Santa Fe Rail Trail Improvements - Updated

Kid is my co-pilot

The Rail Trail’s transformation from footpath to transportation infrastructure appears to be moving along. Phases two and three of the recent engineering improvements, a five mile section from the Spur Trail to Nine Mile Rd then on to Avenida Vista Grande in Eldorado, are just now nearing the end of nine months of work. The most notable addition is the new trailhead at Nine-Mile Rd including a built-out underpass of the tracks. Many of the previously straight sections along the trail now curl and meander through trees. I'm a fan.

The trail has been undergoing re-alignment, re-surfacing, and erosion protection over the last several years, all part of a long-term effort of the NM Dept of Transportation who manages the railroad easements in partnership with Santa Fe County and SFCounty Open Space who manage the trail. The first improvement phase from Rabbit Rd to the Spur Trail (~1.5mi) was completed in 2013. Parking and trailhead reconstruction went in the year before that. There's another three phases of trail work planned out to the junction with Highway 285. Phase four would complete improvements through Eldorado. The last two miles of the rail into Lamy are privately owned and no trail exists there. Funding for this long term trail work sources from county gross receipt taxes and federal highway administration grants.

The new alignment at Nine-Mile Rd, passes under the trestle

From Nine-Mile down to the trestle

New erosion armoring

Sunflowers and meanders

Realignment and clouds

Related Posts:

 - Santa Fe Rail Trail - Re-Imagined

 - Trail Improvements Page
 - Cycling Zia to Nine Mile Rd
 - Arroyo Hondo Trails and Preserve

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Eldorado Community Preserve Trails

Trail 101

In recognition of National Trails Day (Sat. June 8), I thought I'd spend the week posting write-ups and maps of area rec. trails. Continuing with the theme of less well known south-side trails here are the Eldorado Preserve Trails, just south of NM 285. A caveat with these lovely routes is that they're not public, they're owned by the Eldorado HOA and use is limited to Eldorado residents and their guests. If you've got a friend south of town. best to invite them out for a run then buy a round afterward at the Santa Fe Brewing tap room for recovery.

When I run out there I prefer to head out on the east loop (TR 101) which climbs to the ridgeline then banks west-southwest. Lots of sustained but manageable climbing to start with, I feel it's similar to Sun Mountain, plus a lovely controlled descent with views of Hamilton Mesa to the east and Galisteo valley to the west. The ECP trail network isn't huge like La Tierra or nearby Galisteo Basin but it's enough for a solid run of up to 60-90min with effort on the climbs.

Looking south to the Cerrillos Hills and Sandias beyond

Looking west to the trails high point and Glorieta Baldy beyond

Winding back to the trailhead - and needed hops/recovery

Related Posts:
 - Apache Canyon Loop
 - Arroyo Hondo Open Space
 - Craft Beer in New Mexico


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The Santa Fe Rail Trail Re-Imagined

The Pistol - out rippin' miles like a boss

In light of the recent trail and forest closures due to excessive fire danger (our second closure in three years), I thought I'd write about the Rail Trail which will remain open during the closures and for that reason is likely to see a bit more foot and cycling traffic over the next couple months. Because the southern section of the trail is relatively flat and has only one road crossing (Rabbit Rd) it's ideal for long marathon training runs (20+) and for non-technical mountain bike rides if you or someone in your riding group lacks the skillset to negotiate Dale Ball or La Tierra.

The Rail Trail is a genuine classic, holding title as the oldest of our in-town trails. It predates the Arroyo Chamisos Trail (footpaths before the trail was put in), by several years if not longer. As such, it stood as the template for the many trails that have come afterward including Arroyo Chamisos (1997), Dale Ball (2001), and eventually the Santa Fe River and Acequia Trails. The Winsor, Borrego, and Atalaya trails are much older, but they traverse the foothills and high county and share a pastoral history that generally belongs in an all together different class of trail systems.

Thirty years ago the Rail Trail was primarily an ad-hoc route that followed along the Santa Fe Rail Line from Arroyo Hondo and Sunlit Hills up to the city limits. Eldorado was just being built out then and Lamy was a as sparsely populated as it is now. An adventurous friend I knew in high school would occasionally bike in along the rail line all the way from Glorieta, (he also happened to be a state champion runner). But things changed for the better in 1994 when Stewart Udall and the newly formed Santa Fe Conservation Trust stepped in and secured the land in trust, and with some federal funding that they cobbled together they were able to build out a few re-routes and development of actual sections of trail separate from the railbed cobbles and rail-ties.

New trail improvements include a planed surface and significant erosion control - Fall 2012

Rock work and an newly elevated section near the tracks - Fall 2012

Looking north at the newly elevated path. It's completed now.
Note the snow in the highcountry when the photo was taken. 

Cadillac pedestrian crossing out in BFE

The Rail Trail has been improved on a couple times since, most notably the formal development of the trail from the city/county line out on Rabbit Rd through town and into the new Railyard Plaza in 2008. Formal trailheads were also put in at Nine Mile Rd, Rabbit Rd, and Zia & St. Francis at that time. Last summer (2012) saw the completion of stage 1 of a new alignment and re-grade of the trail, bringing the trail up to code by setting it a minimum distance from the tracks, building in fence lines and signage, and adding features for better drainage and maintenance of the trail. The work involved the two miles of trail between Rabbit Rd and the Spur Trail. I don't recall the sequence in which work is scheduled on the other sections but I believe the Eldorado portion attracts the second most traffic along the trail and so they are next in line.

