Day 14 - Friday, May 25th - Albuquerque to Santa Fe, NM

Distance: 68.0 miles

Elevation Gain: +4922 ft. or 72.4 ft./mile

Net elevation change: +1607 ft.

Click here to ride along !!

This was the third of eight days on the tour with elevation gain of 4000 feet or more and it was the fourth largest climbing day. For the first 16 miles we rode mostly to the east and then turned north for the final 52 miles into Santa Fe. 

We started climbing right out of the hotel and tallied nearly 2300 feet in the first 22 miles as we ascended from 5050 feet at the start to 7011 feet at mile 22 with lots of smaller ups and downs along the way. Thankfully we didn't have to get on I-40 today and the number of flats in the group declined dramatically.

In the first 18 miles we crossed over or under I-40 six different times before turning northeast. We started the day heading east out of the hotel and worked our way to the eastern outskirts of Albuquerque. At about mile 12 we entered the Cibola National Forest and passed through the community of Carneul, a village of about 1200 people on the western slope of the Sandia Mountains in the Tierjas Canyon.

Here are some shots from the ride out of Albuquerque.

Before we left Route 66 we reached the Musical Highway at about the 15 mile mark.

Grooved lines in the highway will play the tune America the Beautiful if you are going 45 mph.  Here is a link to a you tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgizA_vDlzs

At the 18 mile mark we turned northeast onto NM 14, the Turquoise Trail, and left Route 66 and I-40 behind. The Turquoise Trail is a National Scenic Byway. Most of it is located on the 54 miles of NM 14 from Tierjas to Santa Fe. It takes its name from the blue-green turquoise stone first mined by the early Pueblo people.

We spent the rest of this day on NM 14 and at the 19-mile mark we passed through Cedar Crest, a village of about 950 people along the eastern base of the Sandia mountains that is bordered to the south by the village of Tierjas with a population of about 540. When we get to San Antonito at mile 22 we have reached the top of the first and longest climb of the day. San Antonito is a village of about 985 people and is home to the San Antonito church and cemetery, a historic church built in 1886 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. There is also a Catholic Mission church in the village

San Antonito Church and Cemetery

San Antonito Catholic Mission Church

From San Antonito we reached our only SAG stop for the day at Henderson's General Store in Golden at mile 34. Some shots from the descent and the General Store.

Absolutely the best road sign of the trip so far!!

Golden is pretty much a  ghost town with few residents. Inhabited by Native Americans and Spaniards long before American settlers showed up, it started to boom when gold was discovered in 1825 in Placer Mountain and San Pedro Mountain. Golden was the site of the first gold rush west of the Mississippi long before the California and Colorado gold rushes that followed. The Golden General Merchandise Store opened in 1918 and continues to operate today despite the fact that the population was so reduced by 1928 the post office closed and the town officially became a ghost town.

As I'm leaving the general store I see this sign

I stopped and took a short walk up a gravel path to find this.

Looks amazingly well maintained for being in a ghost town.

Starting at about mile 41 we began a five mile descent to Madrid, which today has a population of about 200 people and is an artists’ community along the Turquoise Trail. It is a recovering ghost town that still has some hints of its history with the Mineshaft Tavern and the Coal Mine. Unlike other communities in the area, Madrid got its start because of coal deposits and the resulting mining activity that started in 1835. The town was basically a company owned coal mining town until the coal company ceased to operate by 1954.

Several riders elect to stop and have lunch in Golden. I'm seriously tempted but with 22 miles to go, rising temperatures and a pretty good chunk of climbing yet to be done, I kept going and passed Los Cerrillos at mile 49 followed by the outskirts of Santa Fe around mile 64 and the hotel 4 miles later. 

You can't see Los Cerrillos from NM 14. If the sign wasn't there you wouldn't know the town was nearby. It is a small community of about 220 people and from google maps the town center looks like a grid of 3 streets by 4 streets that contain several shops and galleries, a Post Office, the Cerrillos Hills State Park, and the Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum. The Museum contains artifacts of the mining activity and the American Old West as well as information concerning films that were filmed in and around Cerritos including Young Guns, that 1988 that retold the adventures of Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War. It starred Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Brian Keith, and Jack Palance among others. The movie grossed $45 million on a budget of $11 million.

There was nothing remarkable about the ride into Santa Fe. Our hotel is on a stretch of typical suburbia with every type of chain store/restaurant/hotel.  Bike is cleaned and ready to go on Sunday. I'll probably take advantage of the hotel shuttle and head to Old Santa Fe tomorrow.