Passes & Canyons Blog

Lunch time in Quemado.

Leaving Silver City on Day Four of the RMMRC‘s recent New Mexico trip we enjoyed the benefits of taking a different route than planned the day before. In addition to enjoying the fabulous US 191, which we would have missed entirely, we now rode north on US 180, the route we would have been backtracking on if we had not taken US 191. So now it was a new road, not a repeat.

And make no mistake, US 180 is a very nice road, going through some really nice terrain. The day before, when the decision was made to take 191 I was displeased because I knew what a nice road we were missing, while not suspecting what a great road we had in store.

We headed north, through Buckhorn, Alma, to Rancho Grande Estates, where we turned east on NM 12, to Apache Creek, where we turned north on NM 32, to Quemado. The last time I had been on this road was in 2018 when the OFMC was on what I dubbed “the Chipseal Tour.” At that time this entire 38-mile stretch was being chip-sealed and that was really about all we paid attention to. This time it was just smooth road and I got to enjoy the road and the country. And like the run up US 180, it was a nice road to ride.

We got to Quemado and figured it was time for lunch and gas. One question we’d had earlier was whether we might like to go a little further east on US 60 to a place called Pie Town. The main thing going on in that town is that they sell pie. How inviting is that? The problem would have been that it is another 20 or so miles out of our way, which would have made it a nearly 40-mile side trip, just for lunch. Did we want to do that? Plus, the sky was looking pretty threatening. We had decided we would put off any decision until we got to Quemado.

So we got to Quemado and pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant, which turned out to be closed. Was there another restaurant in town? We weren’t sure. We had noticed a road running northwest out of Pie Town that connected to our route a bit to the north–was that road paved?

Our deliberations were interrupted by a woman who drove over to us and got out. Were we looking for a restaurant? There is a really nice one just up the street past the gas station. And by the way, she owns them both and due to a labor shortage they each close on different days of the week. We asked her about the road out of Pie Town and she said it definitely is not paved and it is a dirt road you really, really do not want to get caught on if it rains–which is what the sky was seriously threatening. We ate at her second place up the street.

After lunch we headed out in a hurry but there was no need for speed–the clouds were going the other way and we stayed completely dry. We took NM 36 north to where it connected with NM 117, which runs northeast through El Malpais National Monument. No surprise that this is a very pretty area, too, and if I had been in the lead we would have stopped at Ventana Arch, a big arch very near the road with a parking area. But I wasn’t and we didn’t.

We reached I-40 four miles east of Grants, our stop for the night. We got gas right there and then had the option of blasting four miles on the interstate to town or taking a four-mile stretch of old Route 66 to town. Most of us chose Route 66. Bad, bad choice.

I didn’t see what happened with the guys ahead of me but just before we got onto that stretch of road I noticed a pilot car parked next to the road. Some construction going on? Immediately ahead it was obvious from the very clear difference in appearance that some work had been done on the road. In another second I knew what the work had been, it was chip seal. And apparently, earlier that day, when the crew got to their stopping point they had just dumped all their remaining gravel right there.

I hit about four inches of completely loose gravel and fish-tailed wildly, struggling to keep the bike up. Charley, behind me, tells me he saw me fish-tailing and at least had some time to prepare but nevertheless found himself fish-tailing wildly, too. After that first part the gravel wasn’t so deep but we had four miles of the stuff to ride through to get to Grants. It was a slow, unsteady ride. I was just glad I was on the V-Strom and not the Concours.

Within minutes of reaching the motel the skies did finally open up. After dodging rain all day we were off the bikes when it finally hit. Nice.

Biker Quote for Today

“Damn, buying that motorcycle was a bad investment,” said no one ever.

At the top of Emory Pass, successfully past the chipseal, moments before Friggs (right) crashed his bike.

We all know that anywhere that you have winter, summer is the season for road work. This can mean delays but more importantly, on a motorcycle, it can mean riding through rough conditions that your street bike does not necessarily take well to. One of those conditions is chipseal.

