Mountain biking adventure



Cycling is the best way to really explore the countryside. It’s quicker than walking, so you can cover more distance quickly, and you can wind your way in and out of small laneways and backstreets and go off road to explore bushland. Buses, by contrast, ferry you between large towns so you skip everything else in between – villages, farms and forests – unless you take a special day trip there.



Starting off from a village outside Oaxaca City

We took a four-day cycle trip from Oaxaca to the laidback beach town of Puerto Escondido, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. To get there we traversed a mammoth mountain range – the Sierra Madre del Sur, riding through lush farmlands, a semi-arid desert, rugged pine forests, across creeks and through isolated villages. All up we rode 240km in four days on mountain bikes, up and down long steep hills on mainly unsealed roads.

A good thing about this tour was that it finished at our intended destination, saving us a 10-hour windy bus trip to Puerto Escondido. The tour came with the support of a van, which carried tools, spare bicycles, water and all of our stuff.

It was pretty slow going for much of it, as Oaxaca’s back-country roads aren’t exactly well-maintained. It’s a part of the country largely ignored by the government. In fact many of the roads are logging tracks maintained by the villages and don’t appear on any maps.

On the first day we hopped from village to village, riding on a mix of paved and gravel roads that went right past the back of farms and family homes and allowed us to peer into businesses and say hi to people we passed on the street. It also meant we had to dodge stray dogs, donkeys and small children.



The farmland was dry but productive, with rows of corn, lettuces, watercress and root vegetables. The landscape became gradually more arid and within an hour we were passing agave plantations – a blue-green cactus with pointy leaves that is used to make mezcal and tequila.

By now the paved roads had long disappeared and the rocky track was a sherbet-pink colour. It was also about 2pm and really starting to heat up. The track connected with the main road and we pedalled up to a nearby comedor or diner, run by a friend of the tour operator. We guzzled down the sweet rice water (tastes better than it sounds) and inhaled chicken with a peppery red mole sauce and giant plate-sized tortillas.

The first day we rode 60km on gently undulating terrain with only one sandy steep hill in direct sunlight. This was a warm-up for the second day, which was flat for the first k or so and then wound its way up through the mountains. Luckily this section was paved, as it proved to be one long hill. In 15km we had climbed 600m in altitude.



Adam with our guides "los dos Robertos"

The second section was a very satisfying downhill run with super-tight hairpins, before the road turned to gravel, rocks and sand. There were some steep uphills – I hadn’t realised how slow it is to ride uphill on a gravel road – and some terrifying downhills, where the whole bike was shaking and if I braked suddenly my tyres would slide out in a big skid.

We stopped for lunch and a siesta in a small riverside village, and stupidly decided to do the optional extra 15km after we’d had a break for nearly two hours. We thought, how hard can that be, but we didn’t realise it would be 90% uphill, with no shade. It was now 3pm, the temperature had climbed to a punishing 33 degrees.

It was awful. It seemed like on every hill, any possible shade was conspicuously absent, while the downhill runs were all lined with trees. I started to feel faint and dizzy, and decided it wasn’t worth continuing. Absolutely spent, I jumped in the van while Adam and Roberto, our guide, continued. It turned out I had called it quits just 100m before the top of the hill, which was followed by a long shaded downhill run. But the final few kilometres was a steep uphill into a mountainous hamlet where we would spend the night. Adam was completely exhausted after finishing this section!



The sign reads: "family planning - a good option to live better."
In the foreground Adam inspects the quality of the corn yield

We stayed at a family home in the village, and were fed fried cheese with salsa and refried beans for dinner and vegetable soup and charred cactus paddles for breakfast. I was surprised by how basic some of the towns we visited were. All had electricity but basic wooden or adobe housing and no running water, yet somehow people managed to run cafes and restaurants. We had bucket showers – with heated water, which was a nice touch.

The village overlooked a massive mountainous pine forest, whose tall slender trees blanketed the surrounding hillsides. The trees provided welcome shade as we cruised down the mountain, with some sections of the road covered in a red carpet of leaves. We rode the furthest distance on the third day – 75km – but the downhills and shade made it much quicker and more enjoyable than the first two days.

There were some uphill sections but we were able to get up some speed on the downhills, meaning we were able to power up them a bit better. Adam was thrown off his bike when he got a bit too excited on a particularly steep section and hit a big rock after rounding a tight corner. He had big grazes all up and down his left side.

As we began to descend from the mountains, the forest became more tropical and there were a number of coffee plantations. My ears popped as we raced down steep gravelly sections that were linked by tight hairpin bends. When we reached our destination, the riverside village of La Reforma, I felt as if I was encased in a thick, moist blanket of air. At the local comedor, bright red freshwater yabbies were the special of the day and served with avocado plus the ubiquitous rice and beans. They were absolutely delicious and tasted like a cross between crayfish and prawns.

We cooled off at a nearby waterfall, which cascaded down so powerfully that it generated a strong breeze. The water was deliciously crisp, the perfect antidote to the steamy conditions. We spent the night camping at the back of a family’s home overlooking the river. When I switched off the torch in my tent and laid back all I could hear was a deafening chorus of buzzing insects.

The final day of riding was made difficult by the oppressive heat. We got away a bit earlier today, but by 10am we were riding up hilly sections with no shade. When we stopped for a break at midday, and the temperature climbed a whole degree during the  20 minutes that we sat in the shade.

Camping by the river on the final night

The mercury continued to climb, and the next section was completely uphill with no shade. My tyres kept losing traction in the boggy sand and once again I was back on the lowest gear. I again started to feel faint so I got off and walked my bike up a steep section. But this time I was determined not to throw in the towel! I got back on and pedalled for a bit, and shortly after discovered we had reached the top of the hill.

We rounded the corner and were greeted with a breathtaking view of the ocean, and could see Puerto Escondido hugging the coastline just a few kilometres away. A big downhill run and speedy flat section through some villages followed, and before long we found ourselves opposite Zicatela, the town’s famous surf beach.

We made it!