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!

A wee dram for charity!

This year Ali, our fellow teammate and friend Blythe and I attempted a new fundraising strategy - we set out to do an organized event to help raise money for the MS society.  Some how we came up with the brilliant idea of having a paired scotch tasting dinner - 5 courses of food paired up with 5 scotchs from the different regions of Scotland.  We also managed to easily convince our local Scottish pub to host the event.  Things couldn't have gone smoother.

Unfortunately, the night before the big event the little man came down with some unknown illness which included a raging fever and a case of the pukeys and crankys.  He was feeling so bad that the next night for the scotch tasting Ali had to stay home with him.  Bummer.  We missed her, but our paired scotch tasting was a rousing (and tasty) success!  We sold all of the 25 tickets for the big event and we packed tightly into the back half of the pub (a pub that both Ali and I had basically lived in watching games of the last rugby world cup).   

The introduction to each pairing, as explained by the manager and the scotch master, included a mouth watering description of the food, a little history and details of each scotch, why the scotch was chosen, and what made the pairing work.  We then thoroughly enjoyed the combination over lively conversation.  Then the tables were promptly emptied by the attentive staff and the next course of scotch and food was served up.  By the end we were very full from all the food and very happy from all the scotch.   It was quite the experience!   

Personally, I have never drank my scotch with food and it was an epiphany! No one thinks twice of pairing wine with a specific dish, but never had I thought of applying the same logic to scotch.  There were many interesting flavor combinations that the food brought out of the scotch and vice versa.  

All in all a very successful and fun evening.  Through the generosity of our attendees and the fantastic staff at Two Fools, the Penultimates were able to raise over $1200 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society!  And plans have already been laid for next years event!   If you are in ABQ hope you can join us!

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.

A preseason ride

 I made a big push this year to recruit new riders to our team, the Penultimates.  I advertised around Sandia, recruited heavily from my freinds that are in to cycling.  So far the efforts have paid off, our team of 6 riders last year is already up to 11 riders (with a few more thinking about it).

We went on a training ride for Father Day on June 19th.  Ali watched the little guy, and I snuck off to go for the first preseason ride.  All told there were 8 cyclists who joined me.  We did the inner ABQ loop for a total distance of about 35 miles.  Everyone survived too, so this captaining this is going okay!

Giuseppe gets a tune-up

It is that time of year again - time to start training for the Bike MS150!  First up, get the bike up and ready to go.  (For those of you that are not aware, my Bianci Volpe is named Giuseppe).

The first step was to finally get some "Clydesdale" strength wheels that can hold up to my weight.  Most wheels are designed for riders that are at most 160 lbs - I, however, weight about 70 lbs more.  So I got a sweet pair of custom built wheels from Peter White Cycles.  Why did I choose this place? Well, the wheel rant was the biggest reason.  (Read it - it is like he was talking to me personally!)  For those gear heads, they are Velocity Chukker rims with Phil Wood hubs laced at 40 spokes.

I also took Giuseppe in for a much needed tuneup.  He has been tirelessly carrying me to work for over 3 years now, so I rewarded him with a comprehensive day at the spa.  New cables, chain, serviced bottom bracket, new brakes, as well as new tires that went along with the new wheels above.

Yes, all this was pricey, but considering we don't have a second car (or second car payment) and we don't pay for gas to get me around, this is all small dollars.  I estimate I have put over 7500 miles alone in the three years that I have been commuting to work, not counting all the training rides too.   So he deserved a little TLC.

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).

Ali's Day 1

My day started out just like everyone else.  As David mentioned, we were a little sleep deprived so the morning came really early.  We didn't get to enjoy the start as we did last year and I felt a little rushed.  I had that nervous/excited feeling you get before the start of something big - will I be able to keep up?  Will I be able to function afterwards?  What if I get lost while riding by myself?  What if I get attacked by wolves?  Yep, that's how my brain functions on adrenaline...scary.

Fillin' the camel back....

Just a little pre ride hysteria.  I knew I'd be fine.  And it was great to finally get to ride with the rest of the team.  I had a really confident start until I realized about 500 feet later that when David put my wheel back on he didn't reconnect my front brake - yikes!  (Husband note: may not have been an accident...) Minor setback, and really the only one for me for the rest of the day.

Getting ready to start.  David in the subtle jersey in the middle.

David ended up taking it easy with me while the rest of the team charged ahead.  We spent the first 20 miles side by side as much as possible.  It's so inspiring to watch him do this and whenever I hit a tough spot in my ride later, that's what I thought of to keep me going.  If David can do 90, I can do 40 miles.  

At the mid point where we split forces.

And I did.  David hooked me up with a group of women who were also doing the shorter ride and we headed off together.  Since I hadn't had time to eat before they wanted to leave the rest stop I ended up stopping at the next one to eat while they headed on.  What I hadn't expected was that they would wait for me at the finish and cheer me in.  Apparently the fact that I was doing this for David as well as having an 8 month old son was impressive and we both had people coming up to us all weekend and congratulating us.

It felt good to ride, and now I know why David was so jazzed to do this ride.  It is a really fun experience - everyone you meet is so nice, the volunteers are amazing, and I love the camaraderie of the whole experience.  Looking forward to next year - hopefully Connor will let me do the full ride!