What we’re talking about here is where the basic road surface is in decent shape but there may be cracks, which, left on their own, will cause the road to deteriorate at an accelerating pace. The answer in this case is to coat the road surface with oil or some more sophisticated semi-liquid, sticky substance. Then sand and/or gravel is spread over the stickum and it is left for the weight of vehicles to bear down on the loose stuff and make it adhere to the surface. After a while, when it is deemed that the maximum amount of gravel has adhered, the remaining loose stuff is swept up. Presto, you have an essentially new road surface at minimal expense.

The problem for motorcycles, of course, is that all that loose gravel or sand makes riding very iffy. Plenty of motorcyclists totally avoid riding off the pavement but when you’re on a highway and run into chipseal you have little choice but to ride on the stuff you hate.

For three weeks this summer I was out on my Concours, first, and my V-Strom, second. Would it surprise you if I said we ran into a lot of chipseal? It was almost a daily thing, sort of like the chipseal du jour.

The first chipseal we ran into, on the trip Judy and I took up to British Columbia, came in Montana when we headed north out of Anaconda on U.S. Highway 10A headed to Philipsburg. Here we rode for 15 miles on some of the finest (as in smallest) aggregate I’ve ever encountered as chipseal. It was like plowing through sand, and it had just been laid down that day so it was deep in spots. My Concours hates gravel so it was not at all happy on sand. It’s probably a good thing I had a brand new tire on the back with deep tread. We got through.

Off With The OFMC
My next encounter with chipseal came after Judy and I had split off from the group and were blasting home. We were crossing central Wyoming and the road out of Riverton intersected U.S. 287 a little west of Jeffrey City. There was a chipseal in progress on 287 in both directions from the junction. We were going east.

With only one lane of traffic open on 287, we had to wait until east-bound traffic was allowed through and we then tucked in behind them. This was more of a gravel-sized chipseal, the kind I’m a lot more familiar with, so it was just a matter of staying far enough behind the car in front so that thrown stones were no concern. (I’ve been hit with those in the past.) To our surprise and delight, however, most of the work was to the west of the junction and after less than a mile we were out of the work zone. Big smiles.

The next chipseal showed up after Judy and I got home and I set out with the guys on the OFMC 2018 trip. We were headed north on I-25 out of Las Cruces and turned west on New Mexico 152 to reach Silver City. This took us up over Emory Pass, along the road New Mexicans call “the snake.” This was going to be fun.

Except that after we passed through Hillsboro we came to a chipseal operation in progress. We stopped to wait sitting on new chipseal that had been put down that morning. When we got the go-ahead we had already heard that we would be on this stuff all the way to the top of the pass. And no, it was not any fun at all. I was just glad I was now on my V-Strom, which is better equipped for this sort of thing. The other guys were not so lucky. Mark this road down as one we’ll need to head for again so the guys can have the fun we missed out on this time.

We did get to the top uneventfully, but immediately after, on the run down the other side, Friggs crashed, for no reason he can discern. Go figure. You ride the squirrelly stuff OK and then go down on the smooth pavement.

We ran into more chipseal the next day. Working our way north from Silver City to Gallup, we turned onto New Mexico 32 just east of Cruzville and soon ran into the work zone. They were working our way so what we encountered first was the freshest, i.e., the loosest. This was also the longest stretch of chipseal we encountered–about 30 miles.

Here at least it was not a twisty road. It was the extremely twisty road the day before that made that run so miserable; going straight is easier. In fact, with my V-Strom I felt pretty confident and was hitting almost highway speeds. The other guys lagged behind; they were not going to get up much speed.

You could tell the crews had been working this project for a good while. The further we got the better the packing down got, although we never reached a place where the road had been swept of the remaining loose stuff.

It was after this day that I told the guys that while mapping out this trip I had consulted chipseal.gov to find all the work zones and be sure to visit as many as we could. They agreed I had done my job well.

And that was it. No more chipseal the rest of the trip. Oh, shucks.

Biker Quote for Today

Those voices are telling me to go riding. If I don’t they won’t stop.