South Foothills

Trail 365/365a are my favorites in south foothills (south of Indian School) and have great views of the city, and 401 is easier but still nice. Copper and Indian School are both great trailheads to explore from, and some spots have many extra unmarked trails.

Absolutely love to ride in the Sandia Foothills. With so many trails you can pick your mileage/ride time. All skill levels are welcome!

Good challenging trails in this area of the foothills. Old school loop is started from the Menual parking area and riding close to the mountain south towards the freeway in a big clockwise loop.

Wow. This may be the least of trails around here, but in the central or eastern time zones it would be exceptional! Big elevation, very technical trails available, fast easy down hills if you pay the price to get to the high spots. The cacti are mean, shin and fore arm guards would have helped me out. It's true that there're a lot of dogs and hikers.

I have a love/hate relationship with the foothills. There is some really cool stuff, if you know where to look.

If you don't know where to look, it sucks. Loose gravel, and perfectly smooth trails. So you work twice as hard on the uphills, and the downhills are over in 5 seconds. It'll seem like your entire ride is uphill.

A good area for maintaining fitness and skills in the winter.

It's fun to laugh at all the people on serious bikes out there. And they're not riding the good stuff!

Great goto trail when short on time, or it's the only thing ridable/ open due to fire danger closure. Nice mix of trails with the easiest being down low, and the more intermediate being closer to the power-lines. Some technical sections can be found under the power-lines, and near I-40. The only real downside to the trails are heavy use by hikers, runners, and dog walkers.

Some good technical sections with great views of the city. If you are heading north on the east most trail, you can take a right when you are at the top of the climb before marker 1867B. If you download this map to Google Earth, you will see another trail leading up to the electrical lines. There is a quick downhill starting at base of the electrical poles that has a series of 1 to 2' drop offs where railroad ties were laid down to prevent erosion. Good times!

Started out taking the singletrack from Copper to the South and found some fun little areas, but the closer I got to I-40 the steeper/techier things got. So I turned around and went back to Copper and then took the trail due west from the parking lot up to the saddle. Discovered quite a few options back there but by this time, I was feeling the combined effects of the afternoon sun and a migraine so I turned back. There is plenty of riding for everyone here. There is some sweet undulating singletrack that runs north and south in front of the ridges that anyone could have a blast and get a good work out on. Or you could pick a trail going up where there are several technical challenges that will please even the most advanced riders. I spent a lot of time in Tunnel/Otero Canyon earlier this week but I kinda like Foothills better. I feel better about leaving my car in the lots adjacent to the neighborhoods, and there's plenty of riding to suit my mood. If I want a good workout, I can pick a hill and start climbing. If I just want a relaxing ride, I can just keep to the rolling trails in front of the hills. Sure it's variety is somewhat limited in terms of miles, but if you don't have time to go to Santa Fe or elsewhere this place is well worth it.

mostly easier but really tough stuff if you look!

great workout trail. a lot of uphill for the cardio. can't really bomb down the best hill toward copper and u-mound due to too many hikers, joggers, dogs and fellow bikers.* Review edited 6/30/2009

Rode this trail on a rented hardtail from northern cyclery on menaul st. Scenery was awesome, some of the uphills were brutal, especially at 5900 ft elevation, decents were fast and fun, watch out for the cacti. They are abundant and no fun!

Nice spring ride, watch out for the Goatheads in autumn, winter. Slime your tubes. Nice trail for meeting the locals. Plenty of flowers, little shade.

A lot of erosion in the area from rains last summer. Very high traffic area! Lots of options available on which route to take, but no way to get lost as you can see Albuquerque the entire time.