The members of the Pedalazos bike club have embarked on a couple of monster rides on recent Saturday mornings. These epic excursions took most of the day and entailed huge climbs and descents, challenging even the toughest of riders.
The first of these was a grand loop covering 48.5 miles (78.0 kms) from Oaxaca city through the small mountain hamlet of Arroyo Guacamaya, then continuing up and through the Sierra Norte mountains on logging roads to the ecotourism camp at La Cumbre Ixtepeji and then down the La Reina trail into Huayapam, concluding in Oaxaca about nine hours later. The outing began near downtown Oaxaca at an elevation of 5124 feet and topped out at a high point of 10,398 feet (3169 meters). Those who survived the ride managed to pedal uphill 7008 vertical feet (2136 meters), to be rewarded with 7073 feet 2156 meters) of vertical drop coming down off the mountain. Talk about an endurance contest! Kudos to all those stout – or foolish – enough to take on the challenge! Here is a map of the day’s route:
Several weeks later stalwart riders in the club set out on a similar epic ride, this time pedaling east of the city to the famed weaving town of Teotitlan del Valle, then tackling the unpaved road that winds eleven miles steeply uphill to the village of Benito Juárez. From there the group proceeded 10 kilometers to La Neveria and then dropped down the loose and steep Mil Rios trail, which comes off the mountain near the town of Tlalixtac. Start to finish, the circuit ride covered 45.3 miles (72.9 kms), with over 6250 feet (1905 meters) of vertical gain and loss. The excursion took 9 hours and 40 minutes to complete. Again, congratulations to those who persevered to the end, despite some serious crashes on the treacherous downhill Mil Rios trail! Below is a map showing the route taken:
4 comments for “Monster Rides”