rjw1289

My girlfriend and I are looking to do our first bike packing tour together this upcoming May, 2019. Im reaching out to see if anyone has any good suggestions on where we should head. We live in the US but preferably would like to explore South America, Colombia? We're looking for any routes that head through towns to get a Hostel and do a little camping along the way also. We have read about Oh Boyaca but are wondering about other routes people have done. Looking to spend roughly 2 weeks or 2.5 on this trip. Any information or route suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

BlarneyHammer

I did a long tour involving South America. Mostly on road though, so I'm not a big help.

There's always the Carretera Austral. It's out there enough to feel like bikepacking, and while it's a road, it's mostly unpaved. You'll come to a town once or twice a day, half of which have a hostel, and finding free camping is easy. At 1,240 km, it's just about the perfect length for y'all, depending how fast you move. I kind of had a love-hate relationship with it at the time (I'm a wimp in the cold, especially when cold and wet), but it's some of the most memorable and rewarding riding I've done. On an off-road bike, it'd be more enjoyable.
The biggest problem is time of year. May in the southern hemisphere is like November in the north, and the Carretera Austral is far south. Think about whether or not you'd want to do a bike tour in Canada around Thanksgiving. Not only will it be cold, possibly snowing, the hours of daylight will be short. If that doesn't sound appealing, either change the date or go somewhere else.

If you decide to stay in the US, the Arizona Trail could be a good choice. It's about the right length, and won't be too hot in May, especially in the hills at higher elevations.

The Baja Divide in Mexico would be hot in May, but probably do-able, especially if you're young. If you're from the south or southwest, it'd be uncomfortable, but manageable. If you're from the north, that liquid coming out of your skin is called "sweat."

Colombia, Ecuador, and parts of Peru are all excellent places to ride, but I was mostly on pavement, so I can't help you with routes.

That's all I got. Good luck!

djb

whenever someone asks about trips far off, with really no idea of what travelling and or bike touring experience the two of you have, I always recommend going to the cgoab site and looking specifically for trip journals for the area you are interested in.
You may find lots of info, including all the necessary details of visas, vaccines, routes, etc etc, and at least you can read some first hand accounts from real cyclists who haave gone through x or y area.
Ive lived and travelled in latin america, but not s america, but at least be realistic about the various aspects of travelling in this part of the world, re safety and proper preparation.

good luck in your research and assessing if this is somewhre you would really travel in.

alan s 

boomhauer

You might consider the Flint Hills of Kansas. The grass should be a bright lime green with the new growth. You would probably see them burn the dead stuff off as a bonus. There is a window of opportunity at that time of year to see it at it's best.

avole

saddlesores

for better advice, maybe give a little background info.


what cycling/touring experience do you and she have? have you and she ever taken a similar vacation together....two weeks backpacking, for example?

avole

Leebo

First trip? Stay local. Do lots of research. Maps etc. Adventure cycling and rail to trials are a good start. Bike experience? Fix it skills? Bike and bags you are using? Habla espanol?

J.Higgins 

+1 Leebo.

Stay local and do a several-day shakedown tour before you head off into the unknown.

fietsbob

1st bike tour , might be best to do it in your own country first..

Give a tout to the Oregon Coast ,,

My LBS out here, takes in shipped bikes and holds or assembles them according to your markings on the carton..

Bus from Portland serves the North Coast county.. TriMet serves the airport..




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Tourist in MSN

When I plan to go someplace new, if my plan includes staying at hostels, one of the first parts of my planning phase is to identify where the hostels are.

I have had the best luck with HI Hostels
https://www.hihostels.com/explore

But not all hostels are on the HI system.
https://www.hostelworld.com/

I have not been to South America so I have nothing else useful to add.

avole

antokelly

if this was your girlfriend idea you'll have a great time but if was yours it had better be a super trip or your in big trouble.
just joking enjoy every pedal stroke ,no idea where you shoud go i'm on the other side of the planet (probably in more ways than one ).

axolotl

I've been in Boyaca but I'm not a bikepacker. I did a bit of riding on paved roads around Villa de Lleva, and hiked in cloud forest & paramo in gorgeous Iguaque sanctuary which is along the Oh Boyaca route. The region is beautiful. There are a couple of additional things that you should be aware of: Rainfall varies a fair bit throughout the year, and May is a relatively wet month in Boyaca on average. Jan/Feb and July/August are generally the driest months. I spent about 10 days between Bogota and San Gil in late January and had zero rain. Also, there is enormous altitude variation including a section over ~4,000m/~13,400 ft on the Oh Boyaca route. Some people get altitude sickness, esp. above 3,000m/10,000ft, and it's difficult to predict who will and who won't suffer from altitude. It doesn't seem to be correlated to fitness level. I hiked up to 12,400 ft/3,800m in Iguaque sanctuary with no ill effects. I previously biked nearly that high elsewhere without feeling sick at all, but I definitely get short of breath above 10,000 ft.

