A Visit to La Guarida

La Guarida's modest building 
is easy to pedal past.

 To get a feel for Bogotá's hip and high-end bicycle scene, you could do worse than visit La Guarida, a bike business complex located in Chapinero, across the street from the El Campin stadium.

Bicycling is all about balance!

From outside, La Guarida offers barely a hint about itself. The three-story light blue house could be a university rooming house, judging by the bicycles parked around the entrance and the bar on the first floor. However, the bar is outfitted with a cycling decor, and alongside it there's a small bike repair shop - evidently concentrating on high-end machines.

Climb the stairs to La Guarida's second floor and find the Biciosos bike shop, a small place but crammed with bike gear, including the sort of German-made bikes you'd better not take your eyes off of on Bogotá streets. In the other corner is a barber shop - also with a cycling decor. Are the haircuts here aerodynamic?

Bienvenidos a Biciosos.

The top floor holds a cycling jacket maker run by several French
guys. The reversible reflective MOVA Cycling jackets are nifty and innovative, either water proof or breathable, depending on how you wear them. They have integrated lights, their own stuff bag and hidden pockets to protect against those ubiquitous Bogotá pickpocketers. However, at several hundred thousand pesos, these jackets might get stolen themselves. Unsurprisingly, Mova exports most of its production.

Movi's sharp shirtwear.

Sharing the floor is Concienbiciate, whose name means something like 'integrate cycling into your consciousness,' and which lays claim to being Bogotá's largest bicycle activist organization. The colectivo definitely does turn out huge groups of cyclists - thousands, says a friend who is a member - who make racous rides thru Bogotá and the countryside. Hopefully, they can turn that momentum into pressure for more bike-positive city policies.

La Guarida: Cra 27 A Bis No 61C – 06, Bogotá, Colombia

Concienbiciate

Bikes hanging in La Guarida's entrance.

The first-floor bike workshop.

High-end bikes, for Bogotá.

Mova's slogan: Ride in Peace.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Central Cemetery: Bicycles Not Welcome Here!

Here's Jorge, who visits his relative's grave every Monday, and has to lock his bike outside the gate.

Bogotá's Central Cemetery is a city unto itself, with thousands of graves, including those of ex-presidents, mayors and other luminaries. In this highly-Catholic nation, many people visit their relatives' gravesites regularly. But don't think about coming here on a bicycle - because you won't find a place to park. The cemetery's security guards explained to me that there isn't enough room - but there IS plenty of room, and there's even room enough for a parking lot for CARS! It's yet another example of the mindset which takes automobile parking for granted but considers bicycle parking a luxury - even in a polluted, car-choked city like Bogotá. I contacted the city department in charge of the cemeteries, and learned that they are required by law to provide bicycle parking - a law they've successfully ignored. But the guy in charge did send a letter to the contractor managing the cemeteries asking them to install bike racks.

We'll see what happens.

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

 

See the world without windows.

An article in Bogotá's El Tiempo newspaper profiles two cyclists, who lament the state of some of the city's Ciclorutas, their disconnectivity, the lack of parking and the inconsideration of many motorists. A city official responds that some Ciclorutas are being extended and that the city's electrical utility intends to move posts located in the middle of some cycle routes.

My comments, as always, are that the troubles with Bogotá biking go deeper than these inconveniences. They include chaotic traffic and pollution. 

Bogotá DOES have the region's best bicycle route network and deserves credit for that. however, the city could and shoud do much more to make the city more bikeable if it wants this clean trasnport to help resolve its traffic jams and clean its air. 

http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/bogota/en-bicicleta-se-ve-elmundo-sin-ventanas-senalan-promotores-del-transporte-por-este-medio_6632187-1

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours