Rollers and River Anthony Gap Ride

I was in the mood today for a ride with a lot of variety. I decided to head to Anthony Gap, but picked a different route that was perfect for a warm mid-day ride. I headed up Upper Valley Road, took the bike path along Artcraft east to Strahan then north to Borderland and east to the Rio Grande where I rode along the River Trail north to Vinton Road. The River Trail is perfect on a weekday when there are few walkers, so I can ride at a fairly fast clip without annoying the pedestrians and casual riders.

At Vinton Road I turned east to get onto the frontage road along I-10 (aka "the rollers"). Vinton Road, which has been completely redone from Doniphan to I-10, is the easiest access to the rollers (Thorn, Redd and Transmountain all are steeper). From there I went north to Anthony Exit 0, then crossed I-10 to get onto Sandia Road, a 2-way road that runs alongside I-10 north to O'Hara Road (you have to cross over -- the frontage road enters the freeway at this point). O'Hara Road is the Anthony Gap road. I rode to the summit and turned around.

When I got to Anthony, I decided to take NM 478 back into Anthony then turn west on Washington Street and get back onto the River Trail. This is a little dicey for road bikes, since you have to ride on unpaved levee road along the east side of the river for about 1/2 mile before picking up the River Trail again.

The River Trail runs along the east side of the Rio Grande for about 2 1/2 miles north of Vinton Road then crosses over to the west side where it continues for 10 miles, ending just north of Country Club Road. Today I was running short on time, so I crossed over to Doniphan when I hit Doniphan. The route on the map gives a slightly alternate route for riders who begin and end at River Run Plaza.

I figured out how to embed the map into the blog, so here goes (when I get time, I will go back and edit the earlier posts to embed those maps as well).