by Lisa Butterworth

David Bjerk is an economics professor at Claremont McKenna College, where his third-floor office has a pretty epic view. The large window, its ledge dotted with kid art and framed photos, offers a sweeping vista of the San Gabriel Mountains, including the looming peak of Mt. Baldy. The backdrop at least partially inspired the tradition Bjerk organizes every year: a bike and hike race from Claremont to the summit of Mt. Baldy. The seventh iteration will take place on Sunday, November 2.

The race — a word he emphasizes is loosely used — was born from Bjerk’s deep love of the outdoors. “I’m a climber and a skier and a biker, so I have spent tons of time in the Sierras and these local mountains, that’s where I find my peace and enjoyment,” he said. “I see Mt. Baldy every day out of my office and have been up there, I’m going to guess over 50 times. At some point, I said, ‘Let’s do the whole thing. Let’s see what it feels like to tackle the whole mountain.’”

(L-R) David Bjerk and Curtis Dartsch on the summit of Mt. Baldy in May 2024. Photo/by Ryan Beckers

Bjerk shared this idea with his friend James Crowell, who was enthusiastic about the prospect, and they were joined by two others for the first event in 2018. “We planned it as a one-off,” he said, “and then we had so much fun we said, ‘Let’s do this again.’” Bjerk’s house near Foothill and Indian Hill Boulevards is the starting point of the race, which begins on bike and ends on foot, is about 40 miles round-trip, and includes 9,000 feet of vertical gain. There aren’t many rules. Participants can use any route to get to the summit, as long as it’s human-powered, and the first to do so wins.

The prize is as informal as the race itself. “That’s our trophy,” Bjerk said with a laugh, gesturing to a framed drawing leaning on his office bookshelf. “That’s my very professional artwork,” which was made “with the consultation of my kids,” he said, who were pretty young at the time. There’s a rudimentary depiction of his house in the bottom-left corner, with a road to the top of what looks like a camel’s hump denoting Mt. Baldy. “Winner” is spelled out in big, block letters along the top. And in the bottom-right corner is a handwritten list of the people who have claimed the title each year, along with their summit times, from 4 hours and 50 minutes to 2 hours and 47 minutes (claimed in 2021 by Nick Kacher, a Scripps College professor and competitive triathlete).

Since that first year, the number of participants has fluctuated from four to 12 or 13, though, Bjerk said, it’s usually about eight. And at least four different strategies have been employed. “Everybody starts together. Some years, people have just biked up to the village and hiked from there. That’s now closed because of the fires,” Bjerk said. “Some other friends one time decided they were going to bike to the top of the ski lift and hike over from Devil’s Backbone. But most often people have biked up to what’s called Manker Flat, where all the cars park — that’s kind of the main trail at Baldy — and then hiked from there.”

(L-R) Laura Grant, Ryan Beckers, David Bjerk, Kristen Crowell, James Crowell, Oleg, Steve Denny, Will Rafey, Curtis Dartsch, and Teresa Rokos pictured in Claremont in May 2022. Photo/by Steve Sabicer

Last year was the first time Bjerk placed first (a tie with Curtis Dartsch), thanks to his intimate knowledge of the mountain. When some leftover snow and ice made the typical route extra challenging, he took an alternate path that gave him the winning edge.

“[A friend] one time referred to Mt. Baldy as my nemesis because I’m always having little adventures up there, then come back beat down here. And I said, ‘No, it’s exactly the opposite.’ I look at it as this great friend that pushes me and hopefully makes me stronger and better. That’s how I see it; it’s not like a battle to beat it, rather it’s a battle to enjoy it, to understand how big this big mountain is,” Bjerk said. “And then that feeling of being able to get up to the top with a group of other people who’ve gone through the same thing. Even if you’re finishing at different times, you all get it. And you know what it took to do that.”

(L-R) Will Rafey, Teresa Rokos, James Crowell, Laura Grant, Curtis Dartsch, and David Bjerk on Mt. Baldy summit in May 2022. Photo/by Ryan Beckers

Typically, participants meet at the summit, then come down together and recount their adventures over beers, which seems as important to the tradition as the race itself. This year’s event was to be particularly poignant for Bjerk, as it’s the first race he’s organized since areas of Mt. Baldy were devastated by the Bridge Fire last fall. And, as the mountain has been healing, so has Bjerk, who recently endured a knee replacement surgery and then another knee surgery to fix the original replacement. Completing the summit would have been a powerful marker of recovery. But an untimely mountain biking accident will preclude Bjerk from participating.

“I’ll probably drive up and just be a little SAG [support and gear] car to make sure if anybody’s having any equipment issues or physical issues, I could pick ‘em up along the way. And then I’ll just hang out while everybody else is hiking and make sure no one steals the bikes,” he said. “It won’t be that exciting, but I want to still keep the tradition going a little bit longer, at least, as long as people are having fun.”

For those who want to get in on the fun of future races, feel free to reach out to Bjerk at david.bjerk@gmail.com. But only if you plan to leave any penchant for cutthroat competition at home.

“I want people to have a sense of humor about it. And that’s why the trophy’s such a silly little thing. We’re going to call it a race, but mostly we’re just getting together to do something stupid, but in a place that we all really value,” Bjerk said. “I think that’s the big part for me, is just recognizing how lucky we are to live in this little town with this great little mountain behind us.”