2014 (The Book of the Bike 2014) 2014
The Book of the Bike 2014
(The Book of the Bike 2014)
El libro de la
This book is also an invitation to get on a bicycle and start pedaling for a different city.
SECRETARĂ?A DE CULTURA, RECREACIĂ“N Y DEPORTE
is a bet of the SCRD aimed at encouraging citizens to take action in the promotion of the bicycle culture in Bogota and the use of this sustainable and environmentally friendly means of transportation as a part of culture, sports and recreation activities that may contribute to mitigate climate change effects and, of course, comply with the objectives and conclusions of world meetings on urban planning. The bicycle is, without a doubt, the most revolutionary tool in world history. It closes the gap between rich and poor, creates supportive citizens that share the same public space and promote social equity. This book is intended to provoke substantial changes in the mobility culture, in the way we take ownership of our territory. Each experience herein narrated is a way of eliminating barriers and stigmas created by predatory city models. Each story of this second edition invites us to imagine a different city, a city for people, a city that protects life.
(The Book of the Bike 2014)
Bogota's Mayor Office Office of the Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports Directorate of Recreational and Sports Cultures Deputy Sub-directorate of Politics and Promotion
Design, Diagramming and Electronic Set Up Jaime Beranyer Sanabria Lara www.crisalida.us
First Edition, November 2014 Gustavo Petro Urrego Principal Mayor of Bogota Clarisa Ruiz Correal Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports Juan Fernando Acosta Mirkow Director of Recreational and Sports Culture Laura Marcela Acuña Santamaría Deputy Director of Policies and Development Deisy Vargas Marín Nydia Miranda Support team in the Office of the Deputy Director of Policies and Development Álvaro Castillo Coordinator of Publications in the Advisory Office of Communications Editorial Coordination Javier Beltrán
Cover Design Natalia Martínez, SCRD; photograph: John Gaitán, SCRD Translation Direction of International Relations General Secretary's Office Bogota's Mayors Office Printing Subdirección Imprenta Distrital - D.D.D.I Printed and prepared in Colombia ISBN 978-958-8877-50-1
All rights reserved. Neither part of this publication may be copied, saved in any recoverable system or transmitted in any manner or by any magnetic, electronic, copy, recording or any other means, without previous written consent of editors.
Table of Contents The Bike in the New Urban Paradigm ............................................ 9 Preamble .................................................................................. 11 Introduction ............................................................................. 13 1. Pedaling for a Human Bogota ................................................. 17 Pedal for Bogota ................................................................ 18 Week of the Bike ............................................................... 24 2. Bogota Doesn’t Have Sea ... But It Has ... Ciclovia: 40 Years! ..... 27 Information Data .............................................................. 40 Services ............................................................................ 42 Some Statistics on the Ciclovia: Use and Enjoyment by the People of Bogota .......................................................................... 46 3. Prominent Bikeusers ............................................................ 55 Mónica Davila Valencia ........................................................ 57 Pilar Munar ........................................................................ 60 Katherine Suavita ............................................................... 63 Jorge Ropero ...................................................................... 66 Andres Felipe Zapata ........................................................... 69 Wilfran Lopez .................................................................... 72 Camilo Rey Ladino .............................................................. 76 Walter Garcia ..................................................................... 79 Luz Estela Perez ................................................................. 82 César Alberto Castro ........................................................... 84 4. Urban Races ......................................................................... 89 Bogocat ............................................................................ 90 Alleycat the Rat ................................................................. 92
5. Bikenetwork .......................................................................... 95 The Tortuga Gang and the Dream of Re-Cycling to Create a New Civic Culture ............................................................. 96 Latin American High Ride of Women on Bikes .......................... 98 4th International Water Cyclejourney through the Sumapaz Tundra ................................................................ 103 Wetlands and Bicycles, a Natural Combination ........................ 106 I say Fuck Cars, Go Bike ...................................................... 108 Recyclovia, a Space for Riding, Pedaling and Recycling .............. 110 To the American by Bike ...................................................... 114 Green Skin ........................................................................ 115 Bikennedy Bogota
 ............................................................. 118 Chiks Bikes Bogota Collective ............................................... 119 The Cycleride of Light. Urban Awareness Mobilizes by Bike ........ 121 ConcienBiciate (Raising Awareness on the Use of Bikes) .......... 125 Mountain Biking for Women, a Course to Learn Technical Skills with Experts ............................................................. 127 Be Part of Bogota .............................................................. 129 Villa Cindy. Riding Solidarity and Hope .................................. 131 6. BMX ...................................................................................... 137 BMX and the Reinvention of Spaces and the Concept of Citizenship .................................................................... 140 BMX is My Life .................................................................. 144 7. Bikentrepreneurship .............................................................. 151 Basilisco Bike Bogota .......................................................... 154 Tourist Biking Bebike, a Different Way of Seeing the City .......... 156 Bicipachanga ..................................................................... 158 Bicycle Film Festival, a Cultural Platform to Celebrate the Bicycle ........................................................................ 160 BikerFood .......................................................................... 163 Bogocleta. There is Another Path .......................................... 164 Cornelia Bikes .................................................................... 166 Creatorio ........................................................................... 168
The BMX Photographer ........................................................ 171 Fixeito Messenger. Bicycle Messaging .................................... 174 Gaia Bikes. Another Way of Seeing the Bike ............................. 176 Go Bike Radio .................................................................... 178 LaCicla.in .......................................................................... 179 Laika Bikes ........................................................................ 181 Pazicleta. More than a Bike, an Educational Tool ...................... 182 The Bike Sound Lowrider ....................................................... 184 Lemon Green ..................................................................... 186
8. Bicycle Dreams and Challenges ................................................ 189 Between Rings and Wheels ................................................... 190 Riding on Zafiro ................................................................. 192 Utopia on a Bike ................................................................. 194 That Piece of Magical Junk Called Bicycle ................................ 196 Promotion of Civic Culture in the Mobility Scenario ................... 198 The Shadows of Dieguito ...................................................... 200 Rodarte ............................................................................ 202 Mobility from the Grupo GUIA’s Bike ...................................... 204 It is Not a Matter of Pedaling ............................................... 206 Pavement Prowlers .............................................................. 208 Life in the Locality ............................................................. 210 Bicycle Diaries and Dreams ................................................... 212 #TheJokerBike .................................................................. 214 Beijing and Bogota on Two Electric...Wheels ........................... 216 Sovereignty and Food Security by Pedal ................................. 220 Who would have thought that? ............................................. 223 Manifesto of the Bogota Bicycle ........................................... 225 Ride On ............................................................................. 228 Supplement: Todos la rodamos, cut-out comic book
....................... 231
Photography Credits ................................................................... 247
The Bicycle in the New Urban Paradigm
U
r b an settlements have become the main cause of damage of the planet in the last century. Planning models have focused on the market’s logic, with its development axis in the consumption of fossil fuels for building infrastructures designed for the promotion of the use of personal vehicles. In the 20th century cities have responded to the logic of irresponsible consumption of natural resources, underestimating the importance of water and devastating the forest reservoirs and ecosystems in their territories. Cities in the last century made part of frenzied industrialization processes, which resulted injurious to the planet. In consequence, our current cities are chaotic, polluted, gray-colored, and face the challenge posed by the effects of climate change. The new urban paradigm has included in the international agencies and organizations agenda, not only concerned about the planet’s sustainability but about the planning and development of metropolis that may adapt to the devastating impact of climate change, the importance of modifying the mobility systems of cities, thanks to a new cultural change seeking to save the planet from pollution, chaos and deforestation. The Development Plan of the city of Bogota proposes to recover the human aspect of a city which planning left water aside, and promote the defense of life in all its manners as a premise for future planning. Regarding this challenge, accepted by the project Bogota Humana, pedestrians and cyclists are the main participants of mobility throughout the city. The planning made to pedestrianize the historic downtown, the implementation of bicycle lending systems in several corridors in Bogota, the construction of more than a hundred kilometers of bike lanes in former car lanes and the promotion of the bike culture, brought to life in this digital and printed publication, are some of the actions taken by this administration in order to produce a paradigm shift in a city that adapts to climate change and develops strategies to mitigate its effects over population.
9
The book of the Bike 2014
Cities in the 21st century are compelled to take space to personal vehicles and deliver it to pedestrians, cyclists and public transportation, using new and clean technologies as strategy in this new model of modern metropolis foreseen in the global agenda. In order to achieve that, we are in need of citizens, organizations and collectives working for cultural change of new generations, which, in their role as transforming agents of the new citizens, contribute to the project developed in Bogota, aimed at establishing and leading a global agenda for the construction of sustainable and human cities. The bicycle is the instrument to achieve that goal. Gustavo Petro Urrego Principal Mayor of Bogota
10
Preamble
T
he Ciclovia, which celebrates its 40th anniversary, has become a space for the convergence of cultural, artistic, recreational and sports expressions every Sunday, gathering more than one million people who take over the city without any distinctions of class, race or gender. The Ciclovia is a place for interculturality; going over it strengthens links of brotherhood and solidarity. Our sector, by means of the District’s Institute for Recreation and Sports (IDRD, in Spanish), has been working on the consistent evolution of the Ciclovia. We have gone from 24 kilometers (14.9mi) of closed roads to 121 Km (75,19mi), covering 19 out of 20 localities throughout the city with a variety of services ranging from the School of the Bike to hydration points for pets. In the preface of the book: Diez bicicletas para treinta sonambulos (Ten Bikes for Thirty Sleepwalkers), Eloy Tizon says that the bicycle is a vehicle moved by desire, which engine is made out of dreams. That is precisely what this book contains: the dreams of citizens who build inclusive societies and take over Bogota on their bikes, spreading through the streets and avenues a message of freedom, solidarity and sustainability, values that identify a new kind of citizenship: the citizenship of the urban cyclists. Everyday more and more people in this city accept the challenge and responsibility to provide clean and sensible actions to turn this territory into a friendly place. The bicycle is the engine of the dreams of many people who bring interculturality to this city, where the wish to work for the preservation of the planet comes true with each one of the activities that collectives, organizations or regular citizens undertake everyday through the processes they all lead. We are glad to present the second edition of the Book of the Bike, as it gathers all the memories of the efforts made by Bogota Humana towards the recognition and consolidation of a new community of citizens demanding attention to be paid, rules to be applied and incentives to be given for the necessary achievement of cultural transformation, which along with the sectors of transportation, environment, education and health, may contribute to the construction of a more human city. Clarisa Ruiz Correal Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports
11
Introduction
D
u r in g the High-Level Dialogue on Cities, Transport and Tourism for the implementation of the Rio+20 Decisions, held in Bogota in August 2014, the issue on «how to reduce poverty, advance social equity and guarantee environmental protection in a more and more overcrowded planet»1 was discussed. The main outcome of this event on the future of cities was related to the transformation challenges regarding sustainable transportation and tourism. «Bogota arises as an international and national reference of good practices»2 , due to its contribution to matters related to urban sustainability, transportation and tourism, by hosting more than 500 guests all over the world to share common experiences and goals to achieve sustainability and development of human settlements. The bicycle, a protagonist in these talks, as well as in the World Urban Forum, organized by UN-Habitat last March in Medellin, has become the tool for cities to project and progress in a sustainable and friendly way, not only towards the planet but to the development of the human being as center of interest of all urban settlements. During the last two main events on sustainable planning and more human cities held last year, Bogota has become a reference in the implementation of public policies regarding the promotion of the use of bicycle. Our city is a pioneer in Latin America thanks to the rapid increase of bikeusers as a response to vehicular chaos, congestion of the different public transportation means and the need we all have to turn our lifestyle into a healthier one. The Global Forum on Human Settlements referred to the successful experiences and innovative goals achieved in Bogota regarding sustainable development, especially in the field of transportation, ecological restoration and heritage protection, establishing itself as a model for other cities in terms of work for a sustainable future. In the framework of this forum, Bogota received the Sustainable Culture award for the experience of the Ciclovia in Bogota. According to studies conducted by the Cultures Observation Center, an entity of the Culture, Recreation and Sports Secretariat (SCRD, in Spanish): «the Ciclovia of Bogota was not established by chance. It is a real matter rooted in a large 1 See : http://es.investinbogota.org/eventos/conferencia-rio20-Bogota-2014 2 Ibidem.
13
The book of the Bike 2014
part of the population. According to data provided by the Biennial Survey of Cultures 2013 (EBC, in Spanish), half of the population older than 13, living in urban areas, goes to the Ciclovia. Out of this, 8 percent goes every week. That 8 percent is equivalent to almost half million people with this habit and, therefore, constituting the pillar of this practice»3 The Ciclovia Bogota became the first pedal stroke of a bike promotion strategy; 40 years have passed from the first time the city took the risk to close during festivity mornings streets owned by cars and devote them to the use of children, young and adults, who made of this space the most important place for recreation, sports and physical activity in the city. The Ciclovia has been, for millions of inhabitants of Bogota, the place where for the first time they have rode a bike, the cradle of hundreds of thousands bikeusers who now prefer to mobilize through the city riding their two wheel-vehicle than suffering the stress of traffic jams; the Ciclovia is a cultural, artistic, recreational and sports space where no segregation is crystallized. Bogota Humana has bet on the bike as articulating axis in sustainable mobility. The Development Plan has posed new challenges to the city regarding strategies to relieve population pressure and decontaminating cities. Achievements regarding the use of bikes are tangible. The cultural, recreation and sports sector has understood the need of the Bogota population to mobilize in a clean and speedy way, and it has achieved progress aimed at transforming Bogota in a culturally responsible city towards the planet, through cultural change such as the bicycle culture. The program Pedalea por Bogota (Pedal for Bogota) applies pedagogical strategies for children, since they are the ones to help us to build a more sensitive city in 10 years. Al Colegio en Bici (To School by Bike) is a longterm strategy that is currently training more than three thousand children in schools to become regular bikeusers. The bikecorridors have also proven to be a tangible response to the need for bicycle lending systems in the city. With around two hundred thousand rides in the corridor of Carrera Septima and the activation of bikecorridors in Parque El Virrey, Parque Mundo Aventura and Avenida Jimenez, the inhabitants of Bogota now identify bikes provided by Bogota Humana as a city brand, as good as any other world’s public bicycle systems and a contribution to the promotion of its use as effective mechanism for social transformation. 3 Patiño, Otty. «Some Statistics on the Ciclovia: Use and Enjoyment by the People of Bogota ». The full article may be consulted in this Book of the Bike 2014.
14
The celebration of the Week of the Bike, the International Forum, the incentives for attendance, the logistical support to cyclerides in the city and the two editions of the Bogota’s Book of the Bike give shape to the strategy of this sector to strengthen and make visible the work developed by collectives, organizations and bikeusers, through actions that have awakened thousands of citizens, who now comprise a world network pleading for friendly, supportive and happy cities. The Book of the Bike 2014 is a project of the SCRD seeking to encourage citizen actions for the promotion of the bicycle culture in Bogota, and the use of this sustainable and environment friendly means of transportation as part of recreational, sports and cultural practices contributing to mitigate the effects of climate change and, of course, to meet the goals and mandates of world meetings on urban planning. The bicycle is undoubtedly the most revolutionary instrument in history. It closes the gap between the poor and the rich, shapes supportive citizens who share the same public space and promote social equality. This book is intended to provoke substantial changes in the mobility culture, in the way we take ownership of our territory. Each experience herein narrated is a way of eliminating barriers and stigmas created by predatory city models. Each story of this second edition invites us to imagine a different city, a city for people, a city that protects life. In this book you will find 82 different experiences, from the institutional challenge of this policy to the inspiration of citizens expressed in the chapter «Bicycle Dreams and Challenges», passing through the recognition to 10 bikeusers who every day live the city on two wheels. Urban races, bikentrepreneurship, the work in the network and the BMX are part of this institutional effort to make the bicycle culture in Bogota more visible, providing alternatives to mobility in the city, contributing to cultural change and producing social transformation. This book is also an invitation to get on a bicycle and start pedaling for a different city.
Laura Marcela Acuña Santamaría Deputy Director of Policies and Development
15
Pedaling for a Human Bogota
The book of the Bike 2014
Pedal for Bogota
P
edalea por Bogota (Pedal for Bogota) arises from the need of citizens to have proper, reliable and safe spaces to integrate bikes to their daily routine, implementing a series of strategies, elaborating initiatives, pedagogical and cultural processes for integration regarding the use of bikes as tools for change towards healthy life habits. This program is based on four specific elements: Bikecorridors: in April, 2012, the District Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD, in Spanish) launched the program Pedalea por Bogota to support pedestrianism initiatives of Carrera Septima and to facilitate the displacement of about 1 million people that daily go through this road in the capital city. The program started with the lending of 20 bikes for a very short route. This was new for citizens, and in short time many of them demanded more bikes and a larger route to ride. Therefore, the IDRD decided to extend the route to one and a half kilometer (0.93mi) up to Plaza de Bolivar. In May, 2013, a new assistance point was set up in Parque Santander, an online system for the registration of users and 50 new bikes, this time with novelties such as the tandem bicycle and small bikes for children. In consequence, the number of rides per day increased to about one thousand and we reached one hundred thousand visitors in February, 2014,
18
Due to the success of the bikecorridor in Carrera Septima, new options started to be considered and analyzed in order to provide this service in other places in the city; in this way, another bikecorridor was inaugurated in Parque El Virrey, in the North of Bogota. This bikecorridor is visited by a huge number of people from several localities, who go through this sector either to go to work, to school or just for tourism. Important progress has been made in this new corridor, such as selfsustainable stations operating with solar energy and used as offices, grocery stores and workshops for bicycles. Moreover, this bikecorridor has two mobile stations, which operate as public assistance points in Autopista Norte and Carrera 11. In August, a third bikecorridor started operations in the sector Mundo Aventura.
