Tlalancaleca (Puebla), 05.02.06
GPS Track Video
Photoset Map
Photoset Show
GPS Track: GPX (MapSource, et al.) or KMZ (Google Earth)
GPS Cycling Data:
Distance: 133.1 Km, Ascent: 1860 m, Time: 6:43 hr, Avg Speed: 20 Km/hr, Max Speed: 60 Km/hr
Travel Report:
This ride belong to a set of cycling rides that were performed with the declared intention of training and adapting to the conditions of harsh and long summit ascents. That is why I decided to ride towards Texmelucan (elev: 2250 m) in the eastern state of Puebla, from Mexico City (elev: 2250 m), return in bike included, having to cross twice the Llano Grande summit (elev: 3220 m). That was before I discovered my today beloved climbing route: Mexico CIty - Cuernavaca Center (Morelos) - Mexico City, with 2400 m of total ascent in a 150 Km route, but this is another story :-)
In that beginnings cycling rides series I was determined to be able to make the ride: Mexico City - Texmelucan - Mexico City, departing and arriving at the eastern sub-urban train terminus of La Paz, without problems. In order to adapt to this climbing rides I started making that trip with intermediate points as destinations, leaving for the next week ride the cycling towards towns more and more distant from Mexico City.
I remember I started making that round cycling ride week-wise to Llano Grande, Río Frío, Sta Rita Tlahuapan, Sn Matías Tlalancaleca, and finally Texmelucan, in that chronological order.
This report focuses on one of the last round trips, this one being made to the town of Sn Matías Tlalancaleca, distant 70 Km from the terminus La Paz. The ride started at 10:30, taking the usual route: the paid highway to Puebla. You can have a look at the photos of the climbing towards the Llano Grande summit (elev: 3220 m) at the photoset. Once I had reached that summit, I descended all the way towards Tlalancaleca, but with the big problem that the town is not located along the paid highway, both along free highway to Puebla instead !
I had to stop over the highway and cross it by foot :-( Being this highway a six-lane highway, this manoeuvre was a little bit dangerous ! Once on the other side of the highway, I crossed some fields, arriving at the town of Tlalancaleca.
This highly dangerous highway foot-crossing could have been avoided if I had rode over the free highway to Puebla, but as I was a beginner in the arts of road cycling, I used to avoid the free highways, mainly by the fear I felt of driving in the same lane as cars did. Nowadays, this fear has disappeared and I try to ride only in free highways (where available), since the side lane of the paid highways is always slower than the asphalt of the free highways ... and because usually, I find more towns and shops (to buy water and food) along the free highways than on the paid ones :-)
Once in Tlalancaleca, I headed towards in main Plaza, where I could appreciate its beautiful church, main square and municipal palace. In its main plaza I could eat some quesadillas. You can have a glimpse of the main Plaza and its beautiful buildings at the following photoset.
After finishing my photo session at that site, I leaved Tlalancaleca, heading then towards the paid highway, now in western direction, to Mexico City. I started this return ride at 17:30 at Km 80. As you can see, really late indeed ! I reached again the Llano Grande summit at 19:45, when the night was already onset. I was faced with the problematic situation of having to ride down that enormous descent of 1000 m to Mexico City under the absolute cover of the dark, or ... face the defeat (before me) of not being able to complete the whole ride in bicycle, once I was already in the summit, resting only that enormous descent of 1,000 m !
Was tun ? At 19:57 I decided to test my luck and started to ride downwards ... The freezing cold (it was still February, at 3200 m of elevation and at night) was overwhelming, I barely felt my hands. I guided myself only with the lights of the passing cars. I almost felt the abism that was at my right ... and I was still there, riding down at over 60 km/hr, under the darkness of the night, and with a freezing cold that had already rendered my hands sense-less ... Man, I sweared never attempting that nocturnal ride again !
Somehow I managed to reach the end of that 1000 m, 25 km long infernal nocturnal descent of Llano Grande to Mexico City, arriving at the toll collect station of Huixtoco at 20:57, above all: in one piece :-) I was so freezed that I had to stop there to warm me up a little so I could be able to feel my hands again ! The photos of those memorable moments are viewable at the photoset.
I had still to cycle another 15 Km under the cover of the dark, but the terrain was already plain, and more or less inside the city. I arrived at the La Paz sub-urban train terminal at 20:30, ending with this one of my most dangerous cycling rides that I have memory of.
Thank you for reading. Till the the next travel.
