Paired Scotch Dinner 2016

We partnered again with Two Fools Tavern in Nob Hill for our 7th annual Paired Scotch dinner.  Take a love of food, a love of scotch, and a fantastic chef to coordinate, and this equals a fantastic fundraiser for the National MS Society.

Buffalo Trace Whisky Dinner 2016 Menu:

Course One

Bourbon Fig Baked Brie

 Served with Blanton's

Course Two

Seared, citrus glazed sea scallps - tart slaw - tropical chutney

 Served with Whisky smash coctail (simple syrup, 1/2 lemon, ming sprig, pimms, bourbon, ice)

Course Three

Heirloom tomato salad - spanish goat cheese - balsamic dressing

Served with E.H. Taylor Rye

Course Four

Buffalo Trace Bourbon Dijon-NY strip steak - bacon sauteed brussel sprouts - corn grits cake

Served with Two Fools 10 year old single barrel Eagle Rare

Course Five
Bourbon butterscotch ice cream over sweet ppotato nest - Bourbon brown sugar sauce
Served with Stagg Jr. (cold)

Like always we had a fantastic meal!

2016 Ride by the Numbers

Go Domo!

We had a fantastic 2016 season!  Our 7th year and going stronger than ever.  Lot of training rides, lots of new riders, lots of new friends.  The completion of the ride is always a little bittersweet - the culmination of a long summer of training pays off with some great scenery and great friendships.  The ride is over, but now we can sleep in on the weekend without guilt!

Ridership:

33 - total teammates (8 more than 2015!)
9 - new riders to the Bike MS: Pedal los Pueblos
2 - long lost return riders from years past (Yeah Trey and Chris!)
20 - riders who have done the ride >2 years
16 - riders who have done the ride >5 years!

Training season:

0 - number of bike free weekends since June 11 (team wide)
27 - number of riders on our largest training ride (Ride to Santa Fe!)
6 - new rookie riders
7 - Pokemon captured while training (not going to name names here however) 

         12 - training rides (ranging from 7-27 total riders)

         7850 - Miles of training (team wide)

At the MS Ride 2016:

25 - riders Day 1
23 - riders Day 2
6 - Brand new century riders! (Congrats Maria, David, Celeste, John, Jason, and Liz)
1 - Ambulance ride* (the worst thing about the weekend)
20 - riders to completed the Century ride Day 1!
21 - riders to make it to Puye Cliffs on Day 2

3250 miles rode a the BikeMS (team wide)

Fundraising!

12 - top fundraisers (raised more than $1000 a piece!)
$26,281 (and counting) raised by the Penultimates in 2016! 
>$250,000 raised by the Penultimates in our 7 years of riding!

* Unfortunately we did have a rider crash this year.  Sounds like it was an unfortunate bump/bad luck upon making a turn.  A broken collar bone, a few cracked ribs, and a scraped up hand.  Luckily the injured rider had lots of support from their team, as we tended to her injuries and notified the Society to look for her husband, as the ambulance arrived. Cycling is always a risk, but considering how bad things could be with a bike accident we (collectively) were fortunate.   Unfortunately for her, she will be out for a bit, but has already planned for her return!  Be safe out there everyone, and happy healing to our rider!

Weekend's Ride: The High Road to Santa Fe

This weekend's ride is was the my favorite ride of the season.  A long 60+ mile ride (route here) leaving from Albuquerque, heading out on old Route 66, before heading north on 14 on the scenic Turquoise Trail.  It ends with an epic lunch of New Mexican food at El Parasol, and then over to the Santa Fe Brewing taproom, before taking the Railrunner south back home.

By my count this is the 6th ride we have done to Santa Fe.  It was also the most people that headed out - a total of 27 riders headed out!  It always a wonderful time.  The ride itself is challenging, almost 4000' of elevation gain, but through such beautiful scenery recently greened by the summer monsoons.  It is also a fantastic team ride, great for getting to know all your fellow riders better.

