Bonus video

In case you need your fix of high adrenaline cycling adventure, here is a quick video from out last weekends ride.  Hope you can handle the excitement!

Just like the Tour de France, right?

East Mountains Ride

Today we headed out for a loop through the east mountains on a loop that was very similar to last weekends ride that I missed because I had an unexpected out of town trip. (An aside - one of the great things about being a captain is you choose the rides - I missed last week so we did it again! Bwaaa-haaa-haaa!). The route is here. Notice that the first 23 miles is all uphill, gaining over 2300 ft in elevation. Ugh...

Seven of us convened at the mouth of Tijeras Canyon bright and early and headed out old Route 66 toward Tijeras. There was a lovely canyon wind this morning which made the grueling 8 mile through the canyon seem really bad. But spirits were high as we headed off into the best part of the ride. It is a beautiful ride out there - pine forests and deliciously cool air - a world apart form Albuquerque.

It was a long one today - total mileage of 65 miles. Two weeks out from the big ride! 

At the first stop of the day - still smiling!

It's a beautiful ride!

The Dam Ride!

Okay, I admit, that joke does not get old!  Today we did the ride up to Jemez Dam, a beautiful ride north through the Rio Grande valley before an uphill segment to the dam for a nice overlook back toward the city.  We had 8 people that headed out with us (one turned off early) which made for a really fun ride.  The team this year has really grown - last year we had only 6 riders, but this year we have grown to over 17 riders!  This makes for really fun rides, with a sense of camaraderie and always someone new to chat with while you are riding.

After a rest at the top in which there was much consumption of fig newtons (the unofficial sponsor of our team in that we all seem to eat them on our training rides), we headed off on the second part of the ride back down through Rio Rancho and Corrales before hitting the diversion channel bike path to finish it up.  A total of 62 miles in a little under 4 hours.   Only 3 training rides and the big ride to go!

Look out for cows!

The first training ride!

This was the first official training ride of the 2011 season!  I am taking my captaining role a little bit more serious this year, as in addition to some great friends on the team, there are a few folks who have joined up due to my recruiting efforts around town and at work.  I absolutely want to make sure they enjoy themselves as much as I will on this ride, so I have put together a rigorous schedule of rides to get everyone ready.  We are already up to 11 riders (6 new riders from last year) and I hope to get a few more!

We all gathered in the predawn light at O'Neills for the first official ride of the season.  After a few minutes of swapping equipment and an emergency stop at the Casa de Scrymgeour for a rest stop (the ride departure point is only a mile away), we were off about 6:30 am.  We headed east on the gradual hill up to Tramway than north up Tramway.  At the top we took the little torturous ride up to the base of the tram before enjoying a nice little break.  We then headed off for the long decent into the valley (very fun!).  We finished up by riding the diversion channel south back to the ride start.  An interactive map of the ride can be found here.  A nice start for the season!

Total ride time: 2:33, distance 36 miles, average speed 14 mph, top speed 37 mph.

The 2010 ride by the numbers

The team poster

280 - Total mileage of team training rides

470 - Total mileage of solo training rides (counting commuting to work)
151 - Total mileage of Bike MS

1 - Total number of broken wrists
1 - Total number of broken wheels
2 - Number of flat tires
0 - Number of bike free weekends since June 24th (for the Scrymgeours)
1 - Number of vegetarians that were so hungry they ate beef brisket
400 - Number of fig newtons consumed (team wide)
5 - Number of Red Bulls consumed (team wide)
5 - Number of too tight cycling jerseys worn by team
15 - Number of temporary tattoos applied to body (team wide + family support)
2 - Number of sticks of Glide applied to "sensitive areas"

2400 - Money raised by the Scrymgeours!
7700 - Money raised by the Penultimates!

Crossing the finish line on the last day as a team!

Day 1 ride:  88 miles, Ave speed: 14.9 mph  Max speed:  38.5 mph
Day 2 ride:  53 miles, Ave speed:  14.4 mph  Max speed: 43.5 mph

So worth it!  Can't wait until next year!  (Granted, an 10 month break from training will certainly help with the keister recovery).

Day 2 aka can your keister take the punishment?

After an early bedtime and a well earned sleep, the morning came very early.  We headed over to the ride center again before the sun was up ready to start the next days ride.  It was a very foggy morning - something I haven't seen since leaving PA.  Because of this, the ride was delayed about 30 minutes as we waited for the fog to lift.  We were all a little stiff and sore, especially in the "saddle" area, so there was a lot of groaning as the Penultimates were off on the second 60 mile leg of the ride (map is here).  But spirits were high, as the fog gave the morning an otherworldly air.

