Cycling in Silver City

Silver City sits at roughly 6,000 feet on the edge of the Gila National Forest, the first designated wilderness in the United States, and the surrounding terrain is what draws cyclists. Every May the town hosts the Tour of the Gila, a legendary UCI-ranked road stage race that has run for decades and sends professional and amateur fields up the punishing climbs of the Mogollon, Inner Loop, and Gila Monster stages on NM-15 and NM-35. Beyond race week the same paved backroads offer long, quiet climbs, while the Boston Hill trails right in town and the forest roads and singletrack of the Gila give riders gravel and mountain options straight from downtown. An autumn gravel-and-road gran fondo, the Gila Monster Gran Fondo, also uses the area’s roads.

For lodging, Bear Mountain Lodge is the most cycling-oriented option: it sits on acreage against the Gila National Forest a few minutes from town, offers safe bicycle storage plus outdoor water spigots and rags for washing bikes, and tailors breakfast so riders can get an early start. In the historic downtown, the Murray Hotel is an official Tour of the Gila partner and a longtime racer base, one block off Bullard Street and within walking distance of restaurants and cafes. Renting and repairs center on Gila Hike & Bike at 103 East College Avenue, which rents Trek gravel, full-suspension mountain, and e-mountain bikes set up tubeless and provides local trail beta; The Bike Works community shop and the Silver City Cycles retail shop round out the town’s bike services.

Silver City is best known in cycling circles for the Tour of the Gila, a UCI-ranked stage race run since 1987 that takes over the surrounding roads and a downtown criterium each spring, usually late April into early May.