Cycling Nevada de Toluca

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I arrived at a crazy Mexican girls house late in the afternoon. I’d met her just over 24 hours earlier in the town of San Miguel de Allende. I’m basing myself here for the next couple of weeks exploring the nearby areas. ‘Come mountain biking with me and my friends’, she said. So I went mountain biking Nevada de Toluca.

The brother of this girl loaned me his car to transport us 65km to the large Mexican city of Queretero. It was dark when we arrived. This girl I just met took me out on the town with her sister for dinner then back to her sisters place. At 1am we drove to another friends place. It was like the scene of a Tarantino movie.

It’s 2am. I’m standing on a quiet Mexican street. This crazy Mexican girl, Edith, and I are waiting for more cyclists to arrive. We are driving for several hours through the night to start cycling up Nevado de Toluca.

At 2am Miguel, Dr and Rafa arrived. We threw our bikes in the back of the truck and set off for the long night drive to the base of the snow covered 4800m, Nevada de Toluca. This is Mexico and this is how some Mexican mountain bikers spend their weekend.

I slept little in the truck. We started cycling pre dawn. The temperature was -6C. We all struggled our way up the steep hill at high altitude. We were all breathless which is understandable at altitudes above 4000m. The struggle took almost 2 hours, then the trail was less steep, the views more expansive and the sun was out to warm us.

I’m in Mexico, it’s -6C, we are cycling through snow, there are frozen lakes and in the distance Volcan Popocatepetl was erupting. What an amazing place Mexico is. The diversity of the country is beyond belief. Just look through my previous posts and photos. I’m constantly amazed, surprised and impressed by the country and it’s people.

Mid morning, we cycled down to a frozen lake. Boldly I cycled onto the lake. The ice was thick, very thick, I was in no danger of falling through. Rafa, Dr and Edith follow me. The sound of the ice cracking as I walked on it was similar to a high pitched shrill of a bird. I tried my best penguin impersonation, other tried their best ice dancing. It was a fun place.

Late in the morning we cycled at speed downhill to our waiting vehicle. Cycling without the weight of my panniers was great. So light and fast. This bikepacking craze that is sweeping the cycle touring world might just have another convert. Now, how can I lighten the weight of my gear to half what I have now.

A big thank you to my crazy Mexican cycling friends for allowing a traveling gringo to tag along with you. Muchas gracias.

By the way I’ve made some changes to my website design, let me know what you all think.

MTB Nevada de Toluca
Dr, riding up the steep hills before the sun wakes up. -6C
Sunrise Nevada de Toluca
Pre dawn
Nevada de Toluca
Myself, Dr and Edith with Volcan Popocatepetl erupting in the background
Volcan Popocatepetl
Volcan Popocatepetl
MTB Nevada de Toluca
Dr and Rafa mountain biking Nevada de Toluca, heading for the frozen lake
Mountain biking nevada de toluca
Edith riding through the snow at 4200m Mountain Biking Nevada de Toluca
Mountain biking nevada de toluca
Edith mountainbiking at 4200m on Nevada de Toluca
cycling the the frozen lake nevada de toluca
I’m trying to ride on the frozen lake at 4200m. It’s not easy. mountain biking Nevada de Toluca
Nevada de toluca
Dr and Rafa ice dancing
ice nevada de toluca
Penguin imitation

Next : 2 Years of Travel

Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking Pages might like:
Bicycle Touring Gear List
Bicycle Touring Spares and Tool Kit
Cycling from Alaska to Argentina

Where to buy all the best gear for Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking:
REI | Moosejaw |Amazon | Backcountry.com | 
Campsaver | Competitive Cyclist | Patagonia | Snowys.com.au | MEC Canada -Bicycle Touring Gear | Wildfiresports.com.au

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About the Author:
Brad is an Australian who has completed the hiking Triple Crown after he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail. He has hiked on every continent (except Antarctica) and has cycled from Alaska to Ecuador. He is an expert on outdoor gear currently living in Chile.

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21 thoughts on “Cycling Nevada de Toluca”

  1. That sounds a lot more fun than my daily bike commute to work on the city streets of Chicago. I love the new look of the blog!

    Reply
  2. Hey I just read your Robert Campbell highway adventure. Another great adventure bud, too bad we didn’t cross paths up north. I ended up in Nahanni NWT with my mountain bike and helicopter. My wife is a pilot and dropped me off on many extremely remote mountains while she flew out of a hunting camp. I was all alone on those mountains except for the critters I ran into from bears and wolves to sheep and caribou and it was pretty intense. The nearest road,or town for that matter, was hundreds of miles away, truly just me and my bike. I’m just now figuring out this WordPress thing and building a site to document all my adventures. Your site gives me some inspiration, thanks! I do have a Facebook page Yukon Helibiking where I kept track of the fun if you’re interested in checking it out. Good on ya mate enjoy life yeah!

    Reply
    • The Robert Campbell hwy seems so long ago. Intense. Not much traffic. I lost quite a bit of weight during that week. Some amazing places in that part of the world. I thought about the Canol trail but it would have been too expensive and remote for me at the time. Although combining the Canol with a canoe trip on the Mackenzie to Inuvik was appealing. I’ll check out your Facebook.

      Reply
  3. Those are great people and good friends. I was invited to go with them but being from Michigan, I don’t ever want to see snow again. I’ll wait until summer.

    Reply
  4. Wow! Amazing. I had know idea there were frozen lakes in mexico. I would not have believed it until now, from seeing your photos. Thx of sharing.

    Reply
  5. Hey Shepard!

    I’ve been following your adventure since your PCT launch. I’ve probably been thru your PCT post 3 times as I have been planning my PCT jaunt for April 1, 2016, learning much from your posts. Thank you again for your inspiration. You are a great story teller and writer.

    I really like your new WordPress theme.

    Rick
    TheOldGuy

    Reply

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