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| Near the top of Gonzales Rd, looking at the aspen changing |
Today was the last day of summer and was a Sunday, so clearly a reason for a bike ride in the lovely last day of summer weather. I had wanted to scope out another loop so that's what I did. Whether to call it Tour de Gated Communities or Tour de Undertaxed and Over-privileged neighborhoods is up to one's prevailing sarcasm, but a lot of the ride was over in Las Campanas, the upscale and exclusive community west of the City Indifferent. I did pass quite a few gated communities. The rolling ride ended up breaking my 20 mile estimate, coming in at a 23.5 mile loop but that's a fine point.
From Casa Solana I headed west on Camino de las Crucitas, veered to the right onto Buckman Rd and then another veer right onto Camino de las Montoyas. Crossing NM 599 on Montoyas one goes north to the t-intersection and then turns left onto Tano Road. Take Tano to the pavement end and turn left onto Tano West. Take Tano W down the fast descent and brake to turn L onto Sundance Dr. Take Sundance to the end and do a quick left on Palantine and quick R. onto Luvia de Oro. Luvia merges into Fin de Sendero, which takes you due south to Camino La Tierra. Turn right and go about a mile and a half. At this point, Camino la Tierra veers left and Las Campanas Dr. veers right. Stay to the right. The road loops to the left and through an underpass and heads southwest. Its a mild downhill and very pretty with great vistas. After about four miles, turn left onto Caja del Rio road, which heads south and then ends at a T at NM 599 after about four miles. Take a left at the T and head north, enjoying about a mile of horrible chipseal with a narrow shoulder to the double roundabouts at South Meadow. From there you can either take the frontage road or cross the highway onto W. Alameda to head north back to Santa Fe. I took Alameda and enjoyed more chipseal. Another four miles on W. Alameda heading NE gets you back to Casa Solana.
To get 30 miles I continued on W. Alameda through the city center and climbed Gonzales Road, crossed Hyde Park, looped around Paseo del Sur to Vallecita and back to Bishops Lodge, turned left, made the right onto Paseo del Peralta, and back home. Nice ride. A right onto Bishops Lodge with a northern loop to Tesuque and back down on Old Taos Hwy would get you about forty miles.
