Category: Countryside

Countryside, Foothills, Mountains, MTBing, Photos, Racing

The Bailey Hundo

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Oaxaca is just half the size of Denver, but boasts more mountain bike clubs and more frequent races. However, there are some really classic races to be had in Colorado. The sixth annual Bailey Hundo took place on Saturday, 20 June 2015. This 100 mile cross-country race on the looping trails of the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area in the Pike National Forest is fast becoming a legend. Four hundred eager riders jostled for a place at the starting line in the little community of Bailey, which sits in a mountain valley about an hour’s drive west of Denver. Enthusiasm ran high — perhaps to counter the dread of having to pedal 100 miles before the day was out! The weather was ideal and trail conditions excellent for the day’s contest. Riders ranged in age from late teens into their sixties. Both female riders and fat-tire bikes were well represented. Congratulations to all who took part in this very challenging event!

To view a trail map showing the route of the 2015 Bailey Hundo, click here.

Countryside, MTBing

Pilgrimage to Moab

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Moab, Utah is widely seen as the Mecca of mountain biking. Every cyclist wants to visit there at least once in a lifetime. The lucky members of the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Boys go there every spring for the Memorial Day holiday the last weekend of May — a tradition going back to 1997. Somehow the magic of Moab never fades, and the attraction of the trails there never lessens. The author is spending several months this summer in Colorado, and so reunited with old friends and biking buddies to savor again the charm that lures thousands of mountain bike enthusiasts into the desert country around Moab.

To view maps of some of the trails in and around Moab, Utah, click here.

Countryside, GPS, MTBing

Zegache to Ocotlan

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The Zapotec artist Rodolfo Morales is best known for his brightly colored surrealistic dream-like canvases and collages, which often feature Mexican women in village settings. He was born 8 May 1925 to working class parents in the town of Ocotlan de Morelos in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. He studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City, after which he began a 32-year career as an art teacher in the capital. With the help of Rufino Tamayo, an established artist and fellow Oaxaqueño, Morales became a recognized painter. By 1985 he had the financial capacity to quit teaching and return to his hometown, where he dedicated himself to his art and to the community through a program of restoration. He funded the restoration of fifteen churches, including the 17th century church in Santa Ana Zegache. His most important restoration project was the former convent in Ocotlan, which now houses part of his art collection. Two of his murals can be seen in the municipal building in Ocotlan, just steps away from the restored convent. Until his death in 2001 at age 75, he and Francisco Toledo were regarded as the greatest living artists in Mexico. Rodolfo Morales is buried in his restored Convent of Santo Domingo in Ocotlan.

This is a pleasant and easy ride through open countryside over mostly flat terrain. The round trip distance amounts to about 12 miles (19.5 km). If you ride in the fall, you will find the farm fields ablaze with bright colors, as this is the region where the brilliant flowers sold in local markets and used for the “Day of the Dead” are grown.

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Countryside, Foothills, MTBing, Photos, Racing

Titan Zapoteca MTB Race

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The 4th annual marathon race sponsored by the Titan Zapoteca mountain bike club took place on Sunday, March 15 on a wicked 42 kilometer (26 mile) loop course laid out around San Pablo Guila in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mountain bikers from various clubs all around the Oaxaca Valley converged on San Pablo for the contest. There were several other events taking place in the town at the same time, so the streets were jam-packed with vendors, visitors and townspeople. The race itself was an arduous one, as the course included steep climbs, some really scary technical descents and seemed to go on forever. The map below shows only 18 miles of the 26-mile total, as this reporter got leg cramps and had to cut the ride short, heading back into town on a paved road rather than riding the last 8 miles cross-country to finish the course. Amazingly, most of the riders who started the race actually did cross the finish line, earning a special pendant made for the event. The townspeople in general and the race organizers in particular did a splendid job of making the bikers welcome in their community.

Countryside, MTBing, Outing, Photos

Wednesday Ride Takes A Turn

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The weekly Wednesday ride took a different turn on March 4. Originally the group planned to ride a singletrack trail from Oaxaca up into a mountain canyon. However, one of our party asked if his cousin, recently arrived from Mexico City could join in the outing. Turns out the cousin was a young lady of 13, who had never ridden a bike with multiple gears. So the group switched gears, so to speak, and changed course, opting for an easy ride on the paved bike path to Tule, then on to Santo Domingo Tomaltepec and back to Oaxaca on dirt roads running through – and with a lunch stop in – Tlalixtac. It turned out to be a pleasant few hours in the saddle, and the young cousin made it safely back home, tired but happy.