Bike Loop through Los Alamos, Bandelier, and White Rock

Map of Los Alamos-Bandelier-White Rock Loop

While our kids trained with Shoshin Ryu black belts from across the country at the Los Alamos YMCA, my husband Rick and I biked a gorgeous 31-mile loop beginning in Los Alamos, riding past Bandelier National Monument, through White Rock, and finally, returning to Los Alamos. Rick rode the entire loop on his mountain bike while I struggled to keep up on my road bike, but before you make fun of me, you need to see my husband who is a biking animal! The entire 31-mile loop took us just over 2 hours of riding time to complete, which does not include our short break in White Rock.

Trinity Dr., Los Alamos, view to the west

I was struck by how green and beautiful it was along this entire ride in spite of the Las Conchas fire this summer. There was actually little evidence of the fire along our route with the exception of the start of our ride where the deforested mountains west of Los Alamos was in plain sight (see photo at right). Although much of the damage was from the Cerro Grande fire over a decade earlier, there were definitely some new burn areas. For those of you who don’t know, the Las Conchas fire began the end of June and burned nearly 157,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest before being contained in July 2011. The fire affected over 60% of Bandelier, an area already hard hit by the Cerro Grande fire in 2000.

Welded tuff on NM-4

I had prepared myself for an intense ride this warm, sunny afternoon in northern New Mexico, and as a result, it was not as difficult as I had expected. While there were some long sustained hill climbs, especially near the end, there were also some smokin’ downhills with gorgeous views of the volcanic features for which the area is famous. If you are both a roadie and a geologist, ya gotta love this ride! Check out these pictures!

Close-up of the welded tuff

The fact that Bandelier National Monument was mostly closed was truly a blessing to all the cyclists out there on Saturday—yes, you heard me right! Traffic was unusually light for a weekend day in August, especially on NM-501 and NM-4 south of Los Alamos. We encountered only one vehicle on the 6-mile stretch between the intersection of NM-501/NM-4 and the entrance to Bandelier, making for a very pleasant ride. The only congested area was between White Rock and the turn-off onto East Jemez Road (NM-501).

Views along NM-4

We chose to ride past the entrance to Bandelier, which looked like a ghost town from our vantage point. Traffic on NM-4 southwest of White Rock was so light that we were able to move along at a quick pace, averaging 15 mph over hilly terrain. This portion of the ride was definitely my favorite part of the trip as it was both scenic and fun to ride.

As we approached White Rock, we began to encounter more vehicles. We made our first and only stop here for refreshments, which was just about right because the last 10 miles of our trip included a climb of over 1,000 feet that I needed to gather my strength to complete. Riding out of White Rock was a little congested and occasionally dangerous because the road had almost no shoulder, but after turning off onto East Jemez Road (NM-501) for the final climb to Los Alamos traffic was light once again.

Start of the final climb
Spoons up ahead!

Approximately 1.5 miles after turning off NM-4, the grade steepened and I prepared myself for the climb up East Jemez Road, which was a little challenging because I had left my quads back somewhere on NM-4. Just as I was starting to feel the burn and a bit of fatigue, we encountered spoons on the road. Okay, anyone who has read this far is probably wondering what the hell I’m talking about right now. Exhausted, I stared down at the ground, trying to maintain my cadence, when I saw a silver dinner spoon on the shoulder of the road. The first spoon was a little odd, but seeing the second silver dinner spoon was slightly comedic, and when I saw the silver soup spoon, I finally exploded with laughter. Only in Los Alamos!

Barely beat the thunderstorms!

There were several other cyclists along our route, many of whom were riding this loop in reverse, which we were later told is what the local cyclists prefer. It was a great ride but we barely escaped thunderstorms which produced a torrential downpour soon after we arrived back at the Y (check out the picture on the left).

If you want to beat the summer crowds there’s no better time to do it; however, if you intend to ride this loop be cognizant of the altitude. Los Alamos is over 7,300 feet above msl and White Rock is over 6,300 ft msl while Albuquerque averages less than 5,300 ft msl. Even this slight change in altitude will be noticeable as you ride through the area.

But I would definitely recommend this loop to all serious roadies. Other options include a side trip up to Pajarito ski area and heading west on NM-4 to Valles Caldera, which I hope to do later this fall.

As always, go out there and make it a great day!

~Lori Dotson, CPT

President, DotsoFit, LLC

All Rights Reserved (2011)