Expo Bici

Bogotá's Bicycle Week wrapped up today with commercialism and fun and games - as well as a bit of substance - at the Expo Bici, a fair of bicycle products, activities and literature.

'To High School by Bike.' This program, by the Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD), teaches kids how to use and maintain their bikes, and organizes group bike rides, to encourage kids to ride to school. 

Off to school by bike. 

IDRD images of bike lane works. 

The BiciTante is a slick, colorful little magazine dedicated to cycling, which has published two editions. 

Bicycle media. 

Bogotá's bicycle literature has recently experienced a minor boom, with blogs and a magazine, the Bicitante.

A pair of unicyclists.

Bike Culture at La Tadeo University. 

But this offers a moment of frankness: 'Lots of 'Likes', Few Bikes.' The other day, I saw about 10 bikes in Tadeo University's parking lot. The school has thousands of students. 

 

A circus performer gets a lift from a bicycle tourist.

Bamboo bikes got lots of attention. 

By Mike Ceaser , of Bogotá Bike Tours

Scenes from the Ruana Ride

La Ruana, along with coffee and the sombrero vueltiao, represents Colombianess. Along with representing tradition and the humble campesino, this year La Ruana has come to be a symbol of rebellion against corporate and government power. Thus, donning a ruana in protests like this one means solidarity with the long-suffering small farmer.

This evening's bicycle ride, then, was a gesture of support for the farmers, who say that low prices for products such as milk and potatoes are making it impossible for them to make a living. The ride, from CityTV, down Ave. Septima to the Parque Nacional and then thru Teusaquillo and back again, was sponsored by Mi Caballito de Acero, a group of classic bicycle enthusiasts.

Mi Caballito de Acero

Riding down Ave. Septima

A campesino-style basket carrying bike.

Pedaling along Ave. Septima. 

Bicycle power kid.

Classic bikes and period clothing in the Parque Nacional. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Fifth Bicycle Week

Bogotá's fifth Bicycle Week kicked off today with events in the National Park, including contests for working bikes and weird bikes, bike races and other fun stuff.

As always, I wish that these events included promotion of practical and mundane biking, particularly bike commuting. Instead, there's the bicycle-as-toy and these forums. But we've had plenty of forums and speeches already.

A flying start for Bicycle Week.

A future cyclist learns to pedal. 

 Cycling advocate Green Man makes friends.

Jesus David Acero, bicycle point man at the IDU, says he hopes public bikes will be rolling by mid-2013.

Bike license plates for sale in a flea market say 'One Less Car', 'More Pedal, Less Motor' and others.

Weird bikes. 

By Bogota Bike Tours

Back When Bicycling Was Bad: Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Cycling

Bogotá's finest confiscate law-breaking bicyclesin 1955 (Photo: El Espectador)

Bogotá bicyclists, including yours truly, love to complain: about the chaotic, inconsiderate drivers who behave like bicycles don't exist; about the bicycle lanes in bad shape or useless; about the vehicles which belch plumes of smoke into our faces; and so on and so on.

But I felt better - or, at least, less bad - after reading a decades-old story by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez published recently in El Espectador about bicycles' travails and crimes in Bogotá.

The story, 'Cycling Fever in Bogotá,' was originally published in 1955, back when the future novelist was an up-and-coming newspaper reporter. (It was republished to honor the 30th anniversary of Marquez's Nobel Prize for Literature.)

Today, many cyclists complain about helmet laws. Back in Marquez's day, it seems, cyclists were required to have drivers' licenses and license plates. Consider this line - which I at first thot was satire - after Marquez describes 5-year-old children "throwing themselves amidst the automobiles on tricycles," Marquez goes on to observe that "Some of these bicycles don't have license plates, and the majority of their riders - including the children on tricycles - don't have drivers' licenses."

And get ready for another cycling offense: "In Oskar Park, in the Santa Fe neighborhood, a child without a driver's license rode a tricycle without a license plate down the middle of the street. The vehicle didn't belong to him - it had been rented by an agency for 30 cents for 15 minutes."

Even more shocking than unlicensed tricyclists, if that is possible, are the schoolchildren's neighborhood bicycle races, fed by the excitement of the annual Tour of Colombia. And, last but not least, many bicyclists violated the prohibition against cycling in the city center except by those with a special license.

In response to this criminal onslaught by unlicensed pedalers, including those terrible five-year-old tricyclists, the police spent a whole day doing nothing but punishing cyclists' irregularities, Márquez reports, and confiscated 300 bicycles.

That was then, this is now: Cyclists on Ave. Septima, where cars are prohibited from a 25-block section.

And that was only the beginning, writes Márquez. Municipal authorities planned new regulations to control the bicycle problem, in particular by enforcing the licensing laws.