Biking through the fog - it was beautiful

Mission church in the fog

As we climbed out of the Espanola valley, we left the low hanging cloud to better visibility above.  But it still was very ethereal, as the sun through the foggy air gave a very diffuse, uniform light.  As we biked toward the first rest stop, the fog eventually broke right as we were emerging into the beautiful red rock vistas.  After a pretty steady climb, the last few miles was a long fast decent into Chimayo.  This rest stop was fantastic, and featured delicious coffee and donuts.  (Again, I can't say enough about the volunteers for this ride!)

Spirits were running high early in the morning!

Best rest stop ever - coffee and donuts

From there we circled back and down into the Espanola valley.  Again, Frank and I used our superior mass to cruise toward the next rest stop.  We set a really fast cruise speed of 20-25 mph, passing a lot of people (including Chris and James - that was pretty satisfying!) on the way to the second stop.  From there we headed out toward the tough part of the day - the climb up to the top of the mesa and the Puye cliff dwellings.   It was a long 7 mile climb, and although we started the climb mostly together it ended up with me bringing up the rear (as usual).  

The team at the top of the big climb

After a nice celebratory picture at the top of the climb at mile 35, we headed out on the last 20 miles of the weekend.  These miles went pretty quickly, as we joined a bunch of other riders in the peleton.  Drafting a rider in front of you makes a huge difference (according to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, says you can reduce energy expenditures by 40%)!  We really were moving, and it was a really fun experience.   We quickly cruised into the last rest stop, and contacted all the family to meet us at the finish line.  The Penultimates crossed the finish line at the same time by 11:10 am!

All told, it was a fantastic weekend.  An epic ride of awesomeness.  Just over 150 miles in two days.  I really enjoyed biking with the Penultimates, and hope that they will join me again next year to bike.  The whole experience of the ride is much more than the challenge of biking 150 miles.  It is a combination of the fantastic volunteers, the spectacular terrain, the fellow riders, and the emotional reason of the ride.  The vast majority of people there have some connection to MS, and knowing why we were all there on a beautiful weekend made the whole ride that much more amazing.  I am looking forward to next year!

Day 1 - The Big One!

After all that training, the ride was finally here!  We gathered in the predawn light at the ride headquarters at the Cities of Gold Casino just north of Santa Fe.  We were both pretty tired - Ali from dealing with a cranky baby who was stuffy from the hotel air conditioning, me from a bout of food poisoning which left me writhing in agony with feverish dreams.  I felt better by morning, but probably only got about 3 good hours of sleep.  Same for Ali.  But we were ready and excited for the days ride!

The whole team ready to depart!

Just before the 215 riders departed for the day's ride, the organizer gave a little talk about the meaning of the ride.  She spoke about all those living with MS, and how we were all making a difference.  We all got a little choked up at that, but the feeling passed as they let loose the first wave of riders (fast riders first).  After a few more waves, the Penultimates were on our way, biking as a team for the first time all year!  Five of us were doing the long 90 mile ride (map here), and Ali was doing the short 40 mile ride (map here).  The best part was that the route was the same for the first 20 miles.  

Biking through the hamlet of Ohkay Owingeh

So as a team, we wound our way through the town of Espanola with a police escort blocking roads and alerting traffic (really the only segment of the ride in traffic).  We were quickly out into the country side of New Mexico biking through some beautiful scenery.  It was really nice to bike with Ali, and the first part of the ride went much too quickly.  We parted ways at the 2nd rest stop, as Ali headed off toward the finish line with a group of ladies from the team Women Riding Well.

Storm approaching!

For the next 30 miles until lunch it was just Frank, Andrew, and I chasing the other two guys from the team, Chris and James.  We would just catch them at the next rest stop as they were leaving.  But we settled into a nice rhythm as we biked from rest stop to rest stop (remember, the theme of the day was to finish without a huge toll on the body - another ride tomorrow!).  One thing I love about this ride is the volunteers manning the rest stops.  They cheer you in, refill water bottles, hold your bike, give you food (often times home made goodies like chocolate covered strawberries), give you iced towels, apply sunblock, and cheer you off to the next stop.  (Often times their kindness would overwhelm me, and I would get a little verklempt.) The fellow riders are also great - often commiserating and joking with you while you stand around eating food and stretching.  I guess if you do a volunteer charity ride you have to a pretty nice person!

The last 10 mile segment before lunch was a long 6 mile hill climb.  Andrew was off like a rabbit, leaving Frank and I to tail him slowly up the mountain (big guys are not built for climbing).  At the top, some volunteers were there offering us iced towels, to help us cool down before the long 4 mile descent into El Rito for a nice break over lunch.  

Just after lunch, we embarked on a long 10 mile segment of gentle downhill.  Frank and I, being the euphemistic "Clydesdale" riders, were built for this segment!  For me this was the most fun of the ride, as we took turns pulling and cruising along at roughly 20-30 miles an hour.  Poor Andrew was trying to keep up whole time, but was no match for our greater mass (revenge for the uphill portion!).

The whole way were were noticing menacing storm clouds on the horizon, and just after mile 60 the rain started.  First slow, then building up to a stinging icy rain, that followed us for the next 6 miles.  We were quickly drenched, but strangely this part of the ride was too one of the highlights.  We don't get to ride in the rain much here, and it really helped to cool us down.  It was pretty epic - I felt like the theme from Chariots of Fire was playing in the background as rivers of water poured of my speeding bike cruising through the rain.

My parents, Ali, and Connor meeting me at the finish line

The next excitement of the ride was when I blew my back tire at around mile 78, just a quarter mile from the next rest stop.  We had spent the last 10 miles, slowly passing packs of riders as we were settling into a nice groove.  But in that quarter mile of walking, all those groups blew by us.  At the rest stop, the mechanic quickly and efficiently replaced both tube and tire (this ride is so well supported!), and we were off for the last segment.  We ended up crossing the finish line around 3:15, about 8 hours after we left.  Over all (according to my bike computer), we averaged 15.5 miles an hour, maximum speed of 35 mph, and a total saddle time of over 6 hours.  All told, a great day of biking!

Finished day 1!

MS and Me

So why do I care so much about this cause?  Well, until about 4 years ago I didn't, but life has a way of narrowing your focus.  As some of you may know, I was diagnosed with MS in Oct 2007.  It came out of the blue - no one I knew had MS, certainly no one in my family.  I felt like I won the inverse lottery.  So here is my story of MS and me.

Just after Thanksgiving in 2006, I began to suffering from weakness on the right side of my body.  Started off really mild, barely noticeable.  But it got worse.  It was a pretty quick onset, from fine and healthy (biking to work everyday and playing in a basketball league) to mostly paralyzed on the right side of my body in a little over 2 weeks.  After a month of trying to figure out what was going on, I was lucky enough to see the head neurologist at UNM who happened to specialized in MS.  She ordered a battery of tests, and the MRI revealed a big honking lesion in my neck, which along with the associated swelling was responsible for the paralysis.  While this was pretty telling, I did not have enough markers for MS for a conclusive diagnosis.  (It is called "multiple" sclerosis for a reason - one lesion is not enough for a diagnosis).  After some steroids and a few months of recovery I was just about back to where I was.

My brain with a dash of gadolinium for contrast.

So the hope was it was an isolated incident.  But unfortunately I was not that lucky, and almost 10 months later the symptoms returned.  A little weakness, some strange sensations on my right side were the prelude to another episode of partial paralysis where I couldn't walk.  This time the MRI showed another lesion, and whammo I heard the words "you have MS".   I started on meds and for three years I have been healthy.   (Strangely enough, I consider myself relatively lucky to get a quick and definitive diagnosis - many people go for years and years suffering symptoms with no diagnosis.)  

Yeah, that diagnosis pretty much sucked.  You always picture your life unfurling a certain direction, and now without warning things were different.  Face it - everyone takes their health for granted until they don't have it.  That was how I felt, I always imagined myself being fairly active until I was old and things start breaking down naturally.  Now, theoretically, things could breakdown pretty quickly.  It made me reevaluate everything - my career, my goals, my outlook, my assumptions.  It also had a profound effect on everyone else in my family, especially Ali.

We want to stay active for a long time!

So no longer can we take my health, over even being able to walk, for granted.  Those few weeks of being paralyzed made me appreciate everything my functioning body is able to do.  I cherish this ability, with the bittersweet knowledge that it may not always be this way. Carpe diem, as they say.  

So this is why we have thrown ourselves into the Bike MS.  It is great to be able to cycle, and I intend to keep doing this as long as I am physically able.  We believe strongly in the mission of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  They are always sponsoring research into both the cure as well as origins of this stupid disease.  All the money and support you have given me goes toward ridding the world of MS, for both me, my family,  and everyone else afflicted.

The Dam Ride

The last training ride of the season!  Hooray!  Today we wanted to get a long ride in, but one that was a little easier than our epic ride last weekend.  So today we headed up to the Jemez Dam ride, about 30 miles from our house.

The early shift - sun wasn't even up yet....

Met the team before the sun was up for a short and dark ride up the north diversion channel, and then up through the Pueblo of the Sandia Village north of the city, to the town of Bernallilo, and then onward and upward to the dam.  It was a beautiful ride, through pastoral land flanking the Rio Grande.  More traffic than we normally deal with, but pretty none-the-less, and relatively flat except for the last few miles of climbing up to the dam.

