Today’s outing was a massive undertaking. The Nitos group teamed up with Perros de la Montaña and Chapus Bike for this expedition to San Pablo Guila. The trip had seventy participants and required a caravan of vehicles to transport all the riders and their bikes the 42 miles (67.6 km) from Oaxaca to San Pablo. Pedro Martinez came along for the ride, as well.
The ride itself had two parts. First the group climbed 2.3 miles (3.7 km) up the steep dirt road from town to the capilla atop the hill overlooking the village. This proved quite a challenge, as the road was very rough and badly eroded, in addition to requiring a climb of 944 feet (287.7 meters) on a grade that consistently ran at 12 to 14 per cent.
After looping back to town (with some of the more adventurous riders taking the tricky singletrack trail rather than the road) and pausing there for a well-deserved break, the gang then did a 4.12 mile (6.63 km) out-and-back ride to a natural spring not far from town. Some in the group took advantage of the situation to play in the mineral water at the spring. Once back in town, the whole entourage was hosted for lunch at the home of Moises Lopez Cruz, who acted as our host for the entire day.
It was a tired but happy bunch of cyclists who returned to Oaxaca late in the afternoon.
