches, and some long (well, they seemed long at the speed I was going) stretches of 9 - 11%. I got close to what I thought would be the top, and stopped on a curve where the grade was lower to have a gel and some water, and see if the people I'd passed would catch me. I was blessed by the shortest rain shower I've ever been in - about 5 seconds. There was some more uphill, but finally I made it over the top. I was looking for the group, and finally found them down the road a bit. Everyone was cold and damp. Mark and I decided we'd done all the climbing we wanted for today. We all descended to Bryant, and it was as thrilling as promised (except for the cold - I could feel my socks drying as we went down at over 40 mph in some spots). Bryant took us to Mill Creek (Hwy 38) and the ranger station. Jim, Mark, and I took our leave of the others and had a very nice nine miles of descending between 25 and 30 mph to the park and our cars. We ended up with 51 miles and about 4800 feet of climbing. I think I saw my shadow for about 1 minute of an over four hour ride. Maureen - the rest of us continued up Damnation Alley to Forest Falls and then turned around. Our ride was 64 miles. Lois' post-ride additional comments: Believe it or not Colin, it got downright hot going up Damnation Alley. I can't add much to the trip description except that there was a hell of a lot of climbing today. Doug, Mo and I cruised downtown Redlands afterwards and came upon a bake sale just as they were finishing up. They loaded us up with what was left and we took it to a coffee shop and ate a lot of baked items. A lot.