Today we started with a group of 6 riders. They were Roobik Asadorian, Eddy Gerovian, Grigor Gevorkyan, Arbi, Jacob and I.
The roads were a bit wet from the recent rain. As we left Banning the roads were flat and we had a bit of a tailwind so the speeds were fast. The pace seemed a bit fast to me for the start of a 110 miles ride. The only one in the group I had done any serious riding with was Roobik so I did not know if these guys were strong enough to maintain this pace.
Part of the route we had to ride on interstate 10 because there are no other roads to bypass the freeway. It was early in the morning so traffic was light but it was still a scary experience.
12 miles in and we were on a long straight section of road with a tailwind. I was second in the pace line with Roobik right behind me. The speed was around 38 MPH.
100 years ago the blood of our ancestors was spilled in the Armenian Genocide, today we spilled some blood in the race for recognition!
At the end of a long straightaway there was a 90 degree turn. It was a sharp sandy turn and as we turned the tail wind became a heavy cross wind I heard Roobik and then Grigor go down behind me. I struggled to make the turn but slid out in the sand. Three of us got by with road rash. Roobik had the worse road rash and mentioned his shoulder hurt. The paramedic along with the group cleaned us up and we were on our way about 45 minutes later.
Being the Armenian Cycling machine that he is Roobik took off on his own after the crash and carried the baton to complete leg 2 in under 6 hours! After the ride Roobik went to the hospital and had the shoulder checked and the road rash cleaned up. A fracture was found on his shoulder so unfortunately his riding days were done for at least 8 weeks.
The rest of the riders would continue on. Around mile 40 the other riders were slowing down and some were starting to cramp. Like I said I thought that pace was a little fast at the start of the ride. Grigor and I took off together and had a nice pace line going and we were making good time except for one missed turn. At mile 77 Sabra said Roobik was close to the Baton pass so were being pulled so the support vehicles could move up to support the second Leg riders.
My ride stats for the day:
77.2 miles
3510′ elevation gain
3107 calories burned
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