The _Hole

GENERAL INFORMATION		SPECIFIC INFORMATION - MTB / ATB
ENTRANCE FEE	PUBLIC PROPERTY	TYPE	D I R T R O A D	NO-COMPETITION Recreation
PARKING	Walmart Super Center	NAME	EL HOYO (THE HOLE)	NOT MARKED
BUSINESS HOURS	N / A	DISTANCE	MEDIUM	7.12 miles Total of all trails.
CITY	PONCE	TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED	MEDIUM-HIGH (2 Serious Downhills)	MORE DIFFICULT 5-7 / 10
ADDRESS	Cerrillos / El Hoyo	AEROBIC LEVEL	HIGH (All Up Hill)	9-10 / 10
PHONE #	N / A	HEIGHT GAIN	157 - 614 feet	457 feet
SIZE	Large!	WATER NEEDS	DRY FOREST Depends of time of Day	-
TEMPERATURES	FRESH (March, 5:00 pm)	THORNS?	THORNS, A POSIBILITY	?
FOREST TYPE	DRY FOREST	RISKS	FALLS IN DH
WHAT TO SEE?	LAKES, PONCE....	COURSE SPEED	MOSTLY VERY FAST
WEB SITE	N / A	EXTRA FEATURES	2 DOWN HILLS SMALL SINGLETRACK	LOTS, AND LOTS OF HILLS (Good for Training)
FAMILY FUN	? (Fishing?)	SATELITE PHOTO	WEATHER
		EL HOYO - MAGELLAN GPS TRACK LOG (ZIP File)

HOW TO GET TO ... EL HOYO?

     How to Get There (Google Maps)         * * * NEW * * *          El Hoyo

     From Mayagüez:
           Drive to Ponce by Road #2.
           Take the Luis A. Ferré Express (A-52) at Ponce (will be at your right).
           Take exit 98A, this will take you to Road #10                                                        (1.7 miles, approx.).
           Make a right turn in the next intersection and take Road #14.
           Must take road Picachos (at your left).                                                                    (0.67 miles)
           Walmart should be at your right (White square with red border in the map)              (0.33 miles)

     From San Juan:
           You should be on Luis A. Ferré Express (A-52)
           Take Exit 98A (at your left) this will take you to Road #10.                                     (1.7 miles)
           Make a right turn in the next intersection and take Road #14.
           Must take road Picachos (at your left).                                                                    (0.67 miles)
           Walmart should be at your right (White square with red border in the map)              (0.33 miles)


       IMPORTANT: How to get to Luis A. Ferré Express(A-52).
          After leaving Walmart Super Center and entering road Picachos, to your right (Road. #14)
          As soon as you can take the left lane, the Road #10 exit in a trafic light at your left. Not at your right as one should
          expect (0.66 miles)
          First exit to your right for Mayagüez or ...
          just continue to the next exit which will take you to San Juan.

WHERE TO PARK?:
Usually the MTB Lions use Walmart's parking lot . Usually they park in the farther area form the store close to one of the corners (at your right if the store is at your back). The advantage of using this place is that usually is not used by the clients, its safe and has security guards.

From left to right!
Jon, (sorry) I forgot the name of the second, Wendell, Gregory, Levante, Coco, friend of Coco!
5:30 p.m. Walmart Super Center, Road 14, Ponce PR.

At top of the lake's dam wall!

In Middle of Nowhere!

© 2007 JGRR

Aerial view of the Trail.
The trail was marked and created using GPS Track Maker on a Google Earth map.
Walmart Super Center is the white square at the leftmost lowest corner.
the trail measures 7.12 miles, measured by my bike's ciclocomputer.

General Description of the Trail.

