+1. Sometimes we all need some support and reassurance that our cause is just. If anyone's interested in meeting on a commute and grabbing coffee, e-mail me at subvertit@gmail.com.

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Reza Fakhrai

I wish I had that kind of free time! My lunch break entails me eating food as quickly as I can in between helping customers. I'm starting to hate being young....

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Reza Fakhrai

Albuquerque is on a grade (river runs through it) so there are some hills to be hand in town, but nothing extreme. It's also next to (town runs up into the western side) of the Sandia Mountains. Some good hill training can be had in the foothills and still in town, one ride called "The fingers" (five different streets go up pretty steep for a pretty long way) is a popular one, and one I've been doing. And you can always climb the back side of the mountain on a road bike, it's probably 8, 9 miles to the top? I have yet to do that one, but plan to very soon.

Albuquerque is a GREAT place to ride for all you not from here...we got ranked 3rd in bicycling magazine for towns of our side for cycling quality I think...The one thing they over looked is (one town was in AZ, and the other in CO) that in Albuquerque it REALLY IS possible to ride 365 days a year. We probably get snow 6-10 times on a heavy year (havn't seen that much in years though) and the tempature will peak at 100, maybe tops of 105 a couple of times a year, but through most of the summer it's mid 90's wich compared to AZ's heat is very bearable on a bike. AND we have almost no humidity, wich is a pluss IMHO.

GREAT town to ride in :-)

Amen. Riding in Albuquerque is tough sometimes because the east-bound streets are sometimes much longer and steeper than one would account for by car. All in all, it makes for a great training opportunity and the weather and scenery can be really beautiful sometimes.

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Reza Fakhrai

Another vote for Winnings coffee. Lots of cyclists hang out there too including one of the owners. As an aside, the building that now houses Irysh Macs used to be a LBS until it was discovered that the owner was selling a bit of blow on the side (NB: that is pure hearsay).

I commute from Harvard up Silver to Kelly's where I'm a brewer. takes about 3 minutes :-) but I often ride to visit friends. I go from UNM up the Paseo del Nordeste path to the curve then up to Louisiana. I'm on a Mountainbike with slicks and I nod but few return the motion.

My new best friend!

;)

I'm usually to busy to do something on the way in, but I'd be up for something after work. I'd suggest meeting somewhere where we can hang out outside so we don't offend the olfactory sensibilities of the locals. I'll shoot you an email.

What do you ride, and when are you ussually on the road? I tend to go in early - between 0600 and 0700.

I already ride in the racer's lunch ride when I manage to get out... ussually a 21 to 24 MPH pace. A couple other guys from my office on local teams ride every MWF. (I'm not a racer or on a team, although I'd like to get out to a couple crits this season)

I'm very jealous of your commuting situation. Interestingly enough, if you look to your right on Silver as you're passing Columbia, that's where I live. I'll look out for you. I'm also jealous of your gig at Kelly's; a very cool microbrewery.

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Reza Fakhrai

I ride an older Trek 2200. It's a 3-tube carbon setup, so the main triangle is carbon fiber, joined at the points with red aluminum. Back triangle is aluminum, and I have a carbon fiber fork on the front. Usually wear a red jacket in the mornings (though almost warm enough to take that off) and baggy shorts over my cycling shorts (get enough strange looks as it is...ya know?) I usually get in at 7:00, gives me time to shower and get over to my building (doesn't have a shower) by 7:30.

Tell me more about this MWF ride, sounds like it's about my speed, and I am always looking for ways to get more miles. how many people? where do ya'll meet? what time? How far? It's not the Reaper Ride right? that one meets at noon on Tuesday/Thursday, and I understand is pretty brutal. (Heard stories about guys crashing and the pack just rips on, never even looking back)



Can anyone say beerfilter sponsored happy hour at Kelly's? Just kidding, I love Kelly's though, what are your hours there? I often go for happy hour with friends, but have no idea what a brewers schedule would be (probably not the same as happy hour folks :-) In regards to the nodding and not getting responses...WHAT'S UP with that? I get a lot of that too. I see one guy in perticular, EVERY morning, he's heading north from UNM and I'm heading south towards UNM. He's probably mid 35-45 years old, rides an older road bike, wears a red jacket, no helmet, and kinda bigish eye glasses. He's not going real fast, just kinda cruising all the time, rides really upright (for a road bike) and NEVER smiles, waves, even looks at me. One time I (just to see if I could get a reaction out of him) started waving wildly as soon as I could see him, then as I got closer yelled "TOP O' THE MORNIN' TO YA! GREAT DAY FOR A RIDE EH?" and NOTHIN....total stone face, like he hates me or somethin!

