I recently returned from a fantastic week of riding and camping the New Mexico Back Country Discovery Route. My riding buddy, Sean, put up a report on AdvRider. Check it out.
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/t ... r.1142081/
NMBDR
Re: NMBDR
Looks like another terrible ride in desertic places 
Do you have any advice on soft luggage, if you had to do it again, would you recommand the giant loop versus one that would let you mount a duffel bag easier on your rear plate?
Do you have any advice on soft luggage, if you had to do it again, would you recommand the giant loop versus one that would let you mount a duffel bag easier on your rear plate?
Luc
Re: NMBDR
Awesome!
Safiri Mike
Current: 01 F650-GSDakar-RWB; 02 EXC-453 (orig. MXC 400); 05 EXC-450 ; 13 CRF-250L; 17 CRF-125FB; 06 KLX-110 (132); 02 TTR-125L
Gone and missed (but no regrets): 01 LC4E-400-Grey
Gone and not missed: 73 AT3, 85 K100RS
Current: 01 F650-GSDakar-RWB; 02 EXC-453 (orig. MXC 400); 05 EXC-450 ; 13 CRF-250L; 17 CRF-125FB; 06 KLX-110 (132); 02 TTR-125L
Gone and missed (but no regrets): 01 LC4E-400-Grey
Gone and not missed: 73 AT3, 85 K100RS
Re: NMBDR
We were never stopped by snow. What did stop us at the far N part of the route was locked forest gates. Apparently some of those forest road gates don't open until May 1. So I suggest starting the trip after May 1.Ed M wrote:Troy,
that looks like a great ride to go on, would you have done anything differently such as go during a different time of year to avoid the snow in higher elevations?
Our route plan actually cut off about 1 day of riding on the S end and about 1/2 day on the N end. We simply didn't have time. We were riding 5.5 days to do our loop starting and ending in Tucumcari, NM.
However, when we got to the N end of our planned route, we were ahead of schedule a little, so figured to continue the BDR up to the CO border, but then we hit a locked gate. By that evening, after setting up camp and checking the weather, it was getting cold and nasty in that N section anyway, so even without locked gates, probably would have chickened out on that N bit. By this time we had ridden 5 days and had enjoyed plenty of trail! So we high-tailed it back to the truck in Tucumcari--taking a very scenic route Sean put together.
IF the forecast does not include rain and the roads in the N elevations are cleared, May 15 to June 15 or so would be an ideal window me thinks.