16-05-2025
With Santa Fe Century ride this weekend, bicycle shops see sales hitting higher gear
It's a lively week for Santa Fe's cycling community.
The Santa Fe Century, which offers cyclists numerous biking options in and around the city, returns Saturday and Sunday for its 39th edition, bringing with it a boom — or at least a bump — for local bicycle shops.
'This is probably one of our biggest and busiest times of any week we have all year,' said Christian Farrar of New Mexico Bike N Sport, 504 W. Cordova Road.
The decades-old event, with options ranging from 20- to 106-mile routes, spotlights classic Northern New Mexico vistas and draws more than 2,000 participants every year.
Farrar said out-of-state riders who don't want to go to the trouble of shipping their regular bike to New Mexico sometimes buy bikes from him in the days leading up to the event.
Other customers are recreational riders who seem to be moved by the excitement of the century, he said.
'I guess they're just people who get in that bike-buying spirit,' he said.
New Mexico Bike N Sport also sells a great deal of cycling equipment and accessories, Farrar said — 'Tubes, repair kits, tires, clothing.'
20250130_MGS_F1 Cyclery_001.JPG (copy)
F1 Cyclery partner Pedro Murga tunes a bicycle at his shop in Santa Fe in January. Murga says his shop has not seen an increase in traffic this week because of the Santa Fe Century, but he hopes to see more business during next year's event.
The weeks leading up to the event are also a busy time for the shop's repair department, he said.
'Everybody waits until the very last minute, so we try to be a little more open to on-the-spot sales and service,' he added.
Farrar estimated Bike N Sport sees a 20% sales increase during the week of the ride.
Stephen Newhall, a manager at Rob and Charlie's Bicycle Shop, 1632 St. Michael's Drive, said sales are up, but that may be due more spring weather than the Santa Fe Century.
'We're in season, so we should be selling a lot of bikes,' Newhall said. 'Usually, for something like a 100 mile ride, you have bought the bike more than a week in advance.'
Some of those previously purchased bikes are coming into Rob and Charlie's this week to be serviced and prepped for the event, he said, keeping the repair department occupied.
'This is one of our busiest weeks of the year,' Newhall said. 'But May is peak season anyway.'
Sirius Cycles, 2901 Rodeo Road, is also enjoying the typical spring interest in bicycling, owner Clemente McFarlane said. But since his store sells mostly cargo bikes, it doesn't get much of a sales bump from the Santa Fe Century, he said.
McFarlane said he did encounter a few riders in his shop this week who were excited about the event.
'One woman said she was going to give the 100 miler a try,' he said. 'Some people are like that.'
About 2,500 hit road for Santa Fe Century (copy)
Cyclists rest and hang out at the first food stop on the 50-mile course in Galisteo during the 2018 Santa Fe Century.
Like other bike dealers in Santa Fe, McFarlane said he has spent a lot of time this week patching flat tires and repairing bikes.
'It's busy, not in century stuff, but in many other ways,' he said. 'A whole mix of stuff comes through this door.'
Pedro Murga, one of the partners in F1 Cyclery, 1189 Parkway Drive, which opened late last summer, said his business hasn't been around long enough to capture much of the bike-buying crowd motivated by the century.
But that's the exception rather than the rule, he said.
'Every other bike shop I've ever worked at saw a little bit of a bump,' he said.
Murga said he plans to attend the ride Sunday to support the riders, and he said F1 Cyclery would be offering some bikes at the event as part of a clearance sale.
'I'm hopeful we'll sell more bikes next year,' he said.
