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What started out as a plan to ride the cool mountains of southeast New Mexico and escape the heat of the desert turned out to be more of a search for a dry place after the remnants of "Hurricane what-ever" drooled up from Mexico. As I got within 20 miles of Scott & Sandy's place Fri. afternoon, I was greeted by frog-strangling rain and drifts of BB sized hail that was 4-6" deep along the hiway. I've ridden the Sacramento Mountains since the early 70's, so this wasn't exactly a surprise, but having brought the HP2, and not knowing how good the stock tires were for deep mud, I would have preferred dryer conditions. Scott and Sandy greeted me along with their 2 dogs (whose names I've forgotten) and not long after Lori and Dave arrived, having ridden a KTM 640 and KLR from northern New Mexico, but missing the rain along the way. Dean on a Honda XL was the next to arrive and Sat. morning started overcast but dry
Scott led us down the mountain to a ridge that sets just above Alamogordo and gives a great view of White Sands and the Tularosa Basin. After struggling up a loose rocky up-hill for a while, everyone stopped to take in the view and undress a bit due to the increased temps at the lower elevation.
The next leg took us back up into the mountains along West Side Road which pretty much goes across the west face of the mountains for 30 miles. Scott knew of some side roads that ran out onto exposed ridges with great views, but due to meteorlogical discombobulation, all we got to see was fog and mist...
A lunch stop at Timberon gave the weather time to blow in and sure enough as we came out of the restaurant, we were greeted with light rain. Since we were heading north back to higher elevation, it was time for everyone to break out the rain gear, and within 5 miles we were blessed with a steady drizzle that lasted the rest of the day. The trip up to Sacramento Look-out was thru steadily wetter and mudier roads, but still a great ride. After a brief stop at the top we back-tracked to the hiway and boogied to Karr Canyon and right on into Scott and Sandy's front door. The rain was just getting warmed up and by nightfall showed no signs of abating. Sunday morning was even wetter and by the time Rick from El Paso arrived, it was apparent that unless we wanted to ride in a downpour, the ride was pretty much stalled. Never the less it was a most enjoyable week-end, albeit a little short, but Scott and Sandy were very gracious hosts and we all got to bench race, drink beer, and ride motorcycles, so there ain't much more to wish for... I really enjoyed meeting everyone and would like to thank Scott and Sandy again for organizing the ride.
Scott led us down the mountain to a ridge that sets just above Alamogordo and gives a great view of White Sands and the Tularosa Basin. After struggling up a loose rocky up-hill for a while, everyone stopped to take in the view and undress a bit due to the increased temps at the lower elevation.
The next leg took us back up into the mountains along West Side Road which pretty much goes across the west face of the mountains for 30 miles. Scott knew of some side roads that ran out onto exposed ridges with great views, but due to meteorlogical discombobulation, all we got to see was fog and mist...
A lunch stop at Timberon gave the weather time to blow in and sure enough as we came out of the restaurant, we were greeted with light rain. Since we were heading north back to higher elevation, it was time for everyone to break out the rain gear, and within 5 miles we were blessed with a steady drizzle that lasted the rest of the day. The trip up to Sacramento Look-out was thru steadily wetter and mudier roads, but still a great ride. After a brief stop at the top we back-tracked to the hiway and boogied to Karr Canyon and right on into Scott and Sandy's front door. The rain was just getting warmed up and by nightfall showed no signs of abating. Sunday morning was even wetter and by the time Rick from El Paso arrived, it was apparent that unless we wanted to ride in a downpour, the ride was pretty much stalled. Never the less it was a most enjoyable week-end, albeit a little short, but Scott and Sandy were very gracious hosts and we all got to bench race, drink beer, and ride motorcycles, so there ain't much more to wish for... I really enjoyed meeting everyone and would like to thank Scott and Sandy again for organizing the ride.
It really sounds like Scott and Sandy were fab hosts. I will be there next time for sure.