New signage

Old signage. True story - I probably ran out a couple hundred miles on the Rail Trail
before someone pointed these mile markers out to me.  Just never noticed them I guess. 

I love the what they've done to the trail. It's just gorgeous now with most if not all of the sand sections and widowmaker potholes removed (not fun to be surprised by one of these at night). The new rock work and berms provide texture and capture the proper aesthetic. My favorite times to be on the trail are daybreak, sunset, and at full moon. Unmatched views. The major new complaint from rec users that I hear often is that in an effort to make the trail more accessible all technical elements have been sanitized and removed. Bollocks, I say! If you get out and explore a little a bit you'll find that there's miles of untouched singletrack on the east side of the tracks. Great for running, less great for riding in my opinion because in my experience sand and blind potholes lead to unnecessary separation from the bike followed by pain and discomfort. If your aim is technical riding why mark the Rail Trail anyway when Dale Ball sits beckoning only a few miles to the east? The two offer very different trail experiences. One is a national class recreation trail, Dale Ball; the other is a stellar off-road commuter route amenable to jogging strollers, the Rail Trail. Decades in the making no less.

Now get out there and make it happen. Explore your trails.

Miles 6, 7, and 8 - on any given summer evening on the Rail Trail. 

Related Posts:
  - Rail Trail Improvements Update (Sep 2015)
  - Train Trestle Loop
  - Cycling the Rail Trail - Zia Rd to Nine Mile Rd'
  - Luminaries on the Rail Trail



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Santa Fe Century - Ride Report

North through the Galisteo Basin, Sangres on the horizon

Pedaled like a freaking demon on Sunday trying to get the road bike out to Cedar Crest and Stanley and back just so we could hoist a few cold ones at the Eldorado SF Brewing Company Tap Room. The annual Santa Fe Century is a helluva lot of fun but I'm not going to pretend like 100mi isn't a haul because it is. The mileage might actually be 103mi in total. I logged ~97mi because I met my riding group en route and got a late start by a few minutes. About the ride itself, I don't care how fit you are an event like this is going to ding you up a little bit, unless you're Todd who rides into work from Eldorado everyday and didn't really seem phased by the whole thing. I saw Todd for a total of about 9min. during this 6+ hr ride. The guy was killin' it. Or maybe I was doggin' it? No, not possible - I was killin' it too just at a slower velocity than guys that prepared properly for the ride.

Our crew was myself, John Lumley, Todd Schroeder, Byron Rudolph, and ringer Liz Sponagle. Liz rode along with us to the 75mi loop cutoff out on NM 14 then circled back to head to work. I rode this event for the first time back in '09 and had a great time. Lumley has ridden the thing for five or six consecutive years now and has the jerseys to prove it. Tons of people get out for this ride and the aid stations are stacked, plus the cost of entry is $26 so you can't really beat that. Back on my first ride I had a real piece of work with downtube shifters and squeaking gears but somehow made it through. This year I rode a Greg-Lemond-detailed Schwinn loaner bike and managed just fine. People with awesome bikes get kinda surly when you cruise past on a hand painted beaut all buckled into a CamelBack but that there is stealth technology at its finest.

Todd and John wasting sandwich eating time at one of the aid stations

The test that is Heartbreak Hill, up and over the Cerrillos Hills

Galisteo Village Church

Back to the ride then - what a ride! The guys came up with the ingenius idea of starting and ending in Eldorado this year to take advantage of the new Tap Room location. We pretty much talked about beer throughout the entire ride. Aid stations were at Madrid, Golden (before Heartbreak Hill), Cedar Crest, Stanley, and Galisteo. I guess there were stations in Eldorado and St. Vincent's but we didn't stop there. Unlike on some running adventure suffer-fest, on a bike tour there are aid stations stocked with unlimited peanut butter sandwiches and fig newtons and trail mix and orange wedges and gatorade refills to woof down that you actually finish the thing feeling rather full. I guarantee I gained weight during the day, very counter-intuitive.

Todd, John, and Byron showing some fatigue

John mashing gears

I didn't see as many familiar faces as I did in '09. It may have been the time we got on the road, perhaps we didn't mill about the aid stations for quite as long. The wind was a bit rough so maybe that dampened rider-to-rider conversation. I did meet a rider from Florida that told me she did her hill training back and forth on bridge ramps for hours a week to simulate the climbing. Nonetheless I saw her walking the bike up Heartbreak - oh the heartbreak. Gotta own that one to make it count I think. The steady climb up and over the Cerrillos hills beginning in the village of Cerrillos and ending on the top of Heartbreak (20mi?) was a bit of a grind. But after that it's flat and fast all the way to Galisteo baby.

Todd & wife Jenn canvassing the day's events at the Tap Room patio

John and Susan, post-ride, mid-pint

The timing of the Century was great in that it got me ready for Ride-to-Work Week (four out of five days sons!) and was my main training for this weekend's Cochiti 100MTB, part of the NM Endurance Series. Todd, Jim, Byron and I are planning to ride 67fmi of the 108mi course but I have little doubt that Cochiti is going to destroy me and most likely my one-foot-in-the-grave mountain bike. Gotta bust out the mad biking skills and defy the gods. 

For a listing of other area road rides try here - Santa Fe Area Cycling Routes
For better photos of the actual ride try this report here.

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