New Mexicans route bicycle path for Mother Road

In November 2010, the Adventure Cycling Association announced it was mapping out a bicycle-friendly path of Route 66. The group hopes to have those maps available by 2014.

However, the New Mexico Touring Society has already created maps for cyclists wanting to tour Route 66, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The path goes from Glenrio on the east edge of the state to Gallup on the other end. And it includes the pre-1937 alignment of Route 66 to Santa Fe.

The maps and other information about Route 66 can be found at USBR66NM.bicyclemaps.org. The online maps include elevations and mile-by-mile directions. Here’s a sample, from Glenrio to the U.S. 84 junction west of Santa Rosa:



Find more Bike Ride in TX, United States

The Journal reported:

Volunteers cycled or drove the route, looking for remnants of the original road that were still safe for cycling. In areas where the road was eroded, inaccessible or too exposed to heavy traffic, the club chose an alternative that offered a safer cycling experience, said Barbara Snow, the chair of the NMTS Route 66 committee.

“In designing the New Mexico portion of the route, we felt that it was important to avoid biking on the interstate highways as much as possible,” Snow said.

In other areas, the bike route varies from historic Route 66 to offer a more scenic riding experience.
For example, the stretch of Route 66 between Grants and Gallup didn’t have cycling-safe roadways, so the bike map follows N.M. 53 through the Malpais area, past the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano and El Morro National Monument, where visitors can see inscriptions carved by Spanish colonial leaders Juan de Oñate and Don Diego de Vargas.

As I’ve said before, this is a big deal. In recent years, I’ve noticed more and more people requesting information about cycling the Mother Road. Soon, businesses along the Mother Road will likely see a new, vibrant source of pedal-powered tourist revenue.

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