May 10, 2003 - Colleen Montoya, a BCI rider, finished first among all the women who completed all four passes in the grueling Breathless Agony Ride. An amazing feat for a rider who only started riding six months ago. Vicki Chernoff and Marissa Hindman, also BCI members, finished second and third respectively.

This is quite an achievement for three riders from a recreational club like BCI to place in a timed event sponsored by a race/training club like Santiago Veloce.

The Breathless Agony Ride is considered to be the most challenging century ride in Southern California with 12,000 feet of climbing over 115
miles. It covers areas from Redlands to Beaumont to Angelus Oaks to the top of Onyx Summit near Lake Big Bear at 8,440 ft . What makes it even
more competitive is that it is a timed event where riders are turned back if they do not meet certain cut offs.

Having ridden it three times since it became a public ride in 2000, I can appreciate the time and effort these women put into their personal training and on BCI sponsored rides. If it weren't for my over indulgence of strawberries on rest stop #1 my personal time might have approached Colleen and Vicki's.

If anyone in the club is interested in a personal challenge this is a great local ride to test yourself on. Santiago Veloce supports it well and really appreciated that there were so many BCI jerseys out there. Anybody who participated did themselves proud. They deserve those hard-earned jerseys!

For more information, check out the Santiago Cycling web site. www.cyclingpros.com