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.
From Guadalajara it runs 90 km to Magdalena; allow about 1 h 36 of riding. The stops in between: Amatitan and Tequila. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 18 km this is Ruta del Tequila, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Guadalajara is Mexico's second city in many ways, and the heart of its mariachi and tequila traditions. Mariachi music, the charro horsemanship and the tequila spirit all trace their cultural roots to the state of Jalisco, and the capital is where they come together. The historic centre has big colonial buildings, wide plazas and a cathedral with two towers that were rebuilt after an earthquake in the nineteenth century. Murals by José Clemente Orozco, one of the great Mexican muralists, cover the walls and dome of the Hospicio Cabañas, a vast neoclassical complex that is a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Guadalajara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Guadalajara is where the day begins. Next is Amatitan.
Amatitán is a small agave town west of Guadalajara that sits in the middle of the blue fields you came for. The landscape around it, rows of grey-blue agave plants like spiked rosettes on red volcanic soil, with the cone of Tequila volcano rising behind, is the central picture of the Ruta del Tequila. The plants take six to eight years to ripen before they are cut, so each field is a calendar of the owner's patience. In 2006 UNESCO recognised the agave landscape and the old distilleries and haciendas of the area as a World Heritage Site, and Amatitán is one of the places where you can feel why.
Read the complete Amatitán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Amatitan comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tequila.
Tequila is both a town and a drink, and it is rare for the two to be so closely bound. The town, with about thirty thousand people, lies at the foot of the volcano of the same name, and its centre is a tidy grid of low houses painted in strong colours around a main plaza and a parish church. Mexico gives such places the title Pueblo Mágico, and here it fits more honestly than usual, because the thing the town is famous for is still produced a few streets away. The air in places smells of cooked agave, sweet and a little smoky, and the big distillery names, Cuervo and Sauza among them, have their old facilities in town.
Read the complete Tequila write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Tequila. Next is Magdalena.
Magdalena is a small town in the highlands of Jalisco, in the heart of the blue agave country, and it has a quieter, more rural feel than the busy tequila towns nearby. It lies west of Guadalajara, in a landscape of dry hills and fields where rows of spiky blue-grey agave plants run to the horizon. About sixteen thousand people live here, and the town is known for opal and obsidian, which are mined in the surrounding hills and sold in small shops around the plaza. It sits on the Ruta del Tequila, which links Guadalajara with Tequila and its distilleries and haciendas.
Read the complete Magdalena write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Magdalena closes the day.
Guadalajara → Amatitan is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Amatitan → Tequila is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tequila → Magdalena is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.