Category: Outing

A description of a particular event or day out and about having DONE something. Outings are things that have occurred. Trails & Ride Routes are conceptual items that can be used by others to plan and complete their own outings.

Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Nitos Ride To San Andres Ixtlahuaca

by  •  • 0 Comments

San Andres and San Pedro Ixtlahuaca are two small villages in the Etla Valley just a few miles west of the archeological site of Monte Alban. The rolling hills in the countryside here are both scenic and fun to explore on a mountain bike. Twenty-eight members of the Nitos bike club set out from the center of Oaxaca on this bright Sunday morning in early October to make the most of a beautiful day. The group covered 34.7 kilometers (21.6 miles) on today’s outing, spending about 3.5 hours in the saddle and taking an additional hour for a pleasant lunch at a local comedor along the route, which followed a convoluted path so as to avoid riding on the main highway as much as possible. The ride was an easy one, as the hills were gentle; the total elevation gain for the day amounted to 315 meters (1034 feet).

San Andrés y  San Pedro Ixtlahuaca son dos pueblos en el valle de Etla a unasos pocos kilómetros al oeste de Monte Albán.  La cadena de colinas aquí son estéticamente bellas e interesante para explorar con un “mountain bike”.  Viente ocho socios de el Club Nitos salieron del centro de la ciudad de Oaxaca un domingo asoleado a principos de octubre para disfrutar del día.  El viaje era de 34.7 kilómetros y tres horas y media con una hora de descanso y una comida fue por una ruta fuera de la carretera principal en la medida posible.  El viaje no es difícil con colinas no muy altas. De hecho la subida total era de 315 metros.

 

 

Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos

Nitos Ride To San Dionisio – Salida del Grupo Nito Hacia San Dionisio

by  •  • 0 Comments

The rainy season arrived early this year, and Oaxaca received over 10 inches (64.5 cm) of rain in the past two weeks. However, the Weather Gods smiled on us for the Nitos ride today to San Dionisio Ocotlan. The sky this morning was relatively clear after overnight showers, opening the way for a pleasant ride in the country. However, rain clouds chased us home from Ocotlan, and the group got back to Oaxaca just as another batch of evening showers began pelting the city.

The day’s destination was not so much the village of San Dionisio itself as the nearby “Rancho Las Fresas” where the group enjoyed a tasty lunch and then dispersed into the fields to look for fresh strawberries for dessert.

As for the ride itself, the group covered 52.7 miles (87.8 km) in the course of the day, logging a total of 2395 feet (730 meters) of elevation gain and loss along the way, with most of the uphill associated with crossing the ridge that separates the Oaxaca valley from Ocotlan. It was a long day – we left at 8 AM and got back to Oaxaca at 6 PM – but it was quite satisfying.

Las lluvias llegaron temprano este año, Oaxaca recibió más de 64.5 cms (10 pulgadas) de descenso pluvial en las pasadas dos semanas. Sin embargo, el Dios del Clima nos mimó para la salida del grupo Nito hacia San Dionisio Ocotlán. El cielo esa mañana estaba relativamente despejado después de la fuerte lluvia de la noche anterior, abriendo un agradable camino para un ciclopaseo en la zona rural. Igual, al final del día, Oaxaca nos recibió con su imperdible lluvia.

El destino no era el pueblo, San Dionisio, sino  el cercano “Rancho de las Fresas”, dondo el grupo disfrutó de una deliciosa y nutritiva comida, para luego buscar fresas frescas de postre.

En cuanto al paseo, el grupo recorrió 87.8 kms (52.7 millas) en el transcurso del día, datando un total de 730 metros (2395 pies) de diferencia entre subidas y bajadas. El momento más exigente, por lo empinado, fue cruzar la división entre el valle de Oaxaca y el valle de Ocotlán. Fue un largo día, saliendo de Oaxaca a las 8am y regresando a las 6pm, pero definitivamente satisfactorio.

