Mike Ceaser operates Bogota Bike Tours Bogota Bike Tours

Reading some websites, you'd think that Bogotá, Colombia was a paradise for cyclists - after all, it's got the world-famous Sunday/holiday Ciclovía and the most bicycle routes of any city in Latin America.

Well, that's all great, and Bogotá certainly deserves credit for it.

La Ciclovía

But try remembering that Bogotá's a great place for cycling when you're dodging pedestrians and delivery vehicles on a central Bogotá 'Cicloruta.' Or when you're riding along a busy avenue and swallowing fumes from cars, buses and trucks which apparently never heard of pollution controls.

And when you arrive at your destination - a bank, shopping center, public building, university...you're likely to find no safe place to park your bike and even paranoid hostility against bicycles.

All of that leaves a mixed picture or a city which has taken considerable steps to promote cycling (albeit under previous mayors) but has left huge problems - and prodding city leaders to improve the situation is frustrating.

This is an official Cicloruta in central Bogotá. Oh, poor cyclists!

Mike Ceaser operates Bogota Bike Tours Bogota Bike Tours