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January 2008 - Posts
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Good morning and happy Friday! And the news is all good - the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is in full swing, it's Super Bowl Sunday this weekend, next Tuesday is Mardi Gras and Super Tuesday, and we have a great ride planned on Saturday morning... I'll get through the team news real quick, and then save the best for last - announcing the 2008 Board of Directors!
Weekend Ride - First Official Tour de Peanut and the Debut of PJ's Uber Bike
 San Antonio Team Captain John Tenison has a great ride planned for Saturday morning on the southside of town. We're doing the wonderful rolling hills between Elmendorf and Floresville, including a visit to the legendary South Texas Freaknut. On the ride, we'll be joined by some of our friends from the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club, plus the ride will be the world debut of PJ's new bike, which from all accounts is the new Eighth Wonder of the World and truly something to behold. Click here to see our event schedule for 2008, including details about this ride.
Jersey Orders
PJ and I are working closely with folks from the Valero Specialty Shop on something that has been a goal of mine for many years - selling our team apparel throughout the year through their web site. What this means for team members is you can order a jersey at any time during the year and get it within a week or so because it will be drop shipped to your doorstep. Yes, friends, we are finally entering the 21st century when it comes to our team store. This is not a done deal yet, but keep your fingers crossed - I'll keep you posted as things develop.
Equipment Discounts
We are now up to 13 shops in the San Antonio area that are offering 10 to 15% discounts to Velo Valero members on equipment, plus a handful that are offering some very cool new rider packages. To see the list of participating shops, click here. Thanks to Board Members Chuck and Zora for contacting the shops! NOTE: To take advantage of the discounts, you must be a registered member of the team, and you must have a 2008 Membership Card. (See instructions below).
Rider Profile and Waiver
Downloading our Membership Card is a two-step process. First, you have to be logged into our web site. To determine if you are signed in, check the upper right hand corner of this screen, and see if it says "Signed in as <your user name>". If it does, proceed to the next step. If not, do the following.
- If you are receiving the Captain's Blog e-mails, you are a registered member already, you just haven't signed in yet. Click here to follow the steps for signing in and (if necessary) recovering your password.
- If you aren't receiving the Captain's Blog e-mails, you'll need to Join our site. Click here to see the steps for joining up.
The final Step is to fill out our Rider Profile and Waiver. Even if you have filled this out in previous years, you have to do it again - those are the rules! The last step of the Waiver takes you to the link where you can download the Membership Card. To access the form, click here.
As always, please send an e-mail to cycling@valero.com if you have any questions or concerns about this process.
Board of Directors
I'm very pleased to announce (drum roll, please!) the 2008 Board of Directors for the team. This extremely dedicated group has volunteered their time and talents to help me run this vast juggernaut of a cycling team in 2008, and I'm so grateful for this, because as I learned last year, this job is far bigger than one man can do, even for someone who has serious delusions of grandeur and refers to himself as El Hefe. To see the new Board Members, click here.
In setting up this year's Board, we are replacing approximately 25% of the members from last year, which is a best practice for volunteer Boards - it spreads the workload around, and gives you an injection of new energy and enthusiasm each year.
First of all, I'd like to "bless and release" the individuals who are rolling off the Board from last year. Each of them has done an outstanding job for the team over the years, and will continue to be active participants in our events, but for various reasons it was time for them to step down.