Mountains, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Nitos Ride To Guacamaya

by  •  • 2 Comments

Nitos Ciclistas en Movimiento sponsored an all-day ride from Oaxaca city to the mountain village of Guacamaya on Sunday, 18 May 2014. This was a challenging 43.3 mile (69.7 km) round-trip excursion that required pedaling steadily uphill a total of 4171 feet (1271.3 meters) in the 9.8 miles (15.77 km) from the turnoff on Highway 190 to Guacamaya – and mostly on a gravel road. Thankfully, the trip organizers had two sag vehicles accompany the group of 34 riders, so a number of people got a very welcome lift on the final leg of the ride into Guacamaya. The group departed the Church of San Agustin shortly after 8 am and the first party to get back to Oaxaca did so about 5 pm.

Go to www.facebook.com/NitosCiclistasEnMovimiento to learn more about this club.

Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Nitos Ride to Tlacolula

by  •  • 1 Comment

There are several bike clubs in Oaxaca, one of which is called “Nitos Ciclistas En Movimiento.” (www.facebook.com/groups/Nitos.CiclistasEnMovimiento) This group sponsors a ride every Sunday morning at 8:00 am starting from the church of St. Agustin, located at the intersection of Armento y Lopez and Guerrero streets in downtown Oaxaca city.

The ride on this second Sunday in May was a pleasant 42 mile round trip excursion on back roads to the Sunday market in Tlacolula, where participants stopped for lunch. Oaxaca had received over an inch of rain the night before, so there were lots of puddles along the route and some of the farm roads were pretty muddy – nobody came home with clean riding gear! Still, it was a fun outing and the fifteen participants had a good time, despite a succession of flat tires and one bike’s free wheel getting stripped.

The map below does not accurately reflect today’s ride, which followed a somewhat different route. (The map is for the “Tlacolula Loop” listed on the “Rides” page of this web site.) However, it serves to give the direction of today’s outing and reflects about the same overall mileage.

GPS, Mountains, MTBing, Outing, Photos

La Cumbre to Huayapam – Cabeza de Baca & La Reina Trails

by  •  • 4 Comments

What better way to spend a Sunday in mid-January than to enjoy a terrific downhill ride from the mountain trails at La Cumbre to the little town of Huayapam on the outskirts of Oaxaca city? While friends in Colorado are aching for spring and the chance to get their mountain bikes out of cold storage, it is warm and sunny in Oaxaca — perfect weather for a ride!

Today’s outing requires a shuttle to drop off riders and bikes in the high country of La Cumbre. The bike ride can commence at the entrance to the forest preserve on Highway 175, if you like, or at the point where a mainly-singletrack trail intersects the road that leads to the ecotourism camp (which is what the map below shows). 

Breaking the ride into segments, the outing goes like this:

0.0 to 2.3 mi – Road from entrance station to start of trail  /  817′ up & 50′ down over distance of 2.3 miles

2.3 to 4.1 mi – Cabeza de Baca Trail through the forest  /  710 ft up & 163 ft down /  mostly singletrack that winds for 1.8 delightful miles

4.1 to 7.1 mi – Logging road winding gradually uphill to high point of 10512 ft  /  954′ up & 244′ down  /  clock another 3.0 miles for this segment

7.1 to 14.7 mi – La Reina Trail  /  Screamer descent on rough service road with loose scrabble ends at church in Huayapam /  4895′ down & just 56′ up in the course of fast 7.6 miles

14.7to 20.1 mi – Gradual downhill to center of town in Oaxaca  /  698′ down & 150′ up  /  paved highway and city streets add another 5.4 miles to finish the ride

The stats for the whole adventure: 20.1 miles (32.3 km) with 2687 feet (819 meters) of climbing and 6050 feet (1844 meters) of downhill. The entrance station at La Cumbre sits at an elevation of 9288 feet (2831 meters); the high point on the ride tops out at 10512 feet (3204 meters); the church in Huayapam is at 5680 feet (1731 meters); the Zocalo at the center of Oaxaca city sits at 5124 feet (1562 meters).

 

%d bloggers like this: