FIND NEW CYCLING ROUTES 

WITH HIGH DESERT BICYCLES

LET HIGH DESERT BICYCLES HELP YOU FIND YOUR NEXT RIDE! 

We have put together a list of some of our favorite routes from road to mountain and beginner to advanced. Use included links to download the route to your Garmin or other GPS device. Take a look and see if you find a good route for your next ride! If you have any questions about local routes feel free to reach out to us here!

GET DIRECTIONS ON YOUR NEW ROUTE


Learning new routes can sometimes be tricky. We are here to help! Each one of our routes have a link to Strava. Strava is a free fitness tracking app that you can not only use to record your activities, but also can be used to learn new areas to ride! There are two easy ways to track your ride. First is with the free Strava app on your phone. Second is to download the route directly to your Garmin cycling computer. For directions on how to follow our routes on you device check the dropdown below!


1.Download the Strava app on your smartphone here. Create an account and log in.

2.Come back to this page and click on the Strava Map of the course you would like to complete.

3.From here you can select "Use Route" and you are on your way!

1. On your computer click the map of the route you would like to download.

2.In Strava, above the map, click "Download TCX file" and save to your computer

3. Plug in and connect your Garmin device to your computer.

4. Find your downloaded TCX file, click and drag it into your Garmin's "new files" folder. Then safely disconnect your Garmin device from the computer.

5. To begin a route turn on your Garmin, go to Menu > Training > Courses > Select the course you want to ride and hit start!

ROAD ROUTES



EASY ROAD ROUTE


Park at the Smith’s off Montgomery and Tramway, this is an excellent parking spot. This route is straightforward and involves riding tramway south to the Smiths on tramway and old 63 and then back north as far as you want to go before coming back to the car. This is a good beginner route with minimal climbing, a lot of other bike traffic and a good shoulder. On the weekends you will see other cyclists!  



EASY ROAD ROUTE + THE CLIMB


You can add a climb on to the north section of the route by riding down, on tramway, to the roundabout near the Sandia Pueblo Rail Runner Station. This route follows tramway as it descends to the casino and then passed that to the round about by the Sandia Rail Runner Station. It adds a little over 1000 ft of climbing but is a great beginner way to get more climbing! 



INTERMEDIATE ROAD ROUTE


Park at the Smith’s on Tramway and Old 63, there's plenty of parking here and there's a lot of foot traffic so it makes a decent spot to park a car for a few hours. Can also pedal here from most places in town. The ride follows old 63 to highway 337 and up through Otero canyon with a little lollipop at the end to get some good back roads before heading back down through the canyon. The climb is fairly mellow with a good shoulder. This is a popular route and cars expect to see bikes on the weekend. There is a small grocery store (Morning Star Grocery) that you can stop and get water and snacks before heading back down route 337 back into Tijeras and finally back on old 63 to the car.  



ADVANCED ROAD ROUTE


Park at the Smith’s on Tramway and Old 63, there's plenty of parking here and there's a lot of foot traffic so it makes a decent spot to park a car for a few hours. You can also can also ride here from most places in town. The ride starts mellow as you follow old 63 out to Tijeras and then you will get on S14 heading north into Cedar Crest. You will turn onto the sandia crest road where you will have a 16-mile climb to the top of the mountain. The climb starts with a gradual grade but the last 4-6 miles has a more intense grade, 5-10% with quite a few switchbacks. You are rewarded on the pedal back to the car with a mostly descent finish! This route goes by a gas station at about mile 12 and roughly mile 40 so food and water are not a problem! 



ADVANCED ROAD ROUTE #2


Park at the Smith’s on Tramway and Old 63, there's plenty of parking here and there's a lot of foot traffic so it makes a decent spot to park a car for a few hours. You can also can also ride here from most places in town. This route starts the same as the cedro canyon route, with a refuel stop at mile 16 at morning side grocery. After the grocery store you will take a mixture of small local roads to get to 217, you will stay on that for a while and then take Frost Rd to 334 to get back to S14 and north to Madrid. This is a long stretch of road so bring plenty of food and water. From Madrid at mile 62 you will ride S14 back into Ceder Crest and then Tijeras and finally the car. This is a great century ride with enough water and food stops. This route does have a fair amount of climbing. If you want a challenge there is a “FUN” addition when you get into Cedar Crest you can climb to the top of the Sandia Crest, adds 32 miles and about 4k climbing.  

MOUNTAIN BIKE ROUTES



BEGINNER MTB ROUTE


Park at the top of Spain Rd. In the Michael Emery parking lot. This route follows trail# 305 to 342 to 341 to 230 to 365 finally ending on Michael Emery (305). This is a super popular route, that is ridable year-round, with the hardest sections being trail 230 and the section of 365 right after 230. It is mostly green trails with 230 being a blue and parts of 365 also being a blue. It is a cross country route through and through so most mountain bikes can do this route. There are a lot of side trails in this trail system if you want to add more milage. At the intersection of 230 and 365 you can decide to go north to the tram which adds 3 miles and 300ft of climbing but also a great trail that is a true-blue trail.  



INTERMEDIATE MTB ROUTE


Start this route at Pine Flats recreation parking lot. The pine flats trail system is open to all sorts of trail users including motos and horses so be respectful. This is a very popular spot during its riding period of late spring to late fall depending on rain/snowfall.  The pine flats trail system has a lot of trails so follow the route closely as it can be easy to get lost. This route gives a little bit of everything with the trails; poker chip North, Bear scat and Deadman being the trickiest trails. poker chip north has some tricky climbing sections and some harder descending sections and as such is rated a black trail. Deadman has a great rock garden with a few different lines, it's not very long and can be walked, the rest of the trail has moments with harder features but has go arounds. The section of bear scat this route goes on has a tricky start but then is easily doable compared to dead man and poker chip. The north bound section of bear scat is a difficult addition that you can do. There are multiple races a year on these trails and they are given a great taste of the trail sytem.  



INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED MTB ROUTE


Park at Tunnel canyon parking lot. This is another popular mtb riding spot so there usually is cars. These trails can link over to pine and oak flats but this route stays on the western boundary of the system. This route has more extended descents compared to pine/oak flats and its generally more rocky. There is no water on this ride so plan to bring water and food for at least a 3hr ride as climbing here can be tricky. The main descents are tunnel canyon both ways, bird house, 3 bottles and turkey trot. All of the descents are blues except 3 bottles which is a black trail with multiple optional trail features that should be looked at first. If you like techy mid speed rocky trails then you will like the descents here. This route can be ridden in mid/late spring to mid/late fall depending on snowfall. There are a lot of trails in this system so you can make the route shorter or longer.  



ADVANCED MTB ROUTE


Park at the first turn out sign on the Sandia crest road. This is a difficult route with a lot of climbing, there are plenty of spots with greater than 10% climbing grade with difficult technical climbing moves. The descents are also quite technical with 2 black diamond trails and mostly blue trails. There are a few other trails in this system to ride if you want an easier or shorter route. There is no water or food so bring all that for an at least 5-7 hour ride based on skill and fitness. You can do most of the climbing on the road if you want a much easier climbing experience. The ride has a few notable descents; challenge, 10 north, oso connector, south faulty (has 2 shorter) and armijo. Oso connector has a lot of rock gardens with multiple lines, south faulty also has a lot of rock gardens, 10k north has rocks and roots, challenge can be highspeed with some sections having rocks/roots and armijo is a green fast flow trail. This is a great ride that gives you a taste of most of the good trails in the system. There are harder trails that you can ride optionally.