# Colombia



## iceboxsteve (Feb 22, 2012)

Hola! I have pretty poor Spanish so forgive me. I've been traveling in the country for two weeks now and it's pretty clear riding is decently big here. 

We've been to Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Minca. Just landed in Medellin. I'm loving the country so much! I always try to travel to new places but I think Colombia may deserve a second trip. 

I'm curious about the status of trails and riding here. It seemed Minca was a popular place this weekend, are there singletrack in the mountains or the burly roads?

Does Colombia have clubs and such who do trail maintenance and construction?

To be straight forward I am a self professed trail geek from the US. I am also a professional. I love the intracies of trail planning and design, not just construction. 

So I am just truly interested in how the mountain bike community is doing down here. 

The terrain is phenomanl and if it doesn't already, could certainly produce some amazing world class trails. And of course you all know the people are great!

Always excited to talk trails (and practice my Spanish!)

Muchas gracias!


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## TrialsCartel (May 5, 2016)

Shout me +57 3206712513 

Patricio ....Many Epic trails...many...

If anyone is in Colombia, text me and I can point you in the right direction....:thumbsup:


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## TrialsCartel (May 5, 2016)

Ok let me give you guys a description on trails in the Medellin area...

Medellin is located in a narrow valley with an approximate 6km wide at the base, and 40km long where the urban areas lie. The valley sits at +-1,500 meter above sea level, and the surrounding mountains rise to 3,000 meter above sea level at both sides. The higher mountainous areas lie mainly un-populated, where many of these areas considered nature reserves where there is a lot of wildlife including 5 different species of wild cats, never seen one though...








Trails...We have at least 8-10 trails the drop from high up in the Mountains down to the valley in the city. These range between 600-1000 mts of negative elevation and all used to be ancient trails before roads and cars existed. Maintenance is done by local groups the live with in each trail. The scheme works but its only done every once in a while so there can be months where some of the trails are in not very good shape. I think we need to have better organized trail maintenance and learn from the experiences abroad having people more determined and willing to help. So, because of the terrain, most trails are DH/Enduro, meaning they require good skills yo go down. The way up is done through main, secondary, and fire roads, depending which trail you want to do. Some have singletracks going up and also sections of hike-the-bike. Pedalling to these trails have some really nice views, but most requiere between 1-2 hours and 800-1200 mts of elevation. Again, keep in mind this is only within the city valley. Outside the city there are even better trails, most still maintained by the local farmers that still use them to take their produce to town center on mules (many drop from 2-3,000 mts to 500 mts)...There are a couple of XC oriented trails, fully blown singletracks, with ups and downs, but these are most fun on allmountain-enduro bikes as the have nice jumps/berms, etc..

If anyone is interested in riding medellin area or in Colombia in general, let me know. I compete the National enduro series and also do a lot of trail searching...Colombia is trail paradise, think 1,000 kms of Andes Mountain ranges filled with ridges that drop to rivers, plaged with singletrack trails, many in use and maintained by local farmers....

Cheers








Patricio


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## dirtyjack (Jan 22, 2010)

Steve, funny - I’m looking for the same thing (I just started working for a company based in Cali and I’m here for 10 days of training), and lo and behold I find a post from a New England homie!

I may bring some gear on my next visit, I’m trying to figure out who amongst our 450 employees is a dirt rider!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## iceboxsteve (Feb 22, 2012)

Wild! Sent a PM; the culture is definitely out there. I'm already scheming how to get back with a bike.


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## TrialsCartel (May 5, 2016)

dirtyjack said:


> Steve, funny - I'm looking for the same thing (I just started working for a company based in Cali and I'm here for 10 days of training), and lo and behold I find a post from a New England homie!
> 
> I may bring some gear on my next visit, I'm trying to figure out who amongst our 450 employees is a dirt rider!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Cali has some riding, there`s good stuff in Calima. Go to a Specialized Concept store, they should hook you up....


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## skinnybex (Aug 5, 2015)

iceboxsteve said:


> Hola! I have pretty poor Spanish so forgive me. I've been traveling in the country for two weeks now and it's pretty clear riding is decently big here.
> 
> We've been to Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Minca. Just landed in Medellin. I'm loving the country so much! I always try to travel to new places but I think Colombia may deserve a second trip.
> 
> ...


