Yesterday's Ride

Yesterday's ride started out as short exploratory ride to see if I could connect roads, cattle paths, and dirt bike tracks to increase the length of a loop I do to 14.5 miles. Based on a search on Google Earth I saw a cattle path that would be the connector I needed. The view I was looking at showed but 6 the cattle path meeting a dirt bike track I rode twice earlier this year but I didn't recall seeing the cattle path.

So I reversed the trip and thought I would just do about 6 to 7 miles. About 2.25 miles into the trip I found the track I was looking for but about .5 miles later I met up with a tangle of vegetation, the result of the rain we had in July, that totally blocked the trail.

In the process of trying to go around I got my wheel turned by a clump of grass. Usually those slow speed falls are not a problem. As I was going down, though, I caught the butt end of the bar on the inside of my upper thigh.

I got back up and finished the ride in some discomfort. When I got home I had swelling the size of a softball. Bruising has taken over the entire left side of my groin. Hope I am healed enough to ride in the Flagstaff and Sedona areas in a couple of weeks.

Mapping My Rides

I have ridden Elena Gallegos and the Southern Foothills outside of Albuquerque and some of the trails near Tijeras and while I enjoy riding in those areas I also enjoy a network of trails on the Northern end of the West Mesa.

Yeah they are not "official trails" and they can be rough and sometimes unforgiving but I find myself alone 95% of the time and enjoying my rides more. The other 5% of the time, if that, I'll see some dirt bikers whose trails I use.

Some of the trails are flat with an elevation change of only 150' or less and one or two have a differential that is closer to 450 to 500'.

Though some of the trips utilize dirt roads and and four-wheel tracks the vast majority of the trails are single track created by either dirt bikers or cattle and in a very minor cases laying down my own way around arroyos and making connections.

I have begun recording my rides with mileage at major junctures and features. I am also including coordinates according to Google Earth.

The first one I am going to publish is "Cholla Groves".