19
The book of the Bike 2014
Al colegio en bici (To School by Bike): this is a strategy to teach children and young people from district’s schools to transport there by bike. The care for environment, the inclusion as tool to overcome social segregation and the knowledge of the city provide the perfect conditions for the empowerment and defense of public spaces, essential pillars for the strengthening of the 2012-2016 Bogota Humana Development Plan. The proposal of this educational project is based on the idea that the bicycle gathers all the necessary elements to cause a cultural transformation regarding a new way of mobility in schools. Actions implemented under this project have produced positive change in the environment, health and approach to life in relation to other people, which makes of this a creative, interesting and transcendentally important project. With a view to changing the way of displacement, schools have been provided new spaces, initially, devoted to teach students about the bicycle and its parts, the different types of bicycles and the benefits of its use. This has given children a new perspective on bicycles as efficient, economic and healthy means of transportation to go to school. Finally, students are given information on the infrastructure, rules of use and citizen’s ability to propose, empower and become an active agent in the construction of a sustainable city, which is also an inclusive, healthy and protective. Around two thousand students have benefitted from this project so far. They have now acquired the necessary skills to ride a bike and have learned basic mechanics and traffic rules.
20
21
The book of the Bike 2014
Incentives: this strategy is part of the Programa Distrital de Estimulos Bogota Creativa y Diversa (A district program to give incentives to creative initiatives), under the SCRD. It aims at providing economic incentives to initiatives in favor of the culture of the bicycle.
In 2013, this project granted 160 million pesos to 16 citizen initiatives. In 2014, 14 initiatives have been granted 140 million of pesos.
22
The incentives program have allowed the sector of culture, recreation and sports to effectively promote the bicycle culture in Bogota and, supported by the groups, social organizations and different stakeholders of the bicycle community is leading the city towards cultural transformation. Support to cyclerides: the cycleride is a strategy aimed at bringing awareness and strengthening processes regarding the city in its full extension. Support to this initiative intends to reach the neighborhoods and localities which, from their different dynamics, have joined to the promotion of the bike as strategy for social transformation. Support has been provided to around 60 cyclerides, among which the Cachaco Cycleride, the Height Ride, the Cycleride of Light, the Cycleride of Colors and the Blind Cycleride.
23
The book of the Bike 2014
Week of the Bike
I
n 2012, the sector for culture, recreation and sports decided to support the civic collectives who had been celebrating, for four years until then, the Week of the Bike. Under agreement with the IDRD, the SCRD organized, with the common consent of the workgroups of bikeusers collectives, the fifth and sixth editions of this celebration. With an investment over 750 million of Pesos, many activities were programmed to take place during this event, such as the International Forum of the Bike, the Expo Bici, Bike Park, Pedaleando por Bogota and the publication of the Book of the Bike 2013. All these activities gathered more than twenty thousand participants and two hundred thousand attendants. The Bogota Week of the Bike is recognized at world level by its international guests, bicycle entrepreneurs and agenda of activities for citizens, which make of this the Colombia’s biggest bicycle party.
24
25
Bogota Doesn’t Have Sea...
But It Has...
Ciclovia: 40 Years!
The book of the Bike 2014
The Bogota Ciclovia is a playful space in favor of the use of free time, recreation and sports, where roads traditionally used by cars are closed to allow the performance of activities such as bike riding, roller skating, walking or jogging, among others. The Ciclovia is available from 7:00 am to 2:00pm every Sunday and holidays in the main roads of Bogota, interconnected in a circuit of 113.6 Km (70.59mi) that covers all the city’s sectors. On December 15, 1974, the first attempt to what today is known as Ciclovia was made. That was the first time people of Bogota occupied streets with the main purpose of taking ownership of a space until then exclusively for the use of motor vehicles. The «Mitin a favor de la cicla» (Rally in favor of the bike), as titled by the newspaper El Tiempo, was the initiative of an independent nonprofit organization called Procicla, and the Administrative Department of Traffic and Transportation, which enabled the transit of bicycle through the two main roads of the city, Carrera Septima and Carrera 13, between streets and the city downtown, for three hours, from 9:00 to Midday. This event was attended by more than five thousand people, who expressed their feelings against the proliferation of cars, the environmental pollution and the lack of recreational activities in the city. In 1976, the Alcaldia Mayor de Bogota decided to devote strategically located roads to the exclusive use of cyclists and pedestrians. In June 7 of that year, it also issued the 566 and 567 decrees creating the Ciclovias, and provided for their
30
different modalities depending on the specific use of each one and considered the possibility of establishing a specific period of time for the temporary exclusive use of bicycles, as it is the case of the Sunday and holidays Ciclovia - which operation still abides by those decrees – or permanent, as it was finally decided with the establishment of cycletracks, currently known as bike paths. These decrees provided full operation to the Ciclovia as of June 20, 1976 and established four routes: the circuits Salitre-Ciudad Universitaria, Olaya-El Tunal, Parque Nacional-Funicular and the North Circuit.
31
The book of the Bike 2014
Over the years the Ciclovia has transformed and gone through important initiatives in the eighties up to modernization in the nineties. In 1995, after the IDRD assumed the administration of the Ciclovia, an analysis was conducted on the type of population visiting the sections composing the 24 kilometers (14.91mi) available to that date, the behavior of that population and reviews were made on the possibilities to connect the South and North of the city, giving priority to parks, followed by sports scenarios and finally the tourism, architectonical, cultural and historical sites of the city. All this was intended to elaborate organized and structured circuits. According to the studies conducted during those years, the Ciclovia extended from 24 (14.91mi) to 121 (75.19mi) kilometers and, in 2006, took place one of the most important events in the history of this program: the Relaunching of the Ciclovia, which was held in August 13, and comprised a cycleride from the Plaza de Bolivar throughout the main roads of the Ciclovia: Carrera Septima, Carrera 15, Calle 116, Avenida Boyaca, Avenida
32
calle 26. Finally, some recreational activities were performed in the Parque Metropolitano Simon Bolivar to present the new slogan of the program: ÂŤCiclovia rueda la vidaÂť (Ciclovia rides life).
33
The book of the Bike 2014
This relaunching was the beginning of a new phase of the program, including a variety of new services for users, among which the assistance modules (food and beverages, cycle workshops, sport elements and assistance to users), assistance points for pets, Recommendation and Advice on Physical Activity points (RAFI, in Spanish), extreme sports points and children’s stations. After 40 important years of development and change, the program of the Ciclovia is currently composed by 113.6 kilometers (70.63mi): 4.78km (2.97mi) of bike paths, 5.1km (3.17mi) are currently out of work in sector Yomasa and 844 meters (0.52mi) in the connection Park Way and Calle 26. The other 7.5 kilometers (4.66mi) correspond to 6.6 kilometers (4.14mi) of the Avenida NQS corridor and 848.45 meters (0.53mi) of Calle 127, between Avenida Boyaca and Avenida Suba, which were suspended for mobility measures.
34
The Ciclovia goes through 17 out of 20 localities in Bogota. It doesn’t operate in the localities of Rafael Uribe, Sumapaz and Barrios Unidos; nonetheless, this last locality may be reached through the network of bike paths. Currently, the number of users has increased journey after journey and year after year; for instance, the journey with the largest number of attendants in 2013 was in January 27, with around 1,928,000 users, and the night journey, in the framework of the Bogota Summer Festival, was in August 6, with 2,900,000 users. Currently, the Ciclovia of Bogota may be visited on Sundays and holidays. Operation begins at 4:00pm and the night journeys begin at 3:00pm. The Human Talent involved in the operation of the Ciclovia is as follows: one general coordinator, 200 promoters of the Ciclovia, 20 chief promoters of routes and special programs, 5 technical and operation coordinators of the program, 40 drivers, 170 workers, 450 assistants (middle education degreed), 500 social servers and 300 merchants. In addition, staff from the District Health Secretariat provides support, as well as the Traffic Police.
Regarding material resources, around 40 trucks, a light truck, 700 fences, six to nine thousand traffic cones and connectors – depending on the journey -, 5 kilometers (3.11mi) of security tape and 500 signs and campaigns are available.
35
The book of the Bike 2014
The Ciclovia has hosted national and international events; more than 26 athletic races a year are developed in some of the circuits or corridors, including the Bogota half Marathon. It has also served as a model for more than 30 cities all over the world, including more than 10 countries. It has been recently visited by representatives of United States, Japan, Venezuela, Canada, Russia, Puerto Rico and Denmark, and it was recognized by the Administrative Department of Public Service, in 2003, as the most remarkable and successful program. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Physical Activity Network of the Americas (RAFA/PANA) have granted the Ciclovia the most important award by naming it as the program that contributes to make of Bogota the most active and healthy city in the Americas. Also, the Agreement 386 of 2009 has declared the Ciclovia as Social, Recreational and Sports Interest Heritage.
36
A study conducted by the Universidad de Los Andes concluded that for each dollar invested in the Ciclovia in Bogota other three dollars are saved for health benefits related to the practice of physical activity, which represents expected net annual savings for 13 million dollars. On November 13, 2005, Bogota hosted the First International Conference on Recreational Ciclovias of the Foundation of Recreational Ciclovias of the Americas, organized in Colombia in a joint initiative with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the community of promoters of non-motorized mobility and sustainable urban development. Among the world’s ciclovias, the Ciclovia of Bogota is the most internationally recognized, as it promotes physical activity, sports, recreation and proper use of free time. It has become a motivator of social economy, and a model of work among institutions led by the Alcaldia Mayor de Bogota. It has also positioned itself as the main promoter of the use of bicycle as alternative means of transportation, involving the generation of new healthy habits for a more human and friendly city.
37
The book of the Bike 2014
The SCRD, in the framework of the High Level Dialogue on Cities, Transportation and Tourism for the implementation of the Rio+20 Decisions, held in August, 2014, was granted the Global Human Settlements Award in Sustainable Culture for the program of the Ciclovia of Bogota.
38
39
The book of the Bike 2014
Information Data Service Stations: these are points where users may find several alternatives to meet their needs: accessories sales, workshop for reparation of bicycles and sale of food and beverages. Social Servers: students from tenth to eleventh high school degrees provide social service as required by schools. They guide users of the Ciclovia, distribute information on the events of the IDRD and allied entities, conduct pedagogical campaigns and serve from 6:45am to 2:45pm. As these servers are underage students providing a community service, they are not authorized to handle vehicle traffic.
40
Promoters and Chiefs of Route in the Ciclovia: higher education students trained and skilled to guarantee the provision of an efficient service to users of the Ciclovia. They are instructed to: prevent and assist incidents, prevent and assist in the case children get lost, close the roads, guide cyclists, organize, locate and supervise authorized merchants, supervise the work of social servers. They serve from 6:00am to 3:30pm. Moreover, the chiefs of routes supervise the work performed by the promoters and social servers. They are the highest authorities in the corridors of the Ciclovia. Road Assistants: young men and women trained and skilled to guide users in specific crosses with high vehicle flow. Around 35 persons are currently involved in the program and devote their time to provide security and contribute to the safety of users who enjoy the Ciclovia. In the different points, people may find staff trained to support in the crossing of high traffic, speed and accident zones. Educational and pedagogical campaigns: some messages of these campaigns: Do not neglect your bike, watch it; the helmet protects your life, use it; do not neglect your children, do not let them ride alone; reduce your speed, the Ciclovia is intended for relax; keep always the right side of the road and always walk up and down the bridges; bring your pet with collar and pick up the waste; do not take passengers in the top tube, prevent accidents; check the mechanic state of your bike periodically; do not give your bike to strangers.
41
The book of the Bike 2014
Services The School of the Bike: this school was inaugurated in 2007 to all those inhabitants of the capital city who want to learn to ride a bike. This service is provided for free, and it is available to the whole population every weekend from 8:30 to 12:30 midday, in two points enabled to teach lessons. ÂŤThe Ciclovia teaches youÂť. Lending of Bikes: every weekend, 30 non-conventional bikes (one-seat tricycles, one-seat quadricycles and fourseat quadricycles) are available in two points of the Ciclovia and are distributed to users of the corridors to be enjoyed in family.
42
Healthy Zones and Safe Zones: with the purpose of promoting the wellbeing and relief of users, the IDRD launched the ÂŤSafe CicloviaÂť, a plan for families aimed at promoting the safe enjoyment of the Ciclovia. In the Healthy Zones and Safe Zones users may find hydration services, even for pets; stretching zone, a space that also provides the guide of a professional expert to learn how to prevent bruises and cramps; wellbeing zone, with public restrooms perfectly equipped; diaper changing zone and health zone, with a kit of primary care and staff trained to assist emergencies. Re-cycling: an initiative that teaches people in the Ciclovia to help the planet by recycling. Every weekend five troops composed by six promoters (two riding bikes, three logistical supporters and one supervisor), instructed to bring a message of invitation to join this project. They ride bikes made of recycled PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) to teach people adequate recycling. Each troop carries mobile waste containers to classify waste appropriately.
43
The book of the Bike 2014
Night Ciclovia: in August, the roads traditionally closed on Sundays and holidays are closed for the Night Ciclovia, where citizens may enjoy celebrations in the occasion of the Anniversary of the city of Bogota. In December, these same corridors are available for people to watch the Christmas lights and enjoy the different activities that take place during this event, which has been attended by around three million users, the highest attendance in its history.
44
Theme Ciclovia: the Ciclovia celebrates several commemoration dates and highlights the importance of each one of them during Sundays and holidays. Themes and special activities for all users, celebrations usually take place in different points of the Ciclovia: in April, Children’s Month; May, Mother’s Month; June, Father’s Month; August, Pet’s Month; September, Love and Friendship Month; and October, Halloween Month.
45
The book of the Bike 2014
Some Statistics on the Ciclovia: Use and Enjoyment by the People of Bogota
By: Otty PatiĂąo, Cultures Observation Center, SCRD
T
he Ciclovia of Bogota was not established by chance. It is a real matter rooted in a large part of the population. According to data provided by the Biennial Survey of Cultures 2013, half of the population older than 13 living in urban areas goes to the Ciclovia. Out of this, 8 percent goes every week. That 8 percent is equivalent to almost half million people with this habit and, therefore, constituting the pillar of this practice. The largest stay in the Ciclovia is between 2 and 3 hours, a bit more than the fourth part of the population visiting the Ciclovia. A similar percentage of people goes to the Ciclovia to ride bikes, which makes of this activity the most popular with 24.6 percent – which represents around one million and a half people - , followed by hiking with 17.4 percent, jogging with 3 percent and skating with 1.7 percent. Not leaving aside a 0.3 percent of people who go to practice aerobics in
46
the areas devoted to such activity. And, even though 0.3 percent seems to be an insignificant figure, the truth is that it represents more than 17 thousand people. The Ciclovia is not the closing of roads every Sunday and holliday to grant a space usually used by car drivers to pedestrians and cyclists. The Ciclovia is the people who use and enjoy that space either individually or collectively, for fun or for practicing any programmed physical activity, as therapeutic practice or just for living it. And those people that make the Ciclovia increase every year. For instance, between 2011 and 2013 the number of users of the Ciclovia increased more than half a million of people. And not only that: the percentage of people spending between two and three hours increased almost 4 percent. This represents an estimated increase of 273,500 people.
47
The book of the Bike 2014
Bogota Humana has promoted the use of bikes and other non-polluting means of transportation. In the Ciclovia this use has increased 2.08 percent, which is equivalent to 182,519 people. Nonetheless, the use of bicycle has not significantly increased as everyday means of transportation against the motorcycle whose use has actually increased despite of all the risks it comprises. Clearly, the use of the Transmilenio collective transportation increases, while the use of personal vehicles has decreased in the last two years, which had been escalating up to 2011.
48
The Ciclovia has been also considered as a source of popular economy. Let’s see some data taken from a survey applied by the SCRD’s Cultures Observation Center in June 2014, in the framework of the process of shared analysis on human appropriation of the public space:
49
These figures of consumption per week are very conservative since they refer only to the usual users of the Ciclovia, which are the main pillar of this practice, the 8 percent of the population of Bogota older than 13 years. If we multiply that number by the fifty two weeks of the year, the result would be the very sizable amount of $ 189,607,491,736 for consumptions in one year during their stay in the Ciclovia4*. Even though not all the amount for consumption corresponds to the popular economy deployed along the Ciclovia, a large part is. Estimation of the users of the Ciclovia regarding these sales is as follows: 4 * Calculations and tables elaborated by Carlos Lindo, Coordinator of the Measuring Team in the Cultures Observation Center.
51
The book of the Bike 2014
As we have already stated, the Ciclovia is not an irrelevant project. It has occupied a place in the hearts and minds of all the inhabitants of the district. It contributes to unite families and friends, promote encounters, eradicate segregation and discrimination practices, and transform the city. Reasonably, according to the survey previously shown, 94 percent of users agree on declaring the Ciclovia as intangible heritage of the city.
52
Prominent Bikeusers
Monica Davila Valencia
6 6 8 like s
The book of the Bike 2014
«Riding through the city on a bike is getting a space of your own and making yourself a universal individual».
«T
he bike will always be an extension of my body, no matter what», says Monica Davila Valencia, a cuyabra (inhabitant of the city of Armenia, Colombia) who rides bike since she was a child and now, from her position as professor of the elective subject on environment in the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, where she teaches the virtues of riding bicycle as a mobility alternative, life style and linkage with the city. Monica is also part of the collective Nosotras Pedaleamos (We Pedal), a group of women that promotes the use of bicycles to take ownership of public spaces in Bogota. This collective also works to help women overcome their fears, demolish barriers, build self-confidence and build a civic culture. Likewise, Monica is part of La Ciudad VerdeLCV (The Green City), a national movement of civic synergy that promotes more sustainable cities and regions. Monica says that biking allows her to come back to her childhood and produces an amazing feeling
58
that she highly recommend to all those who are trying or deciding to ride a bike for the first time. She is a really enthusiast of the city and all it implies; she enjoys riding her bike, watching this human world inside the metropolis, its spaces, and imagining it as a space representation of time. The bike is for Monica an excuse, since it enables systems setting, convergence between the human worlds and a vast number of situations, such as mobilizing, recreating, transporting, enjoying, exercising, opposing, embellishing, etc. She conceives the bike as an element producing convergence and exchange that gives meaning to those who live it and define a time, space and territory; a means for the assembling of stories and memories, which sustains societies and establishes cohesion guidelines. The bike creates an identity, as well as a culture and social organization. Besides her work as activist, Monica contributes from the academy to the promotion of the use of bikes as lifestyle. Her example invites women to lose their fear to pedal throughout the city.
