Question came up last week on best route from Downtown to the current terminus of the Alameda Drain Trail at 4th and the end of Matthew. Riding buddy John and took this route from 4th and Gold yesterday which I can’t seem to save properly in Strava, so I’ll just screen grab it here:

In old-timey turn-by-turn, the route is:

1. Gold west to 9th
2. 9th north to Park Ave.
3. Park west to 14th
4. 14th north to Tiguex Park (there’s a turn or two thrown in there)
5. Old Town Rd west through the Plaza
6. Hollywood west through Rio Grande to Panmunjon and then to Thompson and north on Montoya
7. Montoya north through Mountain Rd. all the way to Bike and Coffee
8. Ride through Bike and Coffee (stop if you like, we just kept riding) to its gate to the I-40 path
9. west on I-40 path but only to Gabaldon
10. North on Gabaldon through the canopy of trees (my fave part) to Leopoldo on north side of Duranes Park
11. East on Leopoldo to Los Luceros
12. North on Los Luceros to where it turns east into Los Anayas, but keep going straight
13. Go through the yellow ditch gate connecting Duranes to Thomas Village
14. Navigate some ditch for a few yards to Don Fernando NW
15. Squiggy right on Don Pedro to Don Quixote
16. East on Don Quixote to the west sidewalk on Rio Grande
17. Get to the light at Rio Grande and Matthew
18. Go east on Matthew (road and multi-use path about halfway to 4th Street)
19. Hit the current southern terminus of Alameda Drain Trail

Seriously. That’s the route. Some/many/all of you are thinking “that’s not straight/fastest/most efficient/fair because drivers get to just take…” and my reply is that maybe, just maybe, focusing so much on straight/expeditious has been the problem all along.

Slow down, take some turns, enjoy yourself.