Purple Aster amongst desert brush aside Paseo de la Mesa Trail

This afternoon we drove to Albuquerque’s west side and walked along the basalt escarpment and through Volcano Park in Petroglyph National Monument.  The Monument and West Mesa Open Space place limits on development not too far up from the river.  Out here on the high West Mesa in the wide open desert, the space and stark contrast to the forested mountains high above Albuquerque and lush riparian ecosystem within it are startling.  The earth opens to sky.

Sansai Photography at work in the field

The Sandia ranging above Albuquerque and orange green band of Bosque forest along the river running through it

the north shoulder of the Sandia opens to the rift valley lands rolling off to the Jemez and Sangre de Cristos

big space seems to cover this country

Taos, New Mexico’s plateau lends a sense of enormous space, but here in Albuquerque the views are outstanding as well and surprisingly expansive.  There is nothing diminishing about this fine country.  It is an interesting endeavor to think of a comparable city life that fits into this landscape without constraining it.

Desert Views. Nothing escapes from the sun out here.

When you get out of the city here you really get out.  This is an important element in the flavor of Albuquerque.

We walked on sand and cinder strewn trails meandering amongst volcanoes. There are five volcanoes, ancient tips telling of the subterranean fire

Volcano Park

We took interstate 40 across town and exited on Atrisco Vista Boulevard to reach Volcano Park.  They have repaved Atrisco Vista Boulevard and included sweet bike lanes.  It would be a great place to come train on a time trial bike.  Maybe ride out here on Central Ave. or Rio Bravo Blvd.

patterns on the land

trail

rolling rock

rock guardians

mosaic

Everything at Petroglyph closes at 5pm, so we had to hurry back to our car.  The National Park ranger was there locking the bathrooms and waiting for us to go.  We went a little further down the road to the paved Paseo de la Mesa Trail, which is City Open Space.  This would be a good place to observe a moon or sunrise, the stars, or the balloon fiesta.

the desert vegetation likes the way cracks in pavement pool water and shade

opening up to big sky

Reno, Flagstaff, now here. Wow! As a kid in Maryland, then Ohio, then Upstate New York, I never would have imagined

looking east from atop the Sandia Mtns at about 10,160 feet above sea level. We’ll go a little bit higher

The Sandia Mountains rise abruptly on the eastern edge of town.  When you look up at the them it is hard to imagine you can ride your bike up there on a paved road that goes all the way to the top.  We live at about 5,300′ in Albuquerque and the Crest tops out at 10,600+ feet.  That’s a mile of climbing!  Here’s a map of the ride.  Here’s a song to go with the pictures and narrative.

The climb begins in earnest at the “Triangle” where the Crest Road begins from Hwy 14

The elevation at the bottom of the Crest road is 6,900′.

Santa Claus delivered early presents for me this year including a repaving of the first six miles of this road this summer

This Crest road begins on the opposite side of the mountain from Albuquerque.  So to get here ride through Tijeras Canyon and either turn north on HWY 14, aka the Turquoise Trail, or there are some quieter routes weaving through the laid back tapestry of the east mountain communities.

The road is mostly silent today

there are a few residential side roads in the first mile then the climb enters National Forest

the line of the road begins straight but soon becomes squiggly with hairpin turns and switchbacks, but nothing extreme

I love feeling the resistance through the pedals as I climb a mountain road on a bicycle.  The world slows down but your body rhythms accelerate, your breathing, cooling systems, energy consumption.  The slow motion intensity brings a steady concentration.

There’s a flat stretch after mile six where you can get some relief as you ride past the Sandia Ski Area.  That’s at 8,600′.  So you can kind of think of it as a two part climb.  Anything to help approach this gigantic beast!

this road is a work of art

There are trailheads for walks with great vistas.  Many bear, turkey, deer and animals all around in this forested highlands.  There used to be bighorn sheep, the Rocky Mountain kind.  Now I think the closest sheep live in the Manzanos to the south.

looking north you can see the Jemez Mtns., & the Sangre de Cristo Mtns. above Santa Fe

more climbing

It’s a new world up here.  You break out through the edges of the forest with great vistas to the desert and distance mesas and ranges.  The color of earth and sky and scent of the trees is amazing.  Invigorating.  Cleansing.  I feel incredibly alive when I’m climbing!

there’s an overlook at the top where you can survey the 360 degree panorama

Albuquerque sits right next to the mountains.  The transition areas and connectivity between are special.

