The Penultimates Logo

We are getting jerseys made for the ride.  After many intense planning sessions and focus groups (i.e. scattered emails and drinks over pizza)  we created a logo that ideally suits our team of cracker jack cyclists.  Introducing the logo for the 2010 ride with our mascot Domo:

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

That was my view of the sun peeking over the mountains from the ABQ BioPark Saturday morning at just past 6:30.  Training goal today: 30 miles.

J joined me again for another mommies ride and I don't know if it was the company or the cooler temperatures and breeze that helped us along but I felt really good when we finished and not the usual dread of those final 2 miles.  I'm still trying to talk her into doing day 1 of the MS150 with me, but for now she has promised to be my training buddy for the ride.

30 miles in 2:03.  Not bad considering stops we made for J's runaway water bottle (it actually tried to kill me after jumping out of it's cage) and a flat tire scare.  David doesn't get to have all the excitement.

Another cross training session

Since my wheel has not been repaired yet, I had to do another another mountain biking session in lieu of a long road biking training session.  We had a wonderful 3 days of rain and clouds starting on Friday (no, seriously, in the desert and after the heat of July we were pretty excited).  So on Sunday morning out of habit I rolled up to the trail head by 7 am for an early training ride.   It was a pretty chilly morning with a temperature of 64 and a cool breeze blowing out of the mountains.  But I headed off for another morning ride.....

It was fun, as usual, but I seem to remember why I drifted away from mountain biking a while ago.  I seemed to spend a lot of time on the ride being lost.  When road biking, it is pretty easy not to get lost, but not so much when you are going on biking on unmarked single track.  But I got a nice 2 hour ride in covering about 12 miles total.  I forgot my camera, so I found some images on the web that approximate what my ride was like:

Artist rendition of David's ride

Honestly, it was probably more like this:

I hope to get my bike back soon.  Next weekends ride will be in Erie as we visit family, but my tire better be back very soon.  I need to start getting some long rides in!

Mommie time

Ride goal this week:  25miles.

I was lucky enough to have company for this ride.  Friend, also mommie, former teammate and wife of fellow Penultimate (Frank), J joined me this morning.  It was great to have someone to chat to and a good way to practice riding in a "pack".

Forgot the camera in the car, but these pictures should testify to our surviving on the trail despite the humidity (in case we look wilted).  26 miles done in just over 1:45!

Hopefully this is the start of a weekend tradition for training.

Cross training

Due to the wheel kablooey of last weekend, this weekends ride involved a little cross training.  I dusted off the mountain bike and wend for a ride in the North Foothill Trail here in ABQ.  We are having a bit of a heat wave here with temps topping out around 95, but the troubling part is there is noticable humidity (~40%) which is not letting it cool down very much overnight.  So by the time I hit the trailhead at around 6:30 it was already around 75.  Toasty.

Early morning sunrise

It has been at least 2 years since I was out mountain biking so I was a little rusty.  But it was really fun.  Totally different type of biking than road biking, much more sprinting and hard exertion, where road biking is more slow and steady pacing.  It totally kicked my ass though, and I was dead by the time I got back to the car 13 miles and 2 hours later.

Near the beginning when I was smiling

Beautiful single track ride

The Penultimates

I am super excited to be biking with some really great friends this year.  Last year I pretty much trained solo.  When I did the ride, I find out how much fun it was to bike with other people.  So I am really looking forward to biking with this team - especially with Ali who will be doing the ride this year.


Our group of heroes are all biking for themselves, their team, and to raise money to fight MS.  We form the Penultimates.  Our team model is directly from the definition - next to last.  We may not finish first, but we will finish and have fun doing it.  The Penultimates are as follows:


Chris - demolitions expert
James - covert ops
Andrew - strong man
Frank - computer specialist
David - femme fatale
Ali - the brains


This rag tag group will take on the Bike MS150 at the end of August.

On the first ride from left: Chris, Andrew, David, Frank, Mr. Miyagi

New Mexico MS150 video

Here is a promotional video for the MS150.  It includes a lot of photos from last year, and highlights some of the beautiful scenery you bike through on the ride.  If you pay attention you can see me at 0:48 of the movie.

Ali vs the Elements

Today it was my turn: my second long ride, with a goal of 20 miles.  The first 10 miles flew by and I was feeling great.  I should have known that I was in trouble when I turned around and almost fell over.  While I might exaggerate about the gale-force winds, I was not prepared for the trek back home.

Needless to say, I may it back in less than record time (aka snail's pace).  Feels great to be back in the saddle and looking forward to longer rides.  I am shooting do a combined 70 miles for the ride, so every ride matters!

David and the wheel kablooey

So my first official training ride of the 2010 training season unfortunately met with a minor calamity.  My back wheel basically exploded about 15 miles into the 35 miles.  Granted, I am what is euphemistically called a "Clydesdale" rider which is any rider over 200 lbs.    Think about the average spandex clad cyclist - what comes to mind is probably a super skinny frail looking dude that looks like he is one meal away from passing out. 

That is not me.  Luckily the wheel is still under warranty, and this failure appears to be a manufacturing defect (other wheels riden by small riders also exploded).  But the bad news is that this puts my road bike out of commission for at least a week, probably two.

The worst part of the ride was sitting on the bosque trail and watching all the other bikers pass me by as I awaited rescue from the sag vehicle (Connor and Ali in the Subaru).  I felt very much like Pee-wee after his bike was stolen.  (And yes, that is my favorite movie....)

Why I Am Riding

This is my second year of riding the MS150.  Last year's ride was one of the best experiences I have had.  It was a combination of few factors that added up to a fantastic event.   First off, despite my moaning, I really enjoyed training for the ride.  It was nice to have a goal to train for (something I really haven't done since college).  The two months of training was a lot of time in the saddle, but I found the riding very meditative and I really enjoyed the riders high I got on the longer rides.

The best part of the ride, for me, was actually doing the ride.  It was fun to cycle with a lot of other people, a first for me since I spent most of my training riding solo.  I met a lot of fantastic people while biking - other riders, volunteers, and organizers.  Everyone was so nice, and most people were in some way touched by MS: Family members, friends, coworkers - most people were biking for someone.

This gave the ride a very collegial atmosphere, and I really look forward to biking with Ali this year, who was on the sidelines last season.  I also am blessed to have some great friends biking with me this year.  I hope they all enjoy it as much as I have!  So please support me as I set out for training the MS ride.  You can conveniently donate here at my ride website.  Thanks!

Just after I crossed the finish line in 2009!

Blogging the New Mexico MS150

Welcome!  We set up this blog to detail our training and riding of the New Mexico MS150.   It is a bike ride that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and is held here in New Mexico the last weekend of August the 28-29th.  It is a two day ride of which there is a 40 or 90 mile option the 1st day, and a 40 or 60 mile option the 2nd day of which you can do any combination.

Last summer was the first time I biked this ride.  I did the full 150 mile ride last summer (my longest bike ride ever - prior to this it was only 30 miles).  It was an absolutely fantastic ride through some spectacular terrain.  It truly was one of my best experiences of last year (a year, might I add, full of great experiences).

I am really looking forward to this year's ride, as Ali will also be biking too.  We also recruited a great group of friends to ride us.  This ragtag group of riders will be riding with Team Penultimates.

So stay tuned to this blog for updates on how our training rides are going, updates and information on the ride, and quick informative items about MS.   Put us in your RSS feed!