Riding with NM Velo Sport Cycling

When I found out I would be traveling to Albuquerque for Easter weekend, I started looking for a group ride I could join in with so I could get my miles in this weekend. On the NM racing series website I found group rides for the state and the NM Velo Sport club sounded like a good bunch to ride with. I emailed a club officer about it and he said I was welcome to join in. I met up with 21 other riders at 9am at a parking lot next to Perfection Honda used car lot at the intersection of Academy and McKinney. I was one of only a couple of people who drove there as most of the other people rode their bike to the start. After a little discussion between members about which route we would take that day (some wanted to climb and some wanted to roll the flats) it was decided we would climb on this day. The route was as follows -McKinney to San Pedro to Tramway at the Interstate- up Tramway to Central -East to Tijeras and then South up Tijeras canyon. Once we topped out on a mesa up Tijeras canyon we turned around and retraced our route back to the start. It was right at 70 miles and 3hours 45 minutes of hard riding. They ride hard but they do slow down and regroup at the top of any big climbs although getting that many people through traffic lights is challenging. It was a good ride and I met a lot of really nice people and I would reccomend this group ride to anybody that finds themselves in Albuquerque on a Saturday morning with a little time on their hands. Hope you guys had a good ride on Sunday and I will see some of you in GJ this weekend at the Mad Cow Classic.

Steve