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!