Saturday, 7 May 2016: A lovely blue-sky day for a bike ride in the countryside. The Pedalazos bike club aimed to take advantage of good weather for a pleasant loop ride on dirt roads and trails in the rolling hill country west of Monte Alban. The plan was to get an early start so as to finish the ride before the day got too hot. To this end, the group assembled at the Plaza Bella shopping center at 8 o’clock in the morning and was on their way by 8:20 am. The ride concluded at the same location about 12:30.
There were four gringos among the fourteen riders who took part in the outing, adding some English chatter to the friendly discourse that took place as we rode along. The winding route covered 24.3 miles (39.1 kilometers), and demanded the riders climb 2116 feet (645 meters) in elevation along the way. Of course, since it was a loop ride, participants got to enjoy the same change in elevation going downhill. The shopping mall, at an altitude of 5137 feet (1566 meters), was the low point of the day’s ride, which topped out at 6042 feet (1841 meters) crossing the ridge of hills that hide the Rio Jalapilla and the village of Jalapa del Valle from view.
All went well until the very end. Then, unfortunately, while riding the paved road through Atzompa in the last mile leading back to Plaza Bella, one rider hit a nasty pothole that bent his front wheel, throwing him over the handlebars. Another rider collided with him. The injuries were quite painful and put an early end to the ride for some.