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Ken "the Hammer" Hamel Ken has been a huge part of the team for so many years that I hate to see him roll off the Board. But, he has teenagers active in high school sports, and that's going to be a big part of his life the next few years (as it should be). He and Priscilla will still be active members of the team, and I look forward to smoking many a fine cigar with him in 2008. |
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Sammy Nieto Sammy has coordinated the volunteer effort for so many years for our big San Antonio area events such as the Tour de Cure and the Bike to the Beach. I'm sure he'll continue to be extremely supportive of the team - we just won't ask him to come to the Board Meetings anymore, because he's busy enough on so many other things. |
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Stan Lear Stan retired from Valero last year, and is now happily driving a school bus and doting over grandkids, plus a million other things retired people get to do. He and his delightful wife Cindy will continue to be active members of the team - look for them on the road at the wheel of their new tandem bike! |
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Patrick "P2" Porter Patrick joined the Board last year and provided lots of guidance in many different areas. He's a very busy man with an active family and a heavy workload at the office, so we'll give him a break from the Board for now - but we've still got our eye on you, P2 - we'll get you back one day...you can run but you can't hide! |
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"Prima" Donna Escobar Nurse Donna has been the heart and soul of our team for so many years (and so many Pancake Rides!) that it's hard to announce she's stepping down from the Board. But, since her job has her working all over town now, which makes it difficult to attend our meetings, she asked to roll off and give someone else a shot at the Board. Donna will remain an active Team Member, and is organizing the first ever Boerne Birthday Bash in June. |
Now, I'd like to formally welcome the new members to the Board.
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Kirstin Silberschlag Kirstin is a lawyer in Valero's Customs & International Trade group, and one of the strongest riders on the team. She's a multisport athlete who participates in fitness events throughout the year - click here to read her account of the Buffalo Springs Half Ironman she did last year. |
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David Gross David is a Manager in Valero's Information Technology Department, and has been a member of the team for as long as I have, and attends even more team events then I do. He is an active rider who participates in events throughout the country, including the Tour de Tuscon and the Napa and Baton Rouge Tour de Cures. |
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Phoebe McCallum Phoebe is an Analyst in Valero's Feedstock and Oil Marketing group. She is one of those amazing team members who has been active for so long in so many ways - both as a rider and as a volunteer. I'm very happy to add her experience and her enthuiasm to our Board this year. |
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Megan Lehnhoff Megan is an Advisor in Valero's Organizational Development department. Like Kirstin, she's a multisport athlete, including swimming and running - she recently completed the Houston Marathon on January 18th. Megan is new to cycling and the team, and brings lots of new energy and strong communciations skills to our Board. |
See ya' on the road!
- Peter
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Here's your weekly dose of team news. Even in the dead of winter, Velo Valero never misses a beat!
Weekend Ride
San Antonio Captain John Tenison has a ride scheduled for this weekend, weather permitting. Here's his update - Greetings Winter Riders! Looking ahead to Saturday, we plan to meet at Comal Elementary School on Saturday January 26th for a 9:00 AM ride start. The route follows 3009 to 1863 to Loop 337, across IH-35 then back via Green Valley Rd. for approx. 35-40 miles (click here for the map). The route includes some hills and flats - nothing extreme - a little something for everyone. If you haven't been out on a bike since the MS-150, don't be shy - the cool weather makes for great riding. As always, if it's wet Saturday morning, we'll postpone until 1:30 Sunday afternoon. Safety first! Directions to the ride start: Take IH-35 North to Hubertus Rd. (exit 178), take a left across the highway, right at 482, drive a little less than a mile and you'll see the parking lot for Comal Elementary on the right past the railroad tracks. One last thing - Loop 410 is going to be closed in both directions near the airport this weekend, so avoid that area if you can.
Click here for our complete schedule.
See you on the road! - John
San Antonio Wheelmen Rider Education Series (SAW RES)
 Safety Officer Chuck Divelbiss contacted the San Antonio Wheelmen to get some more information on their Rider Education Series (RES). We received the following note from the RES Coordinator, Cliff Hickel. As mentioned last week, we'll reimburse the $35 registration fee for anyone that completes the course and then rides with Velo Valero this year in one of our organized fundraising events such as the Texas Tour de Cure or the Valero Bike to the Beach.
You can have people contact me via email (cahickel@earthlink.net) to sign up for the Feb 23 course. They should send me their name, email address, mailing address, phone and cell phone numbers. The on-line signup also works and they can join at the same time if not already a SAW member. (Click here to access the signup, although some Valero folks have told me they've had trouble with this site.)
