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!