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I hope that my motorcycle and I will be showing up there in late spring. Early spring is a bit cold on a motorcycle, especially in the northern mountains! This time I won't simply be vacationing (although that will be part of it) but will also be looking around for the best place to live.
I hope that my motorcycle and I will be showing up there in late spring. Early spring is a bit cold on a motorcycle, especially in the northern mountains!
The last thing I want to do is discourage you from coming, BUT...
Be prepared for sand storms in the spring - meaning very windy conditions as well. It's bad enough being in a closed vehicle in a sand storm - I wouldn't like being on a motorcycle, even if wearing a fully enclosed helmet. Luckily the storms blow themselves out in 24-48 hours, so you can just hole up during that time.
Chilegal1: Thanks...I'll try to when I make it out there!
joqua: Been there, done that. It was so long ago that I don't recall whether it was in spring or fall, but I remember riding across a few hundred miles of NM and west Texas headed east, fighting a 45-mph southerly crosswind which was carrying lots of grit. By the time I got home in Denton, TX, my drive chain and both sprockets were toast. That somehow gave me the idea that an oily chain hanging out in the weather wasn't the best system for a long-distance bike. Fortunately, the bike I ride now has shaft drive, but that wouldn't make it any easier on me. That was one unpleasant, tiring experience!
"There's a feeling I get, when I look to the West, and my Spirit is crying for leaving"
I'm not sure of any metaphysical reasons as to why I am feeling pulled to New Mexico. I have read a lot in my search to "find myself" ...only to come to the realization that "Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." Not sure who to give props to on that, some say George Bernard Shaw...anyway...I think that the more hurried and stressed we become, we lose that sense of "feeling". Everything has a vibration, and I am sure we have all felt "bad vibes" and "good vibes" around places and people....I think of it as my early warning system, and have learned to listen to my gut feelings. Some people thrive on big city life, while others think a small town is too crowded, and crave the solitude of living in the country or mountains. I think the "magic" is finding the place where YOU feel you belong, and the "enchantment" comes when you act upon those feelings and try to live your life accordingly.
Mom? Is that you? You really sound a lot like my mother. She's an artist too....you probably know each other
...Fortunately, the bike I ride now has shaft drive, but that wouldn't make it any easier on me. That was one unpleasant, tiring experience!
Driving against high winds isn't any fun, no matter what you're driving! I've bucked 60-70mph gusts crossing NM before and nearly ran out of gas because my car was struggling so much harder to maintain highway speed with the cruise control on. Lesson learned: don't use cruise control when it's constantly changing gears similar to how it does in hilly country!
I'd rather ride a bike into a strong wind than crosswise to it, but neither is a lot of fun, especially when you're thinking about all the stuff being sucked into the air filter. I agree with your comment about the cruise control, although it wouldn't apply to my manual transmission car.
BloomingArtist: Well said. I think I'd like living in a much smaller town than I live in now (Fort Worth), if not totally out in the sticks. All but one town in NM is smaller than where I am now. I love it out there. I can hardly wait to get to Socorro and have a look.
I'd rather ride a bike into a strong wind than crosswise to it...
I have long been an avid "biker" of the human-powered variety, as stated in these threads before. Having spent 24/7 days riding cross country in years past, I can say I'd rather ride in a pouring summer downpour than in a 30mph headwind any time of the year! Now a tailwind - that's where the bicycler's prayer comes from.
An old Irish blessing, adopted by bicylers:
Quote:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
I was referring to 'motorcycle' with the term 'bike', of course. A human-powered bike changes almost everything. Back when I did a lot of bicycle riding, I didn't mind crosswinds as much as headwinds, and a summer rain wasn't necessarily a bad thing (unless it had hail in it!). Oh, yes, I've seen that prayer many times, but I didn't know it had been adopted by bicyclists.
Now that the 100-degree weather is over (I hope!),I've been thinking about getting my early-70s Gitane 10-speed out of mothballs for a little riding. I don't think I'm capable of riding it to NM, though. I do remember someone who rode a bicycle from DFW to Ruidoso, NM in four days. It was and is mind-boggling to me.
I do remember someone who rode a bicycle from DFW to Ruidoso, NM in four days. It was and is mind-boggling to me.
Must have caught the weather just right since normally that direction would be bucking westerly headwinds. I bought a custom-made road bicycle from a man who built them in Edmonton, Alberta, CA and had planned to pick it up from him and ride it back to Austin, where I was living at the time. But as sometimes happens, other more important matters intervened and I had the bicycle shipped to me instead.
My longest distance in a single day occurred in the NE when I rode over 150 miles with a steady tail wind, from Keene, NH to a point on Cape Cod. This was in late September when daylight was getting shorter.
Very impressive. I'm much too over the hill to try anything like that, and actually never could have.
I've never tried to ride a bicycle in NM. I'd have to have myself rejetted, I'm sure, being a flatlander and used to a thicker atmosphere at around 650 feet elevation.
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I do remember someone who rode a bicycle from DFW to Ruidoso, NM in four days. It was and is mind-boggling to me.
