My wife is an artist and she really wants us to relocate to New Mexico. Her parents live in Albuquerque (I get along great with the in-laws so no big deal). For my line of work I would need to live in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Give it to me straight New Mexicans....what is the riding like? I have ridden in Albuquerque a few times when visiting and did not really have a great time...very windy. I was in the NE part of the city near the Sandias. I want the good, the bad and the ugly.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

New Mexicans....what is the riding like? I was in the NE part of the city near the Sandias. I want the good, the bad and the ugly.

Albuquerque can get windy but not often. In town Albuquerque rides - Tramway with fingers (Ellena Gallegos, Tram, Lalouse trailhead), Bosque bike path (but not in the summer, too crowded), North diversion channel. East Mountains - Oak Flat, Sandia Crest, Heartbreak Hill and more. Northern NM - Santa Fe Century, Enchanted Circle and Valle Grande. Motorists in general are good. "The bad" - growth area, not as sparse as it was. "The ugly" - the increasing retail, restaurant and hotel chains.

On the positive side, you can still get a lot of house for $180,000. Hard to do in most of the country. As for the wind...it is mostly in the early spring. After that the wind is very similar to the rest of the country. Riding is amazing. You can ride twelve months of the year and never ride in temps below 40F. It usually only stays below 40F all day for less than a week, and it is usually around Christmas. The summer temps are usually in the low 90's with little to no humidity. Very easy summers. Again, we only had one week this summer when the temps were in the high 90's. Great hill training, great altitude training, and great access to organized centuries and races in Colorado and Arizona.

Lalouse trailhead
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Let me put it succinctly - I may end spending time in other locations once I reach my golden years, but I will always have a house in New Mexico.

The weather cannot be beat. I've lived all over the country (NY, New England, OR, CO) and none of those places provides the same mix of sun, seasons and moderate temperatures as NM. From a natural disaster standpoint - we have none. The whole New Orleans thing got us talking and the only thing we could come up with is the 1 in 10 year blizzard or perhaps a 100 year flash flood. No tornadoes on this side of the mountain, no serious earthquakes, no hurricanes. Nasty plains-style thunderstorms do happen, but not frequently.

The wind comes and goes, but being able to ride on any day in January makes putting up with it worthwhile.

ABQ has a great set of MUTs, mostly under used for a city of this size. Riding around town is not bad, drivers are reasonable and bike lanes are wide and common. The only downside is some limitation to riding out of town - it's not like the east where you can get on a bunch of country roads and head out to the farmland. We're ringed by reservations and wilderness. Not impossible, but limited. Nice mix of flatlands and mountains, a couple of good organized rides every year and an okay array of bike shops.

Between SF and ABQ you have about all the culture you could possibly ask for. Plenty of interesting restaurants, a major university and a good airport. Five hours down the road from Colorado and world class skiiing at Taos.

I find it to be a very easy place to live. My commute is short, the weather is never a problem, decent services are nearby and there is no suburban sprawl ringing the city. Traffic is very easy, nothing like LA, PHX or even Tucson.

Downsides - poor public schools, a bit of the soul-less nature of western cities and some amount of gang-related crime in certain parts of the city. Housing prices in SF are insane, not bad in ABQ but rising. Shopping is not world class.

My wife has been here for 33 years, I checked in back in 1990. As I said, we'll travel and we may decide to spend months by the ocean. But we're here to stay.

Im only a teenager so i wouldnt know about houses or wives or anything, but the riding is pretty good out here. most of the roads have wide shoulders and for the most part are pretty clean. I like riding out 66 and have noticed that the people (drivers) get more mean if you will out in Edgewood and Morarty. But the rides out to golden and oak flats are really good. Over all its good here, i try to avoid the inner city riding along 66 and tramway but whatever drifts your stick mate.

Let me put it succinctly - I may end spending time in other locations once I reach my golden years, but I will always have a house in New Mexico.

The weather cannot be beat. I've lived all over the country (NY, New England, OR, CO) and none of those places provides the same mix of sun, seasons and moderate temperatures as NM. From a natural disaster standpoint - we have none. The whole New Orleans thing got us talking and the only thing we could come up with is the 1 in 10 year blizzard or perhaps a 100 year flash flood. No tornadoes on this side of the mountain, no serious earthquakes, no hurricanes. Nasty plains-style thunderstorms do happen, but not frequently.

The wind comes and goes, but being able to ride on any day in January makes putting up with it worthwhile.

ABQ has a great set of MUTs, mostly under used for a city of this size. Riding around town is not bad, drivers are reasonable and bike lanes are wide and common. The only downside is some limitation to riding out of town - it's not like the east where you can get on a bunch of country roads and head out to the farmland. We're ringed by reservations and wilderness. Not impossible, but limited. Nice mix of flatlands and mountains, a couple of good organized rides every year and an okay array of bike shops.

Between SF and ABQ you have about all the culture you could possibly ask for. Plenty of interesting restaurants, a major university and a good airport. Five hours down the road from Colorado and world class skiiing at Taos.

I find it to be a very easy place to live. My commute is short, the weather is never a problem, decent services are nearby and there is no suburban sprawl ringing the city. Traffic is very easy, nothing like LA, PHX or even Tucson.

