She seems to be coming around, but I think we will plan this to hit Big Bend around 3/1 and NM a few days later. That sounds a little safer. The National Park Service web site says the park gets crowded in March, which makes me hope I can hit a space with higher temps and lower traffic. Right now I have to go remove a half foot of snow, from something the weather report called flurries.
Thanks for everyones feedback. michael On Jan 8, 9:48 pm, tarik saleh <tariksa...@gmail.com> wrote: > I composed almost all of this before I saw you were planning on > going south, but go back and read the last paragraph and the parts > about the wind. I figure people would enjoy the link to the bob ride > a few years back too. > > If you get north of Albuquerque, you get really high really quick, I > live in los alamos at 7200 feet and I usually take my studded tires > off on Tax Day. Santa fe is also at 7000 feet. Just to give you an > idea of what can go wrong. Here is the Santa Fe Mtb race in early May > 2010:http://www.flickr.com/photos/targetsalad/4571133393/ > Not in the mountains mind you, that is probably a touch lower than > 7000 feet just outside of the city proper. > > Now often you can get some nice spring road biking as the sun keeps > things warm. Nights can be rough. Santa Fe and Los Alamos date of last > frost is usually 6/1 or so depending on exactly where you are. > > However, as patrick said, usually winter gives way to wind. Here are > some photos of an ill advised bob-ride in Albuquerque on 3/16/2008: > > http://tsaleh.blogspot.com/2008/03/nm-ibob-ride-in-few-pics-and-video... > You can see pictures of Patrick " I never flat" Moore fixing a flat, > Ryan Watson and me among other bob /RBW listers. So it was probably > reasonably warmish in Albuquerque that day, but check out the movie > and the picture of Ryan afterwards. While that was a really windy > day, it was not atypically windy for spring riding. > > As Ray pointed out there is nice cold skiing at the higher elevations, > Los Alamos's xc ski area is at 9000 feet or so, but usually by march > you can road ride in the morning in town (the one good loop road ride > in town is the bandelier loop which goes from 7800 feet to 6300 feet > or so) and xc ski up on the mountain in the afternoon. I believe I > did an Xc ski race in los alamos the day before the bob-ride linked > above. > > Anyhow, June and early July are probably good, after that the monsoons > come with severe thunderstorms. Then again in september, before winter > comes in october (in higher elevations again).... > I like to say there are months in which you will get snowed on, and > the rest of the months you will probably get hailed on, so there are > always challenges riding in the high country. > > Anyhow, plan carefully. Most of NM is above 4000 feet in altitude, > even all the way to the border with mexico. The local bike racer list > has fairly regular emails to house cyling tourists that gambled on Feb > or October being good riding in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Carlsbad > and losing. Silver City and the Gila are also popular areas for > cycling tourist and hikers to get caught by bad storms on the > peripheries of winter. > > Good luck and plan well. > > Tarik > > > > > > > On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 10:43 AM, MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Actually that's the part of the state that I have toured on two > >> occasions for about a month in total. I was thinking about coming > >> across the south - hitting New Orleans & San Antonio before landing in > >> Big Bend, then on to Carlsbad, and Las Cruces, before heading back > >> north. > >> michael > > > Latest forecasts for ABQ area, mid 40s high with low 20s low; Las > > Cruces 12-15 F higher. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- > Tarik Saleh > tas at tariksaleh dot com > in los alamos, po box 208, 87544http://tariksaleh.com > all sorts of bikes blog:http://tsaleh.blogspot.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