When you get to the top you have done something today!  I keep meeting great people there and having fruitful exchanges.  Yesterday a gentlemen told me about the Seattle to Portland two day ride.  I’ve got to do it.  I told him about Albuquerque’s own Day of the Tread ride.  He’s going to do it.  The Crest road reminds me of Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park.  Everyone is happy to be there because it is so obviously awesome.  We are all overcome in a way by this shared experience of being in such a marvelous place at this moment in time.  This road is special to me because it is right next to home and is a classic Southwestern US sky island type ecosystem with bands of colorful rock showing and that famous New Mexico blue sky glowing a deep penetrating blue.  The workout is fantastic.  Riding above 10,000′ is not easy.

looking south at the Manzano Mountains

Peace

Biking, walking, music.  These things make me recognize the heart of the day.  Meditate on matters.  Bring my thoughts to repose and stir new awakenings.  There are many beautiful turns in life.  Sometimes a tour down a trail can be a corollary for the larger journeys we are making.

Sunday evening we walked up into the foothills from Embudito Hills Park. The texture of the land here is remarkable.

The San Francisco Peaks of Flagstaff are well beyond the visual horizon, but the San Mateo Mountains are beautiful and prominent here with an echo of space between us.

These mountains make me quiet with awe and solace, like ancestors bearing ancient unwritten wisdom.

The stunning wildgrowth makes me pause, stop and wonder.  Listen.  I look once, I look again and I see more.  Sometimes this time of day gives us pause for concern but why else would we express it if not for an abiding warmth and appreciation of life.  Consider this passage by Cormac McCarthy:

“He rode on, the two horses following, riding doves up out of pools of standing water and the sun descending out of the dark discolored overcast to the west where its redness ran down the narrow band of sky above the mountains like blood falling through water and the desert fresh from the rain turning gold in the evening light and then deepening to dark, a slow inkening over of the bajada and the rising hills and the stark stone length of the cordilleras darkening far to the south in Mexico”.   P 286 All the Pretty Horses

We process what we know so we can move on.  We reconcile what we know with the mystery and do our best to make sense.  Most importantly we draw the inspiration to go onward carrying purpose.  The meaning we ourselves create, and it may be worth something.  Try it.

The mesa the Acoma people call home is on the horizon and to the right tilting.  The light is good here.

Trees have an enduring presence and parent along many communities of smaller plants.

Purple is the color of dignity and many people look wonderful wearing it.

We live a few miles from the foothills so we drove to get here.  I’m not an idealogue at all when it comes to transportation modes.  I use it all and think this is one of the great boons of our times.  The main thing I try to concentrate on is to not overdue any one thing and only spend my resources on what is truly important.  A walk on Sunday evening in the Sandia Foothills with Mai was the right thing to do.  I enjoy every moment.

in the Galisteo River watershed between Albuquerque and Santa Fe

Mai and I ventured up the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market this Saturday morning on Interstate 25.  We came home the long way through the rolling terrain along the Galisteo River watershed.  It is one of the most spacious, imaginatively configured landscapes I’ve encountered.  Reality transfigured.

there’s a humble majesty alive and well in New Mexico

A few people live out here but you’d want to keep a local life grounded in place. I definitely will do some riding here.

The food traditions in New Mexico run deep and there are so many cross cultural currents.  The vivid displays of food at the market reminded me of my first trip to Japan when Mai took me to the Kanazawa morning seafood market.  New Mexicans place supreme value on fresh food and try to eat directly from the local land.  It tastes amazingly good, and ties your spirit in with place.

the market takes place at the train depot in Santa Fe, “the railyard”

the fragrance of roasting chili draws you in

everybody’s food is unpacked from a pick up truck. Wonder if anyone could bring their haul to market in a cargo trailer pulled by bike. I’m for hire, the tractor guy

the Star G honey man from Mosquero has sweet stuff. Mai sampled four flavors and bought the autumn mountain wildflower. honey flavor depends in part on the flowers they are pollinating

walking is the way at the Farmer’s Market

What is land good for?  For one it provides the elemental fuel for all human activities.  It also provides a measure of our inheritance which seems not an entitlement we have the liberty to waste wantonly.  Different locales hold unique ecological stories.  Wild places can be visited and admired but if you try to own it or sell it that sometimes intangible integrity erodes or vanishes all together.  You can nurture life on the land and taste the land’s story through food!  I’m grateful there are many places that have good integrity to enhance strength in our bodies and exude tranquility to fortify our spirit and find our compass directions in life.

