In 2008, longtime cyclist Craig Smith founded the Big Bear Cycling Association and launched the very first Tour de Big Bear. The two have been inseparable ever since — one a community, the other its signature celebration.

The first ride had fewer than fifty people, mostly new club members. The aid stations were a couple of water jugs on a table.

The ambition, though, was anything but small. Craig set out to make Big Bear the Cycling Capital of the West Coast — and got to work proving it. Within a few short years he had grown the Association to more than 300 members and helped bring the Amgen Tour of California to the mountain, turning Big Bear into a critical stop on a world-class racing calendar.

Everything you’ll experience today — the legendary aid stations, the alpine routes over Onyx Summit, the weekend-long festival atmosphere — grew from that humble first lap around the lake.