59
Pilar Munar 517 like s
P
ilar is a source of inspiration for women and men who love riding and working for cities where more people dare to live the bike experience. She is the only girl in her family, but her legs concentrate a strength envied by many, endless energy and winning spirit. Pilar decided to turn the TV off and join the riding any given Tuesday with SUBAse a la Bici (Get on the Bike in Suba). Since then, she changed her old habits and resolved to become a champion, and not only for her brother Fabian, who named her the champion of his life. Pilar wants to become a professional cyclist and represent Bogota in the world. The bike has made of Pilar and Fabian accomplices and dreamers. They ride kilometers together, discover the power of bikes in high speed descents and climb mountains as big beetles. She always wants to keep riding, in mountains and roads, covered by mud but with a big smile which has made of her a champion to all her family. They encourage her every cold morning to keep training and preparing to become a world level cyclist.
61
The book of the Bike 2014
One day, after receiving Nairo Quintana in a cyclist megatour, Pilar told her brother: ÂŤI want to be a champion; I want to be the best. And I will be the bestÂť. Currently, after a wild ride of 9 months, Pilar has gone from being a girl riding in bike paths and a messenger on bike, to be the female head of a local cycling club that sponsors her with uniforms, enrollments, transportation and food during races. Her presence in the podium of all the races she has participated into has given her recognition in the mountain biking competition field of the city. She has become a reference for women who dream of crossing over the bike paths to the bike tracks and the most enthusiastic promoter of the freedom that provides living on two wheels.
62
Katherine Suavita 505 like s
The book of the Bike 2014
K
athy had her first ride in 1993, but the chronic asthma she suffered forced her to put her bike aside for 10 years. In spite of this, at age 19, she experienced the monocycle, identified her juggling skills, and started a circus career. She has recently inaugurated, along with her partner, the bike store La Media Rosa, where they devote all their efforts to build eccentric, customized bikes depending on the preferences of the bikeusers. This woman is a circus artist, mother, friend and enthusiastic cyclist. In 2007, she met her partner, also a juggler, and since then everything changed: they see everything through the eyes of a bike; in 2008, they established an on wheel circus and go throughout the city with a mobile platform and music of drums performing the shows of Tricirko. That platform has also served to fill the streets of Bogota with music and the message of the culture of the bicycle with the Bicipachanga, a street party celebrated on bikes that allows this couple to break all the prototypes of the farra (wild party) and transform the urban landscape in pure festivity. Kathy affirms she has discovered, through documentaries and articles on professional and urban cycling, that her experiences are also lived in other places in the world, such as New York and the fixed gear. There is a clear trend to use bikes to take ownership of territories and produce encounters. Bikes bring to life all the spaces of the city, even those that have been forgotten. Since she returned to the bike, she has not stopped to ride on fixed-gear bikes, monocycles, road bikes, mountain bikes, monobikes and more recently, the Long John, a Dutch bike she uses to take her children to school and carry work tools.
64
She says her tall bike was stolen for twelve hours and it was recovered thanks to the effective action of her network of cyclist friends. She is recognized within the bicycle community as part of the image of the 2013 Cachaco Cycleride, some others recognize her as the bicycle repairer of their bikes in her workshop La Media Rosa, and others know her as the person who helped them to make their ideas to encourage the use of bike a reality.
65
Jorge Ropero 4 4 0 like s
J
orge Ropero, or seùor Ropero, as he is called by those who know him, is 63 years old, out of which he has spent 55 as bicycle repairer. He describes himself as an enthusiastic of his trade, which allows him helping a lot of people who, as himself, use their bikes on a daily basis as means of transportation. At age 8, this boyacense (from the Colombian Department of Boyaca) learned to repair bikes with a man that rented a room in his house. His hands have received and repaired from children’s tricycles to tricycles used for commercial activities, biketaxis and bicycles of watchmen, workers, students, amateur cyclists and renowned athletes. Wherever his services are needed, Seùor Ropero arrives on his bike and with his tools. His passion for helping others has taken him to work in the Ciclovia from its
67
The book of the Bike 2014
beginning and, due to that, he has had his own shop for 20 years, where he repairs, ensembles and paints bikes that he hopes to be used as much as he has used his. Passion in his voice when talking about bikes can’t be described, his kindness and his calm grant him the authority to give more than one advice to his customers who usually don’t expect to find such a detailed diagnosis. In few words, his love for this labor allows him to proudly affirm: «I think I will die working in my workshop».
68
Andres Felipe Zapata
428 like s
The book of the Bike 2014
A
ndr e s Felipe Zapata is a student of the SENA (National Learning Service) and, for several years, he has worked in the afternoon as bicycle courier in Fixeito Messenger. He has been to special and inhospitable places only reachable on a bike. Freedom memories and feelings are recalled by his experiences as incurable cyclist. Andres participates in several pro-bike activities and collectives in several cities of the country, which main purpose is to ÂŤmake progress on a clean and sustainable mobility for many cities, as heritage for future generationsÂť. One of his greatest desires is seeing a society that regards the bicycle as the greatest invention of humanity. Andres dreams of a city where new ecologic and sustainable technologies are applied, where the use of bike for the mitigation of the effects of climate change is encouraged.
70
According to Andres Felipe, ÂŤriding a bike is being independent and free to go anywhere, limitless. You may say that when you are riding you can feel freedom and smileÂť. He received his first bike from his parents, when he was 9 years old and, since then, he became such an enthusiastic of the bike as to participate in urban races such as Alleycat, Bogocat and Holycat. He has ridden MTBs, road bikes and Fidex. Andres has always arrived in the first places.
71
Wilfran Lopez 30 6 like s
W
ilfran came to Bogota more than 7 years ago, from Samaca, Boyaca, carrying only a suitcase and his bike. He had a hard time learning to move through a chaotic city, indifferent to cyclists and pedestrians alike. Any given day, when leaving the college, Wilfran was faced with an image that would change his life: hundreds of cyclists participating in the Wednesday Cycleride (CPM). It was the best birthday gift ever! Since that day, he started to
73
The book of the Bike 2014
attend every week the night rides and became one of the most renowned and active members of the family of urban cyclists. His work as activist has been linked to the pedagogical promotion of the use of bike, as well as the teaching of mechanics through the Bicigota collective, that he co-founded. He is also part of the logistic team of the CPM and is currently a promoter of the IDRD’s Ciclovia program. Wilfran championed the project of the School of the Bike, in addition to activities such as the Bikemuseum. He is a volunteer in the Bikeschool of the
74
Chiks Bikes collective, where he provides advice on methodology to teach children and adults to ride bikes. He is a defender of the Ciclovia in different scenarios of social mobilization and participates in urban intervention projects such as Piel Verde, 7000xBogota and La Hora del Planeta, among many others that, besides promoting the use of the bike, involve an environmental message. His passion for the bike and his work as promoter have also made of him a renowned activist in social networks through his twitter account: @ruedavida and the fan page: Bogota doesn’t have Sea, but It Has Ciclovia.
75
Camilo Rey Ladino
283 like s
The use of bikes in a city like Bogota contributes to improve mobility, diminish pollution and noise pollution, improve people’s economy, as well as their physical and mental health and shorten geographical, socioeconomic and gender distances. The bike promotes healthy habits for the city. The more cyclists it has, the better the city will be.
77
The book of the Bike 2014
C
amilo is a young man from Bogota; he is a cyclist and an activist defender of bikes as alternative means of transportation. As leader and observer of environmental projects, he has crossed the whole country by bike several times, as to lose count of the kilometers he has gone throughout this territory that inspires him as he recalls his adventures to the rhythm of a pedal.
He has spent almost all his life learning about bikes and uses them since he was a child, when his bothers picked him up in the garden on tricycles and bikes with training wheels. He remembers the moment when, sixteen years ago, he and his brother created a blog titled: «Pasion por el ciclomontañismo» (Passion for Mountain Cycling), which paved the way for the foundation of the Verde Extremo club, where he started to train and develop an optimal level for competition. Nevertheless, his passion was not placed on a professional career; he preferred the cyclejourneys and the development of that sensible and research spirit that has placed him as one of the greatest experts on urban cycling and social activism in Latin America. One day he rode all through the Colombian Caribbean coast; he spent more than one month pedaling, going from one place to another, going up and down the South American Andes; he didn’t want to arrive to his final destination, as he knew that this would mean the end of the trip. «Another time, we went from Bogota to Santa Marta. We spent only five days», Rey says while he smiles and remembers other stories of his trips. Rey is champion of bikepolo in Colombia. He has represented the country in two occasions at South American level. Camilo Reyes may sum up «a whole life on two wheels ».
78
Walter Garcia 225 like s
The book of the Bike 2014
W
alter is a bikeuser since he was 11, when he played the messenger in his mother’s tailor shop. He has always used the bike in his daily activities. He is a renowned activist in Bogota as part of the Fontirueda collective and his participation in social networks, though which he promotes his experience on safety riding throughout the city.
80
He is the prominent bikeuser in the company where he works; he goes through the city everyday by bike from his home to the office; he overcomes the traffic jam and the stress this may cause, and spends more time with his family. As bikeuser and activist, Walter promotes his slogan ÂŤen bici es mejorÂť (better by bike) through social networks. From the fan page he administers, he shares safe routes, gives advices for the use of the helmet, and promotes collective events and activities to be developed every week by Fontirueda to encourage the use of bikes in the Fontibon locality.
81
Luz Estela Perez
223 like s
H
er motto is: «If you want and you feel like you can change our world, we will all together be able to do it». Her bike has allowed her knowing the whole locality of Suba, where she works as sport trainer in several neighborhoods. She states that «the bike is the best means of transportation in Bogotá; the only problem is posed by the lack of bike paths, fully aware that these represent a solution for mobility in the city». She affirms that when people transport themselves by bike, they learn to admire the beauty of nature and become more aware regarding environmental protection. According to this sport trainer, it is necessary to create campaigns for those communities using other means of transportation in order to gain respect and protection to the bikeuser in roads and avenues (respect to the bike paths and people using them). She has a critical attitude toward the bike paths in the city. She thinks this circuit is insufficient related to the amount of the population of Bogota. She urges the Government to improve lighting and guarantees for a safe displacement of the urban cyclists.
83
Cesar Alberto Castro
152 like s
C
esar has been living in Bogota for some years. This is the city where he works now and where he has been developing his professional career. He has been forced to adapt to the cultural change and to look for the right conditions to preserve, and not deteriorate, his quality of life. What started as a cycleride became a life style on two wheels. This inhabitant of Boyaca is part of the bikeusers collective that rides throughout Bogota and enjoy pedaling through the bike paths on a daily basis. He thinks he is a person less stuck in the traffic jams of the main roads, a car less to produce pollution, and a happier person.
85
The book of the Bike 2014
His bike has become his partner of adventure, his accomplice in the large trips he never imagined he could do. He is part of Teusacatubici, a collective he feels as his family. As a member of this team, every Thursday he rides through the capital’s streets discovering their cultural elements and heritage during the cold nights. From his birth town, he may miss his Toyota (a topic of which he is an enthusiast), but he feels confident that his steel little horse can take him wherever he wants.
86
Acknowledgements Thanks to all the bikeusers who everyday ride across the city and contribute with happiness, more health and less chaos. Especially to:
É d ga r E n r iq u e Fa ja rd o
151 Like s
Fe l i p e R ico
133 Like s
F re d y Va rga s
125 Like s
C a rlo s A d r i á n R e ye s
91 Like s
Ju a n Pa b lo S a n ta c r u z
67 Like s
Miguel Bermúdez
26 Like s
Je f fe r s o n C a s t i l lo
24 Like s
Ju a n Ma n u e l Arb e l á e z
24 Like s
Óscar G a ra v ito
24 Like s
87
Urban Races
The book of the Bike 2014
Bogocat
A
f t e r recording on tape all types of alleycats (informal bike race, especially with fixed gear bikes) and adventures on bikes throughout the world, Lucas Brunelle decided to embark with his team on a journey to cross the Darien Gap. Despite of an almost null communication with the outside world during a week due to safety matters, the travelers arrived safe and sound to meet Bogota the best way they know: riding an alleycat.
90
On 22 March, 2014, they travelled through a lineal route with 7 checkpoints in iconic places of Bogota such as the Parque de los Periodistas, the Park Way and the Plaza de Usaquen. The ideal distance to be reached was 35 kilometers (21.75mi). More than 250 cats from Bogota, Cali and other places of the country raced in 4 categories; the best cyclists showed not only their speed but also their ability to avoid all kind of situations that racing through the capital may imply. With the support of three sponsor brands, the first three places of each category were awarded: Free Wheel, Fixed Gear, Female and Male. #Bogocat #TheLucasShow
91
The book of the Bike 2014
Alleycat The Rat
T
iho
or on t o, October 30 ,1989, a group of bicycle messengers, The Back Alley Boys, encouraged by their love to their means of transportation and the need to contend to find out who was the fastest cyclist, celebrated the first alleycat race called The Alleycats present... the Scramble. Alleycat is an informal race, without permits or licenses issued by the local authorities, with no conditions other than arriving to the checkpoints determined by the organizers of the race. The rout and the time taken to do so depend on each one of the contenders; there is no security whatsoever to face the city’s vehicle traffic or routes signalized. The race serves to measure the tenacity, mettle, determination and knowledge on the city. This practice has become popular and extended worldwide. It is celebrated in North America, Europe, Asia and, currently, Latin America. Bogota, Saturday, June 21, 2014, 8:00pm, Carrera Septima con Calle 60; around 250 cyclists: bicycle messengers, bikeusers, amateur cyclists, racing groups, among others, answered the call to participate in the Alleycat the Rat race. Facing a cold
92
weather, typical from Bogota, speculations can be heard about the time for the beginning of the race, the prospective route, etcetera; it is all uncertainty around the racers, which joined to the adrenalin, produces a state of anxiety. Around 9:30pm., the organizing team announces the race is about to begin and deliver the road map, which must be sealed at each checkpoint, while informs the racers the first checkpoint is the Museo Nacional. Chaos takes the exit line and for about 90 minutes of race, during which in between the checkpoints we return intermittently to the exit point, the streets are momentarily owned by the intrepid racers. Adrenalin flows; traffic lights, signs and specific orientations are faced as mere warnings, powerless before this group of cyclists contending under a tacitly understanding of friendliness. At the end, at the moment of my arrival, the first 10 contenders had already arrived. I didn’t know the place of my arrival, but I felt the emotion to be part of such an event, the adrenalin of racing in the middle of the capital’s traffic, the excitement of the competition facing the city, its traffic and its night dynamics.
93
Bikenetwork
The book of the Bike 2014
The Tortuga Gang and the Dream of Re-Cycling to Create a New Civic Culture By: Tortuga Foundation
B
y the end of 2011, our friends used to ask us: Why did you choose such as slow animal as the turtle to illustrate your work for a so fast city as Bogota and in a so dynamic locality as Suba?, Why do you want to ride bikes in Suba, where high slopes will impede the ride?, Do you think people will actually give you their old bikes?  Under all these concerns the Tortuga Foundation was born as a collective for the promotion of the use of bikes and the Re-Cycling. But let’s go to the beginning of the story; we define ourselves as promoters of the use of the bike not only because we transport on that steel little horse, but because through its pedals we have started to discover new ways to exercise our citizenship and to apply team work, since facing slopes in Suba demands more collaboration than physical endure. One day, as we arrived to our homes, we watched a huge amount of bikes piled up and forgotten in the bike parking lot because of a flat tire, a broken pedal or just because their owners replaced them with a four wheel vehicle to increase their egos and also their bellies. Then, we came with the idea to ask for all those steel little horses and, with our limited knowledge on cycling mechanics at the time, repair them and give them to children, men and women who will ride them again.
96
We decided to call this bike reconstruction process re-cycling. Through recycling we manage to mix elements regarding the protection of environment, as well as exchange and solidarity dynamics of people. ÂŤYou went to college just to end as repairers of bikes? Âť, our parents said; but us, with the same determination and perseverance of turtles, began to scheme our plan. The first step was the identification of residential areas where bicycles had fall into oblivion, then, contacting the administrators of those areas and present them our campaign: members of the foundation would devote our free time to solve several issues in the residential areas and in return for that residents would give us their discarded bicycles. Then, the question arose on whom would we give those bicycles? The first delivery was made to Don Edgar, a seller of cakes who used to walk the more than 10 thousand hectares of the locality of Suba to sell his products. With the help provided by several neighbors, who donated rear racks, baskets and other spare parts, we managed to develop our first biketurtle specialized for the delivery of pound cakes throughout the locality. Today, Don Edgar has increased his sales 100%; he always rides his turtle and thinks to extend his business to Usme and Barrios Unidos. Thus, we have been able to establish our concept: through our biketurtles we offer the community, an environmentally friendly means of transportation free of charge, which is also efficient for the city and economic for their pockets. Re-Cycling was born this way and, so far, with the help of neighbors and friends, we have given 20 biketurtles. With the force of pedals, we will continue to dream of a society which buys less and recycles more, a society where solidarity and cooperativism are the initial pedal strokes of every single day.
97
The book of the Bike 2014
Latin American High Ride of Women on Bikes By: Diana Romero, founder and promoter of Women on Bikes Bogota This is a famous cycleride held every year in March to commemorate the International Day of Women. Its main characteristic is the premise that all women participating have to wear high heels, in order to show the virtues of the bicycle, which can be ridden even if you wear this particular women garment. The promotion and positioning of the bicycle in the big cities as an efficient, sustainable and versatile means of transportation among women is being currently developed. This initiative was born four years ago with Mujeres en Bici (Women on Bikes) Mexico D. F, who every year design and elaborate the poster that is later simultaneously distributed to all the other countries (Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela, among others) to promote the ride. After an invitation in 2012 from Mexico to Mujeres en Bici Bogota (MEBB, a group established that same year), the Height Riding arrived to our city. MEBB, who made all the procedures and organization of this event through the social networks, achieved great acceptance from the city and the media. The first edition of this ride took place on March, 9, 2013 at 2:00pm. The starting point was set at the Parque Nacional and counted with the participation of 200 people, among which 100 women rode through Bogota wearing high heels.
