Just to the East of Albuquerque is a 10600+ foot mountain called Sandia Crest and a road to the top. I was in Albuquerque to visit some friends and took my bike and a description of the ride from some people who mailed me their tips on where to ride in Albuquerque. I drove the road with our friends as part of the grand tour they gave us on Saturday. It looked like a real killer but the shoulders ... ah. There are wide shoulders practically the whole way! But it just keeps getting steeper and steeper.
I left at 7am from North Albuquerque taking Tramway 6 miles south 'til it meets I40. Just on the other side of the intersection there is an almost unnoticable entrace to a bike path. It starts from the southeast corner of the intersection. This took me to state hiway 333 which is old US66. I rode up the canyon and into a *stiff* wind. It was probably 35-40mph and pretty steady. I was going 10mph *down* some hills against that wind. My strategy was to take it real easy since I knew it was a long ride and I wasn't sure what shape I was in. But here I was starting out and into this hard wind. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Old 66 goes 7 miles up the canyon to the tiny town of Tijeras paralleling I40 with almost no traffic. Then it goes up 6 miles of 4 lane road with very wide shoulders up to San Antonito. From there you turn into Cibola National Forest and start your grind from about 6000' to 10500'. Most of this is in very pleasant forest. Juniper and Oak at lower levels and Pine at the top. The road is clean of debris, in good shape and has a wide shoulder up to the ski area above 8000'. Then the road narrows a bit but is still in great shape with little traffic all the way to the top. There were deer and patches of wild irises along the way. At the top the view is 100 miles to east and west. Very pretty. There is a snack bar and bathrooms. I thought the sign at the top that said "Dead End" described the last 100 yds very nicely. I was dead at the end. It was a slow climb of around 4 hours for me. Many more athletic people pedal up there more quickly.
The descent is something else. Twisty road trying to hold your speed to below 30 mph for the corners. The windchill can make what you thought was a warm day turnout to be quite cold until you get down several thousand feet. A very fun road but watch out for small patches (a square foot or less) where where the upper inch of pavement has been accidently removed, perhaps by snow equipment in the winter. The fun just kept coming. There was only one small hill of a couple hundred vert-feet just past the ski area. When I get back to San Antonito I have been crusing at 30+mph for so long the hill there seems like a relief from the screaming wind. Then it was downhill to Tijeras where I knew the wind will have reversed like it does in Thompson Canyon. But no -- the wind was with me! What luck. And it hasn't slackened! I just stayed in that top gear and burned down the canyon toping hills at 30+ mph. I am at the intersection of I40 and Tramway in just one hour that means around 26mph including all those hills. Gravity and wind can be wonderful.
The whole trip was 68 miles and 6100 accumulated vertical feet of climbing. This ride is a blast with little traffic and great road. Sandia Crest gets an A+ in my Book of Rides.