It is Easter Sunday in Oaxaca – 12 April 2020. It is a beautiful morning, but the city is exceptionally quiet. There is always much less traffic on Sunday mornings, especially on holidays. But this year people are hunkered down and staying home because of the coronavirus crisis. There are no church services this Easter. Larry, Omar and Vidal agreed to meet up at 8:30 am for a ride in the country. They rendezvoused at the Plaza Bella shopping center in Atzompa. From there they pedaled north to San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, then west to San Felipe Tejalápam, then south over a ridge of hills to San Andres Ixtlahuaca. From there it was a short jaunt to San Pedro Ixtlahuaca where they stopped for breakfast (yes, there are still a few restaurants open for business, despite the pandemic). After chowing down, the threesome headed back to Oaxaca. From start to finish, the loop ride covered 29.2 miles (47 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 1560 feet (475.5 meters). All told, the outing took almost exactly four hours, with the riders moving at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, no chocolate Easter eggs or marshmellow bunnies were discovered along the way.
Category: Countryside
Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Trail Info
San Agustin Etla Aqueduct Trail & More
by Larry • • 0 Comments
Albi and Larry, two retired biking buddies who live happily in Oaxaca, set out one Monday in early March to test their strength and agility by riding along the aqueduct that carries water from a stream well up a mountain valley down to the water treatment plant in San Agustin Etla. This route is a perennial favorite among participants in the “Hoofing It In Oaxaca” program of weekly hikes and is equally prized by local mountain bikers. After registering and paying a nominal 50 peso permit fee, the two set out from the water plant and headed up the valley. The grade of the trail is quite mild, so the pedaling uphill was easy enough. More challenging were the narrow places where the trail balances on the edge of the aqueduct. There are also a number of spots where the trail jumps from one side of the aqueduct to the other. Most of these are bridged by planks of lumber which can be ridden over. The aqueduct terminates at a small water diversion dam in a mountain stream near the grand ruins of a hydroelectric plant built about 1900. From that point our intrepid duo continued onward, exploring a single-track trail that ran further uphill, generally following the stream. The trail had been recently groomed and marked for a mountain bike race, but even so the pair wished they had brought tools to prune back overhanging tree branches and clear brush from the trail. The riders decided to accomplish their return to San Agustin on a service road rather than retracing their uphill route, which made for a fast descent. All told, the ride covered 8.3 miles (13.4 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 957 feet (292 meters). The outing began at the water treatment plant, which sits at an altitude of 6371 feet (1925 meters), and topped out at 6897 feet (2102 meters). The elapsed time for completion of the loop was just over two hours.
Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Ride Routes
Love Those Loop Rides!
by Larry • • 0 Comments
A sunny Sunday morning in late February beckoned three expat gringos to don their bike gear and go for a pleasant ride through the countryside in the rolling hills in the western part of the Etla valley. Pedaling up the highway that runs between the archeological sites of Monte Alban and Atzompa, they skirted around San Pedro Ixtlahuaca and then rode through San Andres Ixtlahuaca. From there the trio set off to the north on an unpaved road which looped up and over a ridge of hills and then descended into San Felipe Tejalápam. After stopping for a treat of ice cream bars, they then proceeded through San Lorenzo Cacaotepec and picked up the trail running along the abandoned railway tracks back into Oaxaca near the Central de Abastos market.
Our intrepid riders rode a total of 30.3 miles (48.8 kms) on their four-hour-long outing, managing to gain and then lose 1713 vertical feet (522 meters) of elevation along the way. Here is a satellite view of their route:
Countryside, GPS, Mountains, MTBing, Ride Routes, Trail Info
Monster Rides
by Larry • • 4 Comments
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:
Countryside, GPS, MTBing
Oaxaca-Zaachila-Cuilapam Loop Ride
by Larry • • 0 Comments
Five gringo bikers decided to go for a ride on Thursday, 6 February through the countryside to the south of Oaxaca city. They rendezvoused at 10 am and proceeded to pedal 25.5 miles (41 kms) through the mostly flat terrain of the Zimatlan Valley, stopping at the weekly market in Zaachila for breakfast before ambling west and then north on country lanes to Cuilapam and then back to the capital city. This was intended to be a social ride, so no speed records were set – especially since Dwayne’s rental bike suffered a flat front tire three times along the route. The ride was capped off with some appetizers and cold bear at the Coco Beach restaurant when the group returned to Oaxaca at mid-afternoon. A good time was had by all.
