A bright Sunday morning beckoned members of the Nitos Ciclistas en Movimiento bike club to pedal 64 kilometers out and back from the center of Oaxaca to Teotitlan del Valle in the Tlacolula valley. Fifteen riders took part in the day’s excursion. Leaving from the plaza in front of the grand Santo Domingo church at 8:15 am, the group arrived in Teotitlan two hours later, where they visited the dam and reservoir just north of town before stopping for a late breakfast at the city market.
Best wishes to two of Oaxaca’s most active mountain bike clubs on their recent anniversaries! On Saturday, 17 August, the Nitos Ciclistas En Movimiento group marked their 7th anniversary with a ride and party at the mountain ecotourism camp at La Cumbre. Then on Saturday, 7 September, the Pedalazos celebrated their 5th anniversary with a party in Xoxocotlan. Both clubs sponsor worthy rides almost every weekend, many of them going for a great distance and with lots of elevation gain. The Pedalazos also sponsor weekly Wednesday evening rides. Any rider looking to hook up with other people who love to mountain bike is well advised to check out these two groups.
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of downhill mountain bikers in Oaxaca. Their numbers and enthusiasm were in evidence at an enduro race held on Saturday, 20 July 2019 at La Cumbre Ixtepeji. Riders were doubtless drawn to this venue by the multiple new downhill trails constructed near the ecotourism camp over the past two to three years. Today’s race challenged riders to test their skills on several of these. The first segment of the race took place on the Coralito Trail, which runs downhill 1.6 miles (2.6 kms), losing 1056 feet ( 322 meters) on the way. Then race contestants had to pedal their way back up logging roads to virtually the same starting point to take off down the Martinez Trail and then transitioning to the El Toro Trail and finally ending the race on La Herradura. The weather was perfect for the race, and the trail tread was in excellent condition – neither dusty and loose nor muddy. So far as we know everyone enjoyed the contest and no one had to be taken home in an ambulance!
For trail maps of La Cumbre Ixtepeji we suggest you use Trailforks: https://www.trailforks.com/region/la-cumbre-ixtepeji-22082/?activitytype=1&z=10.8&lat=17.18561&lon=-96.64612
The Rocky Mountain Bicycle Boys, a Denver bike club, has a long-standing tradition of kicking off the summer riding season with a trip to Moab, Utah each May over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Larry and Omar, from Oaxaca, were among the fifteen fellows who made the journey in this spring of 2019. The group was blessed with ideal weather – sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70’s (Fahrenheit) – which was in marked contrast to the cold, wet conditions prevailing in Colorado in the weeks before and after the trip. On Saturday the guys rode several of the trails in the North Klondike trail network, then concentrated on the Navajo Rocks area on Sunday. Those in the entourage who were not bike riders enjoyed hiking trails in nearby Canyonlands National Park.
For a comprehensive list of mountain bike trails in the Moab area, click here.
Four biking buddies hit the trail to climb the La Muneca trail in the hills near Tlalixtac and then coast down to the two presas in Santo Domingo Tomaltepec before looping back to their starting point near the Tlalixtac town center. All told, they spent about four hours in the saddle and pedaled 12.5 miles (20.1 kms) on this leisurely ride on a lovely May morning. The climb to the monument at the top of the La Muneca trail took the riders 1477 feet (450 meters) up the hillside. The trail was sufficiently steep to cause some hike-a-biking going up. But that was rewarded with some great zinging downhill. One of the riders had never visited the two lovely presas in the valley above Santo Domingo Tomaltepec, so those were included in the day’s itinerary. The group wrapped things up with a lunch of tasty Mexican food upon their return to Oaxaca at mid-afternoon.