This trail has the name of the road Cerillos/El Hoyo. This name is terribly wrong because all holes I know go down, and this one is almost completely up-hill. Almost all the trail is doble track, the dirt is made of lose gravel which make things worse going up-hill, making things not that enjoyable. This trail has no tall trees and is almost completely open. But for my surprise was not hot at all, perhaps the time of day I rode (5:00 pm+) and the season (march) had a lot to do with that. This trail has two downhills an a small Singletrack. Even though this trail is not too technical, is one of the hardest I had ever ride, aerobically speaking! In my humble opinion, this trail is very fast and should be excellent for physical training. I am really thankful for my friends invitation to ride El Hoyo because I HAD A GREAT TIME. They show me every piece trail they knew, even though I was finishing a bad cold. My only desire is that they come to Aguadilla so I can GET EVEN! Thanks Coco, Gregory & Levante!

Vertical Profile of the Trail: El Hoyo.
Starting (left) and finishing (right) Walmart Super Center parking lot.
This is located in road 14 Cerrillos / El Hoyo sector, close to Coto Laurel in Ponce.
Lowest point in the trail 157 feet, highest 614 feet (height gaining 457 feet) .

© 2007 JGRR / www.mtb-pr.com

Profile from the free version of GPS TrackMaker® and
using a Magellan Explorist GPS to track the trail.

All the images that follows have the Copy Right of each of their owners, like Google (Google Earth)
and all the associated companies. This tridimensional graphical concepts were made using the free version of
GPS TrackMaker®, Google Earth and a Magellan Explorist GPS. The trail line is of my creation, but not the photography,
so this figures can not be used for commercial. For non commercial uses please be kind and ask permission first!.

     * Starting at Walmart parking lot. Go to the south until you find Road 14. Continue east bound in the road shoulder (A). Pass the Colegio Ponceño and at the end of the house complex turn left (north) at the dirt road (B). This trail borders two lakes and finds the wall that splits Lakes #2 and #5.
      This trail borders the lower part of the Dam wall, then climb's it and continues westbound.   Take the first trail to the right (north) towards the C. This trail finds the top of a small mountain. This trail is somewhat narrow and borders part of a lake #2 and then it start climbing that borders an urbanization. Once in the top you will see the nice landscape and can ride the first downhill (0.14 miles). This is an old dir road severely eroded. But to its right there is very serious cliff that make you think twice to try to ride it.
     Once you finish the downhill (if you survive) ride toward the D. This section of the trail (0.84 miles) is not too step but is long and climbs steadily up to the highest part of the trail. Right were the D is, you can find the second downhill. This is not too difficult but (there is always a but) the soil is totally void of vegetation and is close to a cliff, its scares a little. This part of the trail ends in the entrance of a small singletrack marked by two yellow ribbons. when we arrive was late and it was starting to get dark, some of the group got lost or disoriented in the single track, so I couldn't ride the whole ST.
     Once you exit the ST, will climb 118 feet. the rest of the trail is a very fast downhill (from 466 to 157 feet). You will travel trough a rock quarry and ride the trail marked by the F until you get back to Walmart. This last section of the trail in a close future will not be there because is a road under construction. Too bad because it will shorten the trail when finished.

In this view you can see the trail as it arrives to the lakes and the wall that split them.
This zone is marked with the letter C in the main map.
Can also see the eroded road that makes the downhill!

© 2007 Pedro Colomer & www.mtb-pr.com

Pedro Colomer jr. climbing a very step hill, the lake's retaining wall!
At the background the El Hoyo road!

© 2007 JGRR

     Here you can see how to reach the dirt wall that separates lakes 2 and 5, which is marked in the
main map by the letters D and E.   Here you can see more clearly the topography of this area!

I think this one was taken climbing of the lake's wall!

First Downhill, which was a very eroded dirt road.
Marked in the map by the letter C.

© JGRR 2007


  This aerial photo shows the zone marked by the letter E in the main map. Yo can see
more clearly the areas topography.   The DH of this last hill (rightmost part of the photo) is fast and
relatively easy.   From here almost all the rest of the trail is Downhill up to Walmart!

© 2007 Pedro Colomer & www.mtb-pr.com

Coco going down the 2nd Downhill!
He is in the end section of it, which looks no so difficult!
This DH is marked on the main map by the letter D.