Category: Foothills

        It is mid-November and the weather in Oaxaca continues to be ideal for mountain biking. The thermometer registered 54ºF / 12ºC at sunrise, with a forecast high of 81ºF / 27ºC for the day. The morning boasted clear blue skies, but clouds built up by mid-day, though with no threat of rain. A biker who is a relative newcomer to Oaxaca proposed riding a long and rather challenging loop south out of town through San Bartolo Coyotepec, then across a mountain ridge to San Sebastian Teitipac in the Tlacolula valley to the east. From there the way home would loop through Rojas de Cuauhtemoc and Tule. Four fellows met at the appointed place and began the ride at 9 am. It took an hour to pedal to San Bartolo, using mainly country roads. Then the climb began. The trail was a rough jeep road that ascends 925 vertical feet (282 meters) to a pass crossing the ridge of hills. The riders spent 1.5 hours getting from San Bartolo to San Sebastian Teitipac. From there it was an easy ride on mainly paved roads to Tule and thence back to Oaxaca on the bike path. While riding through San Sebastian our cyclists encountered ten members of the Chalinos bike club from Rojas de Cuauhtemoc who were also enjoying a Sunday ride. They were an impressive sight, as all wore matching uniforms. It was early afternoon by the time the group reached Tule, so it was decided to stop for lunch at a seafood restaurant there. Some cold beer and ceviche really hit the spot!                                                                                                                                       Here are the stats for the day’s outing.  Distance ridden: 35.9 miles / 57.8 kms.  Total elevation gain and loss on the circuit:  1524 feet / 464 meters. Low point on the loop:  4959 feet / 1511 meters.  Highest point: 5891 feet / 1796 meters.  Total elapsed time (including lunch break):  5.5 hours.  Rating:  difficult because of length of ride and roughness of uphill sections on jeep road.

It is a good bet that some fellows will get together for a weekday ride every Tuesday morning. A flurry of emails usually precedes the outing as people are informed of the ride parameters and sign up for the excursion. Cyclists congregate in front of the church in San Felipe del Aqua at 8:45 am prior to a 9 o’clock departure. Most days the group rides the network of trails in the hills above San Felipe. This affords everyone an opportunity for some serious exercise but does not eat up too much time, as the ride is finished by 11:30 or 12:00 noon. On this particular Tuesday in early November, though, the riders opted for something different. Ron, Larry and Steve rode east on the hillside above San Luis Beltran and Donaji, first on the Libramiento Norte and then on a great single track trail that winds along the contours of the mountain and terminates in Huayapam. After stopping at a juice stand in the local mercado there for some liquid refreshment, they continued through town to the two presas, then pedaled on to the start of the Los Molinos trail in Tlalixtac. This lovely trail is a perennial favorite of hikers and mountain bikers alike. It was a glorious day for a ride in the countryside, with bright sunshine and a forecast high temperature of 84ºF / 29ºC. After posing for a photo at the ruins of the old water-powered grain mill, the three headed back to Oaxaca using a combination of country roads rather then returning on the foothills trail. Once arrived back in San Felipe they stopped for a tasty lunch at the Mónica Hindu restaurant. The day’s excursion covered 20.1 miles (32.3 kms) and encompassed an elevation gain and loss of 2101 feet (640 meters) along the way. The high point was 5802 feet (1768 meters) on the Libramiento above San Felipe. Time in the saddle amounted to 4 hours and 25 minutes.  The second map, below, shows just the Los Molinos trail itself.

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A couple of mountain bike visitors to Oaxaca were curious to ride two of our favorite trails in the Tlacolula valley – the “Back Way to Tule” and the ride to the presas in the hills above Santo Domingo Tomaltepec – so we combined them in one delightful loop ride.  Early spring rains had worked their magic on the countryside, so both farm fields and forested mountainsides were carpeted with bright green foliage. A group of five bikers set out at 9 am on a lovely Thursday morning for this very satisfying excursion. The trail to Tule takes off into the hills from the Rosario neighborhood on the far southeastern corner of Oaxaca city. Getting to the trailhead involves riding for 5.25 miles (8.4 kms) from el centro through a maze of city streets. Then the fun begins! The next 1.8 miles (2.9 kms) is on a rugged jeep road that rises rather steeply 455 vertical feet (139 meters) to the top of a ridge before dropping just as sharply down to the floor of the Tlacolula valley. Riders must keep a wary eye on the trail, as it is littered with a lot of loose rubble which adds challenge to both the climb and the descent. After that, the rest of the ride was a piece of cake! It was an easy and enjoyable tour through Tule and Santo Domingo Tomaltepec and thence up the mountain valley where two reservoirs catch and hold water coursing down from the hills. The ride back to Oaxaca was accomplished by going through Tlalixtac. Moving at a leisurely pace and taking time out to lounge at one of the presas, the group finished the trek in a bit over five hours.

    The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of the coronavirus pandemic. Since late February the whole world has been turned topsy-turvy by news of and reactions to the latest esoteric virus to come out of China. As of this writing (30 April 2020) 3.2 million people have contracted Covid-19 world wide, and there have been over 225,000 deaths. Citizens in countries around the globe have been ordered to stay at home and national economies are tottering toward collapse. Thankfully, the health situation is not so dire in Oaxaca, though the local economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, is reeling. These are tough times, indeed!

    Happily, mountain biking provides a welcome respite from the coronavirus crisis. It is not difficult to maintain social distance while pedaling through the countryside; and spending time in the saddle is both great exercise and a big psychological boost. So it is that small groups of friends, including a number of retired expats who call Oaxaca home, meet several times each week for rides on nearby mountain trails or around the central valley. On this particular Thursday morning, four amigos rode 21.6 miles from Oaxaca up to San Felipe del Agua, then over the mountain ridge to Viguera and on to San Pablo Etla before returning to town along the abandoned railroad line that once linked Oaxaca with Mexico City to the north and the Pacific coast to the south. The relative lack of vehicular traffic on city streets is a side benefit of the pandemic, as is the better air quality.