Saturday's Ride 7/30

Today we did the ride up to Jemez Dam, a beautiful ride north through the Rio Grande valley before an uphill segment to the dam for a nice overlook back toward the city.  Then the ride back down through Rio Rancho and Corrales before hitting the diversion channel bike path to finish it up.  A total of 62 miles in a little under 4 hours.  It was a nice sized group too with 8 riders for most of the ride.

Look out for cows!

Remaining long rides

Here is the remaining long rides for the rest of the weeks until the Bike MS!  (Only 4 training weekends to go!)  Continue on to read more....

Saturday's Ride 7/24

This weekends ride was a little more chaotic than normal.  Co-captain Andrew was out of town and I was only available to ride until 8 am.  Luckily, the rest of the team organized themselves under the fearless leadership of Calvin who put together a ride from their neck of the woods in the north east heights.  (Ride map is below).

A wee dram for charity!

Our paired scotch tasting was a rousing (and tasty) success!  We sold all of the 25 tickets for the big event and we packed tightly into the back half of Two Fools.   The dinner got underway with a rousing round of bagpipe music enjoyed by all.  

Then the food began!   The introduction to each pairing, as explained by the manager and the scotch master, included a mouth watering description of the food, a little history and details of each scotch, why the scotch was chosen, and what made the pairing work.  We then thoroughly enjoyed the combination over lively conversation.  Then the tables were promptly emptied by the attentive staff and the next course of scotch and food was served up.  By the end we were very full from all the food and very happy from all the scotch.   It was quite the experience!   

If you can't see the slide show above, please click here.

Personally, I have never drank my scotch with food and it was an epiphany! No one thinks twice of pairing wine with a specific dish, but never had I thought of applying the same logic to scotch.  There were many interesting flavor combinations that the food brought out of the scotch and vice versa.  

All in all a very successful and fun evening.  Through the generosity of our attendees and the fantastic staff at Two Fools, the Penultimates were able to raise over $1200 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society!  And plans have already been made for next years event!   Hope you can join us!

Sunday 7/18 ride

Team B headed out Sunday morning to do the Inner City Loop, a 35 mile ride that let us take advantage of the trail along the river being open thanks to our few days of rain.  We met at the zero dark early hour of 6am to head out.

Saturday 7/17 ride

Today we did the ABQ city loop, a nice 55 mile jaunt mostly on dedicated bike paths.  There were 6 of us out riding today which made for a  nice group.  We usually do this counter clockwise, but today we wanted to get a little hill work in.  Going the other direction makes it a totally different beast - a long 6.5 mile climb of over 1200 ft elevation gain!  Eventually we all made it to the base of the Tram where we refueled then began the long descent back toward home.  All in all, a good ride!

Training Ride 7/16 & 17

This weekends training rides - both rides departing at O'Neill's at 6 am. (Park south of Central on Silver):

Saturday ride - clockwise around the city (so going up Tramway the hard way)!


Sunday ride (as of 7/14) - A relatively flat 35 mile jaunt through the city - only tough part is right near the end!

The First Training Ride

We all gathered in the predawn light at O'Neills for the first official ride of the season.  After a few minutes of swapping equipment and an emergency stop at the Casa de Scrymgeour for a rest stop, we were off about 6:30 am.  We headed east on the gradual hill up to Tramway than north up Tramway.  At the top we took the little torturous ride up to the base of the tram before enjoying a nice little break.  We then headed off for the long decent into the valley (very fun!).  We finished up by riding the diversion channel south back to the ride start.  A nice start for the season!

Total ride time: 2:33, distance 36 miles, average speed 14 mph, top speed 37 mph.

Saturday's Ride 7/9 - and so it begins!

First official training ride of the season!  Are you ready?  Little bit of hill work in Four hills, then up Tramway, and for the gluttons an additional spur up to the base of the Tram.  Then back along the diversion channel back to O'Neills.

Departing the O'Neill's on Central at 6 am.  (Why so early?  It's the heat, man).  Park on Silver Ave, one block south of Central adjacent to the O'Neill's parking lot.  If you want to join us on the ride later on, let me know so we can make arrangements.

Paired Scotch Dinner

Join us for a fundraiser of a gourmet dinner paired with Scotch on Tuesday July 19th 6 pm at Two Fools.  Tickets are very limited so contact us now to reserve yours.  (All tickets must be purchased by Saturday the 16th so don't delay!)


Two choices:
 $100 Tasting Ticket - for the full tasting dinner
 $60 Foodie Ticket - for the dinner but no scotch!

This fundraiser helps us raise money for the National MS Society as we ride in the 2011 Pedal Los Pueblos Bike MS150.

The details:

Course One

Liffey Chips

Our Famous beer battered fish cut into bite size pieces and served with a Mandarian Asian sauce

 Served with Glenkinchie 12 yr on the rocks with a lemon twist (Lowlands)

Course Two

Scotch Eggs

Two hard boiled eggs wrapped in housemade sausage and bread crumbs, cooked to a golden brown and served with pub mustard.      

Served with Singleton 12 yr (Speyside)

Course Three

Galway Bay Salmon Plate

House cured Gravlox salmon served with a cucumber and caper relish, blue cheese spread, lettuce and house made Irish soda bread.        

Served with Talisker 10 yr (Isle of Skye)

Course Four

Cottage Pie

Angus Beef simmered with onions, carrots, peas and spices.  Topped with whipped potatoes and cheddar cheese.    

Served with Lagavulin 16 yr (Islay)

Course Five

Guinness Brownie

Served warm, topped with chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. 

 Served with Dalwhinnie 15 yr from the freezer  (Highlands)


Yum!  Hope you can join us so get your tickets today! In case you are wondering, a portion of your ticket price is tax deductible.  Fantastic!  For tickets email us at penultimatesbike_at_gmail.com!  (substitute @ for _at_ and you got it).