A belated Happy New Year!

In March last year, I rode La Reina – a somewhat notorious, dare I say punishing climb out of San Andrés Huayapam – as part of a three-day loop with friends (aka The Big Push/Triple Mirador). I’ll not mince my words. It’s a real grunt of an ascent into the Sierra Norte, a proper vein popper. Suffice to say I swore never to do it again, at least on a loaded bike. Damn those rose-tinted glasses!

This week, we were fortunate to have a visitor in town – all the way from Bournemouth, England, no less. I’m not sure Ben was expecting quite such a biking boot camp for his week-long visit to Oaxaca, but no matter, we kept him caffeinated and all was well.

On arrival, our first overnighter involved a gentle introduction to Oaxacan bikepacking life, following a mellow, dirt road with eateries a ‘plenty, to a rocky perch above the archaeological site of Yagul. Bookending his trip, outing Numero Dos was a different breed of trip altogether, and involved a taxing, memela-fuelled climb up to the enduro epicentre of Ixtepeji, via the aforementioned La Reina. If truth be told, it’s more of a push than a bike ride – pushpacking, perhaps – gaining over 1700m in elevation over a mere smattering of kilometres. After wilting in the midday Oaxacan sun, I believe we averaged a whole 6km/h that day…

Still, we made it up to the high country by hook or by crook, camping in the forest amongst bromeliads and orchids shortly after darkness fell, only to remerge from our tents in the early hours and push-ride up the final incline to Mirador Pelado Chiquito at over 3200m. There, we enjoyed an Almost Sunrise Coffee (with freshly ground beans, courtesy of Ben’s biceps), along with tack-sharp views across the Sierra de Juárez. Homemade peanut butter in our bellies, we then zipped around the trails a little, before picking our way back down to the valley floor on precariously pine needly singletrack, making it home like tired but happy tostadas. Huesos trotted straight up to his bed and flopped down for the night, which pretty much summed up how we all felt…
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Our route began with a valley ride to Huayapam, where we paused for memelas in the lovely Luz de Luna restaurant.

Then, timing our ascent perfectly for the midday heat, off we rode (or rather, pushed).

Pushpushpush! And repeat.

Leaving the Mitla valley floor behind. In Mexico, you know it’s going to be extra steep when they concrete the road…

Finally, we hit treeline, shade and moments of respite… where we could actually pedal.

I did say moments.

It was dark by the time we made it to camp. We had a spot in mind, so hunkered down until morning.

Huesos always insists on an early morning trot around the perimeter of our campsite, between barking at squirrels.

A final push-hike got us to the Mirador Pelado Chico, where coffee-making accoutrements – including Ben’s hand grinder – were put to good use.

As ever, the views across the Sierra de Juarez were just glorious.

It was then time to eat homemade peanut butter and sourdough bread from town, shed gear from the bikes, and enjoy a couple of quick blasts around the local enduro trails.

Riding Carbonara trail, bag-free!

From there, we made our way back home via La Mesita and San Pablo Etla, following the super fun Huerta trail for much of the way down the 1500m descent, back down to the valley floor.

A shirt-flapping descent.

As a gear aside, Ben borrowed the Jones HD/e Complete, minus the all-important Bafang BBSHD mid-drive engine kit, which we surgically removed the night he arrived in Oaxaca… This is a process that takes about 45 minutes if you’re focused with all the tools to hand, and have had a big mug of coffee….

Although there’s no denying that this heavy-duty bike can be something of a brute on long climbs, it was super fun seeing him tackle the local trails with such relish. Anyone who has ridden with me will know that I love to wax lyrical about the Jones Geometry, and in terms of its numbers, it’s the same as a standard LWB (eg my Spaceframe), albeit with an inch longer chainstays. In my opinion, this translates into a bike that lacks some of the LWB’s agility on challenging trails, but makes up for it with extra stability on rough dirt roads. In fact, all you have to do with this bike is point it… and off it goes. This said, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be returning the HD/e to e-assisted shopping duties once more 😆.

Don’t forget to stop and take in all the area’s remarkable biodiversity… especially when it’s orchid season.

Huesos knows all the short cuts (-;

Precariously pine needle trails, and Emma’s dream SWB rig.

More dusty Jones rigs…

A final round of memelas in Viguera saw us up and over the Libramento… and home again. Phew!

THE ROUTE

Fees: Don’t forget to pay the access fee to ride in this area – as marked on the map – which is typically 50 pesos. We were checked as we went up. And, stop to pay on your way our of La Mesita (40 pesos) too.

Here are some stats, for the stats-minded, according to my Karoo 2, which always comes up a little different than the Wahoo Roam. According to the Karoo 2, max grade was almost 28 per cent, with a descent of -39 per cent?!!

Day 1 and Day 2 stats, left to right. We didn’t crunch big miles, but we did crunch big climbs…

FIELD NOTES

You’ve been warned… this one is long and steep! I’m not sure I wholeheartedly recommend it as an overnighter – I think it’s nicer to spend a couple of nights up in Ixtepeji after all that toil and graft. If it’s the weekend, you could also drop down to the comedor at the Centro Ecoturistico for hot chocolate and a resupply, so you don’t have to haul up quite so much food.

But each to their own! You’ve been warned!

Also, Ben made a reel!

I don’t seem to be able to embed it, so you can see it here. I’d encourage you to do so, as it’s super fun (-:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1xvgFXIA8I/