DIFFICULTY LEVEL: BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE
Sugarite Canyon Tour. Ride through oaks and along sunny, pink bluffs before climbing into pine forest in northern New Mexico’s Sugarite Canyon State Park. Ambitious riders can tackle the 17-mile tour, shadowing a creek from the park’s visitor center to travel from Lake Alice to Lake Maloya, then climbing uphill either a little on the eastern-loop Wapiti Trail to a lake view, or a lot on the western-loop Ponderosa Ridge and Opportunity trails. nmmag.us/sugaritecanyonmb
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE
Doña Ana Loop Ride. Climb toward the 7.7-mile trail’s namesake mountains, finishing at a high point on a rocky shoulder before circling back to the car. Expect some loose rocks and sand, plenty of thorny trailside hazards, flaming sunsets, and massive views of the Doña Ana’s summits to the north and the jagged Organ Mountains to the south. nmmag.us/donaanaloop
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE
Cedar Creek. This tangle of trails near Ruidoso has earned the name “Spaghetti Bowl”: Pick one thread and keep twirling until you reach the end. Riders here face 700 feet of climbing from trailhead to peak. “It’s a quick climb to a pretty rad downhill section,” says Justin Small, owner of Santa Fe Mountain Bike Tours. “You can hit that over and over again.” nmmag.us/cedarcreek
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/EXPERT
Alien Run Super Loop. With signs describing a rumored UFO crash-landing near the namesake trail, several trails link together for 16 miles of single-track that crawls over slickrock, skids in and out of arroyos, hugs a canyon rim, and winds through rock pillars near Farmington. “It’s pretty cool,” Small says, “lots of rock formations and pretty cool signs out there.” nmmag.us/alienrun
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE/EXPERT
Angel Fire Bike Park. Choose your own adventure on the more than 60 miles of trails, including a growing number of intermediate and beginner-friendly options for learning the ropes or warming up. Plus, the crushingly difficult routes that have made Angel Fire a magnet for hard-core downhill riders remain. nmmag.us/afbike