98
99
The book of the Bike 2014
For 2014, the slogan of the High Ride is: ÂŤWe make difference with or without heels Âť. Saturday, March 8, women of all ages arrived at the same starting point (Parque Nacional), and the participation average increased 40% in comparison with the last year. During the planned route, the participants were surprised by an extraordinary fact: the gates of the Nemesio Camacho El Campin Stadium were opened so 140 women on high heels and bicycles had the beautiful experience to know this space and close on a high note the celebrations for the International Day of Women in the Football World Cup year.
100
By means of its founder, Diana Romero, Mujeres en Bici Bogota has found important sponsors —either public and private — which have joined this cause: Alcaldia Mayor de Bogota, Coexistence Managers in the Government Secretariat, SCRD, IDRD, Women Secretariat, Cycleusers Pact in the Mobility Secretariat, Metropolitan Police of Bogota, Specialized, Bayu, Bikexperts, B-Riders, Naturaleza Urbana, Art Design Co, South America; Energy and Mobility, Cycling District,
101
The book of the Bike 2014
Fotosfera, Jedusa Visual, Janys Estrada, Olga Jimenez Spa, El Bicitante and Fundabici. Nowadays, logistic team of the MEBB is composed by: Diana Romero, Daniela Alban and Carolina Prieto. Free activities organized by this group are the Height Riding of Women on Bikes and the course on mountain cycling for women, the latter in the framework of the Week of the Bike. For more information, please contact us through: mujeresenbicibogota@ gmail.com or our Facebook and Twitter accounts: Mujeres en Bici Bogota and @ MujeresBICI.
102
4th International Water Cyclejourney through the Sumapaz Tundra
By: Miguel Ignacio Bermúdez and Henry Velásquez
C
ycl ejour ne y s are mountain cycling programs in which participants travel 50 (31.07mi) and 80 km (49.71mi) through unpaved roads, shortcuts and trails used by our native ancestors. Cyclejourneys are a creation of the Amigos de la Bicicleta (Friends of the Bicycle) Foundation (Fundabici) in 2010 and, in the occasion of the two hundred years of our motherland, incorporated as official program by the President of the Republic. In the occasion of the celebration of the 6th Week of the Bicycle in Bogota, organized by the IDRD, on Saturday, November, 16 2013 took place the 4th International Water Cyclejourney, under the direction and coordination of Fundabici. The slogan of this activity was: «To the defense of the Sumapaz Paramo». The IDRD itself as well as other sponsor companies provided support to the activity, which was attended by 611 mountain cyclists and made necessary the deployment of a huge human team to support the complex logistics implemented, as well as a strong security mechanism and primary care so participants could fully enjoy the time with their respective companions: bicycles. The route through the Sumapaz Paramo was a particular one, since it was elaborated over 33 km (20.51mi) of unpaved roads, from a minimum height of 2,800 m (9,186.35ft) over sea level and a maximum height of 3,400 m (11,154.86ft) , between Santa Rosa and San Juan. Ponchos, jackets, scarves, among others, were additional elements wore by the mountain cyclists in that cold morning. This was a journey to the unknown, to a delightful place that, even
103
though it makes part of Bogota, is unknown to almost all its inhabitants: the world’s biggest moorland, the most beautiful water factory, the world’s lungs. «Do you know where this moorland is located? », a question that many of the participants answered with a definite no. The truth is that everybody knows about this moorland but nobody knows where it is located. In the 20th locality of Bogota, by way of Usme, you may find this splendorous landscape, the site where water provided to the capital city is born. At 7:30am the huge caravan of the cyclejourney displaces fast through the main avenues of Bogota, heading south, looking for the exit way towards Usme, where cyclists will take the road to the Sumapaz Paramo. On every bus, coordinators remind cyclists some of the recommendations to be followed: do not step or ride on the frailejon5 protected zone; respect nature; remember the four points where portable toilets are available; and do not throw trash, among others. 5 Translator’s Note: Plant of the higher Andes.
104
The most curious of all the prohibitions was not letting the day pass without taking pictures of the experience. Thus, more 3,000 pictures of all kinds were taken that day, all of them showing the magic of life and nature mixed up with one of the most beautiful sports, the mountain cycling. These pictures may be seen in the web page www.fundabici.tk. The award of the more than 200 prizes by Fundabici delayed more than one hour the continuation of the program schedule as foreseen by the organizers. Participants finally got on the buses in San Juan del Sumapaz at 5:30pm and came back to the meeting point in Bogota. And this was the experience of the 4th International Water Cyclejourney ÂŤTo the Defense of the Sumapaz ParamoÂť. The event was defined as the second with the largest attendance held in Colombia in 2013; an event which 5th edition is now expected by many nature lovers.
105
The book of the Bike 2014
Wetlands and Bicycles, a Natural Combination By: Daniel Bernal, Humedales Bogota Foundation
H
umedales Bogota, by means of different tours and activities developed have been looking for new ways to take ownership and provide knowledge on the wetlands to citizens. A good example of citizens taking ownership is the use of the bicycle, which has gained in the last years several promoters and defenders. The bicycle is regarded as an efficient, economic and environmentally friendly means of transportation. For more than 100 years, humans have destroyed valuable ecosystems, the wetlands included, in order to create the so called «progress» through the widespread use of the personal car. The time has come to understand that model’s ineffectiveness, as well as its terrible consequences and the need to use more efficient and cleaner means of transportation such as the bicycle. Wetlands and Bicycles must be properly connected. Wetlands must be reachable through nice bike paths, always respecting spaces, of course! In
106
past administrations, it was thought that the best way to communicate wetlands and bikes was surrounding them with bike paths and hard roads, many of which were built on the wetlands’ riparian zones and caused a negative impact to the ecosystems. The challenge is now to keep connecting wetlands and cyclists but in a friendly way towards the ecosystems, understanding their great environmental and social value. From the beginning, during our tours through wetlands, we have used bicycles; but recently we have increased that use in most of our trips. In the South, we have visited wetlands such as El Burro and La Libelula; in the West, Capellania, Jaboque, Tibabuyes and Santa Maria del Lago; and in the North, Torca, Guaymaral and Cordoba. The successful Bicipajareada (Bike ride to appreciate the different types of birds living in wetlands) to wetland of La Florida held in November 2012, and the celebration of the Wetlands Day in 2013 have confirmed us the need and effectiveness to know wetlands by riding the bike. Therefore, we decided to celebrate a new Wetlands Day on February, 2, 2014 riding our steel little horses through some of these ecosystems so citizens may find another nice, efficient and friendly way to connect with the environment. Hundreds of bikefriends got to know these so important ecosystems to our city. The huge attendance was an evidence of the support to the event and the effectiveness of the union of both activities: the use of bicycles and the visit to our wetlands. The bicycle keeps proving itself as an option contributing to the knitting of networks between citizens and their environment. We intend to continue to connect bicycles and wetlands, as well as to take ownership of our environmental treasures.
107
The book of the Bike 2014
I Say Fuck Cars, Go Bike By: William Puentes Obando
A
n d here we go, pedaling through the avenues of Bogota, at midnight. Here we go, taking the streets by our own right. Some seem surprised as we pass by; they feel we have taken their roads from them. More radical drivers try to corner us to show their superiority in the concrete jungle. Even so, our two-wheel protest keeps invading the metropolis, the one that is dominated by cars, tractors, transmilenios and other mechanized junk. ÂŤRevolution on two wheels! Âť, we shout at every pedal stroke, our heartbeats gaining speed. Though, we are not referring to a destructive revolution, but to a revolution of the freedom to go through the streets doing what we love,
108
limitless, blocking the hurry of some citizens infected with the speed of their vehicles, attracting the looks of night strangers and, in some cases, welcoming people who join the pedal rebellion, the slogan that encourages us to declare war on the automobile industry: «fuck cars, go bike». And, even though we may be seem as vandals, we defend ourselves sharing ideas such as that of H. G. Wells: «When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race». Therefore, every person who gets out of his/her vehicle, persuaded by our direct message, represents an achievement to our purpose: More bikes, less smog. We dream of a city where the use of bicycles becomes massive and roads adequate to cyclists, not only for health purposes of the general population but as a way to redeem ourselves with mother Earth. We long for that day when people prefer filling their bodies with energy than filling their tanks with gas. More information available through: fcgobikes@gmail.com or Telephone: 304 436 03 98.
109
The book of the Bike 2014
Recyclovia, a Space for Riding, Pedaling and Recycling By: Sandra Pinzon, Bogota Basura Cero Civic Collective The Bogota Basura Cero Civic Collective, along with the IDRD, has been working to transform one of the most important spaces in the city, regarding sports and recreation, into a scenario for the promotion and education of the bicycle lovers on the adequate use of waste. The Recyclovia program was then born as a project seeking to integrate the traditional Ciclovia, city’s national and international emblem, to the Basura Cero (Zero Garbage) program. The purpose of this program is to raise awareness and provide necessary information for the users of the Ciclovia to properly separate waste in their own homes. Every day of Recyclovia, more than 100 collaborators from the Bogota Basura Cero Collective, mainly young people committed to the environmental protection, take the Ciclovia from North to South and from East to West to train sportspersons and people passing by how to separate waste into white bags (recyclable waste) and black bags (regular waste). By means of pedagogical talks, simple practices and easily followed examples, thousands of bikes lovers have understood that, besides contributing with the use of the bicycle to the protection of the environment, they
110
111
The book of the Bike 2014
can also recycle and implement good habits for a proper use of waste. Moreover, members of the Bogota Basura Cero Civic Collective inform on the benefits produced by the change of waste disposition model in landfills to a new model of use and transformation of that waste into raw material. The citizens response to this program has been more than satisfactory, with more than 24 thousand citizens in total, besides 30 bike users collectives and around one hundred of vendors, have committed to recycling, as well as to reuse and separate waste in the source. Perhaps one of the greatest achievements has to do with the articulation and combination of sports and environmental care, since lovers of the Ciclovia and the bicycle have found in their favorite space a proper way to contribute to environmental care.
112
To summarize, the Recyclovia has allowed cyclists, pedestrians and other visitors to combine their hobbies and pleasures with recycling and env ironmental protection. Thanks to this initiative, people may join another activity to do in the Ciclovia. Besides running, walking, skating and pedaling through Bogota, they can now recycle.
113
The book of the Bike 2014
To the American by Bike By: To the American by Bike
T
o d a y, bicycle is an instrument of social and cultural transformation. Bicycle has been seen in all societies as a revolutionary and progressive element, a constructive and autonomous element that produces all kind of benefits, not only for those who use it but for society as a whole, as it offers positive externalities; the more cyclists it has, the better the city will be. Al Americano en Bici (To the Americano by Bike) is an organization relying on experiences that have allowed us to learn and grow. Our work, always in favor of the improvement of human quality of the community of the Colegio Americano de Bogota (American School of Bogota) and its environment with obvious emphasis on urban mobility, is an initiative of the students and for the students seeking to integrate the community to produce knowledge and culture regarding a sustainable city. All this has been thought having in mind that young people are those who may make the difference. In that context, as student collective we are pioneers of Al Colegio en Bici and, through our project, we have motivated many people to contribute every day with solutions to the problem rather than become a part of it. We feel satisfied to count on the support and interest of the students and members of the community to the activities proposed. Without all these people, we would not be able to stand during these two years of continuous work...To all of them, our most sincere appreciation for believing in us.
114
Green Skin By: Greenman V ÂŤThis is a story I must tell with images more than with wordsÂť... (G.).
115
The book of the Bike 2014
Green is the awake of life... Stress currently produced by the life in the city expresses the need to periodically return to a green or natural environment, which turns nature into a mother substitute:
116
«The green man is born from the vagina of the Earth itself» («Verde», Dictionary of Symbols).
«Every naked woman incarnates nature» (Mircea Eliade). «I felt myself slide, the ill writes next to recovery, in a wonderful peace. Everything was green in the room. I thought I was in a pool, which for me was the same than being inside my mom’s body... I was in paradise, in the maternal womb» (Diario de un esquizofrénico, citado por G. Durand [Diary of a Schizophrenic, cited by G. Durand]). 117
The book of the Bike 2014
Bikennedy Bogota By: Nestor Yesid Villarte Moreno
B
ike nn e d y Bogota is an urban cycling collective from the locality of Kennedy established under the initiative of two friends who, after participating in several ridings with other city collectives, and aware of the fact that the 8th Locality of Bogota has one of the best cycling and urban infrastructures, totally unused, decided to create Bikennedy Bogota with the purpose of promoting the use of bikes on a daily basis.
This collective intends to provide citizens, and potential bikeusers, with information on the historical places in Kennedy in order to promote a sense of belonging to this locality and to the city through activities that encourage the active integration and participation of citizens, highlighting the economic, environmental and socio-cultural benefits of the use of the bicycle —not only for cyclists but for the city also—, and improving the quality of life of people of Bogota, which has been so damaged by the obvious mobility chaos in which the city is immersed. By keeping contact with other brother collectives in the city, and participating in the crusade for the recognition of the bicycle as an active mobility element, Bikennedy Bogota invites people of Bogota to use this emergent healthy, sustainable and alternative means of transportation. Night ridings: 7:00pm. Meeting Point: Mundo Aventura
118
Chiks Bikes Bogota Collective We are the Bikeschool for children and adults in Bogota; since 2013 we have been working in favor of civic education, mobility and culture as alternative for the training of new city bikeusers. Our work seeks to foster autonomy regarding the use of the bicycle as a daily means of transportation, as well as to contribute to the improvement of a sustainable displacement and mobility in the city, combat sedentary lifestyle and improve the quality of life of citizens. In that context, our proposal is oriented towards recognizing and taking ownership of the territory within the city from a recreational, sports and mobility perspective. Likewise, it aims at promoting
119
The book of the Bike 2014
the construction of a city culture of recognition and coexistence with all the mobility actors of the city. Every two weeks, on Saturdays, we offer workshops under the Bikeschool program. Participants will be able to attend our lessons, organized as follows: body and balance; bicycle and balance; bicycle and gears; displacement, ascent and descent, and ride through wide and reduced spaces (track, bike lanes and bike paths); basic mechanics; safety rules, and theme cyclerides. We have held 11 editions of the Bikeschool so far, with more than 100 people participating. This has been possible thanks to the voluntary work of more than 14 bikeusers: from Sergio Ruiz Sanchez, aged 11, to expert urban cyclists who, from session to session, do their best so more and more people get on the steel little horse. The Bikeschool is also supported by the Bicigota Collective, of the Ubuntu Youth Network, experts who teach the workshops on bicycle mechanics. If you wish to participate in our activities, please contact us through: chiksbikes@gmail.com or you may follow us in the social networks to keep informed: Facebook: chiksbikesbogota, Twitter: @ChiKsBikes.
120
The Cycleride of Light. Urban Awareness Mobilizes by Bike
By: Greenman V
B
o g o t a is one of the world’s most active capitals regarding the use of bicycles. Its wide network of bike paths and district’s programs promoting clean mobility make of our city an appealing model for foreign authorities, gurus of mobility, urban researchers and tourists.
Nevertheless, using the bicycle as strategy for a clean and efficient mobility, as well as to reduce global warming effects seems not to be enough. Studies and statistics on accidents show that biking in Bogota is a very risky activity due to: — Abuse of shared public space over the limits of tolerance. — City insecurity. Ironically, successful campaigns organized within institutions, collectives and individuals, for the promotion of the use of the bicycle, have considerably increased the number of participants in Bogota, which are left to face a network of bike paths which result deficiently designed, badly preserved and barely watched over by authorities.
121
The book of the Bike 2014
— Our city is likely to have the world’s widest network of bike paths, but culturally it seems not to be yet prepared to face new times to come. Either by car or bicycle we can hear the strident noise of the horns over senior citizens every time they dare to pass through the way of drivers. A way of frustrated heroes which brings violence into the city: fear, indifference, arrogance, dislike, hatred, corruption… «My pet’s waste must be picked up by the people of Basura Cero. That is what they are paid for. That is what I pay taxes for», said a neighbor of La Soledad neighborhood, regarding his responsibility to himself, to his pet, to his neighbors, to his neighborhood, to Bogota. So, «What do I do?»; that is the question we should all, pedestrians, cyclists, motorized drivers, students, officials, housewives, the Mayor, the President, should ask ourselves… The Cycleride of Light (by Greenman V) is far from being the solution to the ethical problems of our city. It is just the action of a citizen who continuously learns about Bogota from the perspective his bicycle provides. The main action of the Cycleride of Light, however, is the re-action of the allies this citizen has found in his search for answers to his own questions. Allies with the same willingness and dreams, who lovingly pedal for all causes intending to make of us better persons: water, earth, air, animals, children, the planet. Bicycles are the means and not the final goal in this Cycleride of Light. Six actions compose the urban performance in the search for human re-actions: ecology, culture, humankind, city, biodiversity and mystic. Thought to cause sensible reflection, the six actions in Bogota intend to provoke re-actions in citizens so they love being alive and use their internal and interpersonal intelligence with a view to improving our relationship with our fellow citizens, as well as with the city, the urban biodiversity, peace and democracy, because in the Cycleride of Light we are all one and the same in the city. The Cycleride of Light, in a contemporary performance, shall take the city in the compass rose through the symbolic action of light. Helmets with green led lights will be provided to 200 cyclists, who will be in charge of taking through the city a visible symbol of awareness, representing the dreams of all the citizens trying to lay the foundations of a new time in their own homes and, ultimately, their city
122
123
The book of the Bike 2014
The tail of light left by the Cycleride of Light while it passes will be the emotionally striking image of the urban performance promoting its six actions during the night of «a green and endless beach at 2,600 meters above sea level», as Bogota is referred to by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the city that witnessed his first literary attempts. The light on the rims while standing still or moving of the Greenman V’s bicycle will symbolize the man’s spirituality and, the action of pedaling, his efforts to advance through a path of respect to all forms of life in our planet. «If we link what we know to what we do, we will know what to do» (G.). My most sincere gratitude to the 1,200 gentlemen and ladies of light who will be pedaling for a new time in Bogota; also to the IDRD for its support to this concept and to the production thereof; to the Natural Planet Foundation for its organization and institutional endorsement; to the uncontainable force of the bicycle collectives of Bogota; to the music bands and soloists for their ecocreativity, to the local mayor’s offices for their valuable contribution to the cultural and ecological development of your localities; to the SCRD for promoting actions of the urban cyclists through the Book of the Bike.
