Hey all,

I've been trying to plan out the next trip as to where I'd like to travel to and bike. I have several locations in mind like South Africa, India, and Alberta Canada. However, I've always poked interest in South America. I' have been looking at traveling to Bogota, Columbia and touring to several locations. I would fly into the city from New York and my attractions would be Medellin, Barranquilla and perhaps, Cartagena.

If I actually make this happen I would look into staying there for a month on a very low budget. I'm currently planning this solo but would like to invite a friend or two who may be able to help out. Also, my spanish is very poor so it would be beneficial if I were with someone who spoke it fluently.

My experience, I've cycled across the U.S. the summer of 2014 from New York to California. It was an impactful journey and I would like to now explore the greater ranges of the world. I'll be using my Surly Long Haul Trucker to get around, and this time I'll be packing extremely light. i have plenty of time for planning as I have no set dates for departure as of yet. I'd really like to know from everyones experiences who has travelled and biked there. All help will be greatly appreciated.

I've stayed in El Norte .. looked at the CGOAB site Too? https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/

Thank you for the share! Has anyone else traveled to this location. I've been looking into riding from Bogota to Medellin, but also keeping aware of guerrilla groups that travel the area and countryside. This is something that would possibly worry me a bit but would be great to travel with someone. Still doing my research here, can anyone give any tips or recommendations? I've also thought about staying in Medellin as my base and traveling out from there to different locations throughout the month.

I visited Colombia last year but wasn't touring, though I biked in the department of Boyacá. I was in Bogota and a few departments to the north. I've done a fair bit of research about touring in Colombia, and 2 regions consistently come up as good touring areas. The "zona cafetera", comprised of the departments Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío, sounds excellent for touring. It's west of Bogota. I think that at least one British tour operator offers bike tours in that region, so that's usually a good indicator of an area's suitability for bike touring. The other region touring cyclists seem to especially like is the far south near the border of Ecuador. I don't know what the present-day security situation is like in that area.

Hey all,

Thanks for the information thus far. I'm still planing out this route and getting things into place before I make this happen, including my Spanish. My projected departure date is June 2016. I've been looking into several routes people have ridden in Columbia and I think I'd be interested in riding from Cartagena to Bogota. From what I've read it's best to do this in reverse but not entirely sure why. Can anyone recommend routes that would be safe to travel through? I've been thinking of riding the Pan- American route. I've also found a route along the Magdalena River. Now lots of the stories I've read were from blogs from cyclist who've travelled there. Though some were from 2005, I wonder if these routes are still in existence. I also was thinking about brining my Surly LHT for this trip. I would need new wheels and considered building a set with DT TK540 with Dura Ace 9000 hubs or DT hub. Not sure yet but I get deals on everything since I work at a shop. I'll get to the bike stuff later but wanted some help with routes if anyone can shed some light.

Well, Cartagena is at sea level, and Bogota is about 8,600 feet/2,600 m. As they say, "you do the math".

I've been researching routes, too. I suspect I read the same posting you found about the route along the Magdalena river. I'm considering the Zona Cafetera, possibly combined with the Magdelena River route. The south sounds nice but my friend doesn't want to go there because he's concerned about security there. The Caribbean coast doesn't sound that great for cycling, from what I've read. A few portions of Boyacá state would be good, but I was already there and I'd like to see new parts of the country. FWIW, we'll be riding on Bike Friday folders.

Thanks axoloti for the info, looks like I'll most likely be starting in Bogota. I've been looking into building a gpx route as I did on my trip last year using Basecamp. I was thinking of getting the City Navigator maps to use on my Garmin as a backup to other maps that will be used. Has anyone used gps while traveling through Colombia? Was planning this trip solo but have a friend who I met last year who said she wants to come. Do know her to well but I'm wondering if that could be a good idea. I usually travel solo but this is something to consider.

UPDATE:

Hello everyone. Colombia has been on my mind since I started this thread. I've taken a stab at trying to learn spanish again without much luck, just the basics. One of the things that's preventing me from cycling there is that I do not know the language. I feel that can become a huge burden. After considering routes from the help of (axoloti) I think instead of riding Bogota to Medellin, I would like to book a two week AirBnb in Bogota. Stay for 2-3 days there and ride to Zona Cafetera, makes stops at the coffee fields and visit the place I've always wanted to go... the Cocora Valley. I've always wanted to see the wax palms there and camp near by if I can. I think about it all the time.

My plan is to get a route together from Bogota to the Zona Cafetera area which is near by the Cocora Valley. I figured that would be a great opportunity to visit both locations. At the moment I'm still taking this on Solo. I invited a friend who just got into touring but he's afraid of Colombia and rather do Peru. I declined.

