Guatemalan Highlands Hut to Hut

Over the past year or so we have been working to open a few new routes out in the Western highlands of Guatemala.  This has always been one of our favorite areas to ride as its aboslutely criss-crossed in single track.  One of the challenges of riding up here is that to truly get out there and away from it all it unfortunately means that you will also be away from any sort of lodging.  

We wanted to open a route like those epic rides in Colorado or Europe where cyclists can basically leave the worry behind of camping gear and cooking and focus on what you are there for: the riding!

We came across a couple pretty cool communities on our rides that have started to create some basic lodging options in the way of community hostals or posadas.  Last year we started working to find creative ways to link these hostals together to create a pretty unique adventure mountain biking experience.  

The trails are great, the scenery is even better and there is a cultural freshness to the rides that is second to none, anywhere!  The going is tough in some places, hell, most places but to reach such untouched, unridden areas means that you will have to push you bike at some points.  The beauty is that you can do this and not have to carry mush with you in terms of camping gear.  At the end of each day there is a warm bed, good filling food and in most cases cold beers, and if no beers there’s most likely moonshine.

About the same time that we were thinking to head out to link all the rides together, about 5 or 6 days depending on how you do it, we were contacted by none other than Hans No Way Rey who was coming to Guatemala and wanted to do something unique.  He was en route to hand out about 50 bicycles to school kids in need via his NGO Wheels For Life in the Antigua valley and was looking for something to do afterwards. 

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to head out into the Guatemalan backcountry with a couple seasoned pros.  Over the next 5 days we would push through areas that rarely receive foreign travelers, much less on bikes, and ride a huge swath of Guatemala much of which probably hasn’t ever seen a mountain bike.

This area of Guatemala between Huehuetenango and Quiche doesn't receive that much tourism. Let alone mountain bikers pushing through the backcountry and villages where roads ad power are non-existent.  If you are looking for a unique once in a lifetime sort of ride, our new Highlands Hut to Hut is it. Get in touch with us a Old Town and ask for it. 

See us on the trail!

Biking to the ruins of El Mirador

Just just recently got back from an one of a kind mountain bike trip out to the Northen Jungles of Peten, Guatemala.  Our idea was to be the first to ride the famous Carmelita to El Mirador trail.  This trail has long existed, infact it dates back to the Mayan pre-classic period and follows much of the original Mayan Sakbe or Mayan highway from Carmelita to the ruins themselves.

 In its heyday Mirador was one of the largest Mayan city/states in the area.  It still boasts the largest pyramids built by ancient peoples, ANYWHERE!  In modern times these trails have been used by Chicleros, or the men who walk out into the junlge to harvest Chicle.  This is the stuff that we used to use to make gum.  Today the chicle trade isnt quite what it used to be but the trails still exist.  Most of the traffic on the Sakbe these days are adventurous backpackers and gear laiden mules headed out to the ruins.

 After having hiked this trail years ago I wanted to be the first to take a crew in on bikes.  Having seen the trail, the lack up elevation that I am acustomed to in the Guatemalan highlands,  and mapping the distances it didnt seem like this was going to be too hard.  After all, the trail is only 43 kms. from Carmelita to Mirador.  Most groups walk this in two days overnighting on day one at the ruins of Tintal.  

 We sent an advance team to Carmelita with the gear and food that we would need and loaded the mules.  They set out a day ahead of us so that, assuming all went to plan that they would be arriving in Mirador about the same time as us.  We had caluclated that the mules would take a full 2 days to get there while we on bikes moving much faster (we hoped) would be able to cover the 43 kms. in a hard day.

                                  
We didnt really take into account the heat and humidity into our calculations of effort and time needed to make it to Mirador.  It is totally do-able in a day.  But you need to be prepared to have access to a LOT of water.  Upon planning the trip everyone that we spoke with out in Carmelita tod us that it was going to be hard going and hot but at the very least that it was dry.  What no one told us was that it would be potentially better to go a little later in the season.  They had gotten a  lot of late season rain which with all the mule train traffic had created this lunar hardened mud post hole effect that was like riding through a 43 km. boulder field in 35* heat and 90% humidity.

