Lake Atitlan Gold

Here are a few teasers for those of you tied up behind your cubicles. These shots were taken of yours truly with riding with some friends out at Lake Atitlan.



It just doesn't get any better than this! Sunset ride at Lake Atitlan. Here we are working the tight lines above the lake village of Santa Catarina.

The trail starts out about 1000 meters above the lake and works its way down, down, down through, farms, fields and villages to the lake shore.



The drops are steep and technical and the view around every corner is amazing. its just hard to work the trail and take in the views at the same time. This is the last piece of trail before dropping the "staircase" through the village of Santa Cat.
See ya on the trail...Mateo

Monterrico Sea Kayak

Yesterday we loaded up the kayaks on the van and headed down to the Guatemalan Pacific coast for a day of sea kayaking. We Paddled through the mangroves mazes that line the pacific coast andharbor amazing bird biodiversity, and even had the chance to see my favorite bird the Northern Yacana.

After a couple hours of paddling through the lagoons and backwater canals we landed at the sleepy beach town of Monterrico. This small beach community is famous for its sea turtle nestingsite and release project to help boost the number of endangered leatherback sea turtles that make the Guatemalan Pacific coast their home.



After a big sea food lunch we jumped back in the kayaks to explore more of the Hawaii-Monterrico reserve. From la Laguna de los volcanoes you can look back into the highlands and be staring no less than 4 monster volcanoes from sea level to 13,000 ft.!

The return trip took us through beautiful mangrove forests that seemed to be floating in the canals and lagoons. We managed to find time for a nice long float in the shade and listen to the sound of the birds overhead. If you think about it; a day spent sea kayaking on the Pacific coast, sponsoring a sea turtle for release, body surfing monster waves and an ice cold Gallo over some sea food with friends is a pretty good way to kill a Wednesday. You should try it sometime....give me a call I'll show ya the way.
Cheers,
Mateo

Old Town Outfitters on the Podium

This past Sunday was race day in the Antigua valley and the new Old Town Outfitters mountain bike race team showed up in force. The "punto a punto" or point to point is a race that has become hugely popular around here. This is one of Guatemala's most brutal courses that traverses some 60 kms. across the Guatemalan highlands.

Nearly 1700 mts. of vertical ascent across the course did not hold back Francisco "Pancho" Gaitan our hotshot young gunner who not only won his division, but nearly took 1st place overall. This determined 17 year old cruised around the 60 kms. course in only 2:47 minutes. To put this in perspective the Elite US pro rider who won overall finished in 2:42 minutes. Pancho will for sure be a face to watch in the future. Keep an eye on the Old Town Outfitters team to see him crush the competition.
Watch out boys, when you see Luisa "Wicha" Zea screaming up behind ya on a downhill, you'd better get out of her way. Don't feel bad though as she drops you on the climbs...your not the only guy shes cruised by. She stepped it up on Sunday to show the field what she's got under the hood. Wicha not only crushed the womens open field to come in 3rd, but brought most of the men on the course to their knees as well. Wicha will be the workhorse of the Old Town team and a true national contender. Racing with her prior Pro Road teammate Gaby Molina and good friend and Mirador Basin Saviour Josie Thompson, these 3 gals swept up 1st, 3rd and 6th place are a force to be taken seriously in whatever category they race in.

The "punto a punto" was our first race together as a shop team, but certainly not the last. To see so many Old Town Outfitters jerseys on the podium definitely turned more than a few heads amongst the big teams. We're taking applications for more riders if you think you got what it takes to stare down either Wicha or Pancho on the course....I say bring it on!

Western Highlands Mayan Trail

The rains stopped and the sun finally came back out, which opened the perfect window for us to get a few folks out on our 3 day trek retracing the ancient Mayan trade routes connecting the Maya of the Lake Atitlan basin to those of the Quetzaltenango Valley. This walk crosses mountains and ridges used by the Highland Maya for centuries.


Leaving the Atitlan basin behind we pushed high up into the altiplano to an area locally known as Alaska. This cold, windswept, high mesa is named after its northern neighbor because of its climate. Much of this walk traverses the ridges at more than 10,000ft that seperate the lake from the rest of the western highlands.

"Las Siete Cruces" or the ridge of the 7 crosses is the backbone of this ridge system and offers up enormous views off each side. Legend has it that these crosses honor fallen Guerrilleros from Guatemala's long infamous civil war. The ridge passes through rare intact stands of virgin Pinabete forests which is a type of Pine endemic to Guatemala and in danger of extinction.


The views from the Las Siete Cruces campsite to the West has you staring down the dormant sentinel giant of Santa Maria volcano with its active neighbor which can often be seen letting out a puff of smoke after and eruption.

To the East the views from our campsite is of the Lake Atitlan Basin and the Volcanoes all the way back to Antigua. On a clear night with a little luch you can see fuego volcano giving off one of its signature lava shows.

On the third day of the trek we dropped down off the ridge skirting Zunil Volcano on our way to Fuentes Georginas Hotsprings. The trail down is pretty tough as it drops quite steeply from nearly 11,000ft., through lush bamboo forest down to the pools. The sounds of the fiesta coming from the hotsprings and knowing a long hot soak was going to heal sore muscles kept us going.
A cold beer and soak was the perfect way to end this trip.

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.

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!

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