Cantankerous Climbs and Dangerous Descents

Tough ride today from Ojos Negros to Ejido Uruapan. After having a fantastic night of sleep in a local motel, I felt ready to go and the ride started great as compact dirt rides made for a fairly easy and enjoyable 20 miles out of the valley and into the mountains. I rode with my friend Andre who is a much better and experienced cyclist than me and also had the advantage of actually having tires big enough to ride somewhat more comfortably.

We entered another mountain range and the climbs became very steep and tedious to navigate. We climbed for about 2.5 miles to an elevation of around 4100 ft. Aside the steep incline, the ground turned to sand and jagged rocks and I fell over a few times trying to make it to the top. Usually, finishing a climb means there is a nice descent to enjoy; while there was a descent it was not nice or relaxing. The trail down the mountain required some serious technical mountain biking skill, which I have none. I spent a lot of time walking the bike down the mountain; otherwise I think I would've put myself in great danger of falling over jagged rocks or off of a teetering cliff.

Andre was well ahead of me at this point and so I did my best to just keep pedaling, traversing more sandy ground and climbing a few more hills. Eventually, I descended to around 800 ft and finally hit some flat ground on a path that led to Uruapan. I was lucky enough to find another hotel to stay at and stay out of the cold for another night.

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