The course is six consecutive Saturday mornings. First week is at Bike World on 1604, where we do the academics and check bike fit. Weeks 2-6 will be rides starting at Wiederstein Elementary School off Main St in Cibolo. We do some instruction including flat changing before each ride. Cost is $15 for SAW members and $35 for non members (includes a one year membership). We still have over 10 openings for the Feb class and cut off at 30 riders. The next class will start in April and those who don't make the first 30 go to top of the list for the April class. The Valero riders are very welcome in our classes. If you have additional questions call me at 210-481-1807.
- Cliff
Hats off to the good folks at the San Antonio Wheelmen for providing such a top notch program!
Anyone Shopping for a New Bike?
Discounts Available at San Antonio Area Bike Shops
We are currently negotiating with San Antonio area bike shops for discounts and new rider packages for team members. At this time we have deals worked out with 13 shops, and will be adding more in the weeks to come. Discounts range from 10 to 15% for equipment, and some of the shops have package deals for new riders. To see the list of shops, click here. Thanks to Board Members Chuck Divelbiss and Zora Bilicich for contacting the shops.
Annual Spring Bike Swap
Are you upgrading to a new bike and want to sell your old bike to someone on the team? Are you in the market for a used bike? If you're planning on one or the other in the next 30 days, send an e-mail to cycling@valero.com and we'll try to give you a hand. Include in the e-mail your height and your price range, and whether you'd be interested in purchasing a "gently used" bike. For the folks looking at new bikes, we'll check with the shops offering discounts to Velo Valero, and see if they will give us a group discount if we do one big mega-deal with them. For folks in the market for used gear, we'll try to hook you up with folks selling a bike your size in your price range. NOTE: Only reply if you are serious about doing a deal in the next 30 days! This is the first year I've tried to play eHarmony for bike owners, so there are no guarantees, but I'll do what I can to help.
2008 Schedule of Events
I've gotten an incredible amount of feedback from folks who responded to my request for suggestions on rides to add to our 2008 Schedule of Events. I've added some new rides to the list, including the Bluebonnet Express Metric Century and the LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour. I also added some non-cycling fitness events such as the San Antonio Tower Climb and the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon for those of you looking for a broader range of fitness challenges this year. As each of these events approach, I'll provide more details and organize our participation. I remain committed to provide the broadest range of possible experiences for the team, since that worked so well for us last year. I don't expect every one to participate in every event, but there ought to be one or two on the schedule that lights your pilot.
...That's it for now! I've been real busy this week, and haven't had time to finalize the 2008 Board of Directors, so I'll wait to announce the line-up in the next blog posting.
See ya' on the road!
- Peter
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Happy Friday! Since it's too cold and wet to ride my bike today, I'm going to sit down and write the second Captain's Blog of the year. Hold on to your hats, because I have lots of exciting news to share with you.
Announcing the 2008 Velo Valero Officers
Our first Board Meeting of the year was held on Wednesday. This was an important meeting because at it we elected the first ever set of Velo Valero Officers (which we had to do to conform to the new Valero Volunteer guidelines). I am so very proud of the folks who will be performing these new roles for the team, because of the enormous respect I have for them as Valero co-workers, as members of the Board, and as my fellow cyclists. So, without any further adieu -
 Peter Ray, President and National Captain
Known to some as El Hefe, a notorious camera hog. My focus will continue to be on building the National Team, improving our working relationship with organizations such as ADA and MS, orchestrating our participation in big events such as the Bike to the Beach, and managing the Board of Directors.
 David Sloan, Vice President
David was our Board Member in charge of fundraising last year, and helped us raise a combined $350,000 for ADA and MS. I admire David because he is someone who has so much genuine passion for cycling and the causes we support as a team. In addition to continuing his focus on fundraising, David will perform the role of President when I am unavailable this year, a job I know he will do well because I have total confidence in his judgement and his commitment to the team.
