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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I'll be in ABQ for work the end of this month, should have some time in the mornings to squeeze in some 2 hour rides. Road seems like the obvious choice, though more dangerous, given the time of year. Looks like there's some mtb trails on the east side of town, are those all gonna be snow packed?
 

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MTB the East ABQ foothills, especially the south end (Indian School trailhead, avoid Copper), dries out fairly quickly if it snows and warms up. North end from Spain trailhead has more miles of trail and gets pretty technical in spots, but has more places where shade will cause snowy/muddy spots where snow takes longer to dry out. We usually start seeing more snow in February and March, but even then it's usually not a lot and is gone after a couple days. It's pretty random as to whether it snows or not and how much. Placitas is basically same as foothills, just a little further off (park in the uphill lot, not the downhill lot). Rio Rancho is sandier, better for fatter tires. For the weekends if it's warm enough and hasn't snowed recently, you can go ride south of Tijeras (Park at Chamisoso/Coyote or at Pine Flats) and there's some great trails.

Road bike you'll want to stick to Tramway generally, but some people like to add on from the Sandia Casino towards the river then up north to Bernalillo. You can also ride the river trail, it's paved, but at times it gets busy so you're dodging other bikers and pedestrians/runners. Road biking in ABQ is kind of boring IMO. If it's warm enough then riding east on Route 66 up to Tijeras and south on 337 is a local favorite and more interesting, but don't park near Central/Tramway (high crime/homeless).

I guess I would recommend MTB, gives you more options, but I'm biased.
 

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MTB - for what has been said above.

And x2 for Indian School parking lot (or Menaul)... Make sure to end with the powerline descent (north end of South Footies) that runs from the wilderness fence back to the split for the Menaul/Indian School trail heads. It's soo fast and fun - amazing how fun that descent is for only dropping a couple hundred feet.
 

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Discussion Starter · #6 ·
Thanks all for the info. Quick ABQ recap for ya....

Ended up taking the road bike due to some wheel issues on my MTB. Availability hours for me riding weren't great, but oh my, ABQ is not bike friendly at all, at least compared to where I'm from in AZ. Maybe I'm being a debbie, but I was pretty surprised at the lack of bike lanes, or just random 2 block sections of bike lanes for the largest city in the state, and Tramway still had tons of traffic with busy intersections. I was able to ride the canal paths and got 2 flat tires.
 
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