Southwest - hi albuquerque bikers!

hey! i'm moving to albq. in 6 months or so. of course i'll be biking wherever i need to go. can you all paint me a vivid picture of bike-commuting in your fine city?

i want to know:

lotsa bike lanes?
hostile drivers?
tolerable weather for biking (i biked thru minnesota's 5 month long winters for the past coupla years, so it's gotta better than that, right?)?
big hills/stong winds?
what's the best and worst thing that's happened to you while biking in albq?
are there plenty of group rides going on?

thanks for input!

I've lived here for a couple years now, but have only been cycling for about 6 weeks, so take it FWIW.


lotsa bike lanes?

I would say a reasonably good network. The city is mostly a grid, so I can always find a route with a bicycle lane, or multiple regular lanes for safe VC.

Map here:
http://www.cabq.gov/bike/pdfs/CABQ%20Bike%20Map.pdf


hostile drivers?

No incidents so far. People are pretty crappy drivers here though, also LOTS of drinking and driving (I prefer not to ride after 7 or so fri-sun).


tolerable weather for biking (i biked thru minnesota's 5 month long winters for the past coupla years, so it's gotta better than that, right?)?

Awesome weather! Today I wore long shorts (lycra shorts underneath), a wool jersey and a windbreaker.


big hills/stong winds?

High elevation, but generally over long distances, nothing too steep (my commute is a 500 ft elevation difference over 8 miles or so, not too bad).

It does get windy at times, but nothing that will really keep you from riding.


what's the best and worst thing that's happened to you while biking in albq?

In six weeks, only a guy flickering his lights at me at a stop light. I think my PB Superflash and my Mars 3.0 blinkes were blinding him :D


are there plenty of group rides going on?

I haven't done any, but there seem to be plenty around. There's a couple of abq/nm specific sites, check google.

HTH!

Lot's of bike lanes, paths and routes. Motorist were not to friendly when not in designated lanes. For instance sharing the road. Worked there for 4 mos.(June-Sept.) this yr. and for the most part it was real good. You can p/u city maps from LBS of bike routes. Also a book called "Road Riding in New Mexico" is pretty good.

Sandia Crest is awesome. Nicer folks on the hill. Lot's of riding out that way. Roads are not maintained the best for cycling but.........

Tons of shops. Fat Tire, ABC. Cycle Cave and Sportz Outdoors to name a few. Most of them had wkly. rides.

Good parts....clean air, low traffic, challenging routes, tons of LBS, high altitude work.
Not so good...bike lanes have lots of debris, motorist yelling, had use liners and the wind gets pretty thick. Blows hard and dusty,roads not maintained well.

Ride hard and safe.

hey! i'm moving to albq. in 6 months or so. of course i'll be biking wherever i need to go. can you all paint me a vivid picture of bike-commuting in your fine city?

i want to know:

lotsa bike lanes? - Compared to 90% of the rest of the country- yes


hostile drivers? - avoid the west side and you'll be just fine


tolerable weather for biking (i biked thru minnesota's 5 month long winters for the past coupla years, so it's gotta better than that, right?)? - yes, I wear cold weather gear for about 2 months of the year. (mid december to mid feb)... other than that- a vest and gloves is all you really need


big hills/stong winds? In the spring the winds kick up for 6-7 weeks and it is pretty brutal. Other than that, the wind isn't so bad. The hills in the city aren't bad at all. However, there are plenty of slopes if you go looking for them out of town. :D


are there plenty of group rides going on? Yes, check the NMCycling page for a list. They are all pretty friendly.

Oh ... welcome!

You will find that the weather and the city are most bike friendly.

More details to come.