The city and state of Oaxaca have received a lot of favorable press this past year as many respected national magazines and tour agencies have listed Oaxaca as one of the top five world tourist destinations. Riding on the coattails of the tour boom, so to speak, are gringo mountain bikers either visiting or moving to Oaxaca from the U.S. and other countries around the world. And so it is we have had a number of new faces join in weekly rides. On this Sunday in September a couple of mountain bikers new to the area requested an introductory ride around the Oaxaca valley. These newbies were paired with a couple of resident gringos, and the foursome set out to explore some trails in the mountain valley that holds two reservoirs supplying water to the village of Santo Domingo Tomaltepec and surrounding farms. The quartet met and passed several other groups of bikers and hikers enjoying a Sunday outing in the same area. The out and back ride covered 27.8 miles (44.7 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 2132 feet (650 meters). No one bothered to take photos, but we did create a GPS track of the ride.
Category: Countryside
Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos, Trail Info
La Muneca and Santo Domingo Tomaltepec Presas
by Larry • • 0 Comments
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.
Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Photos
Pedaling to Yagul and Back
by Larry • • 0 Comments
The Nitos Ciclistas en Movimiento bike club announced a Sunday ride for 31 March to the archeological ruins on Yagul, located in the eastern part of the Valley of Oaxaca not far from Tlacolula. Just five riders showed up to take part in the outing, as other club members were off to be contestants in or spectators at the Titan Zapoteca mountain bike race, perhaps the most famous of the many races held annually around Oaxaca (see http://www.oaxacamtb.org/wp/2012/11/mountain-bike-races/ on this web site). It was a warm and sunny day, with a pleasant breeze blowing out of the east to keep riders comfortable in the saddle. The group made use of the paved bike trail to Tule for the first part of the trip, then followed dirt roads through the countryside to Tlacochahuaya and Dainzu before riding on the shoulder of the highway on to Tlacolula and finally Yagul. The return route followed the highway back to Tule, where riders once again took advantage of the bike path to get back to Oaxaca. The total round-trip distance amounted to 45 miles (72.5 kilometers), with a modest elevation gain and loss of 1230 feet (375 meters) along the way. It took the group something over six hours to complete the ride, moving at a leisurely pace and with stops along the way for refreshments and a picnic lunch at Yagul.
Countryside, Foothills, Hiking, MTBing, Photos
Clearing Brush on the Trail
by Larry • • 0 Comments
Late last October a small group of friends went for a hike on the trails in the foothills above the village of San Pablo Etla. Their objective was to follow the same loop trail used for a mountain bike race held there annually. To their dismay, they found the vegetation so thick at the end of the rainy season that in places they could not even find the trail! So on this Saturday in mid-March several fellows set out with machetes, hedge clippers, pruning shears and tree saws to clear away the brush from the trail. They were in for a couple of pleasant surprises. First of all, after five months without rain all the greenery was gone. The trees and shrubs were bare of leaves, which made it much easier to prune back branches that hung out over the trail. And secondly, it was obvious another work crew had passed this way in recent weeks, as much of the vegetation had already been cut back. So what was expected to be a hard day of heavy work turned out to be much easier and faster than anticipated. Now hikers and mountain bikers will be able to pass freely on the network of intersecting trails that criss-cross the hillsides near San Pablo. For more information on these, see the various entries under “San Pablo Etla” on the “Rides” page of this web site.
Countryside, GPS, MTBing
The Danzante of Zimatlan
by Larry • • 0 Comments
In July of 2018 a gigantic statue of a figure dressed for the Danza de la Pluma, a colorful dance that tells the story of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, was erected atop a hill near Zimatlan, the largest town in the Grande Valley to the south of Oaxaca city. This monument is a popular destination for cyclists wanting to explore the back roads of the Zimatlan valley. The round-trip distance amounts to over thirty miles, but it is an easy ride because the terrain is very flat except for the short hill climb to the statue. Expect to spend about four to five hours on this excursion through the countryside. Be sure to use sunscreen and pack some snack food for the journey. We will likely stop for lunch at the mercado gastronomico in Zaachila where over a dozen small comedors offer a variety of local dishes.