This year we joined forces with another team - the Gearitos - for an epic adventure.  In addition to 6 wonderful and friendly riders, they graciously provided a sag vehicle stocked with water and snacks, and also gear bags for the all important change when we got there.  Cannot emphasis how nice it was to change out of sweaty bike clothes at the conclusion of the ride.

One of the highlights this year was beautiful weather - relatively cool (highs near the end topped out in mid 80s) with intermittent clouds, and delightful tailwind for the last 20 miles of the ride.  Probably the most excitement was near the conclusion of the ride as a summer storm blew through while we were enjoying a beer.  Massive rain, hail, lightning, thunder.  At this point we still had about another mile ride to the train stop, and needed to catch the 3:48 train or be stranded until 10 pm.  We were down to the last minutes as we headed toward the train stations just after the storm finished it's fury.  We still got soaked and cold, but it certainly made for an epic tale that will only become more legendary.

Good morning!

\

The assembled crew of 27 riders!

The heartbreak hill contingent.

At the brewery!

We all survived!

Weekend's Rides: 716 & 7/17 - Yup, it's still hot!

We had a quieter rides this weekend - a lot of riders were up on Taos doing the Gran Fondo, others were off on vacation or escaping the heat, yet others were probably sleeping in.  But the summer doldrums didn't get everyone down!

Saturday's Ride - Seven of us headed out to the East Mountians to get a little hill work in.  We did the South 14 and Anaya Loop (route here), a good 55 mile ride with about 3000' of elevation gain.  Three of us headed out from O'Neills to rally with another 4 who met us at Tramway and Central.  This ride demonstrated the weird Bermuda Triangle like evilness of summer rides where we for some reason were riding in to the wind on all legs of the trip.  A strong canyon wind kept us working on the way up the canyon.  After a long climb we finally rallied at the country store, before doing the Anaya Loop, a nice little gentle down hill winding tree lined roads before an uphill slog.  At this point, we headed back down the canyon for a long 22 mile descent (into the wind - WTF!).  Four riders peeled off at the bottom of the canyon, the remaining 3 headed back toward home.

At the country store, 1/2 way with downhill left

 Sunday's Ride - Gotta catch them all!  The route for Sunday's ride was a 45-mile quick and flat ride out of of ABQ headed to Bernalillo and back (route here).  It was a race against time to get back before the heat of the day.  Also the first time the two stealth bikes had a chance to ride together.  A good time was had by all riders, despite having to change a flat and evidence on the road of a planned raccoon uprising.  As a public service announcement, there are not a lot of Pokemon's available for most of the ride.

At the turn around in Bernalillo.  No Pokemon here!

Beyond the Pedal los Pueblos

From Fall Blaze 2015

One of the great things and new things for me is branching out from the Pedal los Pueblos to do some other great rides in the area.  Last year a few of us did the Fall Blaze (RIP - they have changed the ride, click the link below to see) and it was great to go up with some great teammates and friends to do a destination ride.  I would like to do something similar this year!  Anyone have any favorites in the list below?

Ride	Location	Date	Day	Distances
Enchanted Circle Century	Red River, NM	9/11	Sunday	25/50/100
Tour de Acoma	Acoma, NM	9/18	Sunday	25/50/100
La Strada La Plata Gravel Ride (previous Fall Blaze)	Durango, CO	9/18	Sunday	35/70
Canon City Bike & Brew/ Royal Gorge Century Ride	Canon City, CO	9/24	Saturday	31/62/100
Mountain to Desert	Telluride, CO	9/24	Saturday	70/100
Tour de Ruidoso	Ruidoso, NM	9/24	Saturday	45/62/100
Tour of the Rio Grande	ABQ, NM	9/25	Sunday	39/62/100
Santa Fe Gourmet Classic	Santa Fe, NM	10/1	Saturday	65
Day of the Tread	ABQ, NM	10/23	Saturday	12/24/54/64/80/100
El Tour de Tuscon	Tuscon, AZ	11/19	Saturday	40/55/75/104

Weekend's Rides: 7/9 & 7/10 - The heat, my god, the heat!

Summer time in New Mexico!  Crystal blue skies, beautiful vistas, magnificent cloud formations in afternoon storms.  Also air temps that feel like the interior of an oven and an unflinchingly bright sun that is never obscured and can flash fry exposed skin in a matter of minutes.  But still we ride!

