Category: MTBing

Items related to actual riding of mountain bikes.

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Pedaling Through The Pandemic

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    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.

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing

Lobera Loop

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The world is in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-April of 2020. The city and state of Oaxaca are yet to be hit with significant numbers of Covid-19 infections, but people are on edge. There are virtually no flights in or out of Oaxaca; tourists are non-existent; most businesses are closed; and large numbers of citizens are out of work. Folks are hunkered down in their homes and social distancing is the norm. All the more reason, then, to climb aboard our mountain bikes for a rejuvenating morning ride through the countryside of the Zimatlan valley. Fresh air and exercise are great antidotes for feeling depressed. So four expats living in Oaxaca set out on a pleasant 26.7 mile (43 kms) loop ride on a bright Saturday morning, aiming to pedal to the little village of Lobera and back. The outing took just over three hours, with riders gaining and losing a total of 1203 feet (367 meters) in elevation along the way.

Countryside, GPS, MTBing

Hopping Along With The Easter Bunny

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It is Easter Sunday in Oaxaca – 12 April 2020. It is a beautiful morning, but the city is exceptionally quiet. There is always much less traffic on Sunday mornings, especially on holidays. But this year people are hunkered down and staying home because of the coronavirus crisis. There are no church services this Easter. Larry, Omar and Vidal agreed to meet up at 8:30 am for a ride in the country. They rendezvoused at the Plaza Bella shopping center in Atzompa. From there they pedaled north to San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, then west to San Felipe Tejalápam, then south over a ridge of hills to San Andres Ixtlahuaca. From there it was a short jaunt to San Pedro Ixtlahuaca where they stopped for breakfast (yes, there are still a few restaurants open for business, despite the pandemic). After chowing down, the threesome headed back to Oaxaca. From start to finish, the loop ride covered 29.2 miles (47 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 1560 feet (475.5 meters). All told, the outing took almost exactly four hours, with the riders moving at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, no chocolate Easter eggs or marshmellow bunnies were discovered along the way.

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Trail Info

San Agustin Etla Aqueduct Trail & More

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Albi and Larry, two retired biking buddies who live happily in Oaxaca, set out one Monday in early March to test their strength and agility by riding along the aqueduct that carries water from a stream well up a mountain valley down to the water treatment plant in San Agustin Etla. This route is a perennial favorite among participants in the “Hoofing It In Oaxaca” program of weekly hikes and is equally prized by local mountain bikers. After registering and paying a nominal 50 peso permit fee, the two set out from the water plant and headed up the valley. The grade of the trail is quite mild, so the pedaling uphill was easy enough. More challenging were the narrow places where the trail balances on the edge of the aqueduct. There are also a number of spots where the trail jumps from one side of the aqueduct to the other. Most of these are bridged by planks of lumber which can be ridden over. The aqueduct terminates at a small water diversion dam in a mountain stream near the grand ruins of a hydroelectric plant built about 1900. From that point our intrepid duo continued onward, exploring a single-track trail that ran further uphill, generally following the stream. The trail had been recently groomed and marked for a mountain bike race, but even so the pair wished they had brought tools to prune back overhanging tree branches and clear brush from the trail. The riders decided to accomplish their return to San Agustin on a service road rather than retracing their uphill route, which made for a fast descent. All told, the ride covered 8.3 miles (13.4 kms), with an elevation gain and loss of 957 feet (292 meters).  The outing began at the water treatment plant, which sits at an altitude of 6371 feet (1925 meters), and topped out at 6897 feet (2102 meters). The elapsed time for completion of the loop was just over two hours.

Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Ride Routes

Love Those Loop Rides!

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     A sunny Sunday morning in late February beckoned three expat gringos to don their bike gear and go for a pleasant ride through the countryside in the rolling hills in the western part of the Etla valley. Pedaling up the highway that runs between the archeological sites of Monte Alban and Atzompa, they skirted around San Pedro Ixtlahuaca and then rode through San Andres Ixtlahuaca. From there the trio set off to the north on an unpaved road which looped up and over a ridge of hills and then descended into San Felipe Tejalápam. After stopping for a treat of ice cream bars, they then proceeded through San Lorenzo Cacaotepec and picked up the trail running along the abandoned railway tracks back into Oaxaca near the Central de Abastos market.

     Our intrepid riders rode a total of 30.3 miles (48.8 kms) on their four-hour-long outing, managing to gain and then lose 1713 vertical feet (522 meters) of elevation along the way. Here is a satellite view of their route: