Weekend's Ride: 6/27 - The Start of the Hills

Woke up early in the morning to the sound of rustling trees.  Hmmm....wonder if it will be windy today?  We had 10 riders meet up at O'Neill's at 6 am to start the ride - Evil Gary, Good Gary, Stacy, Greg, Blythe, Maneeshika, Andrea, Bryan and his visiting friend, and myself.  We were doing the modified city loop (route here), which, unlike last weekends ride, had some elevation. The plan was to head east along the south edge of the city to the first rally point at Smiths to pick up new rider Tina.  Calvin left his house in the NE, and was somewhere behind us, intending to catch us at some point.

Ride start - early in the morning!

We began our slow ascent which was complicated by a stiff canyon breeze that would plague us the rest of the day.  We made it to Smiths by 7, and after the rally, we headed north along Tramway to then turn and go further uphill toward the Tram (and what a brutal uphill it is).  While at the top, Calvin finally caught up with us. It was an impressive ride, as all 12 riders made it to the top of the tram (a new Penultimates record).  From this point, we all did the fun 8 mile downhill losing the 1400' of climbing as we raced down toward the valley floor below us.  Always an exhilarating ride.

Triumphant at the top of the Tram!

At this point disaster (minor) struck twice.  Good Gary and Tina had two flat tires along the same stretch of road.  While repairs were being made, we started to break up a bit, as riders headed toward the end of the ride.

Fixin' o' the tire!

We rolled back into Nob Hill at 10 am.  A good ride!  A few new riders (great riding Tina and Andrea!) completed their first Penultimates ride.  Tina survived her first ride and her initiation, as she had her first field tire change and derailleur repair on this ride as well.  Go Domo!

Weekend's Ride: 6/20 - Official 1st Ride!

Hooray!  The first official ride of the season.  We headed out on a relatively flat 35 mile ride (route here) from Nob Hill down past the airport to pick up the Bosque trail circling south and then back north toward the north valley.  From there over to the diversion channel and back to Nob Hill.  Eight riders headed out (Olga, Evil Gary, Maneeshika, Greg, Bryan, Captain Awesome, new rider Frank, and Captain Snookums) and we picked up Calvin along the Bosque trail.

At the Alameda Open Space

All in all a good ride, no surprises and few new faces, and a nice morning in the saddle.  We made it back to the ride start by around 9:30 am.

In the last 10 miles

Weekend's Ride: 6/13 - A (Fast) Saturday Fun Ride

Our last pre-ride of the season had a few seasoned and experience rider and one brand new rider.  Welcome Matt!  For a fun ride at the start of the season,  it sure was a fast one!  We departed Nob Hill at 7 am, cruising north on the diversion channel to do a quick out and back to the north valley (route here).

The route was fairly flat, so we kept a brisk pace up the diversion channel, over to 2nd street, and then out 313.  We turned around at mile 15, and then headed back.  A short quick ride, average speed 15.9, cruising at around 20 mph heading south with nice tail wind.

A quick recharge at top of diversion channel

We finished the ride cruising up the middle of an empty Central Ave, as traffic was blocked off in advance of the Pride Parade.  Looking forward to the season!

Weekend's Ride: 6/6 - Sunday Fun Day Ride!

Time to get the bike dusted off and lubed up - today we headed out for the official first ride of the 2015 season!  We opted for a short 25 mile ride with a little stop over at Bike in Coffee.  Route here. Five riders headed out from Nob Hill - Captain Snookums, Eric, Laura, Evil Gary, and new rider Maneeshika.  

Enjoying the cool morning we headed out at 8 am for a quick mosey through UNM Campus, north on the diversion channel to Paseo and then west.  For a change up, instead of heading south on the Bosque trail, we turned south on Rio Grande and rolled south until Old Town where we circled back toward Bike in Coffee.

A little food and beverage at the beautiful Bike in Coffee

After some refreshing food and some test rides of some fat tire bikes, we made the last little 5 mile ride back up the hill to the diversion channel and back to Nob Hill finishing around 11 am.  A great start to a new season!