We had two great rides this weekend.  The Saturday ride saw 14 riders head out to Jemez Dam - a round trip of 65 miles which ventures over to the west side of the river (route here).  Sunday morning saw 6 riders head out for a 36 mile city loop heading north on Tramway (route here).

Saturday's ride started with 12 people joining in the O'Neill's parking lot picking up another 2 at the bottom of the diversion channel and a 3rd at the top of 4th street.  Our early morning cruise was already starting to get warm - about 75deg at 7 am.  After a brisk sprint through the North Valley, we hit our first rally point.

Saturday Ride - heading north on diversion.

Heading north on 330 to Bernalillo.

After refilling water bottles, we headed out on the next section, the winding our way flanking 550 and a ride over the bridge over the Rio Grande on onto the Santa Ana Pueblo and the uphill to the Jemez Dam.  In 8 years of doing this ride, we have encountered all sorts of obstacles - wandering cattle, rattle snakes (seriously), and the occasional flat - but today we hit the first of our insurmountable obstacles.  A road closed by the Army Corp of Engineers about 2 miles from the top of the hill and the scenic overlook.  The kindly guard stationed by the gate prevented the proper summiting of the hill.

At the (almost) top of the Jemez dam

Undeterred, we took a quick water break and then headed back down.  This was the half way point of the ride, and we had a wide open, sunny, and hot section to go.  For the most part, it was an uneventful, sweaty ride.  One rider called for an extraction after his wheel broke a spoke (unrecoverable), but the rest of us rallied at the 46 mile stop for extra food and water.

We then cruised through Corralles and wound our way back toward the diversion channel.  At this point we fractured into around 4 groups, with 3 different groups of riders heading back as quick as possible.  The remaining group - here after to be called the Hero group - stayed to out in the extreme heat to help a fellow cyclist that had just minutes before taken a bad crash on the Bosque Trail.  Several riders rendered assistance and made sure the cyclist was comfortable while they awaited a pickup from a spouse.  About 30 minutes later, the cyclist, suffering from a broken collar bone and bad road rash, was collected and the remaining group headed back.  The selfless actions of these fellow riders so embody the core mission of the Penultimates, and speaks to how wonderful these people are. Go Domo!

The Penultimates leap into action aiding a fellow cyclist.

 Sunday's Ride:  Ali led a group of riders on a 36 mile loop of the city (route here).  They went pretty fast too, as it was also a pretty hot day.  They finished back at O'Neill's around 10, just in time for a quick brunch and virgin Bloody Mary's!

The Sunday contingent!

At brunch on Sunday!

Weekend's Rides: 7/1 & 7/2 - Hill Work Part 1

One weekend - two great rides!  Looks like we have critical mass for riding on Sunday's now, so if you are feeling up to it, do a back to back ride.

Saturday Ride: Despite the early hour and holiday weekend, we still had an amazing 13 riders show up bright and early to O'Neill's on Saturday morning.  We headed out to do the 53 mile loop of the city (route here).  We retraced our ride of a few weeks ago, and then added a long 8 mile hill climb to the middle.  We were blessed with delightfully cool weather the entire ride. While it is never an easy ride (from my personal experience, anyway), as always the team made it a fun ride.

At first rally at Tingley Beach

Penultimate train!

At top of Tram

We ended the ride around 11 am at O'Neill's with a significant fraction of the riders, plus spouses and family and friends joined for a nice brunch.  There were plenty of Bloody Mary's to go around!

The morning was unfortunately ruined by some jerks who decided to help themselves to one of our rider's bikes as it was locked to the bike rack on his truck sitting in the parking lot.  So everyone keep your eyes out for a white and black Trek Domane 4.5 (52cm).  People suck.  Sorry Trey.

Sunday Ride: Four riders joined for the Sunday ride.  Captain Ali lead the intrepid group on a 36 mile loop of the city (route here). All reports say a good time was had by all.

At Tingley

Some nice camera work from Lea!

Tires, tubes, and pumps - oh my!

