Big Bear Valley, CA — The crowds were already rolling in to Big Bear well before noon today (Friday, May 21), and the Amgen Tour of California Lifestyle Festival and Big Bear Expo is bustling at the base of Snow Summit Resort. There are countless booths set up near the finish line and in the Summit parking lot, featuring cycle gear, health and fitness, food, local artists and organizations, as well as a beer garden and giant screen TV monitors to watch the race circle the North Shore of Big Bear Lake, cross Stanfield Cutoff and up to Snow Summit. Local reggae band Elevated Roots is playing at the base of the slopes, and will be joined by reggae legend Wadi Gad this afternoon, with more reggae to jam to being offered at tonight’s Friday Night in the Village event. Bear Valley Bikes is also hosting Goldsprints stationary bike competitions at the resort this afternoon, with the finals planned for 7pm at Nottinghams in the Village; also this evening, the cycling documentary “Chasing Legends” screens at the Big Bear Lake Performing Arts Center at 7pm. The festival continues until shortly after all the professional cyclists on the tour reach the finish line at Snow Summit, and organizers of the Big Bear Climb have planned more activities for tomorrow, namely the Tour de Big Bear throughout the Big Bear Valley (which will not result in any road closures, though plenty of bike riders, so motorists are reminded to share the road with them, as well as the hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail, who have started making their way through the Big Bear Valley in the last week or so).