124
ConcienBiciate
T
h i s is a project born at the beginning of 2014, from an alternative recreational proposal called Classy Paseos (Classy Rides), which started at the beginning of 2013. After studying experiences lived during this project, from a trial-and-error approach, it was decided to undertake a new phase with the purpose of raising awareness in people attending our activities and in all those who watch us as we go through the city, for the fostering of different values with every one of our rides; values such as respect, tolerance, friendship, union, sense of belonging, freedom and happiness, which are protagonists in every activity. ConcienBiciate is a response to the need to open new inclusive spaces, tolerant and unique spaces in our beloved Bogota, as it demands places and activities for social integration, not organized by local entities but led by the initiative of the community. Based on this idea, ConcienBiciate has demonstrated throughout time that it is possible to propose an inclusive space under continuous growth and based on the interest of people participating —the key element in this process due to the commitment and sense of belonging they acquire with every ride—, and show how people take ownership again of both the space and the city. This project arose from the willingness and interest of a group of 5 to 10 friends for riding and taking the city by bike. Today, ConcienBiciate has organized ridings for more than 300 participants, who come from all the city sectors (South, North, Downtown, East, West, and even including localities such as Soacha). It
125
The book of the Bike 2014
is also projected to continue growing, since the familia buena papa6 is in line with cultural change currently taking place in our society, which can be seen in the increase of people participating in this kind of initiatives. For the creators of this initiative, the feeling of cultural transformation associated to the use of the bicycle and the creation of recreational spaces— encouraged by the certainty of not being the only persons living this beautiful process, of not being the only persons who think differently, that every time we are more and more people coming out from our bubble to learn how to be happy with the self-therapy that provide the beautiful bicycles– are some of the reasons encouraging us to construct and propose this kind of alternatives. This is the ConcienBiciate family, a generation of warrior minds, with many dreams ahead to come true, with a huge engine propelled by the force of a love receiving the energy of every soul that decides to make part of the solution rather than the problem, since it is necessary, in the perspective of a more human city, to take ownership once again of our beloved Bogota. We welcome all those people who want to be part of change; we continue to work harder for a better world for all. Ridings take place on Fridays, every two weeks, from Carulla in calle 85 con carrera 15 (Bogota, Colombia). The meeting time is 8:00pm and the rides begin at 8:30 pm. For more information, please follow us in Facebook: ConcienBiciate or visit the web page: http://vimeo.com/85197869 6 Translator's Note: Colombian expression referring to a family of good people.
126
Mountain Biking for Women, a Course to Learn Technical Skills with Experts By: Diana Romero, Women on Bikes Bogota
A
c t i v i t ie s of Mujeres en Bici Bogota (MEBB) (Women on Bikes) began in 2012 for the promotion of the use of bicycles as means of transportation, which may be used for recreation or for practicing physical activities. We understand better the thoughts, fears and myths inherent to women when it comes to using bicycles as means of transportation in the city. We have been engaged in several activities in Bogota such as cyclerides, through which we intend to strengthen ties with institutions and citizens to make possible riding safely through the city practicing camaraderie and civility. Women attending these cyclerides are given the opportunity to enjoy the city, overcoming part of their fear to ride bicycles, learning new routes, tips, and stretching exercises, recognizing themselves as bikeusers in the activities performed and contributing to the constitution of the social knitting of the urban cyclists’ community. With the purpose of advancing on sports matters and increasing our level, we started organizing mountain cyclejourneys out of the city of Bogota with small groups of cyclists. Many women expressed their desire to learn techniques
127
The book of the Bike 2014
regarding this sport so they could start practicing it. This gave birth to the question on how to teach a mountain cycling course for women. Since the establishment of our group, we thought this could be possible someday. And it was! Through the MEBB project, I met Janys Estrada — a Colombian business administrator and enthusiast of mounting biking—. From that very moment synergy was born between the two of us and we jointly taught the first mountain biking course for women, a free activity developed in the framework of the celebrations for the IDRD’s Week of the Bicycle. We opened the enrollment for the course for 100 women and less than two hours later all the places had been taken. In the course, we taught some technical matters such as the parts of the bicycle, types of mountain bicycles and their differences, posture for ascent and descent, ergonomics and measures of every bike, tips, mistakes which must not be made in mountain biking, etc. The lesson ended with a practice in a MTB track in the IDRD’s High Performance Center. This course will be offered every year. We desire to receive support from personalities, institutions and brands interested in joining this proposal in order to continue to strengthen this initiative. MEBB’s current members are: Diana Romero (founder and promoter), Graphic and Web Designer; Daniela Alban (leader and promoter), Lawyer; and Carolina Prieto (leader and promoter), English Teacher. For proposals and alliances, please contact us through: mujeresenbicibogota@ gmail.com. Follow us in Facebook: Mujeres en Bici Bogota (profile, page and group), and Twitter: @MujeresBICI
128
Be Part of BogotĂĄ By: Juan Valentin Sierra Parra
C
o l omb ia is a country with many regions; a country of contrast, culture and joy. Bogota is a place where all these characteristics are combined and coexist. Suramericana Bogota is not the exception; we are proud of our diversity, the diversity of our city, and we make an effort for making our behavior a reflection of it. Under this premise, as people living in the capital city – regardless of the origin and time –, as inhabitants of Bogota, an initiative by and for the city got started: Ser parte de Bogota (Being Part of Bogota). This initiative aims at generating a sense of belonging, civic culture and knowledge and thus, through positive initiatives and activities, spread the affection we feel about this city to move forward together. We believe that change starts by personal transformation; we believe that magnitude and inertia are obtained by adding one by one effort; and we also believe that the change we expect as citizens will be produced by the unity of people and initiatives of all kinds. Within the context of the Ser parte de Bogota initiative, a series of activities oriented towards different variables has been carried out. One of these variables, the most important for the project due to the impact on the daily routine of people,
129
The book of the Bike 2014
relates to transportation in Bogota and all the different problems associated to that. Thanks to this notion, the A Sura en Bici (Let’s Ride a Bike to Suramericana) initiative arose as an alternative for the collaborators of the Company and as a contribution to the capital city. The initiative is based on a bicycle lending system, located in the Suramericana Building at 93rd street, which is available in order to help our employees with their daily mobilization. Juan Manuel Arbelaez, one of the members of the Ser parte de Bogota project, has been a model and one of the big promoters of the implementation of the bicycle lending system. His actions have been a role model within his environment due to his discipline of use of this means of transportation. «I started using the bike just over two years ago, mainly by reason of the traffic difficulties in the city and as a solution to those days of vehicle restriction of the Programa Pico y Placa (Rush Hour - License Plate program), when it was really difficult for me to get transportation. It turned out that the distance was shorter than I thought, I did not have to make a big effort, and my physical resistance improved quickly…» We are pleased to have more similar stories, such as those of David, Oscar, Consu, Abelardo, Alejandro, Jorge Andres, Clau, Bernardo, Adriana, Orlando, Diana, Jose and Rafael, among others. We know the motivation they have spread within the group will progressively increase the number of persons riding bikes. Ser parte de Bogota will hopefully become an initiative that will change the life of many citizens, and that, jointly with other projects focused on the capital city, we will turn Bogota into the city we dream about.
130
Villa Cindy. Riding Solidarity and Hope On last Monday June 23, 2014, a fire caused by a little candle burned the homes of 32 families in the Villa Cindy neighborhood, in the locality of Suba. Families could recover few things –not to say they couldn’t recover anything – from the remains of their little houses. The fire consumed 38 wooden & tin houses where these families lived. At the end of the afternoon, they just found pieces of iron bars and toilets that survived the conflagration. They could not even recover their identity cards or any of their children’s identity documentation. In total, 131 persons became homeless, 81 of which were children. The members of the families work daily as recyclers with their trucks (granted by the district) to nurture their families and they had been living there for the last two years. There was no injured or casualty because of the accident, given that most of people were working in the city at the moment of the fire.
131
The book of the Bike 2014
The incident touched both pro-bike collectives and foundations, so we decided to do something: we had the initiative of organizing a bike tour to help this vulnerable community and its inhabitants, taking the children as priority. Three pro-bike organizations agreed to organize the bike tour: ConcienBiciate; SUBAse a la Bici, which already had found some help for the same cause; and Tortuga Foundation, which offered to give two bikes that day. The idea was that the participants could bring donations: clothes, personal hygiene implements and non-perishable food; but, more important than the assistance, was to go there and share our time with people in need, and being able to provide them with one day of joy in the middle of such terrible events. On Sunday June 29, 2014, around 50 people gathered, all charged with good feelings and an infinite willing to help and share with those in need at the time. We departed from the Carulla supermarket at the 85th street, where we usually meet up with ConcienBiciate, to the head office of Tortuga Foundation, in Suba, where we found the other group ready to set off to the affected zone. By the moment of our arrival to the Villa Cindy neighborhood, the catastrophe was more than evident; we just saw wreckage and smelled a strong odor caused by the breaking of the septic tank, which was damaged while a digger was cleaning the zone the day after the fire. This gave us much more motivation to share with
132
them during that time. We quickly got organized into groups, some helped to discharge and organize all the donations we brought by truck, others talked to the leaders of the community, and the rest of us shared directly with children, while our friend Andres Felipe Zapata took beautiful pictures of the experience. The most pleasant part of our day in Villa Cindy was the direct experience with children, with whom we carried out several activities: face painting, tattoo drawing, some juggling training, and as final touch, the organization of races with the two bikes donated by our friends of Tortuga Foundation for the children in the community. The day went by fast among smiles, unforgettable moments and irreplaceable people. Before departing, the leaders, in gratitude, invited us to eat a delicious soup we lovingly shared with the beautiful human beings of Villa Cindy. We departed desiring to help them even more. That is the reason why, subsequently to our
133
The book of the Bike 2014
visit, we continued collecting donations and sending them to the community; and we hope that the Government may actually assist them in order to provide them with proper houses to live with their large families. Our best reward was the feeling of giving and sharing with these so valuable people, most of the time forgotten by society. Our dream is to live in a country where we get much more united so as to help each other when such unfortunate events occur. It was just a little contribution we expect to carry on every time our people need it; a wonderful team work along with the familia buena papa, SUBAse a la Bici and Tortuga Foundation. Thanks to all the participants for demonstrating our true spirit as Colombians full of love, collective awareness and synergy.
134
135
6
BMX
The book of the Bike 2014
bmx and the Reinvention of Spaces and the Concept of Citizenship By: David Caneva Akle «When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race ». h. g. wells
T
h r o u g h o u t the history of the bicycle, multiple ideas have been materialized to improve this mechanical device, originating different sport modalities since its creation in 1818. One of those modalities is the use of the BMX (Bike Moto Cross), which started in 1977. Subsequently, the American Bicycle Association (ABA) was founded in California, United States, while the International BMX Federation was established in 1981, and just a year later, the first championship was held. In the 80’s, Bob Haro, BMX freestyle pioneer, rode a specialized bicycle in skateparks, developing and establishing several tricks that gave birth to the flatland style and later, in the 90’s, to the dirt jump, vert, park, and street styles. The BMX street style contains innovative and creative elements from urban spaces, which are redefined and used for unusual practices. This style has changed the concept of citizenship as conceived by the great Greek philosophers, combining it with the architectural and urban postures of Sir Ebenezer Howard, Le
140
Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer and, more recently, Brent Toderian or Richard Florida, according to which humans and spaces are mixed for new sports and sport trends to take over those spaces and get completely developed as a whole. This is how in some Latin American metropolis such as Bogota or Buenos Aires, in the absence of recreational areas and equipment for such practices, urban sportspeople have recycled and reused the residual spaces of the city using their own techniques, modifying their form, up to the point of providing them with a new use and sense. The intervention performed by Mike Palacios in the so-called ruins located between the 72nd street and 24th avenue, in the typical 7 de agosto neighborhood of the Colombian capital city, is one of the several cases of under-used urban spaces which have been reused and taken over. Palacios, a sportsman from Ibague, decided to intervene on his own initiative the flat space there and, by using tubes, crates and ramps for urban sports, transformed that abandoned, dirty and dusty space into an obstacle course to be used not only by bikers but also by skaters and rollers. Alejandro Caro and Frank Albino are two of the many city bikers who use this reinvented space for urban sports. They train and improve their physical and technical BMX conditions with the purpose of participating in national and international competitions and representing their
141
The book of the Bike 2014
country. Unfortunately, the days of this self-managed space are numbered. The best thing is that Alejandro and Frank are not alone. They redefine the spaces in an inclusive city along with their friends Michael Mogollon, Alfredo Rodriguez, Andres Pardo “Shapol� and Diana Espitia, whose skills have demonstrated that this sport is not only for men but for women too, all of which are part of more than five thousand BMX athletes born in this so particular and rough, so cold and welcoming, metropolis of Bogota. We see then, among the compendium of stories about the bike inventiveness, the BMX divided into two parts the history of Bogota, positioning this extreme style in a sport through which Colombia will attract international public attention. Just a little drive is necessary to showcase these athletes and their spaces. In this sense,
142
we may understand once again that, as Elizabeth West said: When man invented the bicycle, he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. We do not think so; on the contrary, the BMX made it advance even more.
143
The book of the Bike 2014
bmx is My Life By: Arturo Acero
B
MX begun to be practiced in Bogota in the middle 80’s with few performers and the BMX racing style (off-road single-lap race tracks), which was then, as it is now, the best. But, let’s talk today about BMX freestyle, a branch of this sport which has no recognition in the country. I say that because it is not an Olympic sport and is not endorsed by Coldeportes7 , but it does have international recognition, as proven by the celebration of the worldwide famous X Games. BMX freestyle was born in California, USA, in the late 70’s, and spread until reaching Colombia, where the cross-country terrain present in almost all the Colombian geography favored the practice of this extreme sport. At the beginning, this sport was very basic: jumping sidewalks, walls and stairs, jumps on the ground; it was not technical, it was more adrenaline and passion; Bogota had very good performers, as well as Cali and Medellin. A competition that became a milestone in sports was then organized, Gravedad Cero (Zero Gravity) had the participation of sportspeople from all over the country and some media coverage; but the event was very underground, all the attendants were basically the same performers. Despite that, the event was a total success, to the point of organizing a second Zero Gravity competition in the coliseum of the San Bartolome school in 1998. This competition was developed under two styles: Street, practiced within an indoor complex with ramps, with the score taking into consideration the creativeness, risk level and technique; and Flatland, where the performers had to demonstrate their skills while riding their bikes without setting a foot on the ground, trying to show a wider variety of tricks and combinations, with great balance. The event was sponsored by local companies, and received little support, but the enthusiasm was such to achieve a successfully participation. The best bmxers were present in this competition, and spectators remained astounded since it was the first for them to witness such a high level live. The public witnessed backflips, grinds and tricks that could only be seen on imported videos, but this time they were performed by us (100% Colombian product). A lot of these tricks were performed for the very first time with no previous training, we just let us go 7 Colombian Institute for Sports
144
by the adrenaline of the moment and the inspiration coming from the cheers and applauses. The stands were full and the vibes within the coliseum were amazing; the air was filled with endorphins that encouraged the competitors to go to the limit on the ramps. This was not a competition for money, since prizes were not big; this was a competition for recognition, applauses, love of sport, emotion‌ It is something difficult to explain and understand, particularly for people who have never felt such love towards a similar activity; it was like watching the current games of the Colombian Football (Soccer) Team. I remember that my hair stood on end when seeing the performance of each competitor. In the street style, the winner was Terremoto, a very talented colleague. I will go back to him later. Erick Alzamora, A.K.A. el loco Erick (Crazy Erick), – my mentor, if you will – was on second place. The last I knew about him is he is still linked to sports; lives in Barranquilla and has a BMX school. Esteban Aristizabal won the flatland style, another colleague with long hair who had a very high level, impressive as those of the best performers of the world. The last thing I heard about him, a couple of years later, was that he was enrolled in the army to serve military service as high school graduate and I did not know anything else.