Rollfast

Good for you two and make every mile/kilometer one you love as much as each other.

DanBell

Colombia is a good choice. Cycling is very popular and I found the drivers to be courteous and respectful towards cyclists. The roads are good, accommodation and food are cheap, and the people are amazingly friendly. If you start from Bogota you'll be going downhill to leave the city. Better than slogging uphill through major traffic for sure. Ecuador is also nice, as is Chile, although Chile is quite expensive if you are near population centers.

I have really mixed feelings about Peru. The food is amazing, people are really nice, and the culture and history are spectacular. It's amazing in so many ways. All that being said, I think it's the most dangerous place to cycle of any country I've been to because of the absolutely awful drivers. Everyone in Peru believes they own the road and your obligation is to get the hell out of their way. Several times a day I had terrifying moments with cars passing too close, oncoming traffic passing another car with no shoulder forcing me off the road, cars coming across the center line on blind curves, the list goes on and on, and almost everyone does it literally constantly. This occurs in both high traffic areas and on lightly traveled roads in the countryside. Even walking around cities you take your life in your hands just crossing the road as no driver thinks you should be in the crosswalk, green light for pedestrians be damned. It got to the point that I was so frustrated and stressed out on the roads that despite the wonderful experiences I had in Peru, I was so happy to leave the country, and I don't think I'll ever go back.

Colombia or Chile are good choices I think. For Chile you can fly into Santiago (amazing city) then take a bus down south to ride the Carretera Austral as mentioned above.

jargo432

Read "The road that has no end" By Tim Travis. He and his wife toured through there and wrote a few books about it.

rjw1289

Thanks everyone for the replies. Sorry it has taken me a few days to respond, been busy at work. I know one of the questions was what is our cycling ability. We both are every day bikers whether its road or mountain. We live in Summit County Colorado so are biking is not easy. We live at 9600 feet and our mountain bike rides consist of anywhere from 15-30 miles a day and roughly anywhere from 3-5000 vertical feet gain. Our road rides can range widely from 20-90 miles in a stretch with lots of vertical gain too. We've done races together and my GF has done multiple triathlon's. However, we have never biked packed but feel the need to do so. All the information has been useful!!!!! Anyone have any pdf maps of rides or other links? Any gear information???

fietsbob

you sort out things you carry as to whether you really used them, or if they were just dead weight..


OP fluent in Spanish ? how do you say' I need a chain tool, mine is broken.' ?. (an issue that befell my friend in the broad expanses of the Argentine Pampas..

look up https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/





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avole

axolotl

Here's a link to a Colombian-based outfitter which offers a couple of multi-day mountain bike tours, both in the same region of Colombia as your Oh Boyaca route. I have no knowledge about the company. I came upon their site a while back when I was looking for paved road touring ideas in Colombia for my own tour. Their mountain bike routes appear to have a lot less up-and-down compared to the Oh Boyaca route you mentioned.

https://www.bicitravel.co/dirt-road-cycling-tours

spinnaker

My advice is to stay inside the US or at least Canada for the first tour. My first tour was international in Italy. While I would not say it was a disater, it certainly did not come near any of my other trips. With the long distance to get there, the cultural differences, language etc it really added to the stress. Your brain just isn't working right. A little bit of less stressful experience helps you build your decision making skills when under those factors.

Your trip to South America very well could be a fantastic experience that you will remember forever. But it could also be a disaster that you will dread forever.. I am guessing you are young? You have many more years for adventure. Why not start out small.

A couple of suggestions. For a super easy no stress trip, there is the Great Allegheny Passage / C&O trails. Not super exciting but still pretty and it certainly does not get much easier. If yppu get lost on that tour then you probably should not be venturing out of your neighborhood.

The Selkirk Loop north of Spokane. They are roads but if there were any less cars it would be a bike trail. Towns are small but all within an easy reach of a day's ride of one another.









For a bit of adventure you have this.. .


Near Spokane is the Couer D'Alene and The Route of the Hiawatha Bike Trails. You can do that as a part of the same trip as the Slekirk Loop trip or as a stanalone trip. There is a nice loop that incorporates the Route of the Hiawtha Trail that leaves and returns to Spokane.

https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov...coeur-d-alenes

Route of the Hiawatha (Official Website) > The Trail

avole

msbiker

Check out bikepacking.com for bikpacking routes around the world with gps files.