Traveling to Medellín from Bogotá is a journey that many Colombian amateur cyclists have dreamed of...

but reaching the “capital de la montaña”, then climbing Alto las Palmas and continuing to Rionegro on the same day, was the perfect dream for Travesías en Bicicleta, a project created by a couple of bikepackers.

With this in mind, we decided to celebrate the 2019 closing season by scheduling our trip to Medellín on December´s latest days and thus spending New Year´s eve in the middle of the Antioquia´s mountains. To do this, we planned a three-day bike trip which you can watch on our YouTube channel: Travesías en Bicicleta.

Day 1: Bogotá-Guaduas-Doradal 

Starting at 5:00 am from Bogotá, we pedaled 226 km (2,769 m of climbing) to Doradal, a town in Puerto Triunfo (Antioquia). During the tour we savored roscones in La Vega, we climbed Alto del Trigo, we had the typical potato broth in Guaduas as breakfast, we crossed La Ruta del Sol and we experienced the different thermal levels of our country as we went from the intense cold of the savannah to the extreme heat of Magdalena´s river. Check out this chapter´s video here.

Day 2: Doradal-La Piñuela

After a good calentao as breakfast, we started the first mountain stage, in which we conquered Alto de Pavas (13 Km, 4%), Alto la Tebaida (20 Km, 4 %) and 12 Km of Alto Bonito 37 Km. Lunch and dinner could not be otherwise than Antioquia´s style: Beans, rice, arepa, chicharrón, avocado and patacón with hogao, these were the fuels that allowed us to recover energy, while agua de panela helped keep our bodies hydrated. In total we traveled 82 km (2,390 m of climb), to reach the sector known as La Piñuela, where we slept and spent the New Year´s eve under clear sky and the mountains´ silence. Check out this chapter´s video here.

Day 3: La Piñuela-Medellín-Las Palmas-Rionegro

Riding our bikes on January 1st early in the morning, is not the best alternative for breakfast because the only restaurant open that day was located after several kilometers of our starting point. Eggs, a cup of chocolate and calentao invited us to taste Antioquia´s gastronomy while we enjoyed the landscape of this beautiful region. Once breakfast was done, we stopped at Cocorná´s viewpoint where you can see the urban area and the spectacular Las Perlas waterfall formed by La Chorrera river. After 90 km we arrived at the base of Alto las Palmas in front of San Diego Shopping Center in Medellín. With a record of two hours, after three days pedaling, we conquered the summit of this emblematic hill and then continued our journey to Rionegro closing the stage with 135 km (3,377 m of climb). There, an Antioquia-style merengón was waiting for us to celebrate our achievement. Check out this chapter´s video here.

To summarize the journey in numbers, we spent 3 days; we rode 443 km with 8,536 m of climbing and reached six summits: El Trigo, Pavas, La Tebaida, Bonito, Los Topos, Las Palmas. It was an experience to repeat over and over again, especially if you practice bikepacking with your partner.

After this incredible journey, and taking advantage of our stay in a land of flowers and mountains, two days later we began our first BikeCamp Antioquia, an activity through which we ride an additional 314 km (6,697 m of climbing) and climbed another six hills in three days. See more details of this adventure on our blog https://www.travesiasenbicicleta.com/ and Instagram.