Dale Ball Trails - Santa Fe, NMIt is 7:30 AM on a weekday. The streets of this historic town seem strangely wide, as few tourists have begun to bustle about. Our bikes glide smoothly and quietly through the cool morning air. Dodging the occasional pedestrian, we make our way up East Palace Avenue, which transforms into a quaint residential district. Another mile brings us to the unpaved Cerro Gordo Road, where a sharp left gets my heart going as we begin our climb into the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo range on the edge of Santa Fe National Forest. The adobe houses are now largely hidden in private crevices among the hillsides. In a half-mile we reach a sharp switchback on the dirt road and roll into the bottom of a dip --- here lies the trailhead for the Dale Ball Trails, the gateway to miles of high quality single track in the high-desert foothills above Santa Fe. At 7000 to 8000 feet above sea level, these routes are a physical and technical challenge for intermediate and advanced riders --- and they are fun. Snaking thru pinon and juniper covered hills, the single-track here has a red, naturally crushed granite surface. There are uphill climbs made of slow, heart-pounding grinds that run back and forth between left-handed and right-handed switchbacks. Here you’re always flanked by a steep rocky upward slope to one side and a gradual drop on the other. Their are a few cholla and prickly pear cactus so try not to spill. Some of the switchbacks are pretty tight requiring a little finesse to maneuver. I was often precariously balanced on the way up as the front wheel barely touched the trail and the bike stood still in the turn while transferring my weight. After these uphill switchbacks, we rolled over the top of a rounded knob, and the trail flattened out while the city of Santa Fe lie sprawled 1000 feet below. It’s so quiet up here that we could hear the strokes of vulture's wings overhead in the dry, still air. The trail begins to descend gradually, then faster as it winds down another hillside and then back up again. The downhill runs are narrow and undulating. Now we’re cruising between stretches of sun-drenched trail and tunnels of pine and juniper branches just overhead. The ravens are going crazy all of a sudden; perhaps these odd flesh and aluminum things streaming along the trail are freakin’ them out. As I blow past a pine tree that happens a little too close, I tuck my left shoulder in, narrowly missing a big punch; then smile as I catch a whiff of its fragrant sap. The ride goes on. |
Ride Images
Sangre De Cristo Foothills
Trailside Cactus in Bloom
Singletrack on the Dale Ball Network
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