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!