Category: Foothills

Countryside, Foothills, Mountains, MTBing, Trail Work

Doing Maintenance on the San Felipe Trails

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It has been a while since we’ve gotten a crew together to do serious “pick and shovel” maintenance on the bike trails in the hills above San Felipe del Agua, and some of the trails have erosion damage that requires attention. On this Wednesday in early August Larry, Alex, Rafa, Andrés and Phil tackled one of the shorter, more needy trails. This being the rainy season, 1.7 inches of rain had fallen in the past four days. This was a good thing, as it softened up the soil and made it easier to dig new drainage channels to move water off the trail and into the woods. The crew finished their work in three hours time. They hope to return in coming weeks to do similar work on other of the many nearby trails.

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Countryside, Foothills, MTBing, Photos, Ride Routes

Bike & swim day

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The Biciosos club (https://www.facebook.com/Biciosos-99855150398/timeline/) sponsored a Sunday ride in keeping with the hot weather we’ve had in Oaxaca in recent weeks. First of all, the ride was scheduled for just after sunrise to take advantage of cooler temperatures. And the outing included a stop at a local balneario (swimming pool) in the early afternoon.

The loop ride began and ended at the Plaza Bella shopping mall near the village of Atzompa. The 17 riders in the group pedaled west to San Pedro Ixtlahuaca, then turned south and rode through rolling hill country to Cuilapam. From there the route continued south on dirt roads through farm country, with a brief stop at a small reservoir before winding up in Zaachila, where we stopped for a late breakfast and then spent a couple of enjoyable hours splashing around at the balneario. Afterwards the group returned to Plaza Bella to conclude the day’s outing.

The route covered 31.2 miles (50.2 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 2030 feet (618.7 meters) through the rolling countryside. The high point was 5482 feet (1671 meters) in the hills south of San Pedro Ixtlahuaca; the low point was 4980 feet (1518 meters) in Zaachila.

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Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Western Etla Valley Foothills

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Sunday, March 13th was a day of clear skies and warm temperatures.  D.,  C., C., P., and E. met up on the highway out Etla way to explore some of the network of paths, trails and dirt roads on the western side of the Etla valley in the scrub-brush covered foothills that sit between the toll highway to Puebla / Mexico City and the pine-covered mountains.

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Introducing a Colorado Mountain Biker to Oaxaca’s Trails

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Spencer, who hails from Boulder, Colorado, was spending a few weeks in Oaxaca and was anxious to acquaint his Yeti mountain bike with some of our favorite trails. So on this Thursday in early February some other gringos who call Oaxaca home (two of whom are also from Colorado) decided to introduce Spencer to the wholesome goodness of the trails above San Pablo Etla — specifically, the Oaxaca Flume Trail. The group arrived in San Pablo at about 10 am and hit the trail soon after. It is a long slog up a rather steep (11% to 12% grade) dirt road that leads from the valley floor up past the “La Mesita” reforestation area in San Pablo’s mountain park (where an admission fee of 30 pesos per person must be paid) and then continues upward to the start of the Flume Trail. Actually, the climb is just 3.5 miles (5.6 Kms), but it seems much longer, as the elevation gain amounts to 1937 feet (590 meters) and the grade is relentless.  The single track Flume Trail is a skinny, little-used path which — today at least — was heavily overgrown with brush. Though almost entirely downhill, it is still a demanding ride because of the terrain and the downhill slope — which in places has up to a 26% pitch. On this outing the group rode a total of 14.0 miles (22.5 kilometers), starting from a friend’s home and winding up at an open-air comedor in the center of San Pablo.

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Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing

Donaji Parque del Bosque

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Out for a ride over to Huayapam from SFdA with Spencer and Alex when Alex noticed the Donaji forest guard house had its gate open and what appeared to be a new collection of exercise equipment.  Well, sure enough, the whole place has been improved recently.  It may be old news to most of you, but there is new zipline across the ravine, an area filled with a playground and exercise equipment, and picnic areas.  More importantly, the staff at the entrada now welcome visitors ..gratis!

We signed in to the visitors book and rode up the valley to an atypical oasis of pine trees, about .7 mile up the dirt road.   On the south side of that patch of pine trees, there is a new, benchcut trail that heads back down towards town, though now you’ve crossed over the ravine that is normally a PITA to get across.  It would be even easier if they’d let you use the zip line. 😉   But, at least for west-to-east travel, it’s all ridable and even has a nice section of singletrack to end the detour/alt route. No idea yet how the staff would react to bikers going east to west and coming OUT by the guard house.  But regardless which way you go, stop and tell them thank you for building new trail…that generally follows the contour line…except for the very end as it drops to get to the zipline end-station. Maybe offer up a cash donation and ask them to build more trail…perhaps something pushing further up the valley and connecting with the trails above on the west slope of the valley.