In October, athletes from 41 countries swam 1.5K in Grindstone Lake, rode 27K of rocky singletrack across Grindstone Mesa and ran 10K through the village to a finish at Wingfield Park. The Village of Ruidoso's November Insider notes that Ruidoso is only the third place ever to host XTERRA Worlds, after Maui and Molveno, Italy. American Sullivan Middaugh won the elite men's title in 2:06:50. France's Alizée Patiès took the women's crown in 2:36:19.
Most of that course is public, and it's open now. The swim is the lake at the end of Wiggins Way. The bike leg is mostly public singletrack on the Grindstone trail system and its newest descent. The run uses the trails on the Grindstone disc golf course. For anyone who lives around Grindstone Lake, a world championship route is now a ride you can start from home, on low-season terms, until the race comes back next September.
Twenty-seven kilometers, one lap, starting at the lake
The official XTERRA 2026 World Championship athlete guide lays the bike course out as a single 27K lap, and its own description splits it into clean pieces.
| Segment | Distance | What the guide says it is |
|---|---|---|
| Lake loop | about 2K | Short flat gravel road, then rolling singletrack around Grindstone Lake |
| First climb | 1.5K | Steep gravel road |
| Singletrack climb | 3K | Climbing on singletrack |
| First descent | 3K | Rocky and twisty, back down to the gravel road |
| Second climb | 2.5K | Up to Grindstone Mesa |
| The mesa | 4K | Flat but not always smooth, twisting across the top |
| Sawmill descent | 8K | Described as "a screaming 8K of flowy descent" |
| Return | 3K of pavement | Gravel neighborhood roads, then pavement back to transition |
That breakdown shows how the effort is spread. Roughly the first 12K is climbing, broken up by one technical descent. The mesa is the recovery, and the long payoff comes at the end. If you know the Grindstone system from short laps near the lake, the course is basically the same terrain linked into one long loop, with a single big drop off the mesa before the roads back to transition.
The Village describes the system as five trails totaling 18 miles, designed by the International Mountain Biking Association and open to mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding. Horses and hikers will be out there with you, and the course isn't closed off for bikes. During practice week the guide reminded riders that the route uses public roads with no traffic control, and asked them to ride single file and stay right. That still applies to the gravel and paved stretches at the end.
Trailforks currently shows the Grindstone region as open as of October 16, 2026. No source sets out winter rules for these trails, so check Trailforks status or call Ruidoso Parks & Recreation at 575-257-5030 after a storm.
Sawmill Canyon is the new part
If you rode Grindstone a few years ago, the descent is the one piece you won't recognize. The XTERRA guide calls it "the new-this-year Sawmill Trail." The community-mapped Trailforks route of the 2026 Worlds bike course lists Sawmill Canyon as one of its named segments, along with Fire Road Connector.
On Trailforks' Sawmill Canyon page, the trail runs 4.7 miles with 57 feet of climbing and 1,069 feet of descent. It starts at 7,772 feet and ends at 6,759 feet. The description reads:
"New for 2026, this can be a fast descending trail with banks and flowy sections. Riders must manage speed because of multi trail users and bi-direction."
"Bi-direction" is the key word for anyone who lives nearby. During the race everyone was headed downhill. On an ordinary weekday, Sawmill Canyon is a two-way trail, so you might meet a hiker or a rider climbing up a stretch the pros took at full speed. Trailforks lists Bicycle Ruidoso as the local trail association for the trail, and the most recent logged ride was October 16, 2026.
There's also a separate way into this corner of the system that's been open since 2022. The Sawmill Trailhead at Bewley Lane, off Carrizo Canyon Road, has a 2-mile connector built by EcoServants that gives free access to the Grindstone Mesa trails. It sits in the Smokey Bear Ranger District of Lincoln National Forest. Discover Ruidoso says the trailhead was meant to give riders and hikers another route onto Forest Service trails and take pressure off the Village parking area at the lake. For homes on that side of the mesa, it means you can get onto the course without driving around to Wiggins Way.
The run course is the disc golf course
On foot, the course mostly stays close to the lake. The guide calls the 10K run a "rolling leg-crusher" with "no huge climbs" and "nothing flat." It climbs through the neighborhood, drops over a ridge onto the rolling, rocky trails of the Grindstone disc golf course, loops a short piece of singletrack near the first transition, and then comes back over the disc golf trails on a steady descent.
The Village lists that course as a 27-hole, par 81, heavily wooded layout, and it hosts the annual New Mexico Disc Golf Championships. So the trails where world-class triathletes ran their second discipline belong to a disc golf course, and disc golf stays on the Village's list of low-season activities. If you head out for a trail run, keep an eye out for discs. If you're playing a round, expect runners now and then.
One part of the race run doesn't carry over. The guide said a small section crossed private land, open only to registered athletes and marked just for race week. A run-course loop you can do any day leaves that section out and stays on the disc golf trails and public singletrack.
The swim leg is open water you can still paddle
Before the race, the Ruidoso News reported on rising water at Grindstone Lake in a September 1, 2026 story, and the photo at the top showed paddleboarders on the water. In October, that same water was the 1.5K swim start.
Swimming season ended after September 7, but the low season didn't close the lake. Under the Village's low-season rules, the Grindstone Lake Recreation Area at 111 Wiggins Way is open 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. You don't need a parking pass, and kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing, hiking, picnicking and disc golf are all still allowed. Shore fishing runs 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and boats can fish dawn to dusk. According to the Village's Grindstone Lake rules, every boat on Grindstone needs a Village Parks and Recreation boating permit, and motorized boats are limited to electric trolling motors at no-wake speed.
Parking fees came off after Labor Day, so this is the cheapest time of year to use the trailhead lot at the lake. You can paddle in the morning and ride the mesa loop in the afternoon from the same free parking spot.
Ten months before it's a race venue again
The race is coming back. When the hosting deal was announced in March 2025, Ruidoso committed to the XTERRA World Championship for three years in a row, 2026 through 2028. Discover Ruidoso lists the 2027 edition for September 17–19, 2027.
That leaves roughly ten months when the course is just a set of trails around the neighborhood. Here's how the season lines up:
- Now through Thanksgiving. Low-season hours at the lake, no parking pass, and Grindstone listed open on Trailforks as of mid-October.
- November 28. The run finish moves indoors, sort of. The outdoor rink at Wingfield Park, where the 10K ended, opens for the season on Saturday, November 28, 2026, and runs through Presidents' Day, February 15, 2027.
- Winter into spring. Whenever conditions let you, ride the loop on your own schedule. On Sawmill Canyon, assume people may be coming up toward you.
- September 17–19, 2027. The course goes back to being a race venue for the 2027 World Championship.
Discover Ruidoso noted that championship week was packed with community hikes, yoga and live entertainment for visitors and residents. The trails themselves are around every week of the year, and the Grindstone neighborhood sits right at the start of the course.
If you're thinking about a home where the XTERRA course starts at the end of your street, or you want to know how the Sawmill side of the mesa compares to the lakeside lots, Hamilton Team knows the Grindstone Lake area trail by trail. Book a Consultation and we'll walk the area with you.
