Colombian Trailblazer

Seven nights across the Colombian Andes, guided, on dirt bikes, which was the first tour this operator ran in 2019.

Bogota is the start, and the route leaves the city on a disused railway line that runs beside the Black River, which is the sort of surface that sets the tone for the rest of the week. Ubate follows at a colonial hacienda, which is the last comfortable night before the riding gets serious.

The Andes passes come next, with the route climbing and dropping across an altitude range from around two hundred metres to four thousand, which takes in most of the climates South America offers. Nevado del Ruiz stands over the middle of it, a snow-capped volcano that is still active. The Magdalena River is crossed on small boats, then hot spring pools, the coffee region, and dried riverbeds and forest single-track before Armenia at the end, where the flight home goes from.

Bike hire is included, on a Honda XR300L, with a discount for anyone bringing their own. Eight days of pure dirt riding is demanding and the altitude range makes it more so: the gear that works at four thousand metres is not the gear that works at two hundred, and both happen in the same day. Some off-road experience is assumed. The dry seasons run roughly December to March and July to August. This is the shortest of the operator’s tours and the most concentrated, which suits a rider with a week to spare and no interest in sightseeing between the trails.