Downsides - poor public schools, a bit of the soul-less nature of western cities and some amount of gang-related crime in certain parts of the city. Housing prices in SF are insane, not bad in ABQ but rising. Shopping is not world class.

My wife has been here for 33 years, I checked in back in 1990. As I said, we'll travel and we may decide to spend months by the ocean. But we're here to stay.

But given the labs and sensitive materials in that region of the state, we are a prime terrorist target ;)

Thought I'd chime in.

Hard to really tell you how the road riding is. That is like saying the hot sauce is hot. How hot?

That being said, I love northern New Mexico. The weather makes the riding. The roads are decent in Santa Fe (can't speak for ABQ). The highway department has finished 285 North out of town, so riding to and around Los Alamos has become easier. There are good rides for training, and good cruiser rides. The hill climb in Santa Fe is a great workout, as is Sandia I've heard.

Also, you should consider the mountain biking in the area. Too sweet.

One more consideration. Moab, Durango, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, etc. All a short days drive


J

I used to visit a friend of mine there (Albuquerque/ Sandia) a few times a year for about ten years until he moved to Portland... I have to say I liked the weather.. although arid condition at time burnt me out and the abundunce of less than desirable characters alarmed me a bit (broken beer bottles on the side of the roads are notorious)... overall I liked New Mexico. As for the art scene, I hated Santa Fe, Taos etc.. Very touristy-Southwestern-Indian-turqouise-silver-jewery-everywhere type of scene... just not my kinda art scene...also the Indian scene/ situation there (Taos) depressed me... as for riding I couldn't say since I never brought my bike out there as my buddy didn't ride but there were healthy cycling scene there... Although thin air occasionally made me see blobs I'd move there just for the fair weather, landscape and good cycling alone...

Super long post, but once I started typing...i couldn't stop, hope it's helpfull.

Albuquerque riding is GREAT. Like others said, weather can't be beat; you really CAN ride almost every day of the year. I’d say there are AT MOST 20 days all year that are unrideable. What snow we do get doesn't stay around (Haven’t had any recently, but it's bound to come back eventually) wind can be nasty, but usually in spring, bike trails are superb, you can ride all over town without ever having to be on a main road, and if distance is your only goal (not commuting in other words) you can ride all day on sparsely trafficked MUP's.

On the bad side (but I think this is everywhere) no one even considers bicycles on the road, so I truly feel invisible on my bike.

We do have way too many "chain" restaurants in town, but if you look, you can find some of the best food here too. From sushi and French, to Mediterranean and burgers. Albuquerque had at one point (I think 2 years ago?) the largest number of restaurants per capita. And there are many MANY great locally owned restaurants my wife and I enjoy frequenting. We have great Theatre (community theatre as well as some larger productions at UNM) Good concerts http://www.journalpavilion.com/main.html casinos near by if you like to gamble, good golf (and it's CHEAP too compared to other parts of the country I’ve played at) we have good museums, good shopping (new outdoor "upscale" mall is going in right now on the east side of Albuquerque)

One major downside of Albuquerque is we have virtually no mass transit. The Major and governor are trying to change this, but it’s still not a very viable option.

We also have our share of problems, some of the worst DWI rates in the country, big meth problem. A meth house was busted not far from mine recently...and I don't live in a bad neighborhood. Lots of sex offenders, something about the way new Mexico lets them register or something...do a search on sex offenders in Albuquerque and you should be able to find an interactive map fairly easily that lets you see where they live, good thing to check out when buying a house...

Santa Fe I can't really speak to for riding. I used to work there, but never considered biking in that town, it's "the city different" and they ain't foolin. I've seen people riding there, mostly mountain bikes and looked to be commuting. The Santa Fe/Taos artsy portion of the state is not my style, but many people love it, and move to New Mexico for that reason. My mom was really into it when we moved here when I was a kid, Indian Jewelry, pottery, etc, but she eventually grew tired of it, and isn’t that big into it.

I’ve only lived in California and here, but I think it’s a great place to be. Ignore that guy who thinks we’re a terrorist target, I think if it were a real military campaign the Terrorist were waging he might be right, but they aren’t about fighting a war, they’re about spreading terror. New Mexico doesn’t have enough people concentrated in any one place to make us worth there time :-)

"Downsides - poor public schools, a bit of the soul-less nature of western cities and some amount of gang-related crime in certain parts of the city. Housing prices in SF are insane, not bad in ABQ but rising. Shopping is not world class."

Rio Rancho fixes those problems. Poor Public schools; nope not in RR. I believe Rio Rancho High School is best in the state. Gang related crime, never have seen gangs where I live. Very low amounts of "gang" members at RRHS. RR is close to Alburqurque. It takes about half an hour to get to the university (where most of the art stuff goes down), but I do live on the edge of RR (in walking distance to Alburqurque).

My grip about NM (has nothing to do with riding), is the lack of Rap radio stations. There is one Rap station and it only plays mtv stuff, which in most cases is not good music.

Hope that helped some.

EDIT: This thrend seems usefull- http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=12959

I wish my wife wanted to live in New Mexico.....

I'd be able to ride more here in Reno !!!