145
The book of the Bike 2014
Three years later, the level kept on increasing, but the opportunities for performers did not get better, with no sponsorship and difficulties to become professional performers given the survival situation they were all living, whether working or studying. Many of the pioneers of this sport got retired for the same reason. In the light of this scenario, Arturo Acero, a rider about whom we will talk, took the task of figuring out a way to leave the country and arrive to the United States, which was and is the official home of this sport. In 2002, after failing two times his attempts to obtain a visa at the American embassy (by then it was harder to get it), he finally got an invitation for a BMX competition in the Street style in Pittsburgh, Pensilvania, which resulted very effective to allow him going there. After happily obtaining the precious American visa with a lot of sacrifice, the arrival was not easy because he had neither sponsorship nor money for supporting his expenses; his budget only covered the payment of the airline ticket, so that he had to sell his bicycle to be able to travel. At his arrival in Pittsburgh, his adventure started and he realized that bicycles do not grow on trees and it was not going to be an easy path. First, he didn’t speak very well English, so he learned to get by the best he could. And second, he had no bicycle to compete; he had to borrow bicycles from the rest of the competitors in order to practice. Even if this scenario looked terrible, it was not as bad as it seems, it was a bonus as the situation gave him the opportunity to put him on the spot quickly. A bicycle trademark became aware of his situation and helped him with a bike to compete. Arturo was the happiest man in the world, he competed and ranked 16th out of 60 participants, which was a good result per se. The day ended and Arturo was lost in the city, without knowing anyone, but happy because of his recently given bicycle and good performance. That night, he set out on a journey to New York, given that some relatives lived there;
146
so he arrived to the city that never sleeps and where dreams may come true. Things were harder than he thought. He got a service delivery job, having a bicycle was the only requirement. On the second day of work, he faced what he thought he would never face in the United States, his life was stolen, that is, his bicycle. However, he never declined and kept on working, bought a new bicycle and trained during his free time. He came back to Colombia after a month, a little disappointed to be honest. Once at home, he received an invitation of a recognized trademark, so he returned to New York and started to ride as a professional. But, it was not easy as he spent a lot and had a second job to cover all the spending. Notwithstanding, this was not in vain, all his effort paid off in 2005 when he participated in a famous competition: King of New York, where he met Terremoto (the colleague who won the Zero Gravity competition of San Bartolome school). It was a surprise to find him. It was great to stumble upon a countryman and also to know that he had been the consecutive winner for three years and that, in fact, he won once again that year, leaving Arturo in 5th place. In 2007, when he came back to his country, he found out that nothing had changed, there were no social networks, and hotmail chat messenger was hardly used. By that time, it was more difficult to know about what was happening abroad, as well as the news and events related to this sport. Arturo’s story is the story of just another Colombian abroad pursuing a dream, not doing dishes, cleaning or as a drug mule, but exerting himself to make his dream come true, riding his BMX. I’m telling this story with the purpose of making more sportspeople become aware of the difficulties of leaving Colombia and arriving to another country; but everything is possible with hard work and dedication, even if the necessary resorts to achieve it are not available.
147
The book of the Bike 2014
For us, watching a video was very hard, we had to borrow them in VHS and record them. Then CD’s appeared and made easier the situation. At this point, watching the X Games was like watching a football (soccer) game, we gathered in different houses to watch them and learn from the idols we followed. Currently, it is easier; Internet has uncountable videos, so we are now able to ride a bike and watch the videos at the same time in our cellphones. This is a faster way to learn new tricks. Before, we had to come home, put a cassette, check the video and go back to the street in order to practice it. Leaving the past behind, I want to talk about the current situation, in which, thanks to these resources, the level is amazingly increasing every day: Colombia has the highest level in South America. But, unfortunately, the lack of funds and support to travel abroad, get a good performance, improve the level and become more competitive has not changed. We hope and work for things to change, because this sport is evolving in Colombia and every day we are more recognized around the world. If the big trademarks start to realize this, everything would get better as they might begin to invest in sportspeople for them to surpass themselves, spend all their time practicing and live off sports. In Peru, for instance, something interesting happened; Peruvian bmxers, skaters and rollers have a lot of specialized parks for skateboarding and BMX. This is so because a politician built a park and this was named after him. When other politicians saw this, they didn’t want to stay behind and decided to do the same. As a result, Lima is plenty of skateparks, the best of South America, where performers from all over the world come, including us, the Colombians. Many of the local competitions that have taken place there were won by sons of our precious Colombia. Recently, I am just one more performer, I already lived my golden dream, I travelled around half of the world thanks to my sport, but I don’t want my story to end here, I wish many other BMX sportspeople live what I lived and get much more glory than I got. Nowadays, some of them have achieved it, but with great sacrifice, and this generates a lot of pressure; most of them come back from abroad with serious lesions because they want to make his country proud and not to disappoint people supporting them, so they exceed their capacities and injure themselves. This happens due to the lack of coaches and mentors to provide advice for them. Like football (soccer) players, they need a manager. Although this is an individual sport, we should focus on supporting it even more; so we will have not
148
only worldwide performers but also many young people cut off from drug addiction and bad thoughts. I want to finish this by saying that the BMX is the best thing in my life. It took me to places that I never thought I would go to; gave me the opportunity to know people I never imagined to know and who are now my best friends; gave me also the opportunity to learn so many things and be the person I am. That is why I would like everybody may live something similar someday.
149
Bikentrepreneurship
The book of the Bike 2014
Basilisco Bike Bogota
B
a s i l i s c o Bike Bogota is a young company arising from effort and dedication in order to promote the use of the bicycle as alternative and sustainable means of transportation in the city of Bogota. « When our first bicycle came out of the shop, we were able to understand that living on two wheels is change and evolution ». They started designing, creating and developing customized bamboo bicycles —considering bamboo as the vegetable steel —, a material whose resistance, durability and naturalness is environmentally friendly. For this reason, they figured out a method to build unique bicycles from Bamboo and have produced hundreds of smiles as reward for the work and, in doing so, they have also reached a matchless model of life. They are a group of bicycle lovers who regard the bike as a lifestyle, as well as a tool for the construction of dreams. So, when combining passion for bicycles and arts, they intend to be part of the solution to the current problem; and it makes sense when it comes to creating bicycles. Basilisco Bike looks forward to the establishment of a community that may socially and culturally impact our community in a positive way, encouraging our new generations to be environmentally friendly, transmitting the need to
154
take ownership of spaces through a sustainable means of transportation as an environmental alternative for the city. Inspired by the daily evolution shown by Bogota, where the bicycle gains importance and influence in its development and is a regular part of the transportation or recreation of many people, they want to influence the city via a clean innovative product with high satisfaction levels for the user. These bicycles are handmade, which adds value to a product characterized by being resistant, natural and environmentally friendly.
Contact
Web site: www.basiliscobike.co E-mail: basiliscobogotabike@gmail.com Facebook: basiliscobikebogota Address: calle 140 No. 101-56, Centro Comercial Fiesta Suba, local 82 Phone: 805 05 64
155
The book of the Bike 2014
Tourist Biking Bebike, a Different Way of Seeing the City
T
h is is a business initiative arising from a strong interest in showing our city to the tourists that regularly visit it. They are proud of being rolos8 and know that their business initiative is contributing to the improvement of the image of Bogota abroad. They are trying to reduce traffic congestion and the level of polluting emissions produced by the motorized transportation. They provide visitors with the opportunity to see the city from the perspective of the cyclist, in a pleasant, calm and safe manner, making the most of the large network of bike paths and more than 120 km (74 mi) of Sunday ciclovia which are currently available for the citizens. They consider hotels their natural allies, which not only promote its service but also consider it as a high value-added element of quality.
8 Translator’s Note: From Bogota.
156
They offer touristic rides to the most emblematic places of the capital, such as La Candelaria, the Simon Bolivar Park and the Usaquen flee market. Throughout almost two years of work, they consider themselves the ambassadors of Bogota abroad and are pleased to say that, with a lot of hard working and dedication, they have achieved an extensive customers’ portfolio.
Contact
Andres Jara Moreno E-mail: ajaramoreno@gmail.com Address: avenida carrera 15 No. 146-95 Phones: 317 503 06 14 – 216 95 84
157
The book of the Bike 2014
Bicipachanga
Z
ua Zaa is a group that works for civic culture and focuses on three fundamental areas: culture, arts and sports. Their path as bikeactivists begun at an early age when, as urban cyclists, looked for an agile, clean self-sufficient mobility alternative. This led them to design and develop the Tricirko, a rear loading tricycle fitted with a 120x110cm (47.24 X 43.3 in) platform and a 240 watts sound system, which they use to perform more than 30 urban circus shows weekly throughout Bogota, including park s and universities. Currently, the Tricirko has 13 different human-powered vehicles, among bicycles of several types (double, mini, giant and historical bicycles), monocycles and modified rear loading tricycles in permanent elaboration and evolution. They were awarded with the second place in the grant Pedalea por Bogota of the Programa Distrital de Estimulos 2013. They were also invited to the inaugural parade of the Ibero-American Theater Fest 2014 as a way to pay tribute to the cycling Bogota. They are part of the cycling urban movement of Bogota. Their initiative started with the organization of races and events with a fixed gear circus bicycle, as
158
they were the first cyclists in riding this type of bicycle, currently very popular in the city. Their initiative has been so successf ul among the capit al cycling community, that now they are carrying out the Bicipachanga, an on-wheel party celebrated to take over those inefficiently used spaces of the city such as tunnels, bridges, undercrossings, parks, etc., and which has gathered more than 2,500 cyclists during the six times it has been celebrated.
Contact
Juan Felipe Santamaria, Katherine Suavita E-mail: zua.zaa.cirko@gmail.com Address: calle 45 A Bis No. 19-12, barrio Palermo Phones: 313 331 89 55 – 320 202 00 40 – 801 42 12
159
The book of the Bike 2014
Bicycle Film Festival, a Cultural Platform to Celebrate the Bicycle
M
or e and more people are riding bicycles every day and identify themselves with the cycling lifestyle. There is a great enthusiasm regarding the bicycle culture, not only in our country but also around the world. Therefore, the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) was born in one of those cities of the world where transportation on two wheels is a trend. Brendt Barbur, its founder, got the idea of this project after being knocked down by a bus while riding his bicycle for the streets of New York; so he insisted on turning this negative experience into something positive. In 2001, Barbur started the BFF as a platform to celebrate the bicycle via music, arts and, of course, films. During the first year, the BFF shocked the national media and the tickets were sold out. And since then it hasn’t stopped. This year the BFF will take place in our country, in the city of Bogota. This festival, whose purpose is to positively impact young culture and opinion leaders in the fields of music, fashion, design arts, travelling, sports and films, seeks to celebrate the bicycle universe in multiple ways, strengthening the cyclists’ profile and exalting the healthy and environmental benefits of the bicycle. In addition to the projection of the films of famous artists and producers, who are at the beginning of their careers and are enthusiasts of the bicycle, the inhabitants
160
161
The book of the Bike 2014
of the capital will be able to enjoy the BFF parties, remarkable because they present DJs and recognized musical bands and offer people the opportunity of sharing with others in the event. Other activities developed in the framework of the BFF parties are the “street parties�, where people may interact with the sponsors in different activities, such as competitions and presentations of BMX, fixed and other categories; bicycle exhibitions, repairs and a varied offer of restaurants; exhibitions of emerging artists and members of the cycling community, among other activities. In short, the BFF is a meeting point not only for all those bike lovers and those who care about its worldwide boom, but also for those young persons and fervent leaders who love and feel identified with arts, design, music, films and sports, as well as for film producers, artists and environmentalists. This festival was held in Bogota from September 4 to 7, 2014.
Contact
Web site: www.bicyclefilmfestival.com
162
BikerFood
B
i k e r F o o d is a dream with a bicycle soul, a dream which constantly pedal s towards an idea moving on wheels, bringing throughout the city the delicious taste of its products: empanadas de lechona9, chicken and beef, sandwiches, salads and more. BikerFood is the expression of entrepreneurship, taste, attitude, dedication. BikerFood is a car less driving through the city; it is making of any day the perfect moment for a picnic; touring the city giving smiles, glances, praises; sharing a little of the good vibes that, with every pedal stroke, increase with the hope of filling the world with smiles. 9 Translator’s Note: Small pork stuffed dumplings
Contact
E-mail: BikerFood13@gmail.com Facebook: Bikerfood Phone: 319 329 04 95
163
The book of the Bike 2014
Bogocleta. There is Another Path
T
h is is a group of friends from Bogota who decided to create a national trademark, in which every bicycle is designed by the customer and manufactured by them. Being aware of the fact that mobility and pollution depends on each one of the inhabitants of this city, they founded Bogocleta. They firmly believe that bicycle is the best individual means of transportation for big cities like Bogota. They are convinced that the most important thing is not the destination but the path. This idea inspired them to design and assemble the fixie or fixed gear bicycle, one of their main products. This bicycle is characterized as the simplest model: no breaks or changes; legs are the driving force and breaks, a relationship that takes you back to the origin of this vehicle.
164
The boom of this model allowed them to develop a new concept, the arte fixie, customizing each component for each bike to be unique, to the point of consolidating a strategic alliance with a reggae group, with whom they launched the first line of bicycles inspired by a musical group in the world. A combination of colors, music, lifestyle, and inspiration, in just one item.
Contact
Carlos Fabian Murcia Morales E-mail: fabianmurcia@bogocleta.com.co Address: calle 90 No. 12-28, oficina 25, piso 2 Phones: 310 324 99 60 – 310 581 76 76 – 814 04 25
165
The book of the Bike 2014
Cornelia Bikes
T
hey have been spreading the biking flavor among the people of Bogota since 2008, when two young guys founded this two wheel-dreams machine just in front of the traditional Lourdes Church. Cornelia is a proud to be Colombian, friendly character who designs urban bikes and unique, colorful accessories and embodies a brand that from day one aims to contribute with sustainable development and clean transportation. This initiative is led by designer and photographer David Segura. He builds and restore, with attention and detail, colorful bikes for Colombia and the rest of the world. This trend is being successfully followed by many Colombian entrepreneurs.
166
Contact
David Ricardo Segura E-mail: seguradr@gmail.com Address: carrera 15 Nº 71-45 Telephone numbers: 311 567 54 19 – 606 30 66
167
The book of the Bike 2014
Creatorio
S
om e say true friends meet each other at the University. And that place is also the scenario for many flying but eternal discussions. Friends and discussions are thus the seed of many projects that later, as we like to say, actually change the world. They are laboratories to think and design. Creatorio was formally established in 2012. Concepts brought to life there are repetitions and memoirs. Many beers and many places later -throughout almost eight years-, four friends (all of them industrial designers or almost) gathered to make true everything they had thought about mobility. Shakespear (Ronald, not William) said: Design will not save society, but if there is no design, it will not be saved either�. We like to think that was the perfect motivation, even if that phrase was not present at that time. And we considered that the best way to vehicle that motivation was to find a place where ideas may fly here and there, as the only -or almost the only- rule. If there are ideas, there is discussion: creation shall be just a consequence of that. The name Creatorio comes from that idea, as well as the gerund form we like to use: creatorizando (creationing). We set that design was the tool for a
168
continuous and necessary creation. A tool to achieve social transformation. A transformation that in today’s context is more necessary than ever. A context where mobility must become a fundamental right that is able to guarantee some other such as work, health, education, etc. Creatorio is not a bicycle brand. Mobility is the axis of our work, and we cannot thus reduce one of its elements: bicycles. However, since we conceive mobility as a right, and being the creative act a very democratic one, we can start from an object as marvelous as simple as the bike. The feeling of freedom we experienced when we were little kids is the starting point to work the intelligent mobility concept. It is not just about going further, faster. Nowadays mobility values change and gathering starts to make sense, for instance. Intelligent mobility means to understand which one is the best transportation mean at a specific moment, which one the ideal combination of those means (vehicle, bus, train, subway, etc.), and which ones the places and the moments. Design is not enough, but neither is culture. We design to build a mobility culture. Mobility culture goes beyond a means or a vehicle. Mobility is not just about displacement. The word culture describes a set of knowledge that allows us to develop our critical judgment, and that is exactly what Creatorio does with its actions and products. We expect many get out of the car and get on the bike, but what we really want and the most important thing is people to reflect. We are also interested in the causes of actions; in reasons and motivations. There is where design is the perfect tool, since this is above all a reflection process.
169
The book of the Bike 2014
In order to build a culture, that design must be, first, affordable. From our point of view “If we think of a product, we must also consider access is granted by setting an affordable price. Any person, no matter their purchasing power or social status, shall be able to have access to a high quality design. Besides, the core of our work is that our brand is addressed to persons, not consumers.” We see the bike as a link in the chain for the transformation of Bogota, a city that today counts almost half a million bicycle trips a day. That vehicle was the best link to start knitting a chain for a mobility culture, a chain that involves many actors and several categories. Thus, after a year and a half of searching, after many sketches and discussions on concept and esthetics, we created a bicycle designed as a daily means of transportation that does not threatens the lifestyle of persons not willing to change their outfits and comfort to get on a bike. That is why we tried to find an urban, fully comfortable DNA for the product; it has an integrated basket; the hub hides gears, raises the technological perception and strengthens its mechanisms-free esthetics. Finally, that is the reason why its esthetics aims to seduce a market of people who find all those features in a car, but translated herein. Within the mobility culture you may find population sectors for whom alternatives shall be offered for them to get out of the car. Those sectors have awarded the car with values the bike does not still exhibit in order to become an alternative for them. Every time a person who uses a car in a daily basis to go places decides to use the bicycle instead, the mobility culture of the city wins.
Contact
Rodrigo Romero Garcia, Gabriel Arias, David Serna, Cristiam Savogal Web Site: www.creatorio.co E-mail: info@creatorio.co Facebook: Creatorio.co Twitter: @CreatorioCo Address: transversal 15B N° 46-16, oficina 504 Telephone numbers: 300 784 47 40 – 751 49 00
170
The BMX Photographer
J
u an Paez has been a BMX cyclist for 14 years. He became a professional photographer of that sport four years ago. He started photographing his friends, but his curiosity and passion to become a professional, world recognized BMX photographer led him to study documentary photography beside huge photographers such as Camilo Rozo, Santiago Escobar Jaramillo and Juan Diego Cano Buitrago, among others. He considers his work was born from the need of young people to tell the real story of Urban Sports and New Trends (DUNT, in Spanish) in a different way, with no stigmas, always looking to capture the style and identity of Colombian extreme sports professionals from an esthetic point of view.
171
Juan is also the founder of Primitiveurban.com, a web site that keeps updated with images he daily captures with his lens on the Bogota DUNT community news, culture and lifestyle, paying special attention to BMX urban professionals. Juan was the winner of the contest «Historias a pedal, pura energía humana» (Pedal Stories: Pure Human Energy), organized by Mejor en Bici, in alliance with Chevron Colombia. His photographs have been published in Art BMX Magazine, a French sports/lifestyle magazine. He was also a finalist of Fotopolis 2013, a Canon Colombia contest. Juan won the «Bogotá por lo alto 2012» (Bogota on the Heights 2012) contest, sponsored by the Bogota Tourism District Institute (IDT, in Spanish) among other awards, making him one of the most recognized BMS photographers of the city.
