Kicking The Old Lady's Butt, Exploding Cranks and a Black Eye 3-26-11

There is a section of hills just North of Banning calledthe "Banning Bench" with a brutal route to the top that has been affectionately dubbed "The Old Lady" - probably because riders are forced to use their "granny gear" most of the way to the top of the climb to the top of a 3000 foot elevation gain.   9 of us kicked the "Old Lady's" butt today during a cold, windy trek to the top.  This short video is our pow-wow at the top of the hill, but the ride down was even more treacherous.  An extremely gusty cross-wind blew hard from west to east all the way down the mountain and at times felt like it was going to blow us right off of our bikes.



The only problem that was experienced was when Carl Gregory's front sprocket literally exploded from the crank and came apart as he was pedaling downhill near the end of the descent. 

I didn't get the full story, but somewhere along the way during this epic, Carl ended up with a black eye.  How that happened due to a broken crank?   Your guess is as good as mine! 

Lake Perris Training Ride 3-12-11

Most of the team was dispersed this weekend at different functions so we didn't get to ride together.  Tony Wilcox got to ride with some friends (Ron Richards, Shari Todd, Chris and Karen Gryszan) from Redlands to Lake Perris and back.  It sounds like a fairly flat ride, but there are actually some killer hills on this route.  The hill going up Redlands Blvd from San Timoteo Canyon into Moreno Valley is a LONG, steep climb.  Ron tells me, "after you get to the THIRD turn where you're thinking that you are at the top, THAT'S when you're at the top."  There's another steep climb out of Moreno Valley up to Lake Perris park.   The nice part is that on the way back, you get the downhill experience of each of them as well. 

The fastest I've ever been (Tony) was about 39 mph on a downhill, but I actually hit 44.8 mph on the hill down Redlands Blvd out of Moreno Valley to San Timoteo.   Here are the stats of this training ride:
39 mile loop
2:54:05 riding time
14.5 mph average speed
44.8 mph top speed

These types of rides are becoming more and more critical as the Race Across America is only 97 days away!