Mountain Biking in Mexico

Epic, Disneyland for mountain bikers! Fear, anxiety, diverse, extreme, fast, howling, narrow, boulders, switchbacks, fast. Grinning, magical, awe, wicked downhill, grunt, bloodied, challenging, sweet abuse, nice diversion, rocky, steep, layered in lush vegetation. Take these words and you have the highlights of some of the best mountain biking found in northern Mexico. Come experience this, possibly once in a lifetime chance to ride to your hearts content or at least to your hearts ability. In four days, visit four magical cities in Sonora, Mexico, riding fat tire as dreams come true.

Below you will find two stories that were written by past participants of our journey into Mexico.

By Cindy, of Boulder, ColoradoI would call myself an advanced beginner. At least that is what we all decided I was. I had a nice ride my husband built for me, 13 ½” Trek 8900 ST front suspension, just right for my petite 5’0 frame. I felt like a kid though, next to my all male travel mates and Mexican guides.

had done okay through the early days in the trip. Alright, I had crashed a few times. Okay — more like fell over on an uphill switchback and created a lovely black and purple tattoo on my hip of what looked like central Mexico.

I was on an epic trip (for me anyways). Three days and four rides in Mexico. I hadn’t done four rides in three years! What was I thinking?! I have pedal clipping issues and basically no experience going down hill fast over rocks. But that all soon changed.

This really was one of the best experiences of my life. We trekked down from Tucson to Hermosillo, departing at 2 a.m. I felt like I was on a National Geographic expedition! By 10 a.m. we were launching into our first ride. Not just any ride, mind you. This was a professional mountain bike course.

“It’s like Disneyland for mountain bikers,” our Mexican guide Rafael told us with a smile. La Jolla was first class all the way. The track was winding and narrow like a serpent.

I was out of my league, but hey ‘I’m going to learn from this if it kills me,’ I told myself. My supportive guide Johnnie and the owner of Southwest Trekking who organized my trip, helped guide me through the rough spots.

We didn’t even change our shorts before we were in the van traveling south two hours to our next ride in Buenos Aires, Guaymas. The trail was right on the Sea of Cortez, just breathtaking. This was my kind of trail. No serious ledges to fall off of, downhills, short steep uphills, and fast and winding track on the bottom.

We finished and watched the sunset before heading to our hotel. I felt like I had been traveling for a few days, yet this was the first night in Mexico. Already, I felt like a better biker.

We stayed at a fabulous hotel right on the ocean, with beautiful fragrant flowers everywhere. This really made me forget that I was on a mountain bike trip!

We’re off again in the morning for a hike to an oasis hiding in the canyon. I was happy not to be pounding the pedals just yet. I’m a hiker and this was like exploring Gilligan’s Island. Quite an unexpected treat.

Ahead was one of my best skilled rides yet, El Dique, just outside of Ciudad, Obregon. This ride was like a bigger version of the track in Guaymas, only higher, longer and faster.

I enjoyed this ride and successfully made it up some tough rocky climbs, thanks to Rafael. He became my personal trainer, coaching me through each turn and yelling out “shift up, up” and “get ready to pedal hard, hard, hard!” This personal attention really made the difference for me on this ride.

The boys suited up for a night ride. I was fatigued and decided to watch the millions of stars in the sky. I have never seen so many. It was like someone had spilled sugar across the sky.

The next day was a “heaaavy” track, as our guide Rafael told us. It was in the mountains outside of Alamos.

Now I know what it’s like to survive an airplane crash. Well, sort of. It was the last day of a 3 day Mexico mountain biking adventure and it was the hardest longest downhill ever. I was terrified.

First of all, we had to hike our bikes for over an hour up what looked like a creek bed filled with boulders. I never saw any dirt, just rocks. Beautiful turquoise, rose quartz, all just laying there on the ground.

When we were just about to the top of the mountain, we went through the ruins of an old mansion that once housed wealthy mining families and their workers. We had to stay clear of the oxen herd grazing in this eerie ghost town.

What goes up must come down. It was time to descend. This time I really did fall 10 times. Tears came streaming down my face in frustration and terror throughout most of the trail. I was on a ride and I wanted off or at least to feel in control. The downhill was two side by side single tracks and that went into a wide track half way down the mountain. Ninety percent of the downhill was filled with rocks, small boulders and shelves of stone.

With the patient coaching of my tour guide Johnnie, and numerous failures on my own, I took his advice. “Pedal through it, don’t slow down and you won’t fall over,” he said. This is true. Now I know. And you know it actually made it more fun! Grant it, I couldn’t hold a coke in my hand for two days because I white knuckled my handle bars for 40 minutes, but I did it! I did it! I survived.

Once I got to the bottom I was crying, but this time it was from excitement and relief. Rafael and my other guides and even my husband were apologizing to me for the difficult ride. They didn’t realize it would be so hard and said they would have never taken anyone with my skill level on it. I should say so!

Rafael even told me I was the first woman to ride it! Okay, that made me feel lots better. I did feel like a pioneer. I was pioneering my way through my own physical and mental fears. I was a survivor and I felt like I had won a million dollars.

