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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
343 km from Zacatecas to Zacatecas, about 6 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo, Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali and Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Macuipa lies on the edge of Zacatecas, the silver capital of northern Mexico, and the name points to the sacred geography of the Wixárika, the Huichol people, whose pilgrimage route passes through this region on its way from their homeland in the Sierra Madre Occidental to Wirikuta, the sacred desert in San Luis Potosí. For centuries, Wixárika pilgrims have walked this route, hundreds of kilometres long, visiting springs, hills and rocks where their deities dwell, leaving offerings and performing ceremonies. The route has recently been recognised by UNESCO. Exactly what is to be seen at Macuipa is not easy to say from a distance; treat it as a place where two very different worlds, the Spanish silver city and the indigenous sacred landscape, meet.
Read the complete Macuipa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Macuipa is where the day begins. Next is Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
South of Zacatecas, on the high plateau of northern Mexico, the old Camino Real de Tierra Adentro passes through a landscape of dry hills, maize fields and mesquite. This was the royal road of the interior, the great artery that ran from Mexico City for more than two and a half thousand kilometres north to Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico, and it was the backbone of Spanish colonial expansion. Wagons and mule trains carried the silver from the mines of Zacatecas and Guanajuato south to the capital and the coast, while settlers, soldiers, priests and goods made their way north. Along the route, haciendas, chapels, bridges and towns grew up, and today sixty sites, including the historic centre of Zacatecas, form a World Heritage route.
Read the complete Camino Real de Tierra Adentro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo.
Pabellón de Hidalgo is a small town in the north of the state of Aguascalientes, and its old hacienda has a moment of national drama attached to it. In January 1811, after the insurgent army of Miguel Hidalgo was routed by royalist forces at the Battle of Puente de Calderón near Guadalajara, the retreating leaders met here, at the Hacienda de San Blas de Pabellón. Exhausted and defeated, they stripped Hidalgo of his military command and handed it to Ignacio Allende, who had long resented the priest's leadership. A few weeks later both were captured in the north, and by the summer both had been executed. The War of Independence would go on for another decade without them.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo. Next is Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali.
Aguascalientes means hot waters, and the city got its name from the thermal springs that the Spanish found here in the sixteenth century, when they founded a settlement on the road from Mexico City to the silver mines of Zacatecas. That road, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, ran north for over two thousand kilometres to Santa Fe in New Mexico, and it is listed by UNESCO, with sites along its route. The historic centre of Aguascalientes is a pleasant mix of colonial churches, eighteenth-century houses and nineteenth-century buildings around the Plaza de la Patria and its cathedral.
Read the complete Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali, about halfway. Next is Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz.
Encarnación de Díaz is a market town in Los Altos de Jalisco, the high, dry plateau between Guadalajara and Aguascalientes, and its cemetery is a surprising piece of world heritage. It is one of the stops listed as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that once ran from Mexico City to Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico, along which silver went south and settlers, missionaries and goods went north for almost three centuries. The cemetery, built in the nineteenth century, is enclosed by a wall with arched galleries and filled with ornate tombs and chapels, carved in local stone, which reflect the prosperity and piety of the town's families. On the Day of the Dead, at the beginning of November, it fills with flowers, candles and families sitting by their graves.
Read the complete Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz sits at 199 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali comes up about 213 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 250 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo. Next is back through Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Camino Real de Tierra Adentro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, late in the day. Next is Macuipa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Macuipa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 343 km.
Macuipa → Camino Real de Tierra Adentro is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro → Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo → Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali → Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cemetery in Encarnación de Díaz → back through Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic ensemble of the city of Aguascali → back through Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo → back through Camino Real de Tierra Adentro is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Camino Real de Tierra Adentro → Macuipa is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.