NM is okay. I'd rather be back in CA since our sons are there, there's a larger DRN contingency, and all the enduros; nonetheless this is where we'll be for a while and will make the best of it - suffice to say I'm grateful to be gainfully employed and to have a few to ride with.
There's not a lot of folks who ride here, despite the vastness of available land, and the big four have shops in town. It may be the economic constraints, why most don't do off road. Or perhaps street and quads are a bigger thing. Those who I do ride with are much faster although do put up with me as I can be counted on to show up for any ride.
Riding can be done almost all year (been here for only 6 months) though it does get rather hot and hence risky in the summer; then you could head to the high mountains (8k'+) and ride in the coolness/trees/stram crossings, about 2 hrs away, door-to-staging. The rainy season is oddly in late summer, which produces some near-epic riding.
Last weekend I met up with a few guys who had done the Baja 1k (only saw them at trail breaks!) south of Alamogordo in an area called Red Sands. It had snowed and rained the previous night - can you say primo? I had doubts on the drive out as ice formed in a big way on my bike and pickup's leading edges - even the antenna did not fully retract due to the cold. It wa 30 degrees! So I got to ride in my MSR snow/wet riding gear - first time in years, and the grip warmers came in handy. Real fun, other than my four eyes getting fogged up on our first loop - must have been all my panting.
Oil: I hadn't realized you were in Cruces. Email me and we'll get together for a ride. hit-n-miss @ delextreme.com (remove spaces to send).
Yep; the snow sure surpised me this morning, like several inches, eh?!
The owner of Bandlands and I are going to Corralitos to scout new sections for the race in March. I'd ask you to come along but he's fast and it's not my ride. We can do the course at a later date and/or when he brings out the trail crew. I've always had a good time helping with the course.