 Patricia Jones, Treasurer
Patricia did so much for the team last year, from drafting our first ever team budget to running the team store, to helping me make so many important decisions. (And, for the record, I'll never admit how many times I overruled her on things she ultimately proved to be right on...) She will be our first ever Treasurer, and as such will continue to oversee the team's finances.
This wasn't voted on at the Board meeting, but I wanted to include it in this announcement -
 John Tenison, San Antonio Team Captain
...I've thought about creating a San Antonio Team Captain position for some time, because the job that Laura so generously bequeathed to me has become way too big for one person to perform. A San Antonio Captain will allow me to split all the administrative duties of running the team and our big events from the duties associated with planning and leading the rides for our San Antonio area cyclists. Everyone I talked to about this agreed that John Tenison is the right person for the job, because to be quite honest, John has been leading our training program and planning new routes and new ways to punish us for years. John is a rider's rider, because his enthusiasm for all things cycling is truly contagious - year after year, he's one of the few folks who actually looks forward to scaling those colossal hills on the Luckenbach ride. I'm certain John will continue to do everything possible to insure that Velo Valero cyclists are the safest, best conditioned, and most disciplined riders on the road.
When you see these folks, please congratulate them on their new positions! I'll be announcing the 2008 Board of Directors next week.
January Board Meeting
As mentioned above, lots of big decisions were made -
 The Board unanimously approved keeping our current jersey design. We'll consider a redesign in 2009 to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Valero MS 150 Bike to the Beach, but for now, we'll stick with what we got. This means that if you have a current team jersey, you do not need to buy a new one to participate with the team during organized events like the Tour de Cure in 2008. For those of you who do not have a jersey, we'll be opening up our team store next month to allow you to order one.
 The Board approved continuing to ask our beginning riders to attend the San Antonio Wheelmen Rider Education Series (RES) program. In 2008, we'll reimburse the cost of the program for any Velo Valero team member that successfully completes the program. The Wheelmen do a great job with this six week RES, and we are glad to partner with them again this year.
 The Board endorsed our participation as National Team for the ADA Tour de Cure rides again this year. This recommendation will now be forwarded to Valero Community Relations for approval.
Click here to access the complete Board Meeting minutes.
Ride this Sunday
For all you non-football fans, "The Punisher" has a ride scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm leaving from Bullis County Park, with distances of 20 and 35 miles. Check our ride schedule for complete details.
American Diabetes Association Awards Banquet
It was another night on the red carpet for Velo Valero as the 2008 American Diabetes Association (ADA) Awards Banquet was held Tuesday at a San Antonio south side institution, the Little Red Barn. At the banquet, a number of awards were accepted by former and current Velo Valero members -
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David Sloan received the Individual Contributor award for personally raising over $17,000 during the 2007 Tour de Cure
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Former Velo Valero Board Member and current Nustar Novas Captain Ken Mayfield accepted the prestigious Pinnacle Award. Ken is filling Laura's shoes as the Event Chair for the Texas Tour de Cure this year.
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Peter Ray accepted the award for our Corporate Sponsorship of the Texas Tour de Cure on behalf of Valero
Team members pose with another round of well-earned bling during the 2008 ADA Banquet. For more photos, click here.
Enchanted Rock Hike
 Last week we decided to do something totally different instead of cycling. Patricia suggested we do a day hike on Enchanted Rock in the gorgeous Texas Hill Country. Well, since we are such an incredible set of well-conditioned athletes, this hike was more of a sprint. It was actually funny to see the hikers arranged like one of our cycling pace lines, with John, PJ, and Chuck leading the pack at a furious pace, and not stopping for anything! Afterwards, we had lunch at the Silver Creek restaurant on Main Street in Fredericksburg, where we celebrated the birthday of Board Member and ageless wonder, Zora Bilicich. I'm hoping we do more of this in 2008 to vary our training. In fact, we're adding some new folks to the Board this year who may help steer us in whole new directions in terms of physical challenges (more on this later).
Zora and Peter slowly crawling up the side of Enchanted Rock. For more photos, click here.
