Some dirt road mountain biking I found above Pochutla and Tonameca just north of Mazunte on the Oaxacan Coast.
www.tourintune.com/mountain-
Mountain Biking Near Mazunte, Oaxaca
Whilst staying in Mazunte, I started getting cravings for some off-road exploring. Jenny’s Spanish maestro and local rafting guide, Daniel, kindly gave me some tips for some dirt road networks near Pochutla and Tonameca. I mapped out a few tracks for the Garmin and set off to explore!
This shows the routes that I actually rode as marked on Strava and overlayed together.
I created the map above to load some tracks onto my Garmin GPS. You can download the KML file and then convert it to GPX using GPSVisualizer.com.
I was lucky to have stumbled on some fantastic riding on the quiet dirt roads. There is plenty of climbing with some great descents. You can cycle on the paved roads to reach Tonameca where it then turns to dirt for miles and miles. If you want to skip the paved roads, you can throw your bike in the back of a ‘collectivo’ truck for about $10-20 pesos (£0.55-£1.10).
You can ride on the road from Mazunte or take a collectivo truck to get a headstart up the dirt roads above Tonameca.
The collectivo trucks were still crossing this river when I took this photo. The water level has since risen a few feet after massive downpours. Now the collectivos stop at either end of the river banks. Who knows when they will finish the bridge!
The river crossing for the collectivo trucks near San Francisco.
It’s also pretty refreshing in the midday sun!
Only the most clever of goats shall pass!
Long, windy dirt roads with almost no cars; Just the way I like it!
The flooding after the big rain takes its toll. Many of the roads become washed out and impassable for cars, whilst making for more technical mountain biking!
I encountered far more animals than people and trucks. Aside from the goats, you might also be able to see the massive 3 metre snack in the bottom right corner. It was weaving up the side of the road with some sort of rodent in its mouth.
I love water crossings and the rustic climbs on the other side!
More dirt roads with no people, climbing up, over and back down to Mazunte.
Happy to be riding on dirt without all the touring weight for a change!
Another water crossing, before another big climb.
A cloudy, smokey sunset looking SW about 15km northwest of Mazunte.
The same clouds a few hills later.