For all that we complain, today at least city authorities have realized the bicycles are a solution, to be encouraged, rather than a problem (even if their actions don't always match their words). Even tho the bike lanes, called Ciclorutas, leave a lot to be desired, at least we have them. And, while bicycles were mostly banned from downtown in Marquez's time, today a chunk of Ave. Septima is pedestrianized during the day.

So, while we cyclists need to continue demanding our rights and improved conditions, it's also worthwhile reflecting on how far we've come.

And get ready for another cycling offense: "In Oskar Park, in the Santa Fe neighborhood, a child without a driver's license rode a tricycle without a license plate down the middle of the street. The vehicle didn't belong to him - it had been rented by an agency for 30 cents for 15 minutes."

Even more shocking than unlicensed tricyclists, if that is possible, are the schoolchildren's neighborhood bicycle races, fed by the excitement of the annual Tour of Colombia. And, last but not least, many bicyclists violated the prohibition against cycling in the city center except by those with a special license.

In response to this criminal onslaught by unlicensed pedalers, including those terrible five-year-old tricyclists, the police spent a whole day doing nothing but punishing cyclists' irregularities, Márquez reports, and confiscated 300 bicycles.

And that was only the beginning, writes Márquez. Municipal authorities planned new regulations to control the bicycle problem, in particular by enforcing the licensing laws.

For all that we complain, today at least city authorities have realized the bicycles are a solution, to be encouraged, rather than a problem (even if their actions don't always match their words). Even tho the bike lanes, called Ciclorutas, leave a lot to be desired, at least we have them. And, while bicycles were mostly banned from downtown in Marquez's time, today a chunk of Ave. Septima is pedestrianized during the day.

So, while we cyclists need to continue demanding our rights and improved conditions, it's also worthwhile reflecting on how far we've come.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

More Bike Lanes for Bogotá?

Studying a map of proposed bicycle lanes in the IDU this morning. 

A cyclist steers around pedestrians on a
sidewalk bike lane in central Bogotá.

The administration of Mayor Gustavo Petro, who recently said that pedestrians should have top transit priority, followed by cyclists, then public transit and then finally private cars, has proposals to build close to 200 kms of new bicycle lanes. At a meeting this morning in the Urban Development Institute (IDU), officials said they're studying some 185 kms of new bike lanes and evaluating whether they'd be on sidewalks, as many existing lanes are, or on streets, as the mayor has proposed.

Each design has problems: Many sidewalk lanes consist of little more than stripes painted on the pavement and cyclists have to dodge pedestrians, potholes and delivery vehicles. But if the lanes are in the street, cyclists will have to battle cars and motorcycles, which will certainly not respect cyclists' territory. And, it puts cyclists in the direct aim of exhaust pipes connected to motors burning dirty fuel and lacking pollution controls.

The sort sidewalk 'cicloruta,' or bike lane, which we don't need. 

What happens when bike lanes are in the street: This truck found this bike lane to be a good place to park. 

Two of the streets proposed for new bike lanes are Carrera Septima and Calle 19.

Ave. Septima might have room for a bike lane, particularly if the city builds a light rail line down its middle. 

But where would a bike lane fit on Calle 19?

And how many cyclists would dare to ride up the street behind smoke-spouting vehicles like these?



I made these two videos today, in a period of about twenty minutes - and they were only two of many smog belching vehicles I saw.

Priorities for cyclists? On 19th a cyclist waits for a long time for a chance to cross.

Finally, he grabs a chance to cross. 

Once across, he continues on the sidewalk. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia's Great Bike Racing Tradition

Thanks to its Spanish inheritance and many mountains, Colombia may have produced more great bicycle racers per capita than any other nation outside of Europe. Until Jan. 31, the Archivo de Bogotá has an exhibition about Colombian bicycle racing, its heroes and the epic Vuelta a Colombia. In Colombia, bike racing really rates, and may be the second most popular pro sport after futbol (soccer).

The Vuelta a Colombia is shorter than the Tour de France, but its passes are higher, making it one of the most demanding bicycle stage races in the world.

Vuelta Champs of Yesteryear

Perhaps thanks to Colombia's many mountains, the country has produced many great climbers. In fact, since 1985 four of the Tour de France's King of the Mountains title holders have been Colombian, the last two being Santiago Botero and Mauricio Soler.

Santiago Botero overlooking a classic bicycle

Probably my favorite aspect of the exhibition was the look at a time when the races seemed more epic, the sport more innocent and every victory wasn't tainted by doping accusations. And remember those sleak, elegant bikes with Campagnolo components, made by Italian craftsmen steeped in cycling tradition, rather than some factory in East Asia, where the workers couldn't care less whether they were making parts for boats, planes or bicycles.

Ramón Hoyos Vallejo, winner of the third Vuelta, got the girl. 

Slogging up a hill in the 1961 Vuelta.

 

 Juan Pachon and Miguel Samaca, riders from other eras, now compete in sales on Carrera 13.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours