MAZATLAN MTB

So Dot and I show up at Kelly's bike shop as "arranged" through an online tour company. We had "paid" for an "8 hour" ride. We got there and the owner/operator looked at us kind of funny. He had never had anyone sign up for that ride and hadn't been told we had signed up for that. Nevertheless he got us bikes, closed up shop and we headed out. Below is the bike I was fitted with. It did the trick. The pick as at the top of the 2000 world cup course.

Fernando Kelly was our guide. He first took us to "his course" where we came to find out he had run the first local race of the season the day before! How cool would it have been to come to town and do a local race! It was an intermediate level 7 km course that included short climbs, with mostly packed sand, and washes intermixed with some scrub forested sections. A good warm up for the day. (Below are Dot and Fernando heading out from the shop)

Next we headed over a few barbed wire fences to his second course (where next months race will be). This was a fast non-technical packed red dirt course through thicker forested trails. It seems Fernando and a few local grass-roots riders work pretty hard on opening new trails, keeping the courses clean and setting up the races. (Below, Dot and I headed to race course #2)

So at this point we were about 2 hours into the ride and having a blast having experienced a lot more single track than we expected. We then headed to the 2000 World cup course on the south side of town. (Below; Dot cruising the 2000 World cup course)

It was pretty cool when I realized it was right off the road about 1/2 mile from the resort we were staying at. We jumped another fence- we were told it was OK since it was on the land of a relative of Fernando's- as were the other courses. Anyway, This course had the most climbing and started up right away. It again was a nice trail with some rollers and moderate switch backs up to the top of the "mountain". This was perhaps a couple hundred feet high. (Below is the view from the top looking at our resort)

Off the top was the drop called Tequila Shot which was the most technical section where apparently there was just a mass of cheering onlookers during the 2000 World cup race. This was the only section we walked. (Below; Dot on the trail just after the Tequila Shot)

We were exhilirated at what we had ridden so far! It was afternoon and getting hot so we headed back along some back dirt roads to the Kelly's Bike shop. We were out for about 4.5 hrs and had done what Fernando estimated to be about 45 km. He is planning on tying together these courses into an epic race later this year and promised to keep us posted when it was going to be.

We ended up renting the bikes for the next 3 days. I got to ride the next 3 mornings and Dot joined me for the 4th day for another long ride. All that riding made the trip for us!

We want to thank Fernando Kelly for the tour, the great rentals and all the work he has put into the local trails! We recommend this trip to anyone interested in a MTB vacation in Mexico. Hook up with him and he'll treat you right.