I'm an American that lives part time in Manizales and also Las Vegas. The riding in Manizales is outstanding and at the end of March the Enduro World Series is having their second race here in my city so plenty of new single track to be uncovered. The riding in Salento is also World Class. I ride from my home in Barrio Palermo and I'm on trails in 10 minutes. Hit me up with a PM if you ever come back and we can meet up.


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## skinnybex (Aug 5, 2015)

BTW if you already didn't notice, Colombia is the next place thats going to explode for the Mountain Biking scene just as Chile did in the last 10 years. I think Colombia has way more potential and will be the mecca of South American riding but we can only hope that people from the rest of the world are respectful to keep the charm and beauty of this magical country alive forever. It's truly a privilege to wake up each day and explore on 2 wheels.


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## iceboxsteve (Feb 22, 2012)

Bumping this. The lady and I are planning winter travels, she wants to return to Colombia, I'm game! Is there any singletrack riding near Minca? I know the dirt road loop. Cartagena is an easy flight and a favorite city. We may only have a few weeks and the bus to Santa Marta is quick and easy, then up to Minca.

Gracias!


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## TrialsCartel (May 5, 2016)

iceboxsteve said:


> Bumping this. The lady and I are planning winter travels, she wants to return to Colombia, I'm game! Is there any singletrack riding near Minca? I know the dirt road loop. Cartagena is an easy flight and a favorite city. We may only have a few weeks and the bus to Santa Marta is quick and easy, then up to Minca.
> 
> Gracias!


Mica has good trails, haven´t ridden them personally, but sure have heard they are great, though they are more enduro (going down) from Minca to Santa Marta. There´s also the 30km pedal up to Cerro Kennedy, with epic views of the snowy pico Colon. Near Cartagena there´s an awesome spot, but needs to be ridden very early (6m) or afternoon/night, because of heat. The spot is called Tierra Bomba and there`s plenty of single and double track and you can loop around the island even go through an old Spanish Fortress at the southern end. Is you have GPS PM me and I´ll send you a track I did there. It´s also a blast cause you need to cross from Cartagena to Tierra Bomba by water taxi at El Laguito and they´ll happily do it for $3USD (8minutes across).


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## TrialsCartel (May 5, 2016)

Anyone interested in Colombian epic trials follow me on IG or Youtube. I´m doing guidances check out this 6km 1,000 mt drop near Medellin


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## iceboxsteve (Feb 22, 2012)

Trials! Sick video! Not sure if the lady and I are going to swing coming through Medellin again, in the early stages on planning our trip.

Strava shows a bunch of descents from Minca but the only websites I can find talk about the dirt road riding up to Cerro Kennedy.

The Tierra Bomba stuff sounds cool, I'll shoot you a PM to connect about getting that data. Do you have any info or contact for the Minca enduro lines?

Gracias!


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## chrisx (Mar 4, 2009)

*Colombia es realismo magico*

I am going to cast my vote for riding around Medellin. Because of the weather, eternal spring. They do get an afternoon shower now and again.

This is zona centro Barranquilla Colombia. Er what I mean is, this is a photo of _Venezuela Caraquita_ from late October 2019. That water is knee deep. The rain lasted not much more than 1 hour.








The Caribbean coast is hot and sometimes it rains a little. Not my idea of good cycling. Barranquilla is an industrial town not a tourist town. Unless you want to see South Americas second biggest Mardi grass party. 
Caribbean coast = go to the beach.








_Bocagrande Cartagena._

If you like to cycle in the heat and mud. Flights to Leticia, Colombia are not that expensive. A different world altogether.

























This is a unique time in history. Venezuela has a mass outward migration.
Millions of young people are searching for a new place to live. Colombia is their closest neighbor. Venezolana has a story to tell. You might like her.









Medellin. ¨Tengo un corazón y merezco un amor de un hombre real¨








Camila was the original inspiration for the song No Lo Trates.





You might like Colombia. Get off your bicycle and meet your new friends.

You can fly to Bogota and ride out of the airport on a cycle path away from the cars.


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## iceboxsteve (Feb 22, 2012)

Update, headed back this January and hitting Minca and then to Salento/Filandia. Looks like some riding and possibly bikes at the latter.

Anyone have good info on riding in the Salento/Filandia area, especially finding a good bike? Debating bringing my helmet, shoes, and pads. We will be backpacking around for 3 weeks so not bringing the bike, but will have 1 week in Salento/Filandia and hope to get on a bike and ride. See trails on TF.

Gracias!


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