November 12, 2007
Fall Colors Ride Day 2
On Day 2 of the Great Ride, Roomie and I had coffee at the The Bean, a coffee house just through a little gate from the hotel parking lot. The coffee was decent, far better than the included-in-the-price-breakfast-coffee back in the hotel's dining room.
After fueling myself so, and the bike with hi-test, Roomie and I parted ways once more. She took the high road through Talpa to Chimayó to Dixon, while I went over the Gorge, over the pass, and down along the Rio Chama basin to NM 96, which goes from the red bluffs above Lake Abiquíu to Cuba,NM. At the top of the pass, all the leaves had fallen off the aspen, but dropping down into the Chama Basin, the entire valley glowed gold. Also, a herd of deer ran alongside me as I weaved my through the mountains. I slowed down since I wasn't sure whether they were going to dart in front of me, as they have been known to do. At the gas station in Tierra Amarilla (I think there is only one), I spoke with an older gentleman whom I had passed on the pass. In Cuba, I managed to leave my credit card at the gas station, which recorded that I filled up three hours after leaving Taos.
I arrived home a couple of hours before Roomie, having clocked about 250 miles to her 100miles or so.
Posted by Underblog at 5:47 PM | TrackBack
November 11, 2007
Fall Colors Ride: Day 1
Roomie and I left the house around the same time. The colors didn't get nice until Jemez, but from then on, the leaves were in full brightness. We met in Chimayó right on schedule (around 11:30am) for tamales, then decided to rendezvous at our chosen hotel (the Quality Inn in Taos). The only hitch in the plan was that the road recommended to me by a fellow gear-head (NM 434) was being reconstructed just north of Mora, so I and the 851 had to navigate ½ mile stretches of gravel several times. The road into Angel Fire was a lot of fun. Congestion began on US 64 between Angel Fire and Taos, and had I known about the cutoff to Ranchos (NM 585), I would have bypassed some of the worst congestion. I arrived around 3:30 pm, ready for a nice soaking in the hotel's hot tub.
Posted by Underblog at 6:20 AM | TrackBack
November 9, 2007
Another Road
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Another road I want to take the Ducati(s) on is the high road from Sipapu over to Talpa. We drove it in Biscuits & Gravy and all I could think to myself was how much more fun it would have been on two wheels.
Also, I have it on good authority that NM 75 between Las Trampas and Dixon is also a pretty nice scenic road. Nice of Roomie to think of me when she is driving the mountain roads.