Countryside, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Invitational Ride At San Antonio de la Cal

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The community of San Antonio de la Cal, a suburb on the southeastern edge of Oaxaca city, sponsored a mountain bike ride today — Sunday, 18 January 2015 — and sent out a general invitation to riders and mountain bike clubs to come. Several bike clubs from Oaxaca took part, as did others from around the Oaxaca valley. Approximately 140 riders gathered at the municipal building in Experimental to register at the start of the ride. Then it was off for a ride on city streets and jeep trails in the hills nearby! The day concluded with a hearty free meal for all participants provided by the community.

For riders who started from the Zocalo in Oaxaca, the day’s adventure racked up a total of 18.9 miles (30.4 km). Pedaling up and down the steep, rocky hills above La Cal — where the gradient ranged from 12% to 16% — brought the elevation gain and loss for the day to 1978 feet (602.9 meters).

Special thanks to Porfirio Santos Matías and Lic. Pedro Isidro Santos Matías, the head of the sports department in San Antonio de la Cal, for organizing the event; and to all the people who helped make it a success!

San Antonio de la Cal que es una comunidad a la periferia sureste de laciudad de Oaxaca patrocinó un evento de ciclismo de montaña el domingo 18de enero 2015. Ciclistas y clubes de ciclismo del valle central recibió unainvitación para participar. 140 ciclistas llegaron al edificio municipal enExperimental para inscribirse al evento. Luego comenzamos nuestro paseopor las calles de la ciudad y las sendas de terracería en las colinas cercanas. El día terminó con una comida para todos los participantes que la comunidadSan Antonio de la Cal muy amablemente nos brindó. Para los ciclistas que salieron del Zocalo en la ciudad de Oaxaca, el paseo arribade San Antonio de la Cal era de 18.9 millas de colinas con pendientes muyinclinados y rocosos y de una altura de ida y vuelta de 1978 pies (602.9 metros)

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Trail Info, Trail Work

Trail LP Pruned

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Trail LP is one of the shortest runs in the SFdA trails, but since I like to use it for a loop connector, it too needed pruning this season.  Done.

Trail Info, Trail Work

Sweat Rewards / Recompensas Sudoríparas

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Sunday was a trailwork day and after a full day of cleaning, pruning and raking, now three more trails in the SFdA Smoking Section are ready to ride:

Trail E (Encendedor (Lighter))

Trail Ca (Calientaplatos (Hotplate)) (Trail page not yet posted. Damnit!)

Trail T (Tostadora (Toaster)) …except the upper section above Trail ML…which will hopefully get cleaned this weekend.

 

But, during that work, a new trail was stumbled upon between Trail E and Trail T.  Or, more accurately, an old (lost) trail was discovered.

Here is a a screenshot from Google Earth pointing out the potential new trail, as well as the surrounding trails.  Active map (and download link for the KML file) is below.

GMap Image of Trail _Hoguera and partner trails

 

The tread is fairly well established and the vegetation is only slightly grown in.  So, with a little trail work, another kilometer of singletrack could be added to The Smoking Section.  The exciting part is that it runs across the hill as compared to the other nearby trails and has a gentler grade of <12% as compared to 20% and 18% for Trail E and Trail T, respectively.  Also, the area it crosses has some broader sections that would allow for trail re-routing to give an even gentler grade and longer distance.  Right now it isn’t rideable, but we’re hoping to get some volunteers out to flag and clean it ASAP.  If you’re willing to help, drop us a line via a comment below, the OaxacaMTB.org Facebook page or the Contact Us form on this site’s About Us page.

 

Come help us build this baby!

 

 

Countryside, Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Photos

Nitos Ride Near Santo Domingo Tomaltepec

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This second Sunday in January proved a fine time for the Nitos bike club to resume their Sunday morning rides after taking a break during the Christmas holidays. The destination for the day’s outing was the mountain valley upstream from Santo Domingo Tomaltepec, a small farming village in the Tlacolula valley that is one of the oldest settlements in the region. The dirt road that winds up the valley is picturesque and most famous for the seven creek crossings encountered before the road ends and a footpath (not suitable for biking) continues into the hills.

The thirty participants in today’s ride accumulated 23.6 miles (38 kilometers) riding out and back from the center of Oaxaca city. The terrain was mostly flat, so the group gained just 842 feet (256.6 meters), reaching a high point of 5718 feet (1742.8 meters) before turning back.

El segundo domingo en enero era un día ideal para el Club de Ciclismo a reanudar sus paseos matutinos  de domingo después de un descanso durante los días festivos de fin de año.  El destino era el valle dentro las montañas aguas arriba de Santo Domingo Tomaltepec, que es un pueblo en el Valle de Tlacolula y uno de los asientamientos más antiguos de la región.  El camino de terracería en el valle es pintoresco y afamado por sus siete cruces de arroyos. El fin del camino se desemboca en una senda que conduce dentro de las colinas pero no es adecuado para ciclismo.

Los 30 participantes  viajaban 23.6 millas (38 kilometros) del centro de la ciudad y regreso.  La ruta es casi todo plano asi que el cambio de altura era de 842 pies (256.6 metros) alcanzando una altura de 5718 pies (1742-8 metros) antes de regresar a la cuidad de Oaxaca.

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Foothills, MTBing, Trail Info, Trail Work, Videos

OAXMTB YouTube Channel and First Trail Video

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Two bits of news, campers:

1) Trail work on “Vela” is done and the trail is ride ready.  The upper part is still a bit thick with grass on the tread, but it opens up as you reach the middle and bottom.  Get out an ride it as the more it gets used, the better it will roll.

2) I finally got around to trying out my new GoPro knock-off video camera – an MHD (MonoPrice) Action Cam.  Earlier efforts using the chest harness were a total fail (unless you’d enjoy watching the trail tread go by with my knees wobbling around).  First halfway watchable video that I made is from a run down the freshly cleared “Vela” trail.  The video starts on Trail LLL, runs the bit of Trail PC that is used to get to Vela, and then ends as the 1 5meter walkout at the end of the trail where it pours back onto Trail TTT (aka Pista las carnívoras). The lighting is poor, there is a smudge on the camera lens, and I’m not sure I really like the handlebar mount perspective, but this is an experiment for now….

 


On that note, and with the hope that we will be able to provide a full collection of trail videos eventually, OaxacaMTB.org now has a YouTube channel to share these videos as they are created/provided.  That also means there is now a Google+ page to go along with our previously existing Facebook page.  We hope you’ll add these additional outlets to your social media lists.   Here are the links:

 

OaxacaMTB YouTube.com Channel

OaxacaMTB page on Google+