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It being a lovely spring day, and having done a weekend's worth of chores yesterday, Roomie and I decided to go for a ride. Things were looking dodgy—her helmet has not arrived from Cycle Gear, and the gloves we ordered from newenough.com were backordered, then too small. A third pair will be ordered once the small Fargo's are returned. But mostly I think the hesitancy was in the thinking about going for a ride. The temptation to try out the new gear (her new jacket) won out. We set her up with my old full-face HJC helmet and layered fingerless gloves over some woolies and we set off.
NM 14 north of Cedar Crest is no man's land: one leaves the northern reaches of Bernalillo County, passes through a portion of Sandoval County that has no road connection to any other part of the county, and then continues into Santa Fe County. Above Madrid, the congestion is palpable. We stopped at the Mad Hatter and discussed how she felt about going really fast.
After tea, we stopped next at the Shell at 599. There we had to decide to go home via El Camino Real or to proceed to Harry's Roadhouse Bistro. Assuming Harry's was going to be packed on account of Mother's Day, I made a daring suggestion: we could head north and west over to NM 4 and have lunch in Jemez Springs. To my surprise, she took me up on the offer without hesitation.
I rode with restraint from Madrid all the way to White Rock. Beyond White Rock I was able to open the bike from time to time. From the NM 4 / NM 503 split to Jemez Springs is my favorite part of NM 4; the traffic is relatively light before Hwy 126 and the twisties are among the best in the state. We ate as planned in Jemez Springs, where Roomie posed the question I have asked so many times, "Where is the hot tub?"
Roomie's favorite stretch of NM 4 is from Jemez Springs to the Jemez Pueblo. Red rocks, the Jemez River, and roller-coaster hills. From the Pueblo home, congestion and slab-riding was the norm, though US 550 provided some high-speed straights. As a consolation for putting her through US 550, I took us home via 313 and the Sandia Pueblo, which conveniently ends where 2nd St begins.
While filling up at Jemez Pueblo, I noted the mileage: 46.6 mpg. Not bad for two-up mileage in the mountains, with some high-speed stretches thrown in for giggles. All told, 221 miles covered in about 6 hours, with stops for lunch, tea, gas, and potty breaks. Welcome to the ton-up club, Roomie!
Posted by Underblog at May 10, 2009 5:27 PM
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