Cycling is Colombia’s second most popular sport, only football (soccer) is more popular. Aside from the heavy traffic and hills, Medellín is very conducive to cycling.

Ciclorutas

Medellín has over 60 miles of bike paths (ciclorutas). These are separate, dedicated bike paths, often along streets and parks. For many people, biking is their main method of transportation.

Encicla

Medellín also has a bike sharing program throughout the city. Encicla consists of 51 bicycle stations with over 1,300 bikes. Once you sign up and register, you can get a bike at any station and ride free for up to one hour. If you need to ride longer, you can dock the bike at the closest station and check out a different bike for an additional hour. This program is extremely popular, and it is estimated that each bike is used an average of 10 times per day.

Ciclovia

Ciclovia is another great program in Medellín which began in the capital city of Bogotá. Every Sunday from 7 am to 2 pm, over twenty-six miles of streets and roads are closed to cars. The streets fill with bicyclists, runners, walkers, skateboarders, and rollerbladers; and vendors line the streets selling food and fruit juices.

When we first arrived in Medellín, we rented bikes to take advantage of Ciclovia. Unfortunately, the bikes were in pretty poor shape. The chains kept slipping and coming off, only two gears functioned, and the breaks were marginal. It made for an unpleasant ride. Because there aren’t many other rental shops to rent better bikes, we usually walk on the Ciclovia routes.

Tour

Before we left Minneapolis, we made the difficult decision to leave our bikes behind. Last weekend after four months of not riding, we were itching to hop on a bike to take advantage of the bike culture here in Medellín.

So, we decided to take a bicycle tour of the city with Bicitour, which offered an in-depth tour of Medellín. During the tour, we visited a variety of cultural and historical sites. We enjoyed a nice leisurely 13-mile ride through diverse neighborhoods with several stops along the way.

The six other riders who joined us on the tour were from Holland, Ireland, England and one from the United States. We all spoke English as did our two guides.

After a half-hour of reviewing safety, hand signals and the route, we were off heading to the first stop.

Our two guides, Carlos and Juan, were great. One of the guides always biked ahead to make sure bike crossings were secured. I was happy to see one of the guides trailing the pack to make sure we did not veer off in the wrong direction and we stayed together.

During the tour, we made 7 stops. At each stop, the guide provided information about the history and cultural value of the site. We were allowed time at each site to explore a little on our own including participating in a Tango dance class at a historic Tango restaurant.

Halfway through the tour, we made a rest stop at a small outdoor stand for a refreshing treat, called Salpicón de Fruta, a popular dessert in Colombia. It consists of chopped mixed fruit in soda or juice, topped with ice cream and a cookie. It was the perfect treat to energize us for the rest of the tour.

After our rest stop, we rode back to the starting point which involved some serious hills. We enjoyed the tour and points of views of the guides. They were knowledgeable and had strong points of view about the positive growth of Medellín while explaining the challenges that the city faces for the future.

It felt good to be on a bike again, enjoying a leisurely ride throughout the city. It was nice to see the city from a different point of view than from the back seat of a cab or from the metro. We recommend this tour for Medellín visitors who want to understand the city.