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New Mexico by Motorcycle

April 12, 2013

New Mexico by Motorcycle

Apr 24, 2013

New Mexico by Motorcycle
Knock around Santa Fe and Albuquerque the Dennis Hopper way.
Published Apr 12, 2013

There are two reasons why anyone cruising along the 50-mile ­Turquoise Trail between ­Albuquerque and ­Santa Fe would choose a Harley-Davidson over a regular car: First, this area of the state receives around 300 days of sunshine a year, so you’re not likely to be rained out. Second, you’ll want as little as possible separating you from the surrounding sights, sounds, and smells. If you have a motorcycle license already, hit the road with a newbie-friendly Sportster (from $75 per day; ­thunderbirdhd.com); if you don’t, sign up for a course at New York’s Motorcycle Safety School ($350; ­ridemss.com) before you go, and you’ll have one in less than a week. Once you’ve set out, the best way to break up the journey is at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid (2846 Hwy. 14; 505-473-0743), a biker-friendly roadside joint where locals spend their afternoons sampling the house’s Desert Dog Pilsner ($4) and bopping along to blues and bluegrass. In downtown Santa Fe, the historic La Posada (from $295; laposadadesantafe.com) offers adobe-style casitas—lucky lodgers may catch a performance by Wily Jim, the hotel’s resident yodeling cowboy. The next day, visit the 21,000-acre Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, whose uncanny rock formations were immortalized in the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe; then pull up at the 197-year-old Santuario de Chimayo (15 Santuario Dr.; elsantuariodechimayo.us) to rub yourself with tierra bendita (“holy dirt”) scooped from a pit in the church’s floor. Eventually you’ll wind up back in Santa Fe for a late tapas dinner of serrano-ham-filled bocadillos at the newly opened ­Taberna La Boca (125 Lincoln Ave., Ste. 117; 505-988-7102), but take your time. Cruising along Highway 503 at sunset, you’ll see the blue-tinted Sangre de Cristo mountains to the east, and breathe in the piñon from the valley below—none of which, thankfully, requires rolling down a window.

The thrill-o-meter: Nobly electrifying.

New York Magazine
Spring Travel 2013
NYMag.com
http://nymag.com/travel/2013/spring/new-mexico

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