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!

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,