Wellness Fair
The 2008 Valero HQ Wellness Fair was held on Thursday. A number of Board Members helped me staff the Velo Valero booth, where we spread the sweet gospel of our team to anyone that dared to walk by and pick up our schwag. We actually got 30 prospective new members signed up from the Fair, which makes it one of our most successful recruiting efforts ever!
Sylvia, Andrea, Peter, PJ, and Lori Hawkins from ADA going G-unit at the 2008 Valero HQ Wellness Fair. For more photos, click here.
That's all the news that fits for now - hope to see you on the road soon!
- Peter
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Happy New Year!
 Well, I returned to work today after doing the Texas Tour to see family, then spending a week in gorgeous Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I got on a pair of skis for the first time in 28 years. I learned one simple fact on that snow covered, 12,000 ft. mountain - skiing is just like riding a bike. Except you only go downhill. Really fast. With no wheels. Or brakes. In the snow. But you know, I was amazed at how quickly things came back to me after such a long layoff. The first few days I was fairly cautious, but by the last day, I was feeling pretty cocky - which was unfortunate, because this led to an unplanned high speed encounter with an immovable object (i.e., a tree) that caused me to lose a ski and bang up my knee pretty badly. But, it was really a blast, and something I won't wait 28 years to do again. On the final day, I wore my Velo Valero jersey (see photo above), and a few people actually mentioned they had seen the jersey at one ride or another during the year. This of course made me swell with pride, because it's yet more evidence that we've gone nationwide!
Rides This Weekend
It's 2008, and it's time to get back on our bikes - we all need the fresh air, and to sweat out all that egg nog and fruit cake we consumed during the holidays! On Saturday, John Tenison will lead riders from Judson High School to New Berlin and back, with wheels up at 09:00 am. On Sunday, Patricia Jones and Carl Crawford will lead riders from Bullis County Park for a 35 mile loop with wheels also up at 09:00 am. Click here to see our entire 2008 Ride Schedule. As always, if you have a suggestion for a route or an organized event, send it to cycling@valero.com.
2008 Texas Tour de Cure to be held on May 17-18
 It may be January, but it's not too early to sign up for the Texas Tour de Cure, which this year will be held on May 17-18. The minimum fundraising requirement is a mere $150, and all proceeds go to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Because we sleep in the dorms at Texas State University and do a little toobin' on the San Marcos River, we refer to this ride as "Animal House on Wheels". For more information, click here. To see photos from last year, click here.
2007 Valero MS 150 Bike to the Beach Poster
 Those incredible graphic artists in Valero's Design Services group have done it again! They took all those amazing photos from the Valero MS 150 Bike to the Beach and put together a poster that we'll be displaying around the Valero HQ campus and using during our recruiting efforts this year. To see a high resolution version of the poster, click here. Damn, we're one good looking team!
New Version of Web Site Launched
During the holidays, team member Patrick Talley and I upgraded the team web site to a new version. We have lots of new capabilities that we'll be deploying in the next few months. For now, there's something each of you will need to do to make sure you are logging into the site correctly. (When we upgraded the site, your login cookie became invalid, which is probably TMI...) In the upper right hand corner of the site, click on the Sign In link. If you remember your user name and password, enter them, check the box next to Next Time Automatically Sign Me In, and click on Sign In. If you don't remember your user name and password, you'll need to do the following:
When the Sign In page appears, click on I Forgot My Password. On the next page, enter the e-mail address you receive my blog announcement e-mails at, and then click on Recover Password. The system will then send you an e-mail listing your user name and a new password for the site. Be patient - this can take up to 15 minutes. When you receive the e-mail, use the information to login to the site again. If you want to change the new password that was generated for you, click on the Edit Profile link in the upper right hand corner of the screen once you have logged in. Bingo! You are back in business as an authenticated user, which gives you access to all the really cool new interactive features of our site (which I'll be describing in more detail in the next few months).
If you have problems with this process, please send an e-mail to cycling@valero.com.
See ya' on the road!
- El "Watch out for that Tree" Hefe
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