Galisteo Basin trees

this place is good

The bike riding in and around Albuquerque, NM is very good.   Here are some photos from a ride I did on Friday late afternoon from our place through Tijeras Canyon and on to some quietly traveled east mountain roads.  I’ve been taking a Canon PowerShot A530 digital camera with me on some rides and hikes and shooting up the terrain.  Here’s a map of the heart of the route.  Living here is the best of both worlds.

path near Los Altos Park up and over Interstate 40

There is good riding in every direction in Albuquerque, and some real gems in town such as the Bosque Trail and the two mile La Luz climb off Tramway that gains almost 1000′.  But what draws me like the shining sun is the riding east out through Tijeras Canyon, the gateway to the East Mountains.  World class road riding.  I can take surface streets to Tijeras Canyon but I’ve been leaning towards the I-40 trail because it is a straight shot and goes underneath all the major streets such as Eubank and Juan Tabo.

the I-40 trail takes you up and over the Interstate

looking west from the I-40 bike/pedestrian bridge. Those three little bumps on the West Mesa are the volcanoes in Petroglyph National Monument

On the other (south) side of the pedestrian bridge looking back. Albuquerque must have 7 or 8 ped/bike bridges crossing over I-25 and I-40, and more on trail systems traversing major roads such as Tramway

heading past the KOA. This trail is more working class than Bosque, but that’s OK. Bosque Trail is a special ride through a nature preserve

Ten minutes and I’ve broken the bounds of the City on past the Believers Center, soft spoken home of the local chapter of the Church of the Big Ring.  Best way to worship is to keep pedaling.  Faster. Longer.  Keep coming back!

Out on the open road. Town ends, country begins

Tijeras Canyon is old route 66, now 333 East.  The Interstate carries most of the traffic through this canyon gateway between the undulating high plains of eastern New Mexico and the spectacular Rio Grande valley which provides a home for most of New Mexico’s two million people.  Old route 66 is a sweet side road that carries you abruptly away from the city and out into the countryside that makes up most of New Mexico.

horses in Tijeras Canyon

They are repaving Tijeras Canyon this Fall. They are providing a smooth new surface from edge to edge, all the way covering the full shoulder. Thank you!  The interstate is over in the far right of the picture.

beautiful work on this new pavement. THANK YOU! GRACIAS! ARIGATO!

About six or seven miles on old route 66 and one enters the Village of Tijeras.  It is a quiet country town with a bevy of roads leading up and out into the mountains.  There are also great frontage roads on both sides of the interstate continuing east.  Lots of wonderful riding options.  The mountain biking on this side of the Sandia and Manzano Mtns is absolutely outlandish.

We thought about living in the “east mountains” but Tijeras Canyon affords bicycles access to this area from Albuquerque, and Tijeras Canyon is a great route to ride in and of itself,  Living in the city is more efficient.

continuing past Tijeras Village on old route 66

good vibes

a country road off old rt. 66, a beautiful road for bicycling indeed

Old friends in Flagstaff may recognize the backpack in the silhouette

the further you ride out of town the better the riding gets

Albuquerque’s bicycling movement has been grooving for a long time.  The Environmental Planning Commission recently recommended the bikeways and trails facility plan be forwarded to City Council for approval.  The city provides a nice bike map.  They mailed Mai and I copies for free many years ago.  I thought that was very nice and is one of the reasons I was encouraged to begin making plans to move here.

The riding in Albuquerque is as diverse as the cultures that live together in this mile high city.  The areas surrounding town are powerful draws for bicyclists.  The unity of city with the open space creates a wonderful mix.  This intersection of abundant nature along with a vibrant city life seems paradoxical, but here it is.  When I bicycle out Tijeras Canyon and back I experience startling diversity in one intimate and moderate ride.