Everyone who has done any road riding - especially in New Mexico, land of the goat head - has had to change a tire on a ride.  It will happen to everyone, if not you, then you will probably be next.  That shouldn't stop you though, changing tires is pretty easy once you practice a few times.

Goat heads - they are everywhere!

Every Penultimate has some magic combination that makes their tubes stay inflated in the particularly difficult .  What works for them has been honed from a combination of anecdote and data.  I can say that probably most of our riders have a some sort of combination of the following: thorn proof tires, thorn proof tubes, tire liners, and tube sealant.

There are many combinations/brands out there, talk to your local shop to get their recommendations or talk to your fellow riders.  Me personally, I use Orange sealant on my tubeless tires, with a backup tube prepped with Stan's tube sealant.  I have an old fashioned pump (Road Morph G).  On my previous bike, I used a thorn proof tires (Armadillos) with regular tubes prepped with Stan's.  In 6 years of commuting and training I had one flat, and not while I was riding (exploded in the heat while parked in the sun at work).

Another thing to double check, is to make sure that your spare tube that you carry (you all carry one right?) is functional.  Just like the spare in our cars that we all (never) check, we should probably be better at checking our spare tubes too.

Along the same lines, Mr. Miyagi (Jeff) put together a quick list of things to bring on every ride in addition to food and drink.  I think it is a pretty good list:

Seat bag

Pump or CO2

Extra tube

Patch kit

Tire levers

Mini tool

ID

Money

sunscreen

Cell phone

Weekend's Ride: 6/25 - Revenge of the tubes!

Another Saturday, another ride!  Today we headed out for a quick 35 mile loop of the city with a little hill work thrown in (route here).  Most of us met early at O'Neill's in a surprising overcast morning that was lightly sprinkling on everyone at the ride start.  It was a great crew for the morning rides: Andrea, Ashley, Ryan, Alba, Olga, Maria, David B., Snookums, Andrew, John M., Trey, Celeste, and Evil Gary.  We wound our way through the southern edge of the city toward our first rally point at the Smith's at Tramway and Central, where we picked up a few more riders (Jason, Rob, Jason's Friend, Peggy, Greg).

Heading east

So a total of18 riders strong headed north on Tramway uphill all the way.  Somewhere around Tramway and Menaul, the first tube had it's revenge.  Andrew's front tire wasn't holding air.  The main group headed out, as Andrew and I quickly changed the tire a few times.  The first tube had a faulty valve core, the second a tiny hole.  At that point Andrew called it a day and called for a pickup. I then headed onward and caught up with most of the riders heading up toward the base of the tram.

At the top of the Tram!

Just before I got to the top, there was another rider waylaid by a rebelling tube.  An unfortunate stroke of luck for Ashley, but luckily for her, grand master Jeff (Mr. Miyagi) was there to help out. Unfortunately, 3 tubes couldn't get the tire to be okay.  So Ashley called for a backup, and Jeff stayed behind to make sure she was okay before heading off to do some interval training.

So now we were down to 13, after another 2 headed off to different destinations. Comparatively. the rest of the ride was smooth sailing.  First the long 8 mile descent back down to the valley, then a jaunt south to pick up the diversion channel on the way back to Nob Hill.  We pulled into the parking lot at 10 am, just in time for brunch, where 5 of us had a quick breakfast for going home for recovery and naps.  Another great ride!

Weekend's Ride: 6/18 - The chaos that is the first ride

To quote one of the eminent scientists of our times "human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!" pretty much always sums up the first official ride of the season.  This year was no exception.  We had a great turn out - all told 20 riders headed out on the Inner City Loop (route here).  Lots of new faces too!

We left O'Neill's at a very brisk 6 am heading south toward the airport before picking up the Bosque trail (also called the Junkyard ride) looping south before turning north along the Bosque.  We rallied at Tingley Beach, then headed to the top of the Bosque, heading west on Alameda before hitting the Diversion Channel south back to the University and home.  There was all the normal Penultimate shenanigans - camaraderie, pushups, and fig newtons.

