dogman dan
1 PW
Touring season is now in my climate. Not too cold anymore, but still cool enough to do a mountian climb. Todays daytrip, 60 miles of riding on Emory Pass in southern New Mexico. Located about 30 miles East of Caballo lake on I - 25, is the shortcut to Siver City through some historic mining towns of the 1880's.
Starting in Hillsboro, once the biggest city in NM during the silver rush, at 5250 ft altitude. The road crosses the black range of the Gila national forest trough Emory pass at 8350 feet, 18 miles as the road goes.View attachment 8
Kingston, another mining town 9 miles from the top. The road begins to get steep here, about 7% average, but some 10% or better spots abound. From here on the road has a 25 mph speed limit, but most corners are marked either 10 or 15 mph. The arrow marks the pass. View attachment Historic Kingston mining town.jpg
While the spanish history here goes back to before Jamestown was settled, the "white" history starts later, and the classic western period is post civil war. Here's a guy who died rich enough for a nice tombstone in 1880's.View attachment 's.jpg
Typical corner, this is why we used to gravity race this road in our teens.View attachment Typical hairpin..jpg
One of the 10% steep bits.View attachment A steep part..jpg
Almost to the top.View attachment 3
And a few pics from the top. Arrows point out Kingston, and Hillsboro where I started.View attachment from the top.jpgView attachment from the top, 2.jpgView attachment from the top 3.jpg
From there I continued down the other side of the pass another 8 miles, and then turned back uphill. About two miles later, at mile 28, my 48v 15 ah pingbattery finally quit. Not bad, 28 miles, and a full 20 of it uphill and a pretty stout grade too! Don't forget there's 30 pounds of battery and 10 pounds of water, clothing and other gear on that pannier rack for the climb. The rest of the ride was done on my 2 year old 36v 20 ah ping. All along the Ebikekit motor did well. I rode the first 12 miles slow, at about 12 mph. But the majority of the steeper part I rode at 15 mph minimum, hitting 20 mph on the flatter parts. The weather was low 70's F, and windy. The motor never got beyond warm in this cooler weather. I expected it to get hotter on the steep climb, but in cool weather it did great.
After crossing the pass again, and returning to the car, I still had lots of battery left. So I climbed a few more hills around Hillsboro, adding another 750 feet of vertical for the day and finishing off with 60 miles on the odometer. Only 10 miles of it was ridden part throttle, the rest was done throttling as needed to go at least 15 mph, or on the 36v battery no less than 13 mph up the steepest parts.
I knew with two pings aboard I had serious range, but I never thought I would have 60 miles of it when climbing a huge mountain pass twice was involved. About 5000 vertical feet of climbing along the whole route.
Starting in Hillsboro, once the biggest city in NM during the silver rush, at 5250 ft altitude. The road crosses the black range of the Gila national forest trough Emory pass at 8350 feet, 18 miles as the road goes.View attachment 8
Kingston, another mining town 9 miles from the top. The road begins to get steep here, about 7% average, but some 10% or better spots abound. From here on the road has a 25 mph speed limit, but most corners are marked either 10 or 15 mph. The arrow marks the pass. View attachment Historic Kingston mining town.jpg
While the spanish history here goes back to before Jamestown was settled, the "white" history starts later, and the classic western period is post civil war. Here's a guy who died rich enough for a nice tombstone in 1880's.View attachment 's.jpg
Typical corner, this is why we used to gravity race this road in our teens.View attachment Typical hairpin..jpg
One of the 10% steep bits.View attachment A steep part..jpg
Almost to the top.View attachment 3
And a few pics from the top. Arrows point out Kingston, and Hillsboro where I started.View attachment from the top.jpgView attachment from the top, 2.jpgView attachment from the top 3.jpg
From there I continued down the other side of the pass another 8 miles, and then turned back uphill. About two miles later, at mile 28, my 48v 15 ah pingbattery finally quit. Not bad, 28 miles, and a full 20 of it uphill and a pretty stout grade too! Don't forget there's 30 pounds of battery and 10 pounds of water, clothing and other gear on that pannier rack for the climb. The rest of the ride was done on my 2 year old 36v 20 ah ping. All along the Ebikekit motor did well. I rode the first 12 miles slow, at about 12 mph. But the majority of the steeper part I rode at 15 mph minimum, hitting 20 mph on the flatter parts. The weather was low 70's F, and windy. The motor never got beyond warm in this cooler weather. I expected it to get hotter on the steep climb, but in cool weather it did great.
After crossing the pass again, and returning to the car, I still had lots of battery left. So I climbed a few more hills around Hillsboro, adding another 750 feet of vertical for the day and finishing off with 60 miles on the odometer. Only 10 miles of it was ridden part throttle, the rest was done throttling as needed to go at least 15 mph, or on the 36v battery no less than 13 mph up the steepest parts.
I knew with two pings aboard I had serious range, but I never thought I would have 60 miles of it when climbing a huge mountain pass twice was involved. About 5000 vertical feet of climbing along the whole route.
