CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
197 km from Tepeji del Río de Ocampo to Tepeji del Río de Ocampo, about 3 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Former college of San Francisco Javier in, Historic Centre of Mexico City, Xochimilco 2 and back through Historic Centre of Mexico City. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Tepeji del Río is a busy town in the state of Hidalgo, on the old road north from Mexico City, and at its heart stands a sixteenth-century Franciscan convent, one of the many fortress-like monasteries built by the friars in the first decades after the Spanish conquest to evangelise the indigenous population. The church has a sober façade, a large open atrium where crowds of converts once gathered for mass, and a cloister with traces of mural paintings. The convent stands on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of that route. Like many of these early convents, it combines European Gothic and Renaissance forms with the work of indigenous craftsmen, whose hand can be seen in the carvings and paintings.
Read the complete Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji is where the day begins. Next is Former college of San Francisco Javier in.
Tepotzotlán is a Pueblo Mágico just off the highway north of Mexico City, and its heart is a building that stops you in your tracks. The old Jesuit college of San Francisco Javier was a training centre for the order in New Spain, a place where novices learned theology and native languages before being sent out across the colony. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 the college passed to others, and today it houses the National Museum of the Viceroyalty, one of the best collections of colonial art in the country. It also forms part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the silver road that ran north from the capital towards Santa Fe, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010.
Read the complete Former college of San Francisco Javier in write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former college of San Francisco Javier in comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Mexico City.
The Zócalo, the vast main square of Mexico City, is one of the largest public squares in the world, and standing in it you are at the centre of over seven hundred years of history. This was the heart of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, built on an island in Lake Texcoco and home to perhaps two hundred thousand people when the Spanish arrived in 1519. After the conquest, Hernán Cortés's men built their new city directly on top of the ruins, using the stones of the temples to construct churches and palaces. The historic centre, together with the canals of Xochimilco to the south, was listed by UNESCO in 1987.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Mexico City. Next is Xochimilco 2.
Before the Spanish arrived, the Valley of Mexico was a land of lakes, and the people who lived around them developed an ingenious way to farm the water. They built chinampas, artificial islands of mud and vegetation anchored by willow trees, separated by canals, and grew maize, beans, squash and flowers on them. In Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, a remnant of that world survives, with a network of canals and chinampas that is still farmed and navigated today. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco, and the most famous image of the area is the trajinera, a brightly painted flat-bottomed boat that carries visitors along the canals, often accompanied by mariachi bands and floating food stalls.
Read the complete Xochimilco 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Xochimilco 2, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Centre of Mexico City.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City sits at 136 km, about halfway. Next is back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former college of San Francisco Javier in write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in comes up about 167 km into the recorded legs. Next is Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji closes the day.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji → Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former college of San Francisco Javier in → Historic Centre of Mexico City is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Mexico City → Xochimilco 2 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Xochimilco 2 → back through Historic Centre of Mexico City is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City → back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in → Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.