Distance: 133.1 Km, Ascent: 1860 m, Time: 6:43 hr, Avg Speed: 20 Km/hr, Max Speed: 60 Km/hr
Travel Report:
This ride belong to a set of cycling rides that were performed with the declared intention of training and adapting to the conditions of harsh and long summit ascents. That is why I decided to ride towards Texmelucan (elev: 2250 m) in the eastern state of Puebla, from Mexico City (elev: 2250 m), return in bike included, having to cross twice the Llano Grande summit (elev: 3220 m). That was before I discovered my today beloved climbing route: Mexico CIty - Cuernavaca Center (Morelos) - Mexico City, with 2400 m of total ascent in a 150 Km route, but this is another story :-)
In that beginnings cycling rides series I was determined to be able to make the ride: Mexico City - Texmelucan - Mexico City, departing and arriving at the eastern sub-urban train terminus of La Paz, without problems. In order to adapt to this climbing rides I started making that trip with intermediate points as destinations, leaving for the next week ride the cycling towards towns more and more distant from Mexico City.
I remember I started making that round cycling ride week-wise to Llano Grande, Río Frío, Sta Rita Tlahuapan, Sn Matías Tlalancaleca, and finally Texmelucan, in that chronological order.
This report focuses on one of the last round trips, this one being made to the town of Sn Matías Tlalancaleca, distant 70 Km from the terminus La Paz. The ride started at 10:30, taking the usual route: the paid highway to Puebla. You can have a look at the photos of the climbing towards the Llano Grande summit (elev: 3220 m) at the photoset. Once I had reached that summit, I descended all the way towards Tlalancaleca, but with the big problem that the town is not located along the paid highway, both along free highway to Puebla instead !
I had to stop over the highway and cross it by foot :-( Being this highway a six-lane highway, this manoeuvre was a little bit dangerous ! Once on the other side of the highway, I crossed some fields, arriving at the town of Tlalancaleca.
This highly dangerous highway foot-crossing could have been avoided if I had rode over the free highway to Puebla, but as I was a beginner in the arts of road cycling, I used to avoid the free highways, mainly by the fear I felt of driving in the same lane as cars did. Nowadays, this fear has disappeared and I try to ride only in free highways (where available), since the side lane of the paid highways is always slower than the asphalt of the free highways ... and because usually, I find more towns and shops (to buy water and food) along the free highways than on the paid ones :-)
Once in Tlalancaleca, I headed towards in main Plaza, where I could appreciate its beautiful church, main square and municipal palace. In its main plaza I could eat some quesadillas. You can have a glimpse of the main Plaza and its beautiful buildings at the following photoset.
After finishing my photo session at that site, I leaved Tlalancaleca, heading then towards the paid highway, now in western direction, to Mexico City. I started this return ride at 17:30 at Km 80. As you can see, really late indeed ! I reached again the Llano Grande summit at 19:45, when the night was already onset. I was faced with the problematic situation of having to ride down that enormous descent of 1000 m to Mexico City under the absolute cover of the dark, or ... face the defeat (before me) of not being able to complete the whole ride in bicycle, once I was already in the summit, resting only that enormous descent of 1,000 m !
Was tun ? At 19:57 I decided to test my luck and started to ride downwards ... The freezing cold (it was still February, at 3200 m of elevation and at night) was overwhelming, I barely felt my hands. I guided myself only with the lights of the passing cars. I almost felt the abism that was at my right ... and I was still there, riding down at over 60 km/hr, under the darkness of the night, and with a freezing cold that had already rendered my hands sense-less ... Man, I sweared never attempting that nocturnal ride again !
Somehow I managed to reach the end of that 1000 m, 25 km long infernal nocturnal descent of Llano Grande to Mexico City, arriving at the toll collect station of Huixtoco at 20:57, above all: in one piece :-) I was so freezed that I had to stop there to warm me up a little so I could be able to feel my hands again ! The photos of those memorable moments are viewable at the photoset.
I had still to cycle another 15 Km under the cover of the dark, but the terrain was already plain, and more or less inside the city. I arrived at the La Paz sub-urban train terminal at 20:30, ending with this one of my most dangerous cycling rides that I have memory of.
Thank you for reading. Till the the next travel.
1 comment:
Hola, que tal
Esta muy bien tu pagina de las rutas que has seguido. Fijate que me puse aver todos los videos y pues estan muy bien. Y es que fijate que ando buscando un software para crear un mapa con un aparato GPS, (o ver si hay una manera mas facil o a ver si conoces algo) y por eso te escribo.
Yo tengo un GPS TomTom y aunque antes de comprarlo ya sabia que no iba a tener mapas de Mexico, pues me gustaria utilizarlo tambien aca. Perdon, me llamo Jesus Roberto y soy de Monclova, Coahuila. y me gusta mucho viajar y por eso lo compre.
Como te decia busco un software o algo para cargarle al gps una ruta de aqui de Mexico que yo siga, o yo hacer la ruta en la computadora y luego cargarsela al GPS.
Lo malo es que no hay, por ejemplo en el Google Eath marcadas ni las calles, y en tus videos tienes tus rutas marcadas, por eso me gustaria preguntarte como le hiciste. o si sabes de un software para hecer lo que quiero.
bueno, felicidades por tu pagina y por tus recorridos que haces y espero me contestes..
Gracias
Saludos desde Coahuila.
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