Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Introducing a Colorado Mountain Biker to Oaxaca’s Trails

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Spencer, who hails from Boulder, Colorado, was spending a few weeks in Oaxaca and was anxious to acquaint his Yeti mountain bike with some of our favorite trails. So on this Thursday in early February some other gringos who call Oaxaca home (two of whom are also from Colorado) decided to introduce Spencer to the wholesome goodness of the trails above San Pablo Etla — specifically, the Oaxaca Flume Trail. The group arrived in San Pablo at about 10 am and hit the trail soon after. It is a long slog up a rather steep (11% to 12% grade) dirt road that leads from the valley floor up past the “La Mesita” reforestation area in San Pablo’s mountain park (where an admission fee of 30 pesos per person must be paid) and then continues upward to the start of the Flume Trail. Actually, the climb is just 3.5 miles (5.6 Kms), but it seems much longer, as the elevation gain amounts to 1937 feet (590 meters) and the grade is relentless.  The single track Flume Trail is a skinny, little-used path which — today at least — was heavily overgrown with brush. Though almost entirely downhill, it is still a demanding ride because of the terrain and the downhill slope — which in places has up to a 26% pitch. On this outing the group rode a total of 14.0 miles (22.5 kilometers), starting from a friend’s home and winding up at an open-air comedor in the center of San Pablo.

Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing

Donaji Parque del Bosque

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Out for a ride over to Huayapam from SFdA with Spencer and Alex when Alex noticed the Donaji forest guard house had its gate open and what appeared to be a new collection of exercise equipment.  Well, sure enough, the whole place has been improved recently.  It may be old news to most of you, but there is new zipline across the ravine, an area filled with a playground and exercise equipment, and picnic areas.  More importantly, the staff at the entrada now welcome visitors ..gratis!

We signed in to the visitors book and rode up the valley to an atypical oasis of pine trees, about .7 mile up the dirt road.   On the south side of that patch of pine trees, there is a new, benchcut trail that heads back down towards town, though now you’ve crossed over the ravine that is normally a PITA to get across.  It would be even easier if they’d let you use the zip line. 😉   But, at least for west-to-east travel, it’s all ridable and even has a nice section of singletrack to end the detour/alt route. No idea yet how the staff would react to bikers going east to west and coming OUT by the guard house.  But regardless which way you go, stop and tell them thank you for building new trail…that generally follows the contour line…except for the very end as it drops to get to the zipline end-station. Maybe offer up a cash donation and ask them to build more trail…perhaps something pushing further up the valley and connecting with the trails above on the west slope of the valley.

 

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Breakfast Stop In Huayapam

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Today’s Sunday morning shop ride sponsored by Summit Cyclery was essentially a breakfast outing. After a rather mellow ride through the open country between Oaxaca and the nearby village of Huayapam, the group stopped for a substantial and satisfying breakfast at a home-based restaurant in that town. Afterwards the gang returned by a more direct route, stopping for more refreshments at Cafe Brujula, just a few blocks from the bike store.

The total round trip distance on today’s excursion amounted to 10.7 miles (17.2 km), with an elevation gain and loss of 1189 feet (362.4 meters). The Summit Cyclery bike shop was the lowest point on the route at 5190 feet (1582 meters), while the highest point on the trail registered 5636 feet (1717.5 meters) in altitude.

 

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Pedaling with the Pedalazos

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There is a relatively new mountain bike club in Oaxaca called “Los Pedalazos.” They meet for a group ride twice weekly — at 4 pm on Wednesday afternoons and again at 8 am on Saturday mornings. The Wednesday rides are shorter, given the hour of the day, and may require the use of lights if the group will be out after dark. The Saturday rides are longer — both in terms of distance traveled and time in the saddle. The outings are announced on the club’s Facebook page a day or two before the ride — see https://www.facebook.com/groups/pedalazos/.

The ride today (Sat / 19 Dec 2015) was a long loop running from the Casa Cultural in downtown Oaxaca out to San Bartolo Coyotepec in the Zimatlan valley, then over a mountain ridge and into the Tlocolula valley, passing through the villages of Rojas de Cauhtémoc and Tule, where the gang stopped for a very welcome lunch at a local comedor before continuing back to Oaxaca.

Seventeen riders were on hand for the start of the ride, but one dropped out because of mechanical problems and another in the face of some steep uphill climbs. The remaining fifteen completed the 31.8 mile (51.2 km) loop ride in approximately six hours, counting time spent relaxing and eating lunch in Tule. The low point on the ride dipped to 4989 feet (1520.6 meters), while the high point on the ridge separating the two wings of the Valles Centrales topped out at 5912 feet (1802 meters). There was a total of 1982 feet (604 meters) elevation gain and loss going around the loop.

 

Foothills, MTBing

Solidarity Ride

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There were 110+ mountain bikers and about a dozen joggers gathered at Parque Donaldo Colosio in San Felipe del Agua this morning shortly after 8 o’clock to take part in a solidarity ride/run. Riders ranged in age from kids 8-10 years old to old codgers like me pushing 70. About 90% were male, but there was a smattering of females. The gang from Summit Cyclery made this outing their Sunday shop ride, and they were welcome. The Nitos group was conspicuous by their absence, but that was due, no doubt, to their sponsoring a night ride from Oaxaca to San Sebastian de las Grutas last night — an ambitious undertaking covering 80 kilometers (50 miles) one way on a very narrow, twisty and sometimes steep stretch of highway.

Today’s bike ride was organized to protest the alleged assaults and robberies which have been reported on the San Felipe trail network in recent weeks. A newspaper photographer was present, and it is hoped the event will be reported in the local news media. One of the objectives of the ride was to pressure local authorities to increase security in the area — though exactly how this might be accomplished is not known.

The actual ride was rather short. From Colosio Park participants rode Loma Blanco up to the Libramiento Norte, then stayed on the Libramiento to the pass, where the grade descends into Vigera. While I would have preferred the group ride the “Toro, Toro, Toro” trail (better known locally as “Carnivoras”) to the top, that was probably not practical with a group so large as today’s. Once at the summit, riders posed for photos; then people broke into small groups for the ride back into town — with some staying on pavement and others opting to ride some of the single- and double-track trails down to San Felipe del Agua and on into Oaxaca.

My apologies for the lack of photos of the event. I loaned my camera to a friend this weekend, and neglected to put my iPhone in my hydration pack.

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