Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan and Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
288 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 28
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
From San Martín de las Pirámides it runs 288 km to San Martín de las Pirámides; allow about 4 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst, Former college of San Francisco Javier in, Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji and back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan
When the Aztecs came across Teotihuacan, centuries after it had been abandoned, they thought it must have been built by gods and named it the place where the gods were made. The city had reached its peak between about the first and sixth centuries, with perhaps well over a hundred thousand people, a grid of streets, apartment compounds and some of the largest pyramids in the Americas. The Pyramid of the Sun is a huge stepped mass, and the Pyramid of the Moon sits at the far end of the Avenue of the Dead, a long, broad processional road that makes the city feel grand even now.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan is where the day begins. Next is Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst.
2. Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst
In the sixteenth century a Franciscan friar called Francisco de Tembleque looked at the dry highlands north-east of Mexico City, where villages had trouble finding clean water, and decided to bring it from springs on the slopes of a volcano forty-five kilometres away. The result, built between 1553 and about 1571 with the labour of local Indigenous communities, is one of the longest aqueduct systems of its age in the Americas, and it still stands on a high arcade of stone arches crossing a valley. The longest arcade runs for nearly a kilometre, and the tallest arch is about forty metres high, a slender, elegant bridge on thin piers, which is why you can see it for miles across the plain.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Former college of San Francisco Javier in.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Former college of San Francisco Javier in. Next is Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji.
4. Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan closes the day.
Leg by leg
Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan to Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst
Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan → Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst to Former college of San Francisco Javier in
Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst → Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Former college of San Francisco Javier in to Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji
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.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji to back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji → back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in to back through Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst
back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in → back through Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst to Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan
back through Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic Syst → Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.