Category: Foothills

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Nitos Ride To Santo Domingo Tomaltepec

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The ride into the mountain valley which serves as the source of water for the community of Santo Domingo Tomaltepec is a very scenic and enjoyable outing. That said, it might well be called “Trial By Water,” as the trail crosses the same stream seven times going both out and back. Even in the dry season the rider will likely get splashed. During the rainy season (which this was) the water is swift-flowing and sometimes a foot or more deep, which guarantees your foot gear – and sometimes more – will get thoroughly soaked.

Just as a black powder fuse will sputter and die when wet, our riders’ enthusiasm was considerably dampened by the water crossings. By the third stream crossing almost half the day’s group of 33 riders decided not to go any further, leaving it to the more intrepid bikers to push on to the end of the trail. Still, everyone was in good spirits and seemed to have a good time.

The ride out and back covered a total of 24.8 miles (39.9 km), and the total elevation gain and loss on the trip amounted to 1270 feet (387 meters). The ride began and ended at an elevation of 5113 feet (1558 meters). The high point on the trail hit 5696 feet (1736 meters), while the lowest point along the way bottomed out at 5084 feet (1549 meters).

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Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos, Racing

Mountain Bike Race In Huayapam – Carrera de Ciclomontañismo en Huayapam

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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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Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Nitos Ride In Tlalixtac Territory – Los Molinos Trail

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Members of the Nitos Ciclistas En Movimiento took to the hill country in the territory belonging to the village of Tlalixtac for this Sunday’s ride. The Oaxaca Valley had received over 5 inches (32 cm) of rain in the previous five days, so the ground was saturated, streams were running strong, humidity was high and there was plenty of mud along the way. It was a fun outing, nevertheless; and the 26 people who took part had a great time!

After getting clear of the city, the group took mostly back roads on the way to the foothills and then followed a country trail that wound upwards running parallel to Highway 175, but on the far side of a gurgling stream. After pedaling for about three hours the group stopped for lunch in the woods before splashing across the creek and sailing back to Oaxaca on the shoulder of the highway.

The round trip covered 16.2 miles (26.1 km) with an elevation gain and loss of 1007 feet (307 meters). There were just a few technical challenges along the way in the form of some rock gardens. However, there were many muddy spots and a number of places where water was running down the trail, so the going was slow at times.

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Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos, Racing

Easter Race at San Pablo Etla

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I actually saw a live bunny rabbit hopping down the trail on today’s Easter Sunday mountain bike race at San Pablo Etla. I did not find any colored eggs hiding in the brush along the route, however. What I did find – happily so! – was the digital camera that bounced out of my fanny pack as I was riding back to the finish line after taking photos of the race. Elsewise there would be no pics to go with this post, and I would be one very unhappy camper!

Today’s race was on the same 3.2 mile (5.0 km) race circuit as last year, but to give the venture a different spin the riders rode the course in the opposite direction – going clockwise today. The start/finish line was in a slightly different location on the loop, as well.

You can see photos of the race last year by going to the “Race” page and scrolling down to the “San Pablo Etla” entry.

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Foothills, MTBing, Photos, Racing

Mountain Bike Race in San Felipe

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There was a good turnout for the mountain bike race held on the
San Felipe del Agua trail network on Sunday, 23 February 2014.

Chapus Bikes fielded a large and talented team. The village of Capulalpam de Guerrero is sponsoring a team this season, which was good to see. The Comex team present for this race was much smaller than in recent years. And, sadly, the Krotalus team was absent, as that bike shop went out of business late in 2013.

The weather was terrific and the trails were in decent shape. The race followed the same route as last year’s event, with one slight modification. A short section of what is identified on this web site as the Rebote trail has recently been re-routed to avoid a downhill piece that was getting seriously eroded.

Both participants and spectators seemed to have a good time — despite an assortment of broken chains and flat tires.

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