CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
From Mexico City it runs 342 km to Mexico City; allow about 5 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Ancient Convent of the Nativity, Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio and back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,700 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
In February 1978, electricity workers digging a trench near the Zocalo struck a huge carved stone disc, and the city found out what lay under its feet. The stone showed the dismembered goddess Coyolxauhqui, and it marked the base of the Templo Mayor, the double temple at the heart of Tenochtitlan. That accident changed Mexico City's idea of itself, and the colonial streets around the cathedral have since been opened up to reveal the Aztec capital below. The historic centre and the canals of Xochimilco, to the south, were inscribed together on the World Heritage list in 1987, because between them they tell how a lake civilisation became a colonial city.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi is where the day begins. Next is Ancient Convent of the Nativity.
Tepoztlán sits at the foot of a wall of jagged volcanic cliffs in northern Morelos, and on the highest ridge above town, a small Aztec pyramid, the Tepozteco, dedicated to the god of pulque, clings to the rock. Down in the town, the Dominican convent of the Nativity, built in the mid-sixteenth century, is one of the monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl listed by UNESCO in 1994. Its massive church, with a facade carved with angels, the sun and the moon, and a large atrium, is impressive, and the cloister has remains of colourful mural paintings. Part of the convent houses a museum.
Read the complete Ancient Convent of the Nativity write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity comes up 71 km in. Next is Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio.
Tochimilco sits high on the southern slopes of Popocatépetl, the great volcano that towers over central Mexico, and on clear mornings the snow-capped cone seems close enough to touch. Here, in the sixteenth century, Franciscan friars built a monastery dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, one of the early missions established to convert the indigenous population after the Spanish conquest. Its fortress-like church, with thick walls, battlements and a large atrium where crowds once gathered for open-air mass, is part of the UNESCO site of the Earliest Sixteenth-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl, listed in 1994. In the town square, an old aqueduct and fountain built by the friars still bring water from the mountain.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
141 km in you reach Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio. Next is back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient Convent of the Nativity write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi. That is the ride.
Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi → Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity → Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio → back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity → Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.