Day 1
Arrival in Salento
We begin by flying into Pereira and then transferring to Salento, Colombia. Salento's altitude is a manageable 1895 m/6217 ft, and it's an unbelievably picturesque town with coffee estates, verdant countryside, and brightly painted, colorful buildings. It's a perfect place to settle into Colombian life and prepare for your Colombia MTB holiday. If you're feeling especially ambitious, you can take a quick hike in the Cocora Valley before dinner to check out the dreamlike, verdant landscape and the tallest wax palm trees in the world (literally). If you don't have the time or the energy for that, though, you can get a bird's-eye view of the town by hiking up to Salento's mirador, a viewpoint won after an easy climb up the stairs at the end of Calle Real. From there, you can see out over the entire valley. Make sure you get back and get some rest, though — we'll hit the trails hard on the first day!
Lodging: Cairo Hotel
Day 2
Intro to Colombia Mountain Biking – MTB Trails: Alegrias, Ruta Cairo, and El Ocho
Today is your introduction to mountain biking in Colombia! We'll be taking you to three different places — two trails and one bike park. This will give you a taster of the diversity of Colombia's MTB scene, from rugged backcountry singletrack to sweet jump lines in bike parks.
After meeting with your guide in the morning, you'll load up the bikes and equipment in the support vehicle to head to one of the highest-rated tracks in Colombia, Alegrias. Nieblas Heading out of town we'll wind up dirt roads to its starting point. This classic 8 km track flows through beautiful pine forest and stunning countryside landscapes. After that, we'll head to El Ocho, an ancient, quick-moving, techy trail across the ancient National path boasting berms, rock faces, and rock gardens. This trail deposits you right back in town. Then, after a round of high-fives and waters, we'll head over to El Cairo Bike Park, Salento's new bike park that has 3 different trails, jumps, and many other features.
After an action-packed day behind the handlebars, you'll relax at the Cairo Hotel, a beautiful historic house in Valle Cocora, where you can sip a cold beer and stretch your legs around its beautiful grounds.
Stats — Alegrias: 8.5 km/5.06 mi · Max 2727 m/8948 ft · Ascent 98.7 m · Descent 838 m. El Ocho: 3.26 km/2.03 mi · Max 2491 m · Ascent 70 m · Descent 389 m. El Cairo Bike Park: TBD.
Meals Included: B, L, Snacks. Lodging: Cairo hotel Salento.
Day 3
Journey to Manizales & Screaming Downhill
After a solid rest and a filling, Colombian-style breakfast, we'll take off on a beautiful drive through the heart of Colombia's coffee growing region. Colombia produces a whopping 11.5 million bags of beans per year, the second highest in the world behind Brazil. In 2011, UNESCO declared the "Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia" a World Heritage Site. The paved route through these breathtaking coffee fields will lead us to Manizales, the home and training grounds of one of the top DH riders in the world, Marcelo Gutierrez.
Manizales, a bustling city of 400,000 inhabitants, is surrounded by steep mountains, so you can imagine how epic the mountain biking will be. We'll hit the trails right when we get there: we start with Carlaca, the famous line rightfully called "La Linea".
The lodging tonight is quintessentially Colombian — you'll be staying in a finca, or a country estate on the outskirts of the town. Take some time while you're there to learn about the rich history of fincas in Spanish culture. You'll feel transported back in time!
Stats — Infernal: 3.19 km/2 mi · Max 1601 m · Ascent 309 m · Descent 520 m. El Gordo: 3.28 km/2.4 mi · Max 1606 m · Ascent 302 m · Descent 450 m. El Colibri: 3.17 km/2 mi · Max 1922 m · Ascent 181.5 m · Descent 540 m.
Meals included: B, L, Snacks. Lodging: Salento.
Day 4
Rocky and Rowdy Elvira MTB Trail
Today's the day to bring your A-game — you'll shred a legendary, ancient singletrack path starting at almost 4,000 m/13,123 ft called La Elvira. You'll descend 1,581 m/5,187 ft through thick, deep cloud forest. We'll be riding down trail with overhead jungle coverage, slick rocks, and steep gradients. The trail finishes off in the best zone of the city to fill up on cold beers and hearty Colombian food!
Stats — Elvira trail into Manizales: 19.71 km/12.25 mi · Max 3772 m · Ascent 323 m · Descent 1640 m.
Meals included: B, L, Snacks. Lodging: Finca in Manizales.
Day 5
Rest day in Beautiful Manizales
There's a cable car just a short walk from your lodging that crosses the valley to the center of Manizales. The city has tons to offer, including the beautiful, massive Manizales Cathedral whose towers you can climb for a view of the city and the iconic Monument to the Colonists, a stirring bronze tribute to the first settlers of the region. While in the city, make sure you try one of the arepas or a pandebonos that you'll smell as you walk down the street. Of course, if you're looking merely to rest your legs after three days in a row of intense mountain biking, no one would fault you for lounging on the grounds of your gorgeous finca.
Meals included: B. Lodging: Finca in Manizales.
Day 6
Intense Enduro MTB Adventure El Desquite
Wishing for a long, sustained enduro adventure? Today's all-day ride starts at 3690 m/12,100 ft in Nevados National Park. Today will be an adventure. This ride takes us into the wilds of Colombia. We will be far from any villages or people and really have to have full energy to sustain the day. We will carry with us a full lunch as the pedal time alone is 4 hours not including stops and breaks.
This trail has lots of climbing and descending. Included in today's ride is the famous Subida al Cielo, which is a 370 m/1200 ft steep climb over 1.4 km/.85 mi.
The trail ends at a unique molasses farm known as panela chancaca.
Stats — El Desquite Adventure: 33.62 km/21 mi · Max 3749 m · Ascent 2132 m · Descent 2401 m.
Meals included: B, L, snacks. Lodging: Finca in Manizales.
