Category Archives: bicycle ride
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Dia de los Muertos: Ofrenda & Despedida
The National Hispanic Cultural Center is hosting an Ofrenda exhibition again during this time leading up to the Dia de los Muertos Despedida on November 3, 2017.
Most Ofrendas at NHCC are created by school children from across the City.
Duke City Wheelmen is proud to be included in this tradition. We have created Ofrendas since 2010, initially with the help of Jacobo de la Serna.
This year’s Ofrenda was the result of the work of Steve Mathias, Dave Hamilton, Carolyn Donnelly and Jennifer Buntz.
Go by National Hispanic Cultural Center and see all the Ofrendas 
October 16 – November 10; 10 am to 5 pm
Visit NHCC November 2 @5:30pm to make your own Ofrenda related art
Participate in the Despedida, Dia de los Muertos Celebration, November 3; 5-7PM
SAVE THE DATE – 12AUG2017
On 12AUG1977
The Space Shuttle Enterprise
Was launched from the back of a special 747
But that isn’t the reason for this SAVE THE DATE notice
EC77 8142
7/26/77
Approach and Landing Test (ALT) crew in front of 747/Space Shuttle Enterprise: Fitz Fulton, Gordon Fullerton, Vic Horton, Fred Haise, Vincent Alvarez and Tom McMurtry.
On August 12th, DCW is planning a bicycle event you won’t want to miss.
It might not be able to compare the thrill of having been in the Enterprise as it disengaged from that 747, did a few turns and then landed but it will be a great event!
Ride details coming soon!
Calling all Cyclists: Biker day at the Capitol
BICYCLISTS ARE INVITED TO JOIN
New Mexico Motorcyclist Rights Organization
14th Annual BIKE DAY AT THE CAPITOL 2017
Saturday February 25, 2017, 1pm – 2:30pm
BICYCLISTS ARE INVITED TO MEET AT New Mexico Bike N Sport, 524 W Cordova Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87505 We will have lunch, then ride or walk to the NM Round House Rotunda, State Capitol Building, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
IF YOU ARE IN ALBUQUERQUE, you are invited to ride the Rail Runner to Santa Fe with, and compliments of, BikeABQ. Meet at the Downtown Station at Alvarado Transportation Center by 8:45am. Train departs at 8:58am.
Please email: RSVP@BikeABQ.org if you plan to ride the Rail Runner with them.
We will arrive at the South Capitol Station in Santa Fe about 10:25am, then bicycle or walk to Bike N Sport for lunch compliments of Diane Albert Law Firm. We will bicycle or walk to the Capitol to arrive by 12:45pm. – Bring your bike lock.
Bike Day at the Capitol events are scheduled from 1:00pm – 2:30pm and are hosted by the New Mexico Motorcyclist Rights Organization.
Return to Albuquerque: Rail Runner will depart from the Santa Fe Depot Station at 3:27, 8:12, & 10:07pm and from South Capitol Station at 3:32, 8:17, & 10:12pm.
Proclamations, Memorials, and Bills in the 2017 NM Legislative Session
February 2017 was proclaimed “Distracted Driving Awareness Month” in NM by Executive Proclamation by Governor Martinez. This was the result of efforts by the New Mexico Motorcycle Rights Organization (NMMRO) and Indian Motorcycle of Albuquerque.
NM Senate Bill 55, which among other things, increases the fines for Reckless Driving, Careless Driving, and Texting While Driving, has passed the NM Senate and has gone to committee in the NM House for consideration.