If anyone can shed some light with prior knowledge and experiences without speaking the native language that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Don't let language be your barrier. Plenty of people bike tour in places they can't speak the language.

We toured through France for five weeks last summer without any knowledge of French. We learned the general phrases to buy food, to check in at campgrounds and hotels, and to say basic pleasantries. It was enough to get by, although we do wish we would have learned more before visiting.

What kind of attempts have you made to learn Spanish? I'd recommend taking a night class or joining some kind of MeetUp, where you get to practice speaking multiple times a week.

Read thru the CGOAB offerings yet?

+1

A special note for a few things to look for:
- CGOAB includes a journal by a guy named "Tim Tower". Tim started riding in Colombia in February and is currently there now. His other journals have had lots of details including summaries of some of the other journals/routes/gpx he has considered.
- There is a facebook group: "Bike Touring Americas: Alaska to Patagonia" that has relevant and up to date information and questions from other cyclists on the road including some recent security related postings. Review the last three months.

By the way, I just arrived in Panama City on a bike ride that started in Prudhoe Bay in June 2016. Will take a few week break and then continue my ride southbound from Cartagena, Colombia. I've posted to Adventure Cycling but if someone is interested in joining for part of the trip - let me know.

Awesome! Thanks a lot all who chimed in on this. I'm registered on CGOAB and I know it's a great resource. Thanks for the tip with the Facebook page. I'm going to search for it now.

I spoke to my friend today about the trip again. He's down to ride with me on this one and is excited about it. We're shooting toward the end of august into september and riding for a couple weeks. I have to now build a loop around the area I specified (Bogota - Zona Cafetera). I'm sure I can use some of the maps from CGOAB. Another great thing I found out is that my friend who will be joining can speak a bit of Spanish, enough to get us by. However, I'll be doing as much as I can to gain knowledge before I depart.

UPDATE:

My mate and I decided to take a bus with our bikes from Bogota to Salento which is near the Cocora Valley. We'll be in Salento for 2 days before beginning our ride back to Bogota. If anyone can shed some light on taking a bus to Salento that will accept our bikes that would be great. We're just unsure what companies will be able to load them on the bus along with our bags. Check out the route below. Some on road and off road areas. Google doesn't really suffice in terms of finding the tracks. I was told on (Crazy Guy on A Bike) to ask the locals at the shop for maps and trails and explain what we're doing.

A French cyclist I met told me that she had no problems taking her bike on long distance buses in Colombia.

I'll be very curious to hear your impressions of biking in the area around Salento.

I've traveled a lot. Language has never been a barrier. Difficulty, sure, but never a barrier. Learn the basics, carry a phrase book if it makes you feel better, find someone patient looking, and then be prepared for the overwhelming satisfaction that comes from figuring it out!

It's surprising how you can get by with about 6 sentences and a vocabulary of 30 words. I might be lost. Where is the ___? How much does it cost?

Update:

So my friend and I will be taking the bus as mentioned before from Bogota to Armenia Colombia. Depending on what time we arrive in Armenia, we will spend a full day making way to Salento, then to Cocora Valley to visit the Wax Palms for the day. We will then return back to Armenia where we will be staying initially.We haven't figured out where we would stay in Armenia but there seems to be quite a bit of hotels and hostels. My friend is a bit put off with the hostels and would prefer we split a hotel. No problem for me at all.

The next day we will ride from Armenia to Salento to pick up a trail to lead us to ibague. The trail is a off road and will pass over Cerro Machín, according to my route it looks to be on the ridge of it. In ibague we will find a place to crash. Not sure how long it will take us to get to ibague from Salento but we are prepared to do wild camping if we need to. However, we prefer to figure out our riding time frame based on elevation gains in between and how we perform out there.

I've been getting lots of help from Crazyguyonabike forums. My ultimate question is cost and how much money we should be bringing. While for the most part we will be off route riding, we will be stoping in villages and smaller cities heading back to Bogota. Looks like a food resupply will be needed in ibague because after that I do not see any smaller cities until girardot.

My route dips south after ibague and is off road touring with a mix of on road when coming into the bigger cities. This was built using Garmin Basecamp. If anyone can suggest hotels or places to stay in Armenia, Salento, ibague that would be great. Looking into setting up waypoints this week.

Any legit camping between Salento & ibague? I know the route passes through Cerro Machín. My friend who will be coming with me was concerned about wild camping in some locations and prefers we ride to a destination that is pre mapped out. Perhaps we can camp near the Cerro Machín before riding into ibague. All help appreciated.