We had riders of vastly different skills, so we eventually split the ride at Alameda letting the main group speed toward home getting back to the start around 9:30, with the slower riders following.  But all in all, it bodes well for our year!  Go Domo!

Penultimates Blog: Under the hood!

As we are approached the beginning of our 7th training year, I took a little look through the data of the Penultimate blog (read: navel gazing).  The first post was way back in May of 2011.  Since then we have had just over 150 posts mainly detailing all the many training rides that we have done.

Total visits to our site as a function of time

Above shows our page hits/traffic as a function of time. You can clearly see the peaks in our traffic corresponds directly with our training season.  Our 2012 year was the year we had over 40 riders, and since we have had about 25-30 riders every year.  So why the slow decline of readership?  Perhaps it is the rise of InstaFace or other trendy social networks?  Maybe blogging is so mid 2000?

The most popular posts we have done

Above shows the most popular posts on the blog.  It tickles me to no end that the most popular posts by far are the two nerdy posts about how I suck going up hills (see here and here).  The vast majority of referrals to come here come from Google and Facebook.  But a fair number come here from a very lively Reddit thread about bike weight being irrelevant (here).  Also quite a bit of people looking for Domo Cupcakes (post here).

So life on the weird edges of the internet is still pretty fun!

Weekend's Ride: 6/11 - A leisurely ride with chance of West Nile

This weekend was our warm up the legs starter ride. All fun, no stress social ride from Nob Hill up the Diversion Channel to Paseo, then over to the Bosque trail south to the wonderful Bike in Coffee (route here).  I was expecting maybe 5 riders like last year, but our motley crew ended up being 15 strong!  We had long time Penultimates Laura, Eric, John M., Olga, Evil Gary, Tina, Matt, Ryan, and David.  More excitingly, we had several new (6) riders to the team - Andrea, Liz, John V., Jason, Rob, and Celeste!

We left Nob Hill later than normal and encountered a huge group of runners stretching over a mile heading north on the Diversion Channel, which I am accustomed to being very empty.  After a relatively quick ride down Paseo, we played our typical Saturday morning game of Bosque Frogger, weaving around and past runners, riders, skaters, walkers to finally make it to Bike in Coffee.  We relaxed on the beautiful grounds enjoying the morning and the conversation, while a swarm of hungry mosquitos enjoyed our tender skin.  After many hot coffees, iced coffees, iced chai, and the odd scookie (scone cookie - delish!) were consumed, we then rode back toward Nob Hill along Mountain, back to the Diversion Channel.  We finished the ride at Nob Hill just as the Pride Parade was gearing up!

Advice for new riders

Here are some pointers for new riders, in totally random order.  Always feel free to ask if you have any questions.

