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Mountain Biking Road Apple

The Glade Trail System

By Paul Paradis

While many thrill freaks head to the nearest ski hill or into backcountry alpine settings in search of fresh snow, I keep my eyes peeled on the barren lowlands and wonder where I can spin a steady cadence and watch my mountain bike wheels turn. In the high desert of New Mexico, I know of an oasis where my wheels can turn mud- and snow-free for most of a year. The oasis is no secret either - it's Road Apple, the Glade Trail System, just north of Farmington, N.M.

Located on Bureau of Land Management land, sandwiched between Farmington to the south and the La Plata-Aztec Highway to the northwest, the Road Apple trail system wends through a setting of oil and gas wells and cattle grazing, wonderful pi�on and juniper trees, ancient crypto-biotic soil formations and giant sage bushes. A watchful eye will spot wildlife: scurrying rabbits, gangly coyotes and soaring hawks. It is a quintessential San Juan Basin landscape.

The Road Apple is an amazing place to ride, with terrain of badlands and high desert that offers stunning views of the La Plata and San Juan mountains. The trail system offers about 30 total miles of rolling and fast singletrack. It contains many breathtaking descents, quick and gruesome climbs, the occasional long and enduring climb, all ubiquitously spattered with endless whoops and jumps that dare the most cautious rider to catch a little air.

The trail system is multiple use, with mountain bikers, dirt-bikers, hikers and horseback riders enjoying it. But overall, the area is predominantly a mountain-biking and trail-running haven, with most of the traffic located on the trail system's southern end where the first of the trailheads is found near the parking lot at the Lion's Wilderness Park. The Park is located off Pi�on Hills Boulevard just north of Farmington High School.

The main loop is shaped like a rectangle, within it opportunities for shorter loops and out-and-back excursions. There are multiple ways to access the trails, with the most popular being two located at wide spots along the La Plata-Aztec Highway, one at the end of Foothills Drive and the one mentioned at Lion's Wilderness Park. Running a straight line through the area is the Glade Road, a dirt and sand oil-well access road (see map next page).

While the trails are generally in good shape, it's possible to become disoriented. It's not the most well-marked trail on the planet. After having been there dozens of times, I can still get turned around. A ride last spring had me and a friend scratching our heads after we realized we got turned around and found ourselves backtracking to the car.

Take plenty of water, a few snacks and a map. The most reliable map is printed by D-GO Bike Maps. It can be found at many of the area's bike shops or at www.roadapplerally.com. My favorite section is Imperial Walkers: an exciting run of steep climbs, fast hair-raising descents and a series of whoops on which it's effortless to go air-born, all set among some of the most dramatic landforms of the area.

The trails' soils are clay-based, which will wreak havoc when wet, gumming up tires and rutting the trail. Conditions for riding are best after a week or so of dry weather. For an update on conditions, call the guys at Cottonwood Cycles in Farmington (505-326-0429). They always have the latest skinny on local trail and riding conditions.

As testament to the amazing riding of the Road Apple trails system, the infamous Road Apple Rally, the self-proclaimed longest running annual mountain bike race in the world, celebrates its 27th anniversary in October 2007. When it started in 1981, riders raced - taking air and banking turns - on fully rigid steel touring frames, a far cry from the plush dual-suspension rigs so many of us ride today. Riders of all levels participate in the race on a variety of courses. Often, the race is a who's who of mountain biking, with legends such as Ned Overend showing up to take a turn on its whirling terrain.

Paul Paradis, who reviews music for Inside/Outside Southwest, is so in love with his mountain bike that his people worry about him.