Thursday, May 22, 2014

Who We Are - 2014 Season

We are The Penultimates – a team of Albuquerque, New Mexico cyclists. Our primary focus is cycling in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s “New Mexico Pedal Los Pueblos” Bike MS150, a two-day, 150 mile cycling tour through northern New Mexico. This event raises money for research, education, and support of individuals living with Multiple Sclerosis – including those within our community.  (For a quick primer on MS, check this out). Our team includes several members riding for friends and family with the disease, but we also have two cyclists that live and ride with MS.

Ready for day 1 of the 2013 ride!
The Penultimates formed in 2010 with 5 riders, raising over $7500 for the Bike MS150 event. By 2013 we grew to an amazing 48 riders and raised $28,934 in the fight against MS.  We’re reaching out to our families, friends, and the community businesses we actively support to help our fundraising reach the next level.  We are organizing a few fundraisers this year, our Fourth Annual Paired Whisky Dinner hosted by Two Fool's Tavern (last years event is here), as well as our new for 2014 paired trivia night with Geeks Who Drink.  These events raise money directly for the MS society, but the proceeds go toward your rider totals, so if you think fundraising will be difficult - we make it easy!

Our team has always been about the joy of cycling, the friendship of teammates, and riding or volunteering for a fantastic cause.  We may not finish first, but we will finish, and have a great time doing it!  We start training in earnest in June, and we will organize two rides every weekend to get you ready for the ride.  The majority of our riders were relatively new to cycling last year, and all of them completed some combination of the 2013 event ranging from 80 miles to the full 150 miles.  Whether you are new to cycling, a grizzled veteran, or just looking to volunteer your time for a good cause, this is the team for you!  Go Domo!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Geeks Who Drink Fundraiser

We are excited to pair up with everyone's favorite pub quiz - Geeks Who Drink - for a fun evening of trivia as a fundraiser for the National MS Society.  The quiz will be just another night of trivia with the added twist: each player pitches $5 to enter. One entry fee per team goes into a cash purse for the winners; the rest goes to the National MS Society.  So join us!  Bring your friends!

Where: O'Neill's Nob Hill
When:  Sunday, June 8th, 8 pm





Monday, May 12, 2014

Training Season 2014

Here is the first draft of the training schedule for the 2014 year. The general plan is that if you ride this long ride schedule plus maybe get a few extra rides in you will be ready for the full MS150 at the end of August.   We will also be doing a short training ride on each Sunday too that will build to ~50 miles by the end of the season, so those that want to ride the short ride can get some team rides in too.  For those of you new to the team, riding is great, but riding with a team is so much more fun!  As always, following most of the rides we will be doing a team breakfast at Serafin's in Nob Hill (our wonderful jersey sponsor).
At the top of the crest in 2013.
The tentative schedule (all are on Saturdays unless otherwise noted): All rides will leave from O'Neill's on Central as early as we can (6 am) unless otherwise noted.  We will determine the schedule for the last two training weekends based on peoples interest.  We will ride to Santa Fe on one of the weekends, not both.

DateRideDistanceNotes


6/28Modified city loop NE Heights29.4
7/5Inner City Loop CW36.1July 4th weekend
7/12Modified City loop CCW 36.7
7/19City Loop CW53
7/26Jemez Dam65
8/2South 14 + rollers65
8/9Crest Assault from Triangle26
8/16Ride to Placitas66
8/23Santa Fe ?72.4
8/30Santa Fe ? / modi city loop CW72.4 or 35Labor Day/Recovery?
9/6The Ride!MS150