New to NM

Welcome! I lived in Sunspot (16ish miles from CC) for a year and a half, and I love it up there.

What kind of bike you want depends on what kind of riding you want to do. Any ideas? I haven't been on a trail in the CC area since my 3rd grade year (10 yrs ago) so I can't really say. For LC, there's some chunky stuff, but there's also a lot of XC. I personally ride a FS trail bike with ~5in. of travel. It can handle XC as well as chunkier stuff, so I have found it an ideal balance in the short time I've been riding lately.

Like I said though, it really depends on how you want to ride.

Welcome to New Mexico, Miiike. Sounds like Nenbran has a pretty good grasp on what works. Personally, I ride a HT. I love it for climbing, but descending rocky stuff in the Dona Anas is a lesson in picking the smoothest lines, and longer rides in the rugged stuff can get taxing. Again, it's really personal preference.

Whatever bike you choose, you'll have fun here. Oh, yeah, talk to the guys at High Altitude in Cloudcroft, I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Thanks for the input guys! I'll definitely check in with the guys at high altitude for advice on what they would ride for the local area. And I think I will be going with something in the range of a 135mm travel FS trail bike, not having ridden in so long it's probably my best bet till i figure out what I really want out of riding now.

Thanks again for the advice and hopefully I'll meet you all out on the trails sometime soon.

Mike

135 sounds good. It's a nice intermediate between 100 of an XC and 160 of an AM. Look forward to seeing you out there sometime.