Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Old Town Blog

This is a big "What Up!" to all the friends of Old Town out there. Hope everyone is finding their own adventures out there. We try to get some in here in Guatemala too.

No matter what your relationship with the Old Town Outfitters Crew we're hoping to share our adventures with you, and hoping you will enjoy the trail tidbits. As outdoor specialists we pride ourselves on the time we spend exploring the hills and honing our skills. This relatively new blog is a small way we can share that enthusiasm with our extended family.

I think we've already got a fair sampling of our favorite activities. Kayaking, hiking, climbing, biking are all included in existing blog posts. Follow the link and check out our photos and video too! Don't be afraid to jump to some older posts too. There are some good bike videos from a couple months back.

Thanks all for keeping up with us and we'll see you, hopefully on the trail, again.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Slow time for Who?

With the Big Kahuna out west as it were we've been holdin' down the fort during this slow month. That's right May is slow but the trails are just starting to get good. Despite working hard to remodel our shop, we've still been getting some people out on the trail. Not to mention taking some time to enjoy the trail on our own.

Matt left the Helmet Cam in my hands so I rallied the boys the last couple weeks and managed to get some trail footage. David, star of the "Punto a Punto" video, and his wife, had a beautiful baby boy, Roderigo! Congratulations David, for making it out on one last ride before the baby arrived that is. Oh yeah, and congratulations on the birth too. We're thrilled and can't wait for Welber's new one to pop out either. That's right we're going baby crazy here too.

Anyway, this trail is a nice single-track extension of the Punto-a-Punto or Point to Point trail that we use when we ride from the Shop in Antigua to Parramos and the Las Tierras Altas route. In this ride we skip the farmlands and head straight into the motorcycle rutted trails off a high-point nearby. This is one fun ride that is probably already turning to a river with the onset of the rainy season.

Punto A Punto



On another happy occassion recently I managed to drag our mechanic Erick away from the bike stand and his studies to get in a spin. I'd never ridden with Erick and had a feeling he was a pretty solid rider. He smoked me on the climb that day and only had to help me out of one giant hole from a washout. I dove right in. I cut that part from the video though. Maybe in a later bloopers vid.

This particular ride is one of the lower variations available in what we refer to as the Cielo Grande area. There's a ton of trail up there and it is all stellar. Check it out!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Goin' Out West......




That's right, we packed up the ole truck and headed north for some riding fun of our own. After a busy season in Guatemala we decided we needed a little time out for ourselves. First stop on the tour was Charlotte, NC. home to say hey to the parental units and to load up the 25 some odd boxes of gear and bikes that littered my folks livingroom. While there we greased the local single track of the national whitewater center just outside of town. and then in a mad dash we pushed west from NC and re-grouped in the West Texas hotspot of Austin.

After a few rounds of disc golf in Austin to stretch teh legs we pushed off to test the northern Texas hidden trails of the "Capstone Canyon National park."







The remote Capstone Canyon is historically famous for saving the Southern Plains Buffalo from near extinction and is now becoming famous for its great trails and mountain biking.








After exploring the canyons of Texas we headed up and through the badlands of New Mexico to ride the mountains around Taos. Big climbs took us through Aspen forest to the top of the ridges. The climbs were tough but the downhill off the other side was well worth the trip.





We once again loaded up the ole Subbie and continued north to Durango, Co. to ride the Colorado trail. We pushed up the C.T. through the Pines to the Aspens and up to the snow line and that was the end of the line. But from 10,000 ft. it was ear to ear grin stuff, all the way back down to the parking lot.

Seeing as how the West's Mtn. Bike mecca was only 3 hours away, we once again packed up and headed further the line. We landed in Moab just in time for last callat the brew pub and to make camp at the trailhead. After a glorious night camping under a full moon we hit the slickrock trail for some classic moab fun.






If you havent ever ridden Slickrock, you definiteily need to get out there and give it a go.
25 hours straight through and we're all of a sudden back in Austin, Tx. getting ready for the trip back to guate.

Hope you have a road trip soon,
Mateo