Revolution Day Ride

Monday, 21 November 2016 was “Revolution Day”, a Mexican national holiday. It seemed a good day for a ride in the rolling hill country of the Etla Valley northwest of Monte Alban. Over many rides the past couple of years, Albi has become quite an expert on the area, as this is one of his favorite regions to explore via bicycle. We drove to the village of San Felipe Tejalapam, unloaded our bikes at the municipal building there and proceeded to ride some rough country roads north to Santo Tomas Mazaltepec and back. We returned by a slightly different route which followed a stream rather than climb up and over the same ridge we negotiated on the first leg of our trek. In the course of the outing we spent 2.5 hours in the saddle and pedaled a total of 11.7 miles (18.8 kms). The first half of the ride entailed climbing 1621 feet (494 meters) to cross the ridgeline that separates the two towns. The return leg was somewhat easier, with just 1397 feet (426 meters) of elevation gain. However, where the outbound segment was entirely on country roads, the return was a scramble through farm fields, along and sometimes in a stream, and over some pretty rugged terrain. Our start/end point was the lowest in altitude, registering 5432 feet (1656 meters), while the highest altitude reached was 6110 feet (1862 meters) at the top of the ridgeline. All in all, it was a most satisfying ride.

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