Good afternoon!
Weekend Ride
John "the Punisher" Tenison will be leading a ride on Saturday morning starting at the park & ride across from Sammy's Restaurant (map) in Castroville for a 45 mile ride to Devine, returning via F.M. 1346 (map). Ride start is at 8:00 AM. This is a fun ride that we don't do nearly often enough. Temps look to be favorable so come on out and ride. Who knows, this might be the last nice weekend to ride in 2009.
Don't let the cold weather keep you from working out. During the cold winter months there are plenty of opportunities for riding indoors. Spin classes have become the winter rage and are located all over town. Consider getting yourself a membership to your local health club for Christmas. Valero employees and their spouse can attend spin classes at the Valero Health Club on the first Saturday of each month.
Mission to Mission Ride
It was REALLY cold Saturday morning - as a result, very few Velo Valero riders braved the icy temperatures to participate in the 2009 Mission to Mission ride on the Southside. Board Member Peter Ray and his son were some of the few - here's his report:
Temperatures were in the mid 20s when the 2009 Mission to Mission Ride began this year. My son Alex and I rode together on our mountain bikes, the ones we rode in the Davis Mountains a few weeks ago. We got there a little after nine, thinking the 32 miler would begin at 09:30, but found out there was much confusion regarding the start time, and a big group of long distance riders began at 9:00. Oh well - we checked in and took off on our own, since we didn't see any other Velo riders around. It was bitterly cold but not too windy, and we both were wrapped in a couple of layers with no exposed skin so it wasn't too bad. (An upside to the weather was that the usual gaggle of snarling southside stray dogs was too cold to chase us.) We chatted with Erica from ADA at one of the rest stops, and enjoyed the joyful holiday ditties emanating from a rolling boom box that a rider dressed like Santa had connected to the back of his bike. Afterwards, Alex and I went to the 5 Guys burger place in the Quarry and scarfed down one of the best burgers I have ever eaten!!!!!!!!!!! (We were both cold and hungry, and didn't care that we basically wore our long johns into the restaurant!)
Hef and his boy at the end of the Mission to Mission ride - it was a lot warmer at the end of the ride than at the beginning!
A much warmer ride from a few weeks ago - Chase took this great photo of Al and I climbing the road to the Observatory in the Davis mountains...Of all the pictures I've been in over 10 years of cycling, this has become my favorite...
- Peter
The Punisher Rides Solo
John "the Punisher" Tenison opted out of the Mission to Mission ride Saturday morning, but a guilty concious compelled him to go out and ride that afternoon. Here's his report -
Pete - Hats off to you guys! I wussed out and glad I did. I was the only one who showed at the 471 Exxon, so I scouted out a new route - 2615 along a ridge that overlooks the Medina Lake dam, then 271 to Rio Medina for 30 miles. Worth adding to our ride options. It got chilly and windy on the way back. I headed home and sampled an excellent bourbon I just got - good ending to a nice afternoon!
- John
Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon
The first ever Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon was held on Sunday, December 6th, and a couple of Velo Valero team members participated. Board Member David "the Flash" Gross did the full in a very respectable 4:14:42, and his two angels, Tammy Friddle and Paige Wright, did the half in very impressive times (2:14:23 and 2:39:28). It's even rumored that the 3 of them particiapted in the annual 5K Santa Run. We'll have more updates from this incredible event (which finished on the Las Vegas strip!) soon.
David and Tammy hanging out on the Vegas strip
Sea of Santas at the 5K Santa Run on Saturday
Two sides of Tammy, Paige, and David
MS Corporate Star Recognition for Valero Energy
Finally, we received this e-mail from Fred Flanders, Senior national Directory, Corporate Relations, from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society -
As we near the end of the year, we want to take a moment to thank our MS Corporate Stars and Corporate Partners for what you have done to move us closer to world free of MS in 2009. We’ve placed a Star/Partner flash panel on the front page of our National MS website and hope you’ll take a minute to check out this special thank you message! Click right here and take a look: MS Corporate Star & Partner Website Thank You! (then click on the star icon on the flash panel).
Thank you and happy holidays.
- Fred
See ya' on the road!
- Andrea