Well, things sure are heatin’ up here in Oaxaca. I have to say, as much I love living in this Mexican idyll, these dry season months that we’re coming into are the most challenging ones of the year for me – at least as a cyclist and a dog owner. Huesos is panting almost as soon as he steps out of the door. By late morning the valley’s brutally hot, and often it doesn’t cool down until sunset. The dirt roads are toasty, dry and dusty, and the once lush landscape shifts into full ochre mode, honing in on a RAL palette of yellow and browns and not much else. It’s time to reach for that sombrero, that’s for sure.

Vaughn’s heading back to the US and my trip to see Sage for Spring Break is coming up soon, so there was also time for one last overnighter. And where better to ride in as the temperature rises in the valley… than the cool climes of the mountains? (Even if, speaking of brutally hot days, the climb up there was far from cool!)

Our planned route into the Sierra de Juárez was, in theory, a relatively mellow one by Oaxacan standards. We’d cross the Mitla valley in the morning, post Volador coffee. Take a memela break in Teotitlán for lunch. Get stuck into the climb to Benito Juárez, one of the highest villages in this mountain range. Seek permission to camp up at their mirador, and soak up its views across the Valles Centrales. Partake in a sunrise coffee. Then, bounce our way down the burly Mil Rios trail the following day, trailer and bike gear in tow. Finally, we’d dart into town, for Vaughn to bag up his bike for his flight the next day. I say in theory, because whilst it’s actually one of the gentler conduits into the steep folds of the Sierra Norte, that ‘mellow’ premise does revolve around the assumption that it’s either earlier in the year, or an overcast day come March and April.

And overcast, it most definitely was not! Beyond Teotitlán del Valle, the initial 10km of the climb are wholly exposed, and the sun beat down upon us with great zeal, which sent Huesos pin-balling from one scrappy patch of shade to the next, tongue long and dangling. I expect I’m still adjusting to the shift in temperature myself, because I found the sun unusually intense too; my baseball cap was quickly soaked completely through and pools of sweat collected around my belly.

It’s not until you leave shade-less scrub behind and reach the sanctuary of treeline that life feels more manageable again, especially if you’re lucky enough to catch a few tantalising brief gusts of wind to cool your brow. But, just when you’re finding your rhythm and ‘enjoying’ the climb, the dirt road ramps up in grade for the final push to the ridgetop, before cranking up in steepness to reach the village of Benito Juárez itself. I’m not sure if we could have handled the last few kilometres without that bag of mangitos from Miscellanea Wendy!

All this said, we made it up there eventually, by crook or by hook, reaching our camping spot at sunset, with an irrefutable 1600m of climbing clocked on the bike computer for the day. Adam and Laurita were already there, having driven up in the minivan from the city to join us. And, once we’d had a few sips of mezcal (and Hueso and Laurita had growled at each other a bit) evening harmony in both the human and dog worlds was struck. The temperatures even dropped enough for Huesos to don his Mickey Mouse PJs, and Laurita her Minnie Mouse t-shirt, making for two extra cute camp dogs!

As foretold, we walked up to the mirador the following morning and enjoyed a sample of both the coffee Antonio had gifted us – from his wonderful Mama Pacha chocolate shop in town – and Adam’s own special blend too. I’d actually categorise this as a Next Level Coffee Outside, because Adam even brought his roaster with him for the trip, and made us a coffee with the beans he’d sourced himself in Huautla de Jiménez, in the Sierra Mazateca – an area brought to international attention by the shaman María Sabina and her sacred mushroom ceremonies. Not only that, but around these cups of elixir we warmed Cookies and Cream Honey Stingers, carried with Vaughn all the way from the distant land of Colorado!

After a morning pedal to La Nevería, in which Laurita hitched a ride in Adam’s shirt, Vaughn, Huesos and I dropped down Mil Rios, stopping half way down for a soak in the plunge pool, in the company of dragonflies and butterflies. Then, as we hit open valley and the temperature ratcheted up once more, all that lay ahead was a final hot dash back to Oaxaca, tempered with a round of paletas and an ice cream sandwich in Tlalixtac de Cabrera!

With the dry season ramping up, it’s Bimini Time again!

Everyone wants a bit of that shade…

Coffee and Memelas, before we get stuck into a 1600m climb.

Huesos the Shade Finder.

Pretty much the sum total of the pictures I took on our snail-paced, multi-hour ascent to Benito Juárez.

Two cooked beings. One is sweaty. The other panting.

Remind me why I don’t come up in the mountains every weekend? (Oh yeah, it’s because of that climb…)

Laurita the Chihuahua, aged 7, is a new addition to Adam’s life. They’ve both struck gold.

Up at Benito Juárez’ Mirador, 3000m, a world away from the oppressive heat of the valley floor, 1500m below.

This is not a branded Coffee Outside photoshoot!

From here on, where Adam goes, Laurita goes.

The view from the lookout tower. This area, along with the swing bridge, is maintained by the local community, and costs 100 pesos to visit.

Lazy mornings at the mirador are the best… Just ask Huesos and Laurita.

Especially when paired with a Coffee and Honey Stinger breakfast.

That’s the village Benito Juárez down below, and the town of Teotitlán del Valle in the distance, from where our climb begun in earnest.

Adam enters pro coffee making mode with his Huautla blend. Even if he didn’t pick the actual beans, he did wash, hull, sort, and roast them...

Pure bliss on the edge of the world. The Sierra Juárez is home to some of my favourite riding in the state, and this particular zone has a number of centro ecoturísticos, so it’s for bike touring.

Adam and his Norco Sasquatch, and a fine collection of 90s bar ends.

Latzi Belli! Sadly there are no affogatos here…. We’ll need to visit Mama Pacha for that.

Here we are, diving down Mil Rios, which begins as a bromeliad flow trail…

… before becoming all brash, thorny, and brawny.

Talking of brash and brawny, but not thorny, here’s Mr Dice styling it up for the camera.

Bath time with Huesos. His reluctance to get in to his neck is another classic Huesosism.

The brashness continues, before a series of rivers crossings (a thousand?) mark the end of the Mil Rios trail.

One last shaka from Vaughn before his journey home.

Splashes of colour in an all-but-ochre palette.

Two tired creatures, and an ice cream sandwich. Thanks for the photo, Vaughn, it’s been a real pleasure having you as a neighbour these last couple of months!

The Route

This one is largely the same as a previous post from a couple of years ago, Improbable Bikes and The Thousand Rivers Overnighter. But here’s the ride as we did it, just in case anything changed. It includes the climb up to the Mirador car park, which we didn’t make it up to last time – from there, we hiked to the wobbly lookout and the slightly-dubious puente colgante. It’s 100 pesos to camp per person, and a 100 pesos for access to the Mirador. The dogs get to enjoy it all for free though!

Mil Rios is a burly trail by anyone’s standards. Luckily, I was able to offload my panniers into Adam’s minivan, as I’m not sure they’d have fit between some of the gullies that we teeter tottered our way down!

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. Any questions or thoughts… drop me a message below!