Saturday's Ride 6/29: Herding Cats!

The first ride of the 2013 training season!  An amazing 21 riders showed up in the predawn darkness to get ready for the ride - a Penultimate record.  A few old faces and lots of new ones.  I was worried about the size of the ride and keeping everyone together and we did not disappoint.  A special thanks to veterans Jeff, John, and Calvin who did extra duty ferrying and herding everyone in the right direction.

Too many riders to picture!

We embarked on the CW inner city loop (route here).  Today was not a good day for tires.  We had one blow before the bike was even taken off the car, and the resulting explosion of Stan's will probably leave an indelible mark on Silver for the rest of our training season.  (However, Laura redeemed herself later when she passed us running south on the Bosque trail chanting "Domo, Domo").

Less than 3 miles into the ride we had another tire explode.  We were all pretty close so everyone heard it at the same time.  After hanging out for 20 minutes as the intrepid rider (heckled assisted by several veteran riders) got the bike ready to go again.  And we were off, a quick jog through the neighborhoods and down toward Isotopes Park, before heading south by the airport, then east where we picked up the very southern end of the Bosque trail at Rio Bravo.

At this point, since there was less chance of getting lost, the pack seperated out with speed demons heading out ahead and some trailing behind.  The main group kept a 14-16 mph pace for most of the way to Tingley Beach.  The Bosque trail was very crowded today (with all the forced closures of most of New Mexico due to fire danger) and we wound our way past walkers, runners, roller bladers, and other cyclists.

Waiting for tire number 2 to be fixed

Our last rally was at the top of the Bosque trail where the main group headed headed back toward the diversion channel and south to the University.  We really spread out here, with the first riders making it to Serafin's (our wonderful jersey sponsors) about an hour before the last riders made it there at 9:45.  All told a good ride, everyone made it home and healthy (I think).  Those last few riders got to finish breakfast as the Albuquerque Pride parade rolled past.

Rider Bio: John M.

Who you are: John Martinez

What you ride (bike bio): Felt Z100 (road), Kona Dr. Dew Deluxe (commute), Giant Yukon (Mountain)

One interesting rider fact about you: Expanding on last year's factoid: I was conceived in Italy, born in Germany, baptized a few weeks later in Spain, and then we all moved back to the US (Indiana, to be specific). Since then, I have lived in 7 states (IN, CA, VA, AZ, OH, NH, and NM) as well as Puerto Rico, but only one of those was on account of military (when I was an officer in the Air Force) – the rest were career moves or sabbaticals for my father or career and school moves of mine, as an adult. I have only lived in two different states the last 12 years, so things are slowing down! Bonus points for anyone who can guess which state was for the AF!

Your cycling special skill: Don't know about "special," but I like to ride no-handed when I can. I think Laura and Eric have some jealousy issues about this!

Worst cycling memory: Fixing four flats (on my own bike) at last year's MS ride.

Humiliating cycling memory: I share the clipless pedal experience. One of my first slow-motion falls included impaling my calf on the big chainring. The physical scars have faded, while the emotional ones endure!

How epic fig newtons are in general: Newtons are great, though they don't hold up well to being squashed. The crunchy insect heads really add to the whole experience.

Best memory of a previous MS ride: Tackling Truchas last year after the beautiful ride to Chimayó, but the ride from Chimayó to Santa Clara (without the traffic) the year before is a very close second

Your post ride routine: eat & shower/swim

Your favorite ride food/drink: Pickles! (Messy to take, though)

For more details, check out last years bio here.

Rider Bio: Chris W.

Who you are: Chris W

Who are you: software engineer, US Army veteran (SGT), former animal scientist and veterinary technician

What you ride (bike bio): GT Transeo 2.0. It's not very fast or light and it tends to cause me some pain, but it's my first adult bike and it's loyal.

Longest ride to date: 35 miles

Your cycling special skill: I am almost never hasty. (I'm very slow)

Best cycling memory: Every time I push myself to see what's beyond the next turn

How epic fig newtons are in general:  fig paste is allowed to have up to 13 insect heads per 100 grams [editors note: we will forgive Chris his dissing of the Fig Newtons - he will come around!]

Rider Bio: Captain Snookums

Who you are: David S.

Nickname: Captain Snookums or the Flying Scotsman

Years riding the New Mexico MS150: will be my 5th

Why I ride: Because right now I can, and I know that it might not always be the case.

One interesting rider fact about you:  Despite being the captain, I am still one of the slowest riders on the team.  Lead from behind!

Highlight of 2012's training season:  The epic lunch at El Parasol after biking the 70 miles from ABQ to Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail.  Fun teammates, great sense of accomplishment, and never has food tasted so good!

Your cycling special skill:  My mastery of gravity assisted riding (i.e. going downhill)  See this post on why gravity is bad on the up, and this one on why it is good on the down.

Favorite ride food/beverage:  Fig Newton's of course!

Donate to the cause at my rider website here.

Rockin' the kilt!

Paired Scotch Dinner 2013

Join us for a fundraiser of a gourmet dinner paired with Scotch hosted by Two Fools on Tuesday August 13th at 6 pm 

Two options for the meal:

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

Tickets are very limited so contact us now to reserve yours. (All tickets must be purchased before the dinner so don't delay!) This fundraiser helps us raise money for the National MS Society as we ride in the 2013 Pedal Los Pueblos Bike MS150.  Last years write up is here.

The details as of right now.  The food options may slightly change in the future:

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

Blackberry Whisky Pork Loin

Pan seared pork medallions with a blackberry scotch whisky sauce, served with citrus tossed arugula and roasted red potatoes

Served with The Arran 14yr (Isle of Aran) 

Course Five

Guinness Brownie

Served warm, topped with chocolate sauce and vinalla bean ice cream. 
 with Dalwhinnie Distillers Edition 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).  

For a single page flyer of the event click here.  For a half page flyer click here. 

June Fundraiser - Pizza 9 Partnership

Mark your calendars people!  Thursday June 20th we are doing a MS Fundraiser with yummy Pizza 9.  On this date, bring in the below flyer to the Pizza 9 on Gibson Ave (and only this location) and 50% of your order will be donated to the MS Society!  This is a great opportunity and we are very excited to work with such a great local business.  Most fundraisers like this will donate 10%, maybe 20% to the cause.  Pizza 9 is going to do 50%!  Tell your friends - tell your coworkers - print out a stack of flyers and give them out - have a pizza party - pick up dinner on the way home, whatever, but please, please order some pizza!  

PDF version of the flyer here!