 We did make it though.  Crossing the many altos and bajos (high and low ground) where the terrain would change from rolling, beautiful singletrack to hardened mud post hole hell out to the ruins.  We slung our hammocks and listened to the sounds of the jungle and mosquitos lull us to sleep.  We decided that we would give this trip another shot the next May a little later in the season when enough mule traffic would work to smooth out the crusted mud formations and thus make it a slightly easier ride.

We spent 3 nights in the woods riding from ruin to ruin far away from anywhere.  It was a pretty amazing experience.  One that although was the hardest 43 km ride ive ever done and looking forward to next years trip.  We are hoping to create a tour to help the locals promote and protect this amazing resource.  Stay tuned to jump on the next ride out.

Beast of the East Rail Trail Fundraiser ride

Its that time of year again...time for one of my favorite mountain bike tours!  Each year we set out with the good lads at the Phoenix Project to help them raise funds to support their educational programs, teacher salaries and schools for the under privileged rural Guatemalan youth.  It really is a quite cool program.  Check 'em out online for more info.
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The ride follows the old United Fruit Company railroad line that connected the Capital with the banana plantations of the East to the Atlantic Coast port.  It is definitely a throw back to a time long past.  We ride through cool old tunnels, across big steel trestles and through dilapidated train stations.  It really is a rolling tour through Guatemala's history.

We ride 5 days from the outskirts of Guatemala City camping each night along the line passing through terrain that doesn't see too much in the way of tourism.  Being a rail trail the ride itself is pretty non technical as there are no huge climbs or descents and the terrain is pretty moderately graded at %5.  Most of the rails and ties have been pulled up long ago leaving behind a beautiful single track that traces the rolling hills and remote river canyon and valleys of the Eastern deserts of Guatemala.  The bird life is pretty stunning and you might even get a glimpse of a rare Gila monster.

Our support van meets us for lunch each afternoon and at the end of the day to haul luggage, hand out cold beers, set up the horseshoe set and cook up tasty food at camp.  The rides are about 50 kms on average but the heat can make them feel longer.  We have found a couple sweet campsites, a couple along rivers and another in a very cool old Farmstead house.  It even has a pool!

If you're looking to do something new, see a unique side to Guatemala and are interested in helping us help the locals, this is your trip!  It combines an amazing mountain bike tour that has cool and quirky cultural and historical components to it with some quality opportunities to get involved and give back with an amazing grass roots NGO program.  It is tourism with a moral compass !

It's probably too late to get involved in this years ride, but you can still DONATE or sign up for next years ride.
Hope to see ya on the trail.
-Matt Hartell

Here's some footage from a recent trip out to some of our favorite riding.  We've spent a lot of time rolling across the altiplano in search of some of Guate's best singletrack.  Here is a short video of some of it.
Enjoy and hope to see you out on the trail.  Get in touch with us at www.adventureguatemala.com or come by the shop in Antigua and we'll get ya out on the trail.

El Zur DH tour **NEW TRIP**

A few years ago some of our friends bought a mega swath of the south slope of Agua Volcano.  Being real estate developers, the idea was to create a mountain community much like the ones that we all covet back home.  These guys had the vision to take an immense piece of a giant volcano and turn it into an outdoor enthusiasts playground.



The vision was robust, the landscape enormous but the possibilities endless.  They got in touch with Old Town as they knew we were the premier mountain bike outfit in Central America to help create the mountain bike park aspect of the project.  Over the course of the next 2 or 3 years we toiled to carve out epic world class single-track bliss from as high up on the mountain as we could get our machines all the way down to the highway.  The trail was thoughtfully planned and cut in following IMBA trail building standard and concepts.

The result, over 25 kilometers of Downhill and Cross-country flow, so fun you might forget your on a bike and mistakenly take your hands off the bars as if you were on a roller coaster as a kid.
Starting this summer El Zur will be opening its doors exclusively to Old Town Outfitters to start running DH and XC tours there.  Our idea to make a day of it so we'll be packing a cooler full of beer and snacks for the end of the ride.

Call or come by the shop, or even email us for more information, tour departures and prices.
This really is a one of a kind place, not just by Guatemalan standards either.  Come with us and check out what 25 KM.s of handmade, purpose built mountain bike trail feels like.

See ya there,