Contact
Juan Páez E-mail: juandabmx83@gmail.com Address: carrera 88 H Nº 56 F 25 Sur Telephone numbers: 311 863 09 81
173
The book of the Bike 2014
Fixeito Messenger. Bicycle Messaging Fixeito Messenger is a bicycle messaging company founded in 2012 with the purpose of satisfying delivery needs in the city of Bogota. It is essentially a group of urban cyclists dedicated to work in a cooperative way, through the rational, economical and ecologic use of the bicycle, in order to become the first instant messaging alternative. Based on a cellular organization model, on the mobility skill and expertise of its members in Bogota, Fixeito Messenger is composed by area bicycle messengers and global delivery guys. Bicycle messengers are in charge of collecting and delivering packages, envelopes and assignments. Global delivery guys are responsible of contracting the service with the client, defining the most optimal route, monitoring the delivery route and looking out for the success of the delivery.
174
This entrepreneurial undertaking is based on the offer of a different messaging service, named “instant messaging�, i.e. collecting and delivering as soon as possible, allowing users to simplify deliveries, saving time and money. All rates and services are calculated from the service route distance and the number of routes. Bicycle Messenger expects to establish a trust-commitment relationship with its users through a service provision agreement based on the offer of an instant messaging service and the promotion of the bicycle as a viable alternative in the field of undertakings.
Contact
Manuel Garcia E-mail: fixeitomessenger@gmail.com Address: carrera 18 NÂş 48-13 Telephone numbers: 310 325 92 86
175
The book of the Bike 2014
Gaia Bikes. Another Way of Seeing the Bike
G
aia Bikes project is an innovative bicycle proposal implemented by three young entrepreneurs of Bogota for whom bicycle has been transcending in a huge part of their activities in town. Convinced of the virtues and benefits that this human-powered transportation means offers to users, they expect to return to the beginnings of the bicycle, the one made of wood, before the steel revolution. Based on their great wit, they started by creating a first model of what would be a bicycle whose frame and fork were made out of wood, so spare parts as tires, handlebar grips, chains ring and saddle, among others, were completely adjustable to it and were strong and resistant as any other bicycle. Then they faced the long road of the “entrepreneur�: going all over the city to find support and especially convincing others that this idea is actually viable and functional.
176
After a period of continuous work, they created a first prototype that set a guideline for what would probably be the beginning of a new way of seeing the bicycle in Bogota. Impact on people after riding it through the streets, especially during the Sunday Ciclovia, has been a fundamental promotion key. Wood bicycles were already developed in other parts of the world, where its evident firmness, resistance and reliability have been proved. Furthermore, its environmental and mobility virtues are bigger for citizens, and its manufacture is, in consequence, more ecological than the steel bicycles one. And it is also more ecological after you stop using it, because it is biodegradable: its raw materials come from the earth or force of nature, as its name Gaia. The wood bicycle in Bogota is an innovation based on new technologies that expect to change the face of our city.
Contact
Mauricio Roldan Castro Web Site: www.gaia-bikes.com E-mail: info@gaia-bikes.com Facebook: Gaia Bikes Address: calle 53 A Sur Nº 29-66 Telephone numbers: 310 719 79 82 – 713 19 30
177
The book of the Bike 2014
Go Bike Radio
G
o Bike Radio is a radio station f o und e d b y f iv e b ic yc l e enthusiasts living in the city of Bogota. Its purpose is creating a communication channel between the members of the cycling community, not only of Colombia but in Latin America. This channel looks to gather all people who want a better world and to produce a real change in our cities. This space does not only belong to us, it belongs to all people willing to broadcast the message. Go Bike Radio is a community of all and for all. This station is part of Fuck Cars Go Bike, a collective founded two years ago by William Andres Puentes, based on the need of carrying out a union message among the cycling community on Latin America. It must be highlighted that cyclists are unprotected in many cities of the continent, which can be noticed in infrastructure and authorities actions. Thus, collectives that allow union among society’s individuals are becoming more and more important. Go Bike Radio is a channel that may allow creating an alliance among different collectives in Latin America. The station mainly addresses those persons for whom the bike, no matter their social class, is part of their everyday life. The station is the voice of those who are part of a non-violent revolution, a revolution that is silent and with no emissions: “We fight for cleaner and less chaotic cities. We do not intend to bother anyone, but we do want more people join our cause”.
Contact
E-mail: fcgobikes@gmail.com Telephone number: 304 436 03 98
178
LaCicla.in
A
restoration made out of love, in a casual way, with the purpose of giving a personalized, unique bike, whose design and accessories show a feeling of love. John Tovar bought an old Monark Kross, forgotten in a yard, exposed to sun and rain. However, he could visualize the final product from its form and structure: an extraordinary piece full of style and design. In that way this project was born; the attempt of bringing back to life those forgotten memories and transform them into exclusive pieces whose esthetic captures everyone’s attention on the road. And so the first orders arrived, orders that precisely looked for those features. Each bicycle was found in shops, junkyards, or in friends and family houses. Today, a whole new series of services and advantages that enrich the design have been added. Melissa Diaz (graphic designer), John’s wife, is in charge of applying colors and customized prints. Besides, they make tools cases, leather saddlebags and grips, enriching even more these old bicycles. Generally, the restoration process takes approximately a month. This varies according to the complexity of finding original spare parts. Besides, you can have a digital sketch of every project. LaCicla.in is love, passion and feelings all mixed to offer unique, special products, so promoting the use of the bicycle as an efficient and environment friendly transportation means. The second phase of this project is offering
179
The book of the Bike 2014
to build totally customized bicycles, regarding materials and measures, with personal or commercial goals, always keeping the vintage style. By visiting LaCicla.in you can see some projects that are rolling over Bogota today. Each project is named and has a history of the process the bicycle went through to bring it back to the life of its owners. You can also find the following services: total bicycle restoration; cleaning and sand polishing; frame painting with automobile varnishes and static electricity; frames, bells or horns designing and printing; manufacturing and designing of customized saddlebags; handlebars leather wrapping; classic saddlebags, bicycle purchasing advising, according to its use and customization; commercial projects development; and digital prototypes design.
Contact
John Tovar Web Site: www.lacicla.in E-mail info@lacicla.in Address: calle 149 Nยบ 45-84 Telephone numbers: 315 336 31 16
180
Laika Bikes
L
a ik a Bikes wants to bring happiness to the city of Bogota through the bicycle. For some people, purchasing a bike is unaffordable, for others it is not a priority. Laika is a private bicycle renting service and a bicycle tours service that was born out of passion for rolling and the need of transmitting that passion to people. It is not about riding an artifact, it is another human expression. Years ago a dog named Laika was the symbol of the space race. Today, Laika is the symbol of the race for recovering space, urban space. The rent and the tour services aim to increase the number of people that may discover or rediscover the joy and the ease of the bicycle, to regain the streets with this great invention. Laika Bikes shares information of interest in social media for bike enthusiasts and for those who are discovering the benefits of moving through Bogota in the best of all option: the bicycle.
Contact
Juan Manuel Robledo E-mail: info@laikabikes.com Facebook: laikabikes Instagram: @laikabikes Address: carrera 4 Nº 69-23 Telephone numbers: 310 625 71 70 – 696 90 44
181
The book of the Bike 2014
Pazicleta. More than a Bike, an Educational Tool
P
azicleta (peace bike) was born in a dream of June, 2013, when a little voice said: “You are going to make a peace bicycle”. That was the voice of God that spoke in the founder’s dream. Two months later the prototype was ready and rolling in the Night Ciclovia for Bogota’s anniversary. The peace bicycle’s concept and prose that would be the initial sparkle for many others to innovate for peace, for rolling for #pazear (peaceriding) was perfected. After several prototypes, after building the peace prose on wheels and dreaming of the future peaceriding community, the Pazicleta was introduced to the group “Innovacion al Servicio de la Paz”, where it was warmly accepted. The pazicleta was also presented to a group of investors, and now its creators are cashing, building an innovation incubator for peace, creating a peacecyclist community in Bogota.
182
The Pazicleta creators won the Car Free Day 2014 in Bavaria, and participated in the TEDx Bogota 2013. They are now working in the crowdfunding strategy to take this initiative to conflict regions, with the purpose of connecting and making peace leaders visible in the regions with the help of urban peacecyclists. This is possible because each pazicleta has a unique user name, a hash tag that allows connecting urban peacecyclists with rural peacecyclists in conflict zones through the social media. The pazicleta can be bought in www.pazicleta.com. It will be delivered to you at home and you will be part of the biggest streets pacification community in the country
Contacto
Cesar Augusto Salamanca Rojas Web Site: www.pazicleta.com E-mail: casalamancaro@gmail.com Address: calle 127 B Bis Nº 51 A 68, apto. 314 Telephone numbers: 301 771 2629 – 751 75 20
183
The book of the Bike 2014
The Bike Sound Lowrider
T
his is a project oriented towards new technologies, trained to commercial megaphone advertisement or the promotion of tourism and recreation. This intelligent model is provided with a satellite system to go over short routes in permitted perimeters by the commercial area, demanded by their customers. The Bike Sound Lowrider is an innovative, creative initiative that helps mitigating the effects of climate change, demonstrating that the bicycle is a sustainable transportation means that is also part of a clean, planet friendly undertaking.
184
This project has become a communication media close to its action areas, promoting products in different neighborhoods of Bogota and effectively contributing to the consolidation of people’s productions chains that transform cities into including territories.
Contact
Fabio Andres Hernandez Zuleta Web Site: www.cajasacusticas.net E-mail: colinagrozonabogota@hotmail.com Address: calle 7 Nº 94-7, casa 194 Telephone numbers: 310 760 30 69 – 306 209 53 44
185
The book of the Bike 2014
Lemon Green
L
emon Green is a family undertaking born after the 80 years old grandmother accident involving a Suba neighborhood cyclist, and as a consequence of the family calling to preserve the environment, to restore and sell bicycles, to manufacture sports clothes, along with their restless energy to recover the vitality and spirit that have been the family cane.
186
Bicycle Dreams and Challenges
The book of the Bike 2014
Between Rings and Wheels
By: Catalina Franco Cadena
T
w o years has passed since we joined our bicycles in front of the altar, without imaging that a simple riding night in Bogota would be the perfect cupid for our eternal romance. Alejandro, who for years rode his steel horse and came up with this initiative, this love and cycling story; and I, a charming girl by the mountain, joined our smiles and routes, those that led us to build our home. Five years ago I started going through streets, paths, towns close to Bogota and other cities, knowing beautiful landscapes, storing miles in my bicycle and unforgettable memories in my mind. Wednesday nights are also part of my bicycle rides thanks to the Wednesday Cycleride (CPM): this collective presents surprise routes that my father, my brother and I are always ready to go through. Alejandro, who has been a passionate cyclist from his childhood thanks to his parents influence, also rides with several friends and has known extraordinary places in Colombia. He has also ridden through Bogota, accompanying the CPM. A certain pedal night through Bogota, heading to Maloka, Alejandro approached me with his bicycle. That was the beginning of our friendship. As the months and several bicycle wanders went by, we got to know each other more and more. After a year together, riding through miles in Cundinamarca, always escorted by Max, our loyal dog, we decided to join our pinions forever. On September 15, 2012, while Bogota celebrated St. Valentine’s Day, we were leaving the altar, happily married. To my surprise, at the church’s doors was a tandem bicycle fully decorated with flowers, bows and lights waiting as a symbol of our union. Of course, the traditional cans-tail was attached to our carriage, and we pedaled accompanied by its melody and our families and friends, celebrating the new phase of our lives. The bicycle was a part of our celebration: the cards and the cake were decorated with the little steel horse emblem. As a couple, we have learned to celebrate many victories and to face many difficulties, just the way we do it in the mountain when we are riding our bicycles.
190
Our love and union are always present. The bicycle is the fundamental pinion of our home, it goes wherever we go. Alejandro keeps pedaling with his group of mountain cyclists. I keep my passion for the mountain, and we keep going to our Wednesday night love date. For now, we wait with our cycling shoes on our second wedding anniversary and, riding our little steel horses, we constantly support each other in all our routes and adventures. A curious piece of information: once married we searched on the web weddings on bicycles, and we found out that in the Dominican Republic, Chile and Peru such events occurred. However, in Colombia nobody had announced it. That would make us the first couple to get married on bicycles in the country.
191
The book of the Bike 2014
Riding on Zafiro By: Diana Carolina Zúñiga Garcia
I
don’t know since when I exist, or since when something like me exists. I just know my name is Zafiro, maybe because I shine under the sun while my shadow only reflects my two wheels. All my days start with a bell sound and uncontainable desires of going out to the streets to take some fresh air and sun. She always comes for me before noon, climbs on my seat and we start to live. Living is enjoying the freedom of choosing which street to go up or down, or when to stop...In the middle of this chaotic city, with her in top of me, I feel in peace. I am completely happy, because thanks to me she accomplishes everything she wants. Actually, she has told me many times that without me her life would be sad and boring because I am her little steel horse, her bigger engine. “Zafiro, if I ever wanted to have wings, that wish has come true, because on your two wheels my thoughts fly and my body rises”, she said to me while
192
we were passing by the Carrera Septima and I felt the looks coming from many people on buses, which seems more a birdcage than other thing. And so our days pass by, she on top of me and me raising her all over the concrete, from one side to the other, forgetting the horn sounds by our sides, leaving behind cars stuck in the absurd traffic that doesn’t move, looking the colorful neon signs lightning the streets, feeling the air that passes through our bodies...being free. I can’t deny that coming back home is sad, although is good to take a break. She carefully lifts me in one wheel and lets me ready so the next morning the only thing to do is pushing the first pedal again. I turn off my lights, she closes her eyes. I adopt a position that allows me to watch her, she holds me in her arms with love and gives me all her strength, because without her drive neither me nor her would be able to ride through Bogota, flying through the concrete.
193
The book of the Bike 2014
Utopia on a Bike By: Jennifer Lorena Alvarez Muñoz, El ParchArte Collective
S
t r e e t s of Bogota are flooded with cars, buses, trucks, trailertrucks, motorbikes and other means of transportation that become a massive traffic jam every day, any time of the day. And the question arises: “What do we do with it?”, “Getting up a little earlier...” some say. “Taking the Transmilenio”, others think. Desperate ones say: “Take a taxi or two buses”. But they come to realize that is not the best option because there is not enough money in their pockets. Being laz y led us to forget other means of transportation like the bicycle. Is it because we are in a hurry? Or maybe just a lack of physical motivation, or mental laziness? The bike is the actual solution to all your problems. You will avoid headaches and potential
194
stress consequences, you will breath pure air, you will have more space in the Ciclovia, your body will feel better and, thanks to it, you will show a smile to all the people around you. Yes! You will find happiness� Happiness is freedom, and your freedom is feeling fresh, choosing your own path whenever you wish it and need it, accelerating or slowing down whenever you want, being careful. Be part of those who break the routine and activate your body to improve your body and the environment. Freedom is riding your bike to go through your path!
195
The book of the Bike 2014
That Piece of Magical Junk Called Bicycle By: Miguel Ă ngel Sanjuanelo
1
6 kilometers/hour is the speed average in the city, constant production of endorphins, feeling like a champion in your own road, an engine for life and ideas. Curiously I write this while I am driving. Not literally writing, but at least I am putting together this text in my mind. Be careful with that hole in the road! Ugh, that was close! Well, let’s continue: I drive along with freedom, far from claustrophobic buses and city cars. Automobiles are still sold as a fake oasis of social progress, even though they may become a bitter jail in an unnecessary traffic jam. No gas stops, all the energy we need is in us...and maybe in a bottle of water. Gravity and balance, sometimes disloyal accomplices but always sweetened with the will of keep going. A sport for one person, two persons...everyone who wants to join. The bicycle may be an intimate place where you can ride with your thoughts, reflect on two wheels. It can also be the pinion for great friendships in a common path.
196
The bicycle allows you to watch the city with a magnifying glass, go through streets where under any other circumstance you would have pass; to watch those life stories that can only be appreciated in glances during a pair of blocks. The bicycle is the love that will never break your heart (or maybe it will break your head if you don’t wear a helmet); it will even get you away from a heart attack. So, make yourself a favor, a healthy and spiritual favor, and keep riding. “Once you learn to ride a bike, you will never forget it”, they say. I would change that saying: Once you fell in love with a bike, you will never want to forget it!
197
The book of the Bike 2014
Promotion of Civic Culture in the Mobility Scenario By: Bogota Mia Foundation
I
n order to build a culture in favor of the use, promotion and consolidation of the bicycle as an attractive alternative for the transportation system of our city, it is necessary to advance in the characterization process of all actors of mobility, since this is a very complex scenario.
The Bogota Mia Foundation made available to citizens the Ciclo de Movilidad, which addresses the following topics: civic culture, road security, healthy mobility and mobility actors. One of the goals of this cycle is to invite pedestrians, bike users, motor bikers, private dr ivers, public dr ivers, public transportation users, authorities and load transportation drivers to reflect about the way they behave in the mobility scenario and strengthen those aspects they benefit from to benefit others. The publicat ion on Bikeusers tackles the following aspects: the bicycle in the world, bicycle use advantages and pending problems
198
and tasks for its promotion and use. For us it is important that bicycle promotion includes a pertinent cultural inclusion, allowing us to create in every mobility actor a balance between rights and duties, because if we achieve harmony between those two elements, we will advance in the building of a culture that eliminates road violence as a consequence of correct exercise of citizenship in the complex and valuable transportation system offered by our beloved Bogota, in which everyone has a responsibility. Our contents can be found in the web site www.fundacionbogotamia.org which are posted by our nine social media: Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+, Tumblr, yfrog, YouTube, Pinterest and StumbleUpon. We invite all the readers of our second Book of the Bike in Bogota to follow us and share our contents with families and friends. Together we can build a better Bogota!