Throwing yourself into a sport for three intense days is exhausting but rewarding. You can’t practice rocky descents unless you do them. It’s a hard way to learn, but when you just want off the mountain you’ll try anything.

Southwest Trekking’s motto is ‘Arduous journeys for those who indulge in extremes.’ He ain’t kidding! Find out more about their exciting adventure packages from trial running to eco-tourism on their web site www.swtrekking.com.

Hit the Trail!

Mountain Biking Sonoran Style

by Matthew J. Nelson

"This track is heaaavy,” warned Rafael Osuna, our friend and expert mountain bike guide, as we sat around the breakfast table discussing our long-anticipated off-road adventure. “It’s heaaavy, but you will love it,” he said with a thick Sonoran accent.

After filling ourselves with huevos rancheros, coffee and fresh fruit we began the first of many rides in Sonora, Mexico’s northernmost state, as part of a whirlwind mountain bike trip that involved five epic rides, one hike and one night ride in four short days.

La Jolla

Our first stop was in Hermosillo, Tucson’s sister city just five hours south of the border. As we drove toward the “foothills” side of town and up a steep paved road lined with palm trees and condos, I began to wonder if Rafael was taking us golfing instead. The beautiful La Jolla resort sparkled with all the allure of a luxury resort, but instead of building a golf course—and wasting millions of gallons of water—they had the vision of building a five-star mountain biking track. “It’s like Disneyland for mountain bikers,” Rafael told us with a smile.

La Jolla is set up similar to a ski run. No, you don’t get a free ride to the top, but there are a variety of courses made specifically for beginners, intermediates, experts and “extremas.” Not wasting any time, we hopped on the extreme course and started pedaling uphill.

The firm dirt track wound up switchbacks—challenging, but not gut-wrenching—toward the top of the largest hill. The climb was interspersed with plenty of downhill bursts to keep you smiling, and the track was so solid that loose rock and sand were never a concern. As we neared the top of the hill I felt a familiar feeling in my stomach. Fear? Anxiety? No, it was more like the giddy feeling of anticipation when the roller coaster is nearing its peak, just before dropping you into blissful weightlessness. Now the ride was really about to begin.

We bombed down the narrow singletrack howling like little kids on Space Mountain. Downhill, uphill, over jumps and wooden bridges, through perfectly burmed corners that begged to be ridden at all-out speeds. The track was a masterful creation meant for fat-tire enthusiasts just like us. La Jolla presented plenty of challenges, including a stair-step style climb through some narrow boulders that—we learned through trial and error—is best accomplished by using your hands to pull on the rocks while your legs do the pumping.

After riding a few loops my muscles began to fatigue – not my legs or my back, but my cheeks. Grinning excessively is par for the course at La Jolla.

Buenos Aires

Outside of Guaymas sits a pleasant ejido known as Buenos Aires. The landscape is textbook Sonoran – pitaya and organ pipe cactus rise up from the red earth among countless small peaks. The local riders found this magical spot and established some seriously fun trails through the countryside.

It didn’t take long to discover why this is one of the favored tracks in all of Sonora. The rich salt air blows in from the Sea of Cortez as seashells crumble underneath your tires. The track is only about five miles long, but it’s one of those rides that transcends time and distance. Bomber downhills were a major highlight of this ride, as well as fast, sandy turns that bloodied a few of us before the day’s end. Small signs marked the course to keep you rolling in the right direction, and specific names were given to favorite sections. As we rolled around a corner and saw a small sign for Loma Cardiaca (Cardiac Hill) I shifted into my little ring. The climb was a short grunt, but on the other side was a long, sweeping downhill decorated with blooming desert flora.

We rode the track at Buenos Aires a few times, then regrouped to enjoy an ice cold Tecate underneath the setting sun.

El Dique

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, Rafael told us about El Dique, the name for another incredible track outside of his home in Ciudad Obregon. El Dique is the training ground for a lot of Obregon’s riders – some of which are the best in the country. Like the ride at Buenos Aires, El Dique sits next to an enormous body of water, which provides constant mental refreshment while you’re pedaling through the dust.

We hit the trail late in the day after feasting on fresh bass and shrimp at a nearby restaurant. I’d heard about the main loop at El Dique from friends who’d ridden down there before, but Rafael assured me there was a new section that I would love. He hadn’t let me down yet, so I followed eagerly.

We climbed up switchbacks through a cactus forest that made me glad I had narrow handlebars. The track was so fresh that a lot of the trees were still oozing from being hacked. At the top of the hill were a few folks from our group who stood looking in awe down a wicked downhill. “This track is only three weeks old and already there are two broken bones on it,” Rafael cautioned. “It’s heaaavy.”

Not all of us made it down without incident. It was the kind of hill where you put your seat on your stomach with your posterior hanging over your rear wheel, lock your rear brake, and begin a controlled skid that lasts until you spill out at the bottom...or sooner. It was a good way to boost our heart rates for the main ride ahead.

We learned quickly why everyone loves El Dique. A short uphill ride on a dirt road is followed by a challenging, rocky downhill that turns into a sugar-sweet singletrack. The dirt is thick and soft, the turns are fast, and the variety of up and down is just what’s needed for the adventurous mountain biker. There were probably 20 riders at El Dique when we were there. Every single one of them emerged from the track smiling.

