Bicycle Routes Travel Tips

Motorcycle Off-Road Adventure – Valle de Cauca

Patryk is someone I met when I came to Cali. He owns a hostel and restaurant here and speaks English, Spanish, Polish, and some other languages. I’ve had a great time in his company. When we talked about the things one can do when being in the Valle de Cauca region, he came up with the suggestion to go for a ride together. Now, what happened was beyond all of my wildest expectations!

What happened was the Motorcycle Off-Road Adventure with myself and Patryk ripping through the Valle de Cauca on my Honda XRE 300 and his KTM 790. I was a bit surprised at how well the Honda XRE could keep up. The learning curve for off-road riding is quite steep but flattens out very fast. I’ve tried this type of riding before, and the Metzeler SAHARA 3 tires do make a difference.

I took several hours of footage. I must say that this adventure is the most exciting thing that I’ve done in my whole life, and I’ve done a few!

Valle de Cauca region offers such a variety of opportunities to explore. Valleys shown in this footage are not only covered by coffee plantations, but also sugarcane, soy, and cotton. Part of its western ridge is open to the Pacific Ocean, but there are vast jungle areas at places almost completely deforested because of the very developed paper industry. On its south, the valley is bordered by the Cauca River, and this part of the region and country is considered to be the most fertile grounds in the country.

And everything is new! These parts are not touched by western culture. So the architecture here is simple and pragmatic. The main materials used for building are wood, stone, and bricks.

Patryk is from these parts, and he knew what he was getting involved in. I had no idea! I just followed him and tried to absorb the beauty of the landscape we were surrounded with and follow the road ft. staying alive at the same time. On some parts, the road seemed as a wordy way WAY overstatement! We took a ride on the landslide, and it was CRAZY! My guide to this adventure is a hell of a driver! This was supposed to be a beginners’ course and I wonder how would intermediate and advanced levels look and feel like. All the time I had to make sure to record everything, pointing my head and my helmet in the right direction.

We’d taken a stop here and there, and I took a look from the side of the mountain, doing some dirt jumps. The road was pretty nice: you go up, and when it finishes you have to go through railroad tracks. I called this to be Colombian Champs-Elysees.

I was also aware of the fact that I was driving a new motorcycle, and I didn’t want to take too risky calls. I got reflective a bit, remembering the old days, riding a bicycle. But I am way more satisfied with the transit to motorcycles. It’s a million times better experience. Remember that story about the most dangerous and fun ride I have ever done some time ago? Well, that was a baby ride! Now I am exploring options to go with bigger bike tires and do some changes regarding the equipment. But this was not a ride, it is rather a workout, something like wrangling. I’ve never pushed the bike this hard.

Talking about economically living: I am living here on a thousand bucks a month and inhaling so many experiences: riding through clouds, breathing pure oxygen, being surrounded by sweet mother of nature.

After this, please let there be engraved on my thumb stone: I can do it!

Thanks for being here and do go to my YouTube channel and see for yourself that this was indeed a lot of fun. Do stay tuned for the next adventure!