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.
430 km from Totolapan to Totolapan, about 7 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Ancient Convent of the Nativity, Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc, Luis Barragán House and Studio and back through Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,750 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Totolapan is a small town on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Chichinautzin, in the state of Morelos, and its Augustinian convent of San Guillermo is one of the fourteen sixteenth-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl that UNESCO listed in 1994. The friars who came to Mexico after the conquest built these fortress-like complexes to convert the indigenous population, with huge walled atriums where crowds could gather for open-air masses, chapels at the corners for processions, and austere churches with thick walls. Totolapan's convent is relatively modest, but its simplicity and setting give it a special charm.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint William write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint William 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 about 33 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc. Next is Luis Barragán House and Studio.
From the street, Luis Barragán's house looks like nothing. A plain facade in Tacubaya, a mixed and busy neighbourhood of Mexico City, with a wooden door and a few windows, gives no hint of the colour behind it. Barragán, the Mexican architect who won the Pritzker Prize in 1980, built the house in 1948 as his own home and studio, and he lived and worked here until his death in 1988. The UNESCO listing of 2004 recognised it as one of the key works of modern architecture, in which light, colour, silence and simple geometry do all the talking.
Read the complete Luis Barragán House and Studio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Luis Barragán House and Studio, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc sits at 209 km, 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 comes up about 393 km into the recorded legs. Next is Temple and Former Convent of Saint William.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint William write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint William closes the day.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint William → Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 33 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 → Luis Barragán House and Studio is 130 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Luis Barragán House and Studio → back through Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalc is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through 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 → Temple and Former Convent of Saint William is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.