The road to to Medellín is a scenic ride in super tight mountain twisties while dodging oncoming trucks and cars making passes on blind curves. To say that its nerve wracking is an understatement. The other drivers are very aggressive and have no qualms about pushing you and your bike off the road.
Although the scenery is stunningly beautiful, I took absolutely zero pictures on this ride because there were few places to pull over, and trying to ride one handed while taking a picture would be a roll of the dice on this road. There were a few places to pull over, but the last thing I wanted to do was let all the trucks pass me by since I just risked life and limb getting ahead of them in the first place.
In Medellín I would meet up with fellow rider Al, whom I know only from an internet motorcycle forum. Al used to have a bar in Quito, Ecuador, then moved to Medellín about a year ago. I was the first motorcyclist, and actually the very first guest to stay at Al’s new place.
Al has just opened a hostel, complete with an Argentinian steak house downstairs. The rooms are all very nice and have a motorcycle theme.
There is of course secure bike parking. If you are nice to him, he even might let BMW’s park inside.
The restaurant was under construction the first half of my stay.
The grand opening was a couple of weeks later. I ate more meat than any one human should be allowed. The steak is incredible.
Al, sampling the goods.
Andres, a real life authentic Argentinian from Mendoza, manning the grill.
So if you find yourself in Medellín, I highly recommend a stay at Al’s place near Parque Lleras in Poblado, Medellín.
In addition there are many big bike shops within walking distance like the KTM dealer called Moto Shop.
It was a great place to do an oil change, get some new rubber, brakes, etc, and freshen everything up on the bike. If you need anything for your bike, Colombia is the place to do it as parts are readily available for all makes and models of motos. Get everything you need here, because further south, its not nearly as easy.
Colombia truly is motorcycle heaven.
They even washed my bike before they serviced it.
This bike is particularly useless in Colombia. You just cant let a sport bike run here, too many tight twisties, gravel road sections, etc.
Now this bike, the 990 SM along with the 690 SM are the perfect bikes for the roads and terrain here. If I lived here, I would probably just have a supermoto like this, without the pizza delivery box on the back, and a dirt bike for when I wanted to go play in the dirt.
Be prepared for steeker shock though. Because of import duties, motos in Colombia are generally twice as expensive as in the states. A KTM 990 Adventure: $25,000. Although I did see a nice used 2004 950 for 20 grand! I didn’t even want to go the BMW dealer and see how much they wanted for a new 1200 GS. Probably close to 35 grand, maybe more.
I didn’t do a whole lot in Medellín except for relax. Al and I took a couple of rides around the country side. He is an ex-London dispatch rider, which means he rides like a maniac and pulls off stuff in traffic that scares the hell out of me. I quickly figured out that I was not insane enough to follow him through some of those maneuvers. Al would split lanes like Moses and we would blow by guys on FZ-1’s and V-Stroms like they were standing still. All they saw was two orange blurs threading the needle through the traffic.
We took a ride up to San Somethingorother. I forget the names of these scenic little towns, they all seem to run together.
Horse parking.
Beautiful horse. Not sure what make and model he is though.
The church.
On one other particularly beautiful day we headed out of town about an hour to place with a big rock. I forgot the name of the place, so I will just call it, “big ass rock.”
Yup, its big alright. I didn’t feel like climbing all of those stairs wearing MX boots. So I just sat in the restaurant and enjoyed the view.
The big ass rock overlooks a beautiful scene with a lake.
Then of course, like every afternoon, it starts to rain. Every afternoon, its like a cow peeing on a flat rock.
I also took a ride around the countryside with some Colombians. They were all on KTM’s, mostly Supermotos, and were absolutely crazy. Being on the Adventure, there was no way I could keep up with those guys on the SM’s so I didn’t even try. Albert did a brilliant job of holding his own with those guys, but he later admitted that he scared himself a few times. I think those guys were impressed that a crazy Scotsman driving an Adventure with DS tires was right on their asses in the twisties.
During one of the breaks we took, one guy asked me why I drove so slow. I told him that I have about 30,000 miles to go on my trip and had enough crashes already without purposely riding like my helmet was on fire.
Which brings me to another thing. I LOVE riding in Colombia.
Basically, if you are on a big bike, there are pretty much no rules that apply to you. Pass a line of cars and trucks over a double yellow anytime you feel lucky, pass on the right through a sidewalk, shoulder, or parking area, do wheelies through the middle of town, go as fast as you have the guts to go, split lanes between same direction and opposite direction traffic like there is a middle lane, (not recommended with panniers) blow by cops riding V- Stroms and DR 650’s like they are going in reverse, and generally ride like a hooligan. If you did this stuff in the states you be locked up within 15 minutes and they would probably throw away the key, but this is normal riding in Colombia. After Mexico and Central America, I thought I had seen some crazy stuff on motos, but these Colombians take it to a whole new level. Like I said, motorcycle heaven.
The KTM mafia meets for a Sunday ride at the local gas and gulp.
We drew a little crowd everywhere we went.
Another pretty town, San Something or other.
Another road side soda stop. You wont catch these guys riding to a Juan Valdez Cafe or barhopping on a bike. When they go for a Sunday ride, they ride hard, all day.
We started off with about 9 bikes then we got down to 5 or so. They were nice enough to wait for me when a turn was coming up.
Crazy Phil, a crazy gringo that left Costa Rica and came to Colombia.
The afternoon storms start to build up.
So after 220 miles of general hooliganism, we headed back to the shop, had a beer, and called it a day. I was tired out from riding with these guys and after one beer, was ready to pack it in.
So ends my stay in Medellín. Al and I headed to Pereira where there was going to be a big moto rally.
The ride out was great.
However it poured down rain for the next two days so without attending the rally, Al headed back to Medellín, and I continued my journey south to Cali where I have been for a few days. Next up, Ecuador.
Al, thanks for the hospitality and showing me around the country amigo, it was greatly appreciated!
Saludos, Vicente