After some liquid refreshment we mounted lights on our handlebars and waited for nightfall. As soon as the sky was black and a tiny crescent moon appeared we set out for another loop. Riding El Dique at night was something I will relive in my dreams for many years to come.

Sierra Alamos

When Rafael spoke of the “heaaavy” track he was talking about our ride through the mountains outside of Alamos, the storybook Mexican town about an hour east of Obregon. The desert mountains are rocky, steep, and layered in lush vegetation that changes from cactus to strangler fig and flowering amapa prieta trees. The scenery is gorgeous, and is a nice diversion from the hike-a-bike required to get up the first part of the ride. After an hour of intermittent hiking, riding, and pushing your bike up some seriously technical track, the route crests a hill and begins an incredible downhill. In a word, it’s heaaavy.

The overgrown vegetation—mostly thorn bushes—lined the tight singletrack like a gauntlet. Rocketing down the hill was really the only option, because going slowly would only result in getting bounced around uncontrollably. Even with a full-suspension rig I was getting abused. But what sweet abuse it was.

Our route passed through the ruins of an old mansion that once housed wealthy mining families and their workers. The brick smoke stacks still remain, but all that’s left of the other structures is crumbling adobe. At one time this was the wealthiest area of Northern Mexico, fueled by silver, copper and gold mining.

We continued along old trails that wind precariously through the mountains. I got the feeling like very few tires had every touched this part of Sonora, as horse hooves and boot prints were the only markings in the dirt. We encountered an old rancher along the way, his eyes wide with amazement that people were actually riding bicycles through the Sierra.

The ride ended at a hacienda where a few families were tending goats, riding horses and gardening in fertile fields. Rafael’s friends had prepared a Mexican bar-b-que for us and the Tecate was on ice. We enjoyed savory tacos, sipped cerveza and laughed about our incredible adventure.

Our last day was spent exploring the town of Alamos by bike. Cobblestone streets, whitewashed walls and the slow-paced life of this colonial town make it a premier destination for adventure travelers looking for the old-world charm of Mexico. It’s definitely a place I could have spent an extra day, or week, or longer.

Vaminos!

Our Sonoran mountain biking experience was nothing short of an adventure – physically, culturally and spiritually. The challenging tracks, the wonderful people and the mellow pace of life made this trip one of the most enjoyable four days I’ve ever spent on a bicycle.

Finding all of these places on your own would be nearly impossible, but don’t think that you can’t make your Mexico Mountain biking dreams become reality. Southwest Trekking, a guide company based in Tucson, works with Rafael Osuna and other Sonoran locals to take gringos for the ride of their lives. Four, five and six-day, all inclusive trips are available in the spring, fall and winter. For more information, contact Southwest Trekking at (520) 296-9661/www.swtrekking.com. Y que les vayan muy bien!

Mexico Itinerary

(Six Day, Sample)

Day One

2:00PM Leave for Nogales

3:00PM Arrive Nogales, Clients apply for visas

4:00PM Leave Nogales

8:00PM Arrive Hermosillo, Check into hotel

9:00PM Dinner, Ride to café

10:00Pm Back to Hotel for sleep

Day Two

7:00AM Breakfast

8:00AM Depart for Hermosillo track

Noon Lunch at track, Prepared by people at ranch

1:00PM Leave for San Carlos

3:00PM Arrive at San Carlos

3:00-6:00PM Ride track outside of San Carlos

6:00-8:00PM Dinner

8:00-???? Explore San Carlos

Day Three

10:00AM Late Breakfast, at hotel

11:00AM Leave for Obregon

1:00PM Arrive Obregon, Check into Hotel.

2:00PM Go to Dique Lake to ride

3:00-6:00PM Ride at Dique

6:00PM Dinner at Café at Dique with bikes

7:00PM Leave Dique for Obregon

8:00PM Clean up at hotel

9:00PM Check out town

Day Four

8:00AM Breakfast

9:00AM Leave for Alomos

11:00AM Arrive Alomos, check into hotel

Noon Lunch on plaza

1:00-7:00PM Ride and explore town on bikes

7:00PM Dinner in Plaza

8:00PM Arrive at hotel

Day five

8:00AM Breakfast

10:00AM Leave for Obregon

NOON Arrive Obregon, check into hotel

1:00PM Lunch

2:00PM Go to Ranch outside of Obregon

2:00-6:00PM Ride at ranch

6:00PM Dinner at Ranch

7:00-9:00PM Night ride at ranch

9:00PM Leave for Obregon

10:00PM Arrive at Obregon

Day Six

7:00AM Breakfast

8:00AM Leave for trip back to Tucson

2:00PM Arrive Tucson

Custon Guides available for this event. Six days recommended. It cab be done in four, but you better be ready for four VERY full days of fun and lots of riding.

Cost : $200.00 per person per day. Price includes: Transportation, guides, two American and two local Mexican Nationals. Food and lodging. Alcohol, not included. Call for more details. Minimum of six participants.