I actually get more nods from roadies than commuters on that path! Weird. It's like they're all stuck up or something. It may be that I'm not in the reflective vest or fender club though :-)

I know one other guy who commutes to Kelly's by bike. He says he rides there from Wyoming via Central or Zuni. Brave guy; no helmet.

bf

Another Albuquerque rider here.

I've probably seen a lot of you guys/gals before-- sold my car three plus years ago. My commute is from downtown, up MLK, through campus and then through Nob Hill residential roads. I agree that it's a GREAT biking city. Easy to get around in. Big western streets, not much traffic, good bike trails (no cars allowed) along much of the arroyo system. I climb a long hill pretty much everywhere I go (living downtown) but I get it back each time!

I concur about Winnings. (111 Harvard SE) I LIVE there. The owners are some of the coolest people you'll meet and the place is funky. Excellent coffee, good food, spunky employees.

Great to hear familiar roads, places.

Chuckie

The number of people varries - probably 6 to 8 regulars, with random folks dropping in from time to time (at this point I probably count as random). In the warm part of the year it is much bigger than during the winter, when it might be just two or three. The route circles the base (from Eubank gate to South gate and areas in between) and it just about 20 miles. Joining up is sort of tough, because it's a rolling start and finish, from ~1145 to ~1215. By the time we pick it up by the Carlisle gate everyone else is joined up, and then people drop off along the way. The timing of everything is all very Zen and just sort of happens, with the various members knowing how to ride to compensate for leaving early or late. If you ride from the ABL toward the south gate at 12:30, you'll pass the group, and then maybe you can jump on and figure out how to join normally from where you "live".

I've yet to ride the Reaper, although it's similar to what you've described... I think they check to make sure you're not dead after you crash though. ;) From what I understand, the trick to the Reaper is that you should not expect to make it to the end... when you bonk you turn around and be prepared to jump onto the group when they come back (without causing a crash when you join up)

I agree. I try to acknowledge or respond to everyone I see, and I get a response about half the time.

If you see a guy riding an old, blue Giant MTB with Geax slicks with green sidewalls and no saddle (I don't use it on short rides) yell, "Hey, Beerfilter!" :D

I am there daily (I get sad the few days they are closed) though I never ride there. I could probably coast there on 10 pedal strokes. Hmmm. Maybe I'll see just how few pedal strokes it takes me to get there.

It's great to see Winnings get so much good press. The staff really is great. At least three of them ride to work that I know of.

bf

One of the worst things about moving to Hilo is that I also used to LIVE in buzzing coffee houses, and there aren't any places like that here. :( Every time I go back to the mainland I spend much of my time reading and peoplewatching in bustling coffeehouses. Glad to hear ABQ has some places like that near campus.

So, as I stated before (but we've gotten more responses now), if anyone other than eaglevii is interested in getting together for coffee etc. whenever convenient, e-mail me at subvertit@gmail.com. I figured we'd at least get the conversational juices flowing and chill out in like company.

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Reza Fakhrai

Thank God For The Wind
 

That brisk wind here has helped get me back in shape with a quickness. When I first started commuting out to work I was averaging 12mph on my wide, knobby MTB tires and two weeks later I have already jumped up to 14mph. Slow I agree but I had been off a bike since last October. Blow wind blow!

:eek:

aah! ya'll let the thread fall while I was on vacation! :-) good thing I had it bookmarked!

Got back Monday night from Las Vegas NV, my wife and I went there with a dozen or so of her family members...let me just say, not a good idea.

