Century Tour rolls through Red River Sunday

The 41st Annual Enchanted Circle Century Tour starts 8 a.m. Saturday (Sept. 11) in Red River, then travels the Enchanted Circle with a siderun to Black Lake to make the tour a full 100 miles.

Riders finish back in town after a blistering fast four to eight or more hours later.

Six rest stops as well as three support wagons and an EMS vehicle traveling the 100-mile route will assist riders. Since the weather will be cool at the beginning of the race (mid-high 40’s) and 30+ degrees warmer as the day progresses, riders will need to plan on layering their clothing. There will be a “clothes drop” at the end of the first 13 miles as well as every rest stop can be a clothes drop.

Elevation change is the key feature of the tour as it starts and ends at 8,750 feet in Red River and goes as low as 6,800 feet in Arroyo Hondo.

Bobcat Pass and Flechado Pass are the challenging climbs on the tour with Bobcat rising to 9,820 feet on the last grueling climb of the event.

Red River resident John Miller started the first 100mile tour 41 years ago after riding in an Albuquerque century tour. Miller said he and about 70 others rode the Enchanted Circle the opposite direction but they switched the following year after riders were harassed by wood gatherers (who ran a few riders off the road), angry drivers (who chucked beer bottles at the bicyclists) and even police (who told riders to get off the road (“It isn’t safe!”).

For more information, please contact the Red River Chamber of Commerce office, (575) 754-2366, or email rrinfo@redriverchamber.org.

Courtesy photo Riders tackle an uphill climb during a prior Enchanted Circle Century.