It was a soggy Sunday morning in June for today’s mountain bike race in Huayapam, a small town on the outskirts of Oaxaca city. The area received four-tenths of an inch (2.3 cm) of rain overnight, and it was still drizzling as people milled around waiting for the race to get under way. Needless to say, the trail was muddy in places, so no one expected to go home in clean riding gear! The course laid out for the day’s race was a loop running 3.8 miles (6.1 km), utilizing a bit of paved city streets and more extensive dirt roads, but with most of the distance accruing on single track trail. There was 696 feet (212 meters) of elevation gain and loss along the way. That may not sound like much climbing, but some of the uphill segments registered gradients from 15% to 20%, making many a contestant a hike-a-biker. Some parts of the trail going both uphill and down were a bit treacherous because of mud. A number of riders found their rear wheel spinning out from under them on the climbs and their front wheel sliding sideways on the descents. Still, most riders managed to stay upright on their bikes throughout the contest, and there seemed to be fewer flat tires and broken chains than on other recent races.
Era una húmeda mañana de domingo en Junio para la carrera de ciclomontañismo en Huayapam, un pequeño pueblo a las afueras de la ciudad de Oaxaca de Juárez, famoso por su tejate. El área recibió 2.3 cms (1 in) de caída pluvial la noche anterior, y se presenció neblina mientras los concursantes llegaban a paso lento. Era evidente la grandiosa cantidad de lodo, al jabón le esperaba una gran tarea! El camino trazado para la carrera de hoy contaba con una medida de 6.1 kms (3.8 millas), valiéndose de un poco de carretera pavimentada del hermoso pueblo, de una vasta extensión de destapadas, pero con la mayor parte de vereda de un solo carril. Hubo una diferencia de elevación de 212 mts (696 pies) en el camino. Sin encontrar mucha subida, algunas rampas contaban con un gradiente de 15% y hasta 20%, obligando a muchos a cambiar de lugares con su bicicleta. Por esto, junto con el lodo, la dificultad se vio acrecentada. Varíos concursantes encontraron sus llantas inútiles ante la resbaladiza pista. Igual, la mayoría de los resios mantuvieron firmeza a través de todo el concurso; también se presentaron menos casos de llantas ponchadas o cadenas rotas que en recientes carreras.
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