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.
A 249 km round trip from Tetela del Volcán - roughly 4 h 05 in the saddle. On the way it passes Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S, Ancient Convent of the Nativity, Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc and back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity. 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.
Tetela del Volcán lives in the shadow of Popocatépetl. The town sits at about two thousand metres on the southern slope of the volcano in the state of Morelos, and the snow-capped cone, often trailing a plume of steam and ash, looms over everything. In the middle of town stands the sixteenth-century church and former convent of San Juan Bautista, founded by Dominican friars in the decades after the Spanish conquest. Its cloister has some remarkable murals, painted in muted reds and blacks, showing saints and friars of the order. It is one of the fourteen monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl that were added to the World Heritage list in 1994 as a group.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th is where the day begins. Next is Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S.
Popocatépetl is one of the highest volcanoes in North America, at about 5,400 metres, and it still smokes. From Mexico City on a clear winter day you can see the plume, and on the south side, in the state of Morelos, the foothills are dotted with the monasteries that the first Spanish friars built in the sixteenth century. They arrived in waves, Franciscans in 1524, Dominicans in 1526 and Augustinians in 1533, and in a few decades they converted and taught the people of the valleys, building fortress-like convents with open-air chapels, huge atria for crowds, and cloisters decorated with painted scenes. Eleven of them became a World Heritage group in 1994.
Read the complete Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Ancient Convent of the Nativity. Next is Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc.
Xochicalco sits on a terraced hilltop south-west of Cuernavaca, and from the top you understand immediately why someone built a city here: the view runs over the valleys of Morelos in every direction, to the lakes, the hills and, on a clear day, the snowy shoulders of Popocatépetl far to the east. The city rose after the fall of Teotihuacan, flourishing roughly between AD 650 and 900, a time of upheaval when fortified hilltop centres grew strong by controlling trade. It was protected by moats, walls and ramparts, and its people mixed influences from the Maya, the Gulf Coast and central Mexico in a way that makes it unique.
Read the complete Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc, about halfway. 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 sits at 125 km, about halfway. Next is back through Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S comes up about 221 km into the recorded legs. Next is Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th closes the day.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th → Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S → Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity → Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc → back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient Convent of the Nativity → back through Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the S → Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.