Look at that view!  Looking south to ABQ.

After savoring the great views from the overlook to the dam, we headed back south through Rio Rancho to Corrales, and then back onto the diversion channel and back home.  All told it was a 65 mile ride that we finished relatively quickly.  A good ride to get the legs all loosened up for the big ride next weekend!  Just a week to go!

The team sporting the Penultimates jersey!

Being New Mexico, near the end of summer there is no water in the dam.

Biking the mother road / gravity is a cruel mistress

These rides are getting serious!  Today we headed out for the 65 mile loop out to Tijeras on old Route 66, around Cedro Peak to the famous rollers on south 217, and then up to Sandia Park at the base of the road to Sandia Peak, then the descent back to ABQ.  A map of the route is here, and make sure to check the elevation gain at the bottom of the page.  That is right - the first 25 miles were an unrelenting uphill with a 2400 ft elevation gain!   Just to let you know, I am not a hill climber.  There is a reason that Tour de France riders look like they are one meal from passing out.  The less body mass to drag up the hill the better!

Break of dawn at the mouth of Tijeras canyon.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  This was exactly the sort of ride I need to get into hill shape.  But I do have to say the elevation gain would have been enough, but no, that and a strong head wind for the first 15 miles were pretty draining.  But it is a beautiful ride - sort of amazing to leave the city to the absolute quietness of the East Mountains.  Also, due to the peculiarity of rainfall patterns, it is green, lush, and very cool over on that side.  We wound our way through pine forests and fields of sunflowers for most of the ride.

Kinda geeked out to be biking on the old Mother Road.

It was just teammate Andrew and I today, the rest of the team were otherwise occupied.  Still on the fence about what to do for next weekend.  Another long ride?  Maybe a rest weekend?  I owe Ali big on this ride, as not only did she watch Connor while I was gone (5:30 am to 11:30 am), but she made sausage and blueberry pancakes for Andrew and I when we got back.  This kindness, plus my famous blood mary's, was a good way to recover from the ride.  Only two weeks to go!

Halfway through the rollers.  At least we were still smiling!

Beautiful view!

The Long Ride

Got back to Albuquerque on Saturday just in time to grab my wheel which was finally back and ready to go (4 weeks - seemed like forever!).  So I got the bike back together in time for a nice long ride.  So early Sunday morning, the team (less Ali she was home with the boy) gathered before the sun gathered for a big loop of the city.

These guys followed me the whole time - I couldn't shake em.

We did the big perimeter loop from the Nob Hill area of ABQ, around to the base of the tram, then down to the river and south, until winding our way back home by the airport.  (If you are curious, a map is located here).  Just as we got to the base of the Tram, the sun had risen high enough to see us (man we left early!)

On the very steep ride up to the base of the tram. Exhausting.

It was a great ride, and for me, really fun to bike with the team.  Last year I did most of my training solo, so it is always fun to bike with such a great group of guys.  Next weekend we are going to do a 65 mile ride to get the legs ready for the ride, which is only 3 weekends away (holy crap!).  But this is the great thing about doing the MS ride.  Even putting in the effort to train is fun, and the actual MS 150 is a blast!   Really looking forward to it this year!

A well deserved break just short of halfway at the base of the tram.  Go Penultimates!

Biking the Peninsula

One of the advantages of staying with family is that we can sneak away from Connor when he is napping to go for a bike ride together - our first in over 15 months!   We went for a ride around the Erie peninsula today.  We both felt like rock stars - riding fast bikes on a very flat road at an elevation of roughly 10 feet made us feel really good.  It was a quick sprint of about 14 miles (at an average speed of ~19 mph).   It was really nice to ride together, our next ride will be during the MS150 at the end of the month!

This chick was following me the entire time - I couldn't lose her!

East Coast Training

Most elite athletes who are really serious do some elevation training - traveling somewhere at high elevation (Denver, Albuquerque) so that your body creates extra red blood cells to compensate for the lower oxygen concentration in the air.  When you return to low elevation, these extra red blood cells give you a performance boost. 

Really elite athletes like me actually do inverse elevation training - where you travel from high to low elevation and train to decrease overall performance.  Or something like that.....  Ali's family were kind enough to locate a bike for me to train while on vacation in Erie.  It is an older bike, but much faster than mine at home.   

My sweet ride

I went for a ride the other night through a suburb close to the Schloss family compound.  Much different than the rides around Albuquerque!  The song I kept singing to myself as I did ~20 miles through the neighborhood was "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds.    The only difference these were actually really big boxes, but they all looked just the same.

20 miles with this as my only view - I miss ABQ!

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:

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!

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.

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!