Oaxaca with the Smith crew

Mezcal, Dust & Good Times

Some trips are planned. Others just happen, and you end up feeling them long after you’ve left.

When the Smith Optics crew rolled into Oaxaca, they weren’t looking for the postcard version of the place. They wanted to ride, explore, eat, drink, and get a little lost in it. So we headed up into the Sierra with Transierra Norte and left the noise behind.

What followed was a few days of dusty trails, good riding, great food, and the kind of company that makes a work trip feel like anything but work.

Watching everyone find their way through the Oaxacan singletrack was a pretty good reminder of why I love this sport. You can meet someone for the first time, ride a trail together for a few hours, and somehow skip straight past the introductions. It’s as if we just tap into each other’s lifetime of riding and instantly share it through our own human Bluetooth.

And then there’s Oaxaca.

Because the riding is only part of the story. When the bikes are back on the truck and the sun starts going down, the day moves somewhere else. Into wood-fired kitchens, mezcal, long tables, and conversations that keep going long after dinner should have ended.

That’s one of the things I love about riding here. Transierra Norte understands that a good ride doesn’t really end when you unclip. The trail is only one part of the experience. The rest happens around the table, over a drink, while someone is telling a story and everyone else is laughing.

For a few days, all the usual distinctions seemed to disappear. Where we came from, what we did, or whether we had met before didn’t really matter. We were just a bunch of people riding bikes, discovering new trails, eating well, and enjoying being somewhere different together.

The crew

It’s never really just about the bike, the trail, or even the place. It’s about the people you meet along the way, and how quickly a shared love for riding can turn strangers into friends.

Huge thanks to everyone who made this way more than just a work trip.

It was proper fun.

Category: Editorial & Adventure Photography

Location: San Pablo Etla, San Gabriel Etla, Ixtepeji, Oaxaca, Mexico

Featured: Miranda Miller, Anna Yamauchi, Ama Nsek, Kyle Von Hoetzendorf, Jeremy Dunn, Tucker Leverton, Landon Masterfield, Buca, Transierra Norte, Smith Optics

Photos & Story: Nicolas Switalski

Words and photography by Nicolas Switalski