On a beautiful October afternoon with the temperature a perfect 75 degrees, Mai and I rode the paved multi use path that follows the Rio Grande through Albuquerque for sixteen miles.  The river trail is routed underneath roads with motorized traffic, so riding the trail provides for a consistent flow of smooth pedaling motion away from any stress, fumes, and noise generated by busy streets.

This ride brings a smile across one’s face

Open trail along the colorful cottonwood groves bending by the river

Rio Grande and Sandia Mountains from the I-40 Trail bridge

This trail provides a low impact transportation corridor that interlinks many disparate parts of the city.  Users of the trail share a sense of close companionship and connectivity as we soak up the infinite good that constantly emanates from the world.  Everyone enjoys having good transportation choices that enable a lower impact way of life.  Business people especially appreciate efficiency, and oh what a lean operation a bicycle is with very little waste.  It feels good to act affirmatively by taking travel options that replenish our energy, regenerate our spirits and inspire our minds.

trail and trees

first we saw two Sandhill Cranes

then we saw four Cranes

they move by an unknown choreography

It was good to be so close to the chortle of gray Cranes feeding in freshly cut fields

With the green belt of fields and forest along the river the Cranes seems to have an easy time finding food here.  It seems good habitat for people as well.  There is a poetic beauty in unifying the practical, such as transportation, with a pleasure, such as bicycling while simultaneously synching up with the bigger world of the blue green planet that surrounds us.

going places together

The trail is interlinked with surface streets (through little exit paths, designed like a walking/bicycling expressway, so cool and empowering for human powered movers) and other multi use paths to provide access to many attractions, places of commerce, schools, and employment centers in the city.  It is a great way to get to where you want to go.  And also a great way to make a trip a destination in itself.  A wonderful incentive to get out and ride.

enjoying the ride

I-40 Trail

river, mountains, bikes

The I-40 Trail multi use path bridge was dedicated in 2010 according to the plaque.  For me this part of the built environment shines and inspires with the wisdom manifest here.  Now if people want to walk and bike they have the infrastructure to do it.  It makes me feel a little more at home in this place when I see values that are important to me expressed in how we live and use the world.  I look at this and it says yes we are trying.  Let’s go!

Just because I race my bicycle from time to time doesn’t preclude me from riding slowly.  I ride slowly all the time.  It is the most fundamental part of practicing bicycling.

A bicycle is like a piano in the sense that depending on who sits down and what they play, very different sounds and movements can come out.  The first teacher I had on the bicycle, Michael Hernandez, is a master of riding slowly.  The slow rides are the times to observe the world and your body in it more closely, to work on your form and technique, and to enjoy the possibilities for conversation with people you meet along the way.

I ride slowly on the way to work and at the beginning of almost every ride.  When someone blows by me on the multi use path I often think to myself that there is a person we need to sign up for racing.  Sometimes my ego twitches but then I realize I’m actually pretty tired and don’t need to compete on every ride.  Since moving to Albuquerque on October 2nd I’ve ridden to the top of Sandia Crest seven times, so I keep my slow rides in balance with challenging work outs.  That is the key for me, to get enough exercise and at all different speeds and effort levels.  Then the body doesn’t get bored and the mind stays stimulated through diverse activities.

Yesterday I decided to slow down in Tijeras Canyon to say hello to a cyclist who was toting panniers and hauling a touring trailer.  His name is Allan Sindelar and he was just finishing up the last leg of his gratitude tour that took him down the Oregon and California coasts.  He founded Positive Energy Solar about 20 years ago and built it into an award winning million dollar company.  Wow, a renewable energy pioneer, flesh and blood hero!  Allan was celebrating his retirement and a rebirthing of things to come.  Here’s his blog about the trip:  http://sindelarsolar.com/  What a good life and happy soul.  Tremendously inspiring.

When we go out on a ride–even if it is close to home–we are setting out on an adventure.  Be open to the possibilities, receptive to the freedom inherent in the bike, paying close attention and enjoying every movement on this voyage of discovery.  How you ride your bike is a song you sing to the world.  One our own ears take great pleasure in and our bodies feel grace and gratitude in the making.

A riding partner is one of the best motivations for me to take time for paradise so please feel free to email me anytime at bikeyogi (at) gmail.com Perhas we can take a ride together.