To read the bill as introduced in the Senate, visit: https://nmlegis.gov/Sessions/17%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0055.pdf
NM Complete Streets Efforts Memorials, the result of efforts by the New Mexico Complete Streets Leadership Team NM Senate Memorial 35 – was approved unanimously and signed in February. To read the Memorial, as introduced, visit: https://nmlegis.gov/Sessions/17%20Regular/memorials/senate/SM035.pdf
NM House Memorial 29 – NM Complete Streets Efforts – has a “Do Pass” recommendation from committee and is currently on the calendar for consideration. To read the Memorial, as introduced, visit: https://nmlegis.gov/Sessions/17%20Regular/memorials/house/HM029.pdf
Ride of Silence – May 18, 6:00 pm
Jerry Cline Park is located at the corner of Louisiana and Constitution NE
Ghost Bikes
As one of the founders, and the President of, Duke City Wheelmen, I want to let you all know our policy on the placement of ghost bikes. We place ghost bikes for people killed while cycling. Our secular organization makes no judgement on who is “worthy” of a ghost bike.
We hope that you who support ghost bikes can understand and support the placement of ghost bikes without regard to race, creed, color, nationality, gender, circumstances of their death or any other characteristic.
If someone asks, we respond.
Whatever the circumstances of the individual’s death, the person was loved and is missed. We hope that the placement of a ghost bike helps the family and friends of the fallen cyclist heal. We also hope that the ghost bikes we place help all road users remember to be attentive, alert and responsible.
Thank you,
Jennifer G. Buntz
Muertos y Marigolds
Albuquerque’s South Valley Dia de los Muertos parade, November 1, 2015.
Ghost Bike Ofrenda
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This Friday, the National Hispanic Cultural Center is hosting it’s annual Community Ofrenda and Despedida evening, celebrating Dia de los Muertos. 5-7:30 pm. This free, family friendly event will be in the Dominici Education Building and on the Plaza Mayor. You can bring something to add to the community Ofrenda and tour the other Ofrendas, including the Ghost Bike Ofrenda that Duke City Wheelmen created. Look for me in DCW purple! Hope to see you there. Music and traditional refreshments will be part of the festivities too.
Separate and UNEQUAL
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In April and again in June people using multi-use paths in Santa Fe that cross Rail Runner tracks rode out into the path of an oncoming train. These two individuals died. These multi-use paths have no safety arms or warning lights of their own.
On the other hand, people using city streets in Santa Fe while (typically) driving motor vehicles, encounter warning lights and arms specifically designed to stop them from driving into the path of the very same trains.
No one questions the presence of these safety devices on streets or highways. Departments of Transportation across the country realize that people need help in avoiding these collisions. Rail Runner/street crossings that don’t have arms or warning lights have been sites of motor vehicle/train crashes elsewhere in the State (between Los Lunas and Belen). Pedestrians have been killed at other unmarked crossings in Bernalillo County.
When considering multi-use paths, it isn’t accurate to think only cyclists use them. Path users routinely include children, elderly, disabled people, or those without the means or inclination to drive a motor vehicle. They also include those crazy enough to exercise outdoors – cyclists, runners, walkers, roller bladers, etc.
Are any of us really comfortable saying that this diversity of path users should be held to a higher personal standard for their safety at a track crossing compared to motor vehicle drivers? Said another way;
Why not protect all road and path users equally?
A website devoted to train track crossing safety posted A motorist is almost 20 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle. Comfortably, I’ll say that the likelihood of a path user dying from being hit by a train is even higher.
These crashes are always difficult to understand. What are people thinking? How can they not see or hear the train? Both the recent victims of bicycle/train collisions lived in Santa Fe. How could they not know about the trains!?
You might think that the closer we are to home the more familiar we are with potential hazards, like on-coming trains, and the better we would be at avoiding those hazards. If you do think that, think again. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at U.S. DOT:
Three out of four crashes occur within 25 miles of a motorist’s home. Fifty percent of all crashes occur within five miles of home.
What this says to me is that people are, well, people. We make mistakes. We get comfortable with what is the most familiar and sometimes that lets us drop our guard. While this can be a good thing in an interpersonal relationship, it isn’t so good with respect to traffic safety.
As people, we are all quite susceptible to falling into that zoned out, less observant state of mind. I feel that equal protection from our own potential foibles is in order, no matter how we choose to be mobile on a given day.
I just can’t advocate for separate but unequal.