Looking at the map and Santa Fe looks like a good ride and area to check out…… I would be tent camping it. I notice a lot of the state parks don’t have showers which kinda sucks. Anybody have any suggestions on rides up through that area? Best time of year to hit it? Looks like it’s 7,000ft around there – must be pretty chilly till the peak of summer?

Just kicking the idea around. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

Last time I was there, we took a ride up to Taos which was a decent ride. We also took the turquoise trail highway 14 down through Madrid. That's where they shot some of Wild Hogs. The movie set cafe was all closed up. I heard somewhere that someone was going to open it up, but I don't know if anything ever happened. By the way, it's a nice ride.

 

The cafe in Madrid is now reopened and Rt 14 is a good, scenic ride. Don't miss
out on taking a ride to the top of Sandia Peak overlooking Albuquerque about 1/2 hour
south of Madrid. On a clear day, you can have 100 mile visibility and the ride up
from @ 6,000 feet to 11,000 is 17 miles of twisties; you WILL scrape pegs..

North of Santa Fe is best.

Enter "Jemez Springs" into Google Maps then follow Rt 4 as it winds up and to
your right. It's a GREAT ride but make sure you tank up as this is true wilderness
area.. Connects to 502 then 84 to Santa Fe. You'd want to run it in the other
direction, from Santa Fe, but it's easier to spot on the map starting from Jemez.

You can make a big loop by taking 4 until it ends at 550 then head northwest
on 550 and picking up 126 to loop back. If you want to practice for the Iron Butt,
go further north on 550 and pick up 96.

Let me emphasize that it can be a long way between gas stations out here.
Fill up every chance you get once you've ridden 50 miles or so since 100-150 miles
between stations is not rare on some of these secondary routes.

There's a local group of riders here and we run these routes and similar ones
pretty often through most of the year. From April on they should be clear of ice
but if you go north into Southern Colorado (another very popular area), watch
the weather closely as I hit rain, sleet, hail and snow up there last September.

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the info! The more I think about it the more excited I am to try to make this trip.

 

FWIW, yesterday a bunch of riders I know rode a very similar path to the one I
recommended and froze their asses off while hitting snow showers near Cuba.

It's still a bit early here..