Ride to Cuba, NM

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LittleRedRider
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Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:11 am
Real Name: Sandy
Sex: Female
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2006 Honda Shadow VLX Deluxe
Location: New Mexico

Ride to Cuba, NM

#1 Unread post by LittleRedRider »

I hope I figured out how to post photos, and write a fairly readable ride report. :)

Since Mother Nature kept spitting rain over Memorial Day weekend, we postponed an out-of-town ride until this past weekend.

Started out about taking our normal route out of town to US 550. The road from our neighborhood to 550 has several long sweepers (Now why didn't I think to take a picture of that road! :dunno: ) A quick stop at a junction of roads found us chatting with another husband and wife out for some riding time. He was on a VTX1800 and she on a Shadow 750. She said they were just running up and down the road getting her used to curves-last fall she'd panicked coming into a long left sweeper that goes uphill just after the curve-and dumped the bike. She was OK, the bike had a pretty good dent in the tank. We chatted with them for a few minutes, then headed out on our adventure.

Our destination, the little village of Cuba, New Mexico. About 70 miles from our house - up in the hills:

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It was the longest ride I've done, on either the Rebel or the Shadow and it went well. I stayed out of my head, relaxed and just enjoyed the heck out of it.

We stopped for some fine dining in Cuba.
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With thunderheads building over the mountains to the east and off to the west we decided not to go further north. (plus another rider we talked to had just come over the mountain from Los Alamos and said he had rain most of the way and was planning on going back the long way-south/southeast to I25 then back north).

We finished gearing up and headed back towards home. The thunderstorms were preceded by some pretty nasty headwinds most of the way back into town. We stopped to take a break at an old weigh station just south of San Ysidro with some pretty cliffs in the background.

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Had to take a picture back from where we'd come-looking back northwest from US 550 just south of San Ysidro

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And one more towards home - Sandia Mountains from US 550 just south of San Ysidro

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After we got home and got the bikes cleaned up and put up, we decided to take advantage of the overcast and take the dog for a walk out on the mesa.

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(How can you say no walk to that face?)

We were maybe 15 minutes into the walk when Mother Nature decided to give us a shower. The downpour lasted a few minutes, enough to soak us all, but we decided to trudge on. But the end result was worth it - gorgeous rainbow with a faint second rainbow.

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We're hoping to get out for a short jaunt this weekend, and are planning a longer day trip for later this month that will challenge me a little more and give my hubby a chance to do more twisties with the CBR. I can't wait! :biggrin:
2007 Honda Rebel (ours)
2006 Honda Shadow VLX (mine)
2006 CBR 1000 (hubby's)

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