New Mexico Ride Descriptions & Maps
Last modified: Tue May 19 12:00:26 Mountain Daylight Time 2009
For a calendar of regularly scheduled group rides, go to Group Rides
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The NM Touring Society site has a great selection of ride descriptions.
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An excellent printed map showing Albuquerque area bike paths and bike lanes is available from the City of Albuquerque site.
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| Ride | Length* | Climbing | Start | Description |
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| Fruit Loop | 22 mi | 400 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A loop ride entirely within the Albuquerque city limits. This vast majority of this ride is on didicated bike paths - oops I mean mixed use trails: the North Diversion Channel path, the path just S of and parallel to Paseo del Norte and the Bosque path. It's a nice lunch time ride, and is also often used to tack extra miles onto the Slick 50. |
| Mt. Taylor | 22 mi | 2100 ft | Grants, NM | The ride from Grants to the end of the pavement on the road up to Mt. Taylor. This is the cycling portion of the Mt. Taylor Quadrathalon. |
| Moriarty (aka Record Challenge) 40k TT Course | 40 km | < 200 ft | Moriarty, NM | The fastst 40k course in the country. |
| Rio Bravo - Central Loop | 30 mi | 1500 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A loop ride on the West side of Albuquerque with a nice little climb up the West Mesa. A decent short ride in its own right, it's also sometimes used to add extra miles onto the Slick 50 (or whatever). |
| Tramway Loop | 30 mi | 1700 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A very popular loop ride, taking in the well-known gentle climb up Tramway. Tramway is probably the most cycled road in New Mexico. The views of the Sandias are great. A nice ride in its own right, especially if fingers are added in. This is also often used to tack extra miles onto the Slick 50 (or whatever). |
| South Fingers | 10 mi | 2000 ft | Albuquerque | This ride fragment shows my favorite way to do "fingers" in the South foothills of the Sandias. It leaves Tramway at Indian School and rejoins it at Manitoba. In the roughly 9 miles in between is ~1500ft of climbing, some of it very steep. |
| Slick 50 | 50 mi | 900 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A loop ride in the Rio Grande valley South of Albuquerque. This is the default Lobo Ride, especially in the winter. |
| South 14 - Anaya Loop | 55 mi | 3600 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A popular East Mountain ride up South 14, and then making a short loop on Anaya Rd. that includes a few short steep climbs. |
| Jemez Dam | 62 mi | 1650 ft | Albuquerque (Fairgrounds) | A very popular ride out to the overlook above Jemez Dam on the Santa Ana Pueblo. |
| 'Round The Mountain | 65 mi | 4300 ft | Albuquerque (Fairgrounds) | This is pretty much the coolest ride around (pun intended), although not everyone agrees on this. This goes through Placitas and up to Sandia Ski Area the back way - on dirt, then down the crest road and back through Tijeras Canyon. |
| South 14 - 217 - Heartbreak Loop | 70 mi | 4500 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | Another East Mountain loop that goes up South 14, takes in the famous 217 rollers, and then the infamous Heartbreak Hill, albeit backwards which is much easier than the other way. |
| San Felipe | 70 mi | 1200 ft | Albuquerque (Fairgrounds) | A nice out-and-back ride in the Rio Grande valley North of Albuquerque that passes through the Sandia, Santa Ana and San Felipe Reservations. |
| Paako Fingers | 75 mi | 5800 ft | Albuquerque (UNM) | A nice East Mountain ride that takes in many of the short steep climbs ("fingers") in the new developments on the East slope of the Sandias. |
| TorC - Winston - Chloride | ~85 mi | 5000 ft | Truth or Consequences | A beautiful ride with lots of climbing on roads with little no traffic. The towns of Winston and Chloride (especially) are funky old towns that are definitely woth a visit. |
| TorC - Emory Pass | ~100 mi | 6000 ft | Truth or Consequences | Another beautiful ride out of Truth or Consequences. The climb up Emory Pass is classic and the descent is super fun. |
| Highway 6 | ~100 mi | 2800 ft | Albuquerque (Fairgrounds) | One of the best rides around. This naturally breaks up into three sections: South down the Rio Grande valley to Los Lunas; Highway 6 NW over the mesa and then through the Rio Puerco and Rio San Jose vallies; I-40 E back across the Puerco, up and over the West Mesa, and back down into town. |
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Highway 6 (counter clockwise) |
~100 mi | 2800 ft | Albuquerque (Fairgrounds) | The other way around... Another great long ride, this is easier than going the other way, but the views are not quite as nice. |
| Santa Fe Century | 100 mi | 4500 ft | Santa Fe | The Santa Fe Century route. |
| Red River Century | 100 mi | 6500 ft | Red River, NM | The ever popular - and difficult - Red River Century route, including the justly famous the Enchanted Cirle loop. |
| El Tour de Tucson | 109 mi | 3000 ft | Tucson | A token Tucson ride... |
| Valles Caldera DC | 118 mi | 10500 ft | Jemez Mts. | A long, hard, mountainous ride back and forth across the beautiful Valles Calera in the Jemez Mountains. |
| Mountainair Loop | 150 mi | 5400 ft | Albuquerque | The circumnavigation of the Manzano Mountains. A really nice long ride. |
| Cuba-Chama-Agua Caliente-Cuba | 303 mi | 17500 ft | Cuba | This is a really cool loop through typically amazing and remote Northern New Mexico country. |
| *Distances quoted are for starting and finishing from either the student ghetto S of UNM campus, or just N of the fairgrounds. | ||||