That said I had some problems with my tires last week, and decided to replace them before riding in today. I must have been tired or spacing or both, cuz I managed to pinch wholes in not one, but TWO tubes. I decided to call it a night and buy new tubes today. One is patchable, but has slime in it and I'm wanting to get away from sealant as I think it's not really needed when using "the system" (tube inside old tire tread with bead cut off stuffed inside new tire) The other has large cuts at the valve stem so I just gave up. Got new tubes today, and should be on the road tomorrow. I'm looking forward to working out some frustration from my "vacation" on the bike. Expect record commute times tomorrow ;-)

I know how you feel. Family vacations or trips of any sort where a bicycling is not an option makes me that much more grateful for the two wheels when I get back. I haven't used "the system" but the guys at the Bike Coop recommended it as an alternative to heavy-duty tires/tubes. I opted for the thorn resistant tubes and tire liners. Since then, I haven't had any flats and the ride is just fine. Glad to see you're back on the road. We'll try not to let this thread fall to the bottom again. Happy riding!

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Reza Fakhrai

For all you ABQ folks that need tubes, Bike Work has a crazy coupon right now:
http://www.bikeworlds.com/coupon.html
Basically half price continental tubes. Can't beat that with a stick.

Bike to Work day was good to me - lots of coupons, ankle wraps, and a blinky light (super bright!!) Too bad it's not every month.

Any more news on a get together? I'm still game...

there's no news to quote regarding the get-together. No one seems interested...

AWWW MAN! I was hoping to get some free ankle wraps! Now I really wish I'd not gone to vegas....I coulda gotten free blinky lights!

Lets have a get together! sounds like a lot of people come past the paseo del nordeste/diversion channel intersection, wanna just meet there? or perhaps the UNM area? Winnings coffee?

Or do we wanna meet at Kelly's for some of brewfilters fine drink?

I'm usually at work at 7:30. But I don't mind calling in late to hang out with some commuter geeks! Any day next week would work for me!

My vote is for meeting in the UNM area or Winnings. I don't ride the Nordeste/Diversion intersection except for errands. Of course, for the purpose of a meeting, it could be seen as an errand. I'm free after noon MWF, and before 6 pm TF next week. Let me know.

UNM works for me, anyone else? c'mon ya'll weigh in!

U N M

In about 2 months, I am moving out of NYC (after living here all my adult life) and driving down to the Southwest looking for a new homebase. Being a long time bicyclist using my bike to commute, shop and local touring averaging about 5k+ a year, I am looking for a bicycle safe and friendly small city. How friendly are the drivers in Albuquerque? I am considering either Albuq or Tucson. From what I am gathering Albuq's temperature is not nearly as hot as Tucson and is a lot closer to NYC.

I vote UNM area - although not on campus, I can never find my way around. ;) Someone with knowledge of the area suggest a place that has room for stashing 5 or 10 bikes; if Winnings has the room it sounds pretty popular. Of course, Kelly's has the room outside, if folks are more into beer. How does next Tuesday afternoon sound to people, around 5? (help get back into the swing of things after a long weekend). Not sure if most people work a 9 to 5 day?

Stargazer, I'm from upstate NY, so I know about NY and NYC drivers. The drivers here are a lot more curteous than NYC (not hard), but they make up for it with incompetence. On the plus side, most of the ABQ drivers don't seem to mind bikes in the bike lanes, or stealing the right lane from time to time. I've only been honked at a handful of times. The weather blows NYC out of the water - a little warmer, but not nearly as humid. You can download the city bike map here: http://www.cabq.gov/bike/ to get a feel for the bike lane/route system we've got.

Altitude/elevation

So just to sum up, UNM sounds like the most feasible for everyone. How about we meet at the Yale entrance to campus? I work a 4 a.m. - 12 p.m. shift. In light of that, how's Tuesday afternoon for everyone? And how about we wait 'til we meet to figure out where to go...Winnings is possible because they have bike racks adjacent to the building and right across the street. Anyway, let's get a concensus and see what works! I'm excited....