• Hand signals - we will show you.  Here is a nice video if you want to get a head start.
• Headphones - it's your call on what you want to wear.  I argue that situational awareness is more important that your favorite tunes at full volume.  The compromise that I follow is listening to podcasts with a bud only in the right ear when things are quiet, nothing when near traffic.
• Breakfast - I know, its really early when you head out to the ride start.  But try to get some food in you.  A mix of carbs and fats.  Suggestions: bagels with nutella and banana.  A smoothie with protein powder + toast and jam.  Bowl of cereal with fruit.
• Hydration - Make sure you carry at least 2 bottles for any rides greater than about 30 miles.  Drink often, even if you are not thirsty.  If you are thirsty, it is too late.
• Food - Pack some food too - something you will eat, something easy. Power bars, fig newtons, et...  It's never fun to "bonk" or to deplete your glycogen stores. It will manifests itself by sudden fatigue and loss of energy.  Don't think you can ride another foot?  Try eating some food and drinking water and resting for a bit.  You will feel better.  And same with drinking, if you are hungry, it is too late.  Eat a little bit often.
• Tires/tubes/pump - make sure you pack at least a spare tube and perhaps a way to inflate it.  Other riders will be carrying spares too, but make sure you have the size that matches your bike.
• Sunscreen - You all like skin right?  Wear sunblock. Make sure to slather on in the morning, and bring a small tube to reapply as things get hot.  Don't for the love of Pete put sunblock on your forehead.
• Know where you are going - I'll send out details of the ride the week before we ride.  Please familiarize yourself just so you can keep yourself for getting totally lost.
• Bring some cash/credit card -  just for emergencies, also a way to fill up the bottles on long rides.  Good if you bonk.
• Charge your phone - self explanatory - important in an emergency
• Bike tights/chamois/chamois butter - ever wonder why long distance cyclists always seem to be sporting padded tights?  Well, it is for the preservation of your keister.  Trust me, if you are uncomfortable after a ride, this is the best thing you can get to increase your post ride feeling.
• Clips?  Cages?  Flats?   Well, clips will make you a more efficient rider.  But plan on some low speed crashes until it becomes second nature.  In the long run, you will be happy!
• Helmets - absolutely necessary.  All helmets offer the same level of basic protection.  A more expensive the helmet might be more comfortable, cooler, maybe some additional safety features, but any helmet will give you the same baseline safety.
• Know your limits - only ride in the fashion you are comfortable doing.  This is especially true going down hill!  Go as slow as you need to go to keep yourself safe.
• Bike selection - The point of the Bike MS is to get out on a bike and ride.  You will see all kinds at the ride, from mountain bikes, to cruisers, to even a unicycle.  As long as what you are riding has wheels and pedals, you will be okay.  Some bikes are better for long distance riding (that super heavy mountain bike with knobby tires might not be able to go all 100 miles on Saturday), but remember there are many different lengths to chose from.
• Biking clothes - biking jerseys are very practical choices.  All are made of wicking breathable fabric with sun protection.  Most have pockets at the back for stashing phones, food, etc.

Any other suggestions?

The Domo Rules

Rule #1: Leave no one behind

We are a friendly team.  We pride ourselves on our fun, encouraging team rides.  We are all out there for many different reasons: to enjoy the ride, get some exercise, improve our fitness, meet our training goals, and so on.  The one thing that we all share is that we are riding with the Penultimates!  If we wanted to ride solo we would.

We always make sure that our riders make it.  We are strictly a no drop team!  If you are faster than everyone - great!  We will see you at the rally point (see rule #4).  If you are the slowest - great! We will see you at the rally point.  Also, would you like some company while you ride?

Rule #2:  It is not a race!

A slight variation of Rule #1, but important to say.  We are doing training rides, not racing.  We are happy you are super fast, but remember we are a team of individuals of all skills.  Ideally on rides we should organize ourselves in sub groups (A team, B team, etc...) so that everyone is riding with a buddy.

Rule #3:  Introduce yourself

If your new to the team, introduce yourself!  If you a rider for many years, introduce yourself!

Rule #4:  See you at the rally point!

Regardless of your skill, we will meet you at the rally point.  We try to wait there until everyone is in if the ride allows.  We are a no drop team, but if you don't rally we can't figure out where everyone is.

Rule #5: All are welcome

All rider levels welcome!  Seriously.  All types of bikes, all skill levels.   We all love riding (or we wouldn't be waking up at butt-dark early in the morning to ride countless miles right?) and we want you to love it too.  Learn from those around you.  Generally, most people ride road bikes, but we have had riders ride commuters and mountain bikes too.

Training Season 2016!

Here is the first draft of the training schedule for the 2016 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 contemplating 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, we will following most of the rides with a team breakfast, and now that they offer brunch this year the destination will be O'Neill's (food + beer + Bloody Mary's make recovery so much better).

From the 2015 South 14 roller ride

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.  There are several riders that are planning on doing the Taos Grand Fondo on July 16th (anyone interested in riding with us please let me know)! 

6/11	Light ride	20
6/18	Inner City Loop CW	36.1
6/25	Modified City loop CCW	36.7
7/2	City Loop CW	53
7/9	Jemez Dam	65
7/16	TBD	50-60
	Taos Grand Fondo	46/65/105
7/23	South 14 + rollers	65
7/30	Crest Assault from Triangle	26+
8/6	Ride to Placitas	66
8/13	Santa Fe	72
8/20	Recovery weekend	30
8/27	The Ride	150