Mountain Bikes

Yes, there will be a route for bikes. No, it won’t be for mountain bikes. It will be for touring bikes. It will generally follow the route of the High Road to Taos, with some modifications to avoid traffic pinch points and being on Route 84 near Santa Fe.

There will be a couple of detours for especially sweet mountain biking trails along the way. And you’ll still be climbing a lot of hills, at high altitude. You’ll get a workout. And with the touring route, you’ll be going through a bunch of cool little villages where you can eat, crash for a night, have cell service, medical access, cultural interest sites, occasional public transport, etc.

If you’d like updates about the bike route – and would like to share your ideas and feedback about the route – please send an email to contact@santafetotaos.org with the subject line BIKES.

Why no mountain bike route?

The trails and the services just aren’t really there. You’d have to go through or around a lot of tribal land. We’ve had a couple of fires that have closed key trails, and the trail maintenance challenges are steep. Also, of course, you’d have to go around the Pecos Wilderness, which is a pretty foundational part of the thru-hike.

A lot of the potential mountain bike routes would also take you through tiny, remote villages and narrow, semi-private roads where you’re not really going to be welcome. The best approach for everybody is to use the awesome route we already have – The High Road to Taos – because it’s rigorous enough, pretty, and has all the basic infrastructure for a really nice road bike route. So why re-invent the wheel?