199
The book of the Bike 2014
The Shadows of Dieguito By: Gabriel Pulido Redondo
D
ie g o Arciniegas, the adventurer, my friend in the National University, everybody’s friend, is a special, charismatic and emblematic character. This tireless sport performer has always been difficult to locate, yesterday when we depended on a phone message left at home and today when all world’s information meet in our hands. At any time he could be found on a mountain, in the rainforest, on a paramo, on a desert or in any isolated landscape. And his bicycle travelled with him. In Bogota, he moved on his bicycle, as others did for sports or to save some money. But Dieguito rode moved by a conviction I only understood years later, when a city designed to be a car reign was reshaped for a growing cycling citizenship. Diego understood Bogota as an adventure to enjoy the bicycle.
200
When we rode together, he was in front of me, teaching me shortcuts any car could go through, and I followed him, learning his movements. But he was faster and it was difficult for me to keep up with him or even touch his shadow with my front wheel. And that was the image I kept forever: the image of Dieguito’s shadow and his bike. Where will they be next time? Today, thanks to his influence, I am a frequent cyclist who tries to imitate him, entering into bike adventures through places inside or outside the city, even the country. And while I pedal, I enjoy occasionally descending my look to see how the floor received our shadow as a unique shape. This is the memory I kept from my bike and me being there, I even photograph many times my own shadow. Plato used shadows to describe a specific perception of reality. To me, they are testimonies of pedaling briefly kept by the floor, and its photograph tells a reality that no one can entirely read. Years later, after convincing me that the city is a cycling adventure, I think Dieguito and his bike are in Africa, I don’t know anything else. I have convinced many, and the latter convinced some others. In a way we all are his shadow.
201
The book of the Bike 2014
Rodarte
I
By: Ivan Cano Mejia
am absolutely sure of the important role of the bicycle in my life, because when I am riding it and moving all over on it, for me it’s more than just a displacement: it’s a marvelous journey that makes me feel like I am floating. Rodarte’s action began with an invitation to participate in an art room: University Image Festival (FIU, in Spanish), held in Uniminuto and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. The action’s main objective is to use the bicycle as a means and extension of the body, allowing communities to participate on it. Its graphical reference is those rollers used by our ancestors to decorate and embellish their clothes and fabrics. Circularity is a common concept in the pre-Hispanic art, id est, the cyclic movement of life. Ceramic rollers used to paint the body also include that idea. Their patterns have neither a beginning nor an end, they are continuous and circular. That is why I decided to use the bicycle as an instrument to create art, especially its wheels that to me are the contemporary representation of rollers used by our ancestors. After fixing a 7x1 m (22x3 ft.) Kimberly Smart paper strip on the floor, I make some paint puddles with vinyl colors and place them on each end of the strip so every bicycle that goes by may join the experience and let a stamp of its tires after being soaked in paint. That way we obtain as a final
202
result a collaborative piece of art, with the participation of people who don’t previously know each other, but once they know what the action is about decide to participate and let one or several prints on the paper. Two hours later, the paper has captured a sufficient number of prints to shape a sort of landscape. Once all prints are dry, I take the paper from the floor and exhibit in one of the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo rooms. Exhibition lasts three weeks and, at the end, a closing ceremony is held to read the jury’s verdict awarding young artists participating in the festival. At that moment I take the art piece off the wall, cut it in regular pieces of 40x50 cm. (15.6x19.5 inches). to give them as a gift to participants and the public attending the festival closing.
203
The book of the Bike 2014
Mobility from the Grupo GUIA’s Bike By: Oscar Mauricio Mogollon Sanabria and Julio Marcelo Groso, District Mobility Secretary
D
is t r ic t Administration, led by the Alcaldia Mayor de Bogota D. C., not oblivious of the world need to generate a shift of paradigms rooted in our public policies, urban and social development and, of course, in the way we have until now faced the human being necessity to move within large cities, reaffirmed the importance of sustainable transportation. And that has to be achieved through the inclusion of environmental criteria in the policies ruling the mobility system. In that way the Mobility Master Plan was adopted as an integral part of its policy mobility and sustainable development, giving priority to transportation sub-systems that follow this guideline, such as non-motorized transportation, which are considered worldwide as a fundamental part to solve historical mobility problems and whose implementation and promotion are subject to efforts investments aiming to generate advances and changes regarding public policies,
204
knowledge and respect of rules, collective awareness, problem facing and, consequently, the adoption of a mindset that contributes to achieve that goal. In that sense, from 2007, the District Mobility Secretariat, through bicycle operations personnel permanently available on the road, started providing primary assistance to multiple mobility problems related to operation and behavioral factors on bike paths and city roads. Even though this Secretariat has seen different administrations pass, it has demonstrated its value and disposition, gaining a space within the city dynamics. The Unified Group of Intervention and Action for Mobility (GUIA, in Spanish), on its bicycle modality, joins efforts for the promotion of the bike as an everyday, sustainable and friendly transportation means, under the premise that the aforementioned effort is a responsibility for both the administration and the citizens in order to assure a safe and adequate use of the bicycle, as well as its exclusive infrastructure that makes of Bogota one of the most friendly cities towards the bikeuser all over the world. Nowadays, the bicycle operation modality of GUIA undertakes information, educational, accompanying and monitoring actions, as well as temporary traffic management actions over a huge part of the 388 km. (241 mi) of the extent and growing bike paths and bike lanes, trying to contribute to the new step towards the spreading of the use of the bike as a transportation means.
205
The book of the Bike 2014
It is Not a Matter of Pedaling By: Andres David Rivera Umaña
I
don’t have to think in traffic jams. I don’t have to think in long lines within the Transmilenio system. I don’t have to think if the bus will be full. I don’t have to think if I will be on time at my workplace or university. I left behind these concerns three years ago, when I decided to move in my little steel horse. Before I leave home, every new day starts with what to me has become a ritual: I pack my bag with clothes to get changed when I arrive to my destination, fill my bottle of water -to keep myself hydrated-, put on my gloves and cap, and finally fasten my helmet. Then I unfold my gray little horse and put together its parts to start my little ride through the streets of Bogota. Once on my little horse, after every pedal, muscles slowly relax, are more flexible to resist the capital routes. As I speed up, the soft wind starts to blow like that mosquito that wouldn’t let you sleep in the middle of the night. When the sun shines in its entire splendor, it is inevitable to feel it penetrating your clothes, making you feel the stifling air, as if we were in a hot weather. That is the instant when, because of the physical effort, my sweat glands activate and my forehead starts dripping sweat, turning my cheeks red. Listening, seeing and feeling are those sensations that revitalize my mind and body every time I go out to the streets on my little steel horse. Listening to the wind rustle, the birds song and the cows moo (if you pass by a pasture) are feelings that connect you with the nature. Going through the bike paths realizing how lightly I advance, worriless, while I watch the traffic jam, makes me feel smug. Sometimes I feel the other’s looks on me through the cars and buses windows, as if I was the prey of some savage hunter. That makes me scary, but also arrogant -I put my chest out- because of the way I move in this chaotic city.
206
It is not just a matter of saving money or time. It is a pleasure, a contribution to the environment and a healthy life. Beyond all the sensations my body experiences -such as your heart pounding on your chest as if it was a drum after every pedaling-, you have to respect traffic lights and signs, be careful with pedestrians and vehicles, always in a good mood towards all citizens. This is an example that the bicycle, or the little steel horse, can turn into a way to take ownership not only of bike paths, but all public streets and spaces where people coexist.
207
The book of the Bike 2014
Pavement Prowlers By: Damn Dogs
I
t ’s 11 in the evening, and while some stay tied to their beds, the moon dispels the loneliness of the putos perros that bristle with the smell of the darkness... We will go out to ride for a while now that the streets belong to us, regardless of the freeze platforms. Our steeds heat our blood, making it bubble. The green, wet grass has now a violet glow. And when the wind starts whispering to us, we plunge into the firmament. In nights like this I felt for the first time the silence becoming another dimension; my mind and body exploded, turning me into the wolf that now runs after eternity. My claws opened wide, my limbs wanted to explode and suddenly, when my veins started to burst, ready to succumb to pain, my beast legs made the pavement sound. I felt invigorated, more and more alive, just like a baby wolf, because just like in outer space, the more lighting you are, the less you
208
get old, right? Our small existence against the nature laws. But the best part is time, that as soon as watches a bike breaking the dimensional borders, gets asleep, liberating infinite possibilities.
209
The book of the Bike 2014
Life in the Locality By: Carlos Alberto Beltran
C
am il o Rodriguez is a 19 year-old olive-skinned young guy from Suba. He is 1.72m (5ft 7 in) high. He graduated from night high school last year, la nocturna, as he calls his journey. He tells us how hard is living in Bilbao, a dust and mud street-neighborhood. He is now looking for a decent job, a steady paycheck to survive. Every morning he wakes up putting himself in the hands of Diosito, as he calls God. Gets out of his house to look for a job. He grabs his bicycle hoping to come back home with good news, because he is now facing shortage days since his mother has had difficulties to find food lately and has had to ask for leftovers of rotten products from the corner store. She couldn’t find anything fresh to eat. Camilo tells us she does that because his mother was not hired in a house where a friend of hers recommended her to clean and wash the whole family’s clothes, because another lady got there first. That is why, very worried about the situation, he decided to keep looking for a job: “Parce, let’s see. Before, I used
210
to commit crimes in my neighborhood. I used to steal cell phones, ‘cause it was a quick and easy way to daily bring food to my home, and a little bill was also left for me and my vices, I can’t deny it. I used to do that before I was 18 years old, but after that, stealing was more difficult, because of the law. It’s harder, I could even go to jail and, to avoid seeing my mother suffer, I left behind that life, I decided not to give more headaches to my cucha”. Camilo tells how yesterday afternoon he went out to find a job in his bicycle. He got close to a construction site and asked the security guard if they needed someone to work in la rusa (the construction site). He asked in five construction sites, but just in one of them they told him to pass later to talk to the engineer and see if he needed personnel. He keeps trying to find a job to make his life with his 69 year-old mother. They pay rent in a room where only two small beds and a wardrobe rescued from the street fit. His mother, because of her age, is not very healthy. She cooks with wood and recently his brain suffered from a lack of oxygen that caused a sort of heart attack. He was in coma for about a month in the hospital of Suba. Despite his situation, this young guy only asks God for an opportunity to study to get the best to his old mother that he loves with all his heart. This way, Camilo defies himself every day to keep living in a city like ours, where possibilities to survive and be someone in life are more and more restricted to those who can pay a university and for those who have some sort of financial sponsor. For poor young guys like him, the only thing left is to seek for help in the ghetto and in bad friendships. That situation makes many don’t even think of getting a job, pushing them towards common delinquency, always bearing in mind that “Crime does pay”. Meanwhile, Camilo still dreams every day to become a better person.
211
The book of the Bike 2014
Bicycle Diaries and Dreams By: Gabriel Pulido Redondo
212
T
h e need to save money became an illusion. The newly bought car led me to new comforts, dynamics and roads. There were many advantages, but also many crucial consequences. Comfort reshaped my body; monotony and stress did the same to my thoughts. That me daily reflected in the mirror was just the remaining image of the hyperactive me I liked so much. But that guy was forgotten in the same garage corner where my bicycle was. Fortunately, vacations arrived along with an obsession: I didn’t want to go to the beach or the pool. I just wanted to pedal. I rediscovered the adventurous Bogota; I went through old bike paths and usual shortcuts. Experiences started to pile up and I didn’t want to forget them. But, how? One night, the “all-climber” god of the bicycles provoked an epiphany in me while I watched Gael Garcia Bernal embodying an adventurous and motorbiker Ernesto Che Guevara. That experience gave birth to “Bicycle Diaries”, a private adventure I decided to make public. That first journey through mountains close to Subachoque turned into likes. My virtual friends started to join these spontaneous pedal rides and together we went through streets, bridges, dark highways, muddy places, towns, cities and even bodies of water. This has been the beginning of a collective experience of my friends, mi bicycle and I. Mafe, a constant follower of this idea, one day found a book written by David Byrne, casually entitled Bicycle Diaries, she decided to buy me as a gift, a book I waited to read during a special tour. That is how, when this adventure caught us at 4,864 m (15,958 ft) above sea level, in the Cotopaxi volcano, few meters away from touching the snow, I opened it for the first time. Today the adventure goes on, and every time we cross the city limits, a part of the book is read and “Bicycle Diaries”, our collective adventure, reinvents itself. However, this wouldn’t be possible if Bogota didn’t train us with its topography and pushes us, in a maternal way, to leave the automobile and experience a new life on a bicycle.
213
The book of the Bike 2014
#TheJokerBike By: Nelson Andres Cipagauta V.
T
h e last four years, during which besides riding and riding night and day through places, meeting people and their bikes, there was nothing more curious than the names we give to our little steel horses or little wires, as I once heard. In my case, each and every person I have had the privilege to share stories, anecdotes and life experiences on a bike with, have always been curious about how and why I chose the colors of my bike, that I named and is known everywhere as the #TheJokerBike (#LaBiciDelWason). Everything started about four years ago, during a Ciclovia through la Septima. I was given an old delivery bike as a payment for a friend’s loan. We decided to go riding that Sunday through the ciclovia with my friends to see if we could get some color ideas to paint the bike in order to catch everybody’s attention every time I went out. When we passed by the Septima con 72, watching an old building painted in purple, green and a white color that made a contrast with
214
the facade, I immediately knew those had to be the colors of my new vehicle. That is how the restoration project began the following weekend. I arrived to my friend Ivonne’s house with a lot of sketches and ideas of what would be that green and purple bike. When we finally saw the final green, purple and white sketch, I told my friend with excitement: “It’s gorgeous, just like the Batman’s Joker.” We immediately knew we had created not only an eccentric bike, but an artistic concept, an idea, a project that, in my case, would change my life. That is how were born the name and the idea that on April, 15, 2010, rode through the streets of Bogota. The bike has been to Suesca, Sisga, Tequendama. It has rode from North to South, from West to East, and never left me abandoned on the street. I have rode with her night and day, in cold and heat, under bright sun and pouring rain that almost let you blind. Some are open mouthed when they see me pass with my bike; others are just curious, of course, that is a normal reaction when you see a guy in a suit and a tie riding a psychedelic bike through the NQS... It is curious; the name does not reflect all the essence, the meaning of #TheJokerBike. Even though it makes reference to a villain (to me, the best of all) of a famous comic book, it does not mean I am a lunatic or a crazy man about to commit a crime to pay tribute to a scary character. From my point of view, #TheJokerBike or #LaBiciDelWason represents the fact of adopting a decision without fear of taking a risk, being willing to go to the limits, no matter what others may think or say. It is about being the center of all attention and going through the streets of Bogota with nothing but the bike path and a good bike to ride. Until now, hundreds of fascinated, curious, smiley and admiration faces show that the bike, in my case #TheJokerBike, changes my life every day and makes me feel the luckiest cyclist in the world, because, as a good friend said: “Life on a bike is more flavorful”.
215
The book of the Bike 2014
Beijing and Bogota on Two Electric... Wheels
A
By: Ernesto Andrade Sastoque and Rodolfo AndrĂŠs Hernandez Perez
m on g all the changes China has gone through during the last years, one that has not received all the attention it deserves, as incredible as it may seem, is the growing use of electric bicycles (e-bikes) and the decrease of the use of the traditional bicycle. At the late 90’s there were barely ten thousands of bicycles in the whole country, which is nothing when compared
216
to the 150 million bicycles that are nowadays riding in the city. This means, in other words, the biggest massive adoption of a vehicle moved by an alternative energy source in the world motorization history. But, which are the reasons of this phenomenon? First, the urbanization model that has been given priority from the 90’s, which has produced cities with a much bigger geographical area where workers and citizens have to go over longer distances from their homes to their workplaces. The second reason is a consequence of the first one: the public transportation system has been diversified and widespread, but overcrowds in rush hours is phenomenal and many people are trying to avoid using it. How? Today, buying a car is more affordable for a Chinese person, or even an e-bike whose prices go from 800 to 3,000 Yuan (from 250,000 to 1 million Colombian pesos). Regarding the adoption of e-bikes, some cities have tried to control their spreading by creating use rules, especially since the growing number of accidents. However, as it happens in many cities in the world, including Bogota, it is not clear if, for example, an electric bicycle should circulate through bike paths or if they must have plates or not. China has tried to regulate them in the whole country, but those measures have been unsuccessful or unpopular. From the Chinese experience some questions arise: what happens when a city builds a highway system design for a type of transportation and suddenly its roads are flooded with alternative ones? How ecological and alternative are the existing e-bikes, bearing in mind the amount of production, the massive use of electricity and the short life of lead batteries? Should authorities “protect” bicycles creating an exclusive lane or should they share space with the new counterpart? In Bogota, the use of traditional bicycles, as well as the adoption of e-bikes, has been significantly growing as an alternative means of transportation to cross long distances and avoid problems inherent to buses, Transmilenio, taxis or private cars. Regarding e-bikes, its use has raised many discussions among the bikeusers community of Bogota, since some do not consider it and artifact that makes true all the political elements assigned to the traditional bicycle. This position seems a little illogical, since we are in front of a “new” technology that is entering into a growing bikeusers community that has reached certain tacit agreements about why, for what and how to use a bicycle in Bogota.
217
The book of the Bike 2014
Today, according to the Biennial Survey of Cultures in Bogota, 76% of the population of Bogota is satisfied with the ease of the transportation system of their neighborhood, considering its main problem is insecurity (20.6%), followed by mobility (15.8%). Despite the above, the people of Bogota are not so interested in the latter problem as one would think, because only 11.7% of the population expresses its interest on it from a list that includes problems like corruption (11.9%), pollution (14.3%) and insecurity (18%). An estimate of more than 600,000 trips a day are made on bicycles today in Bogota; that means a bikeuser travels 17 km (10 mi) per hour during 25 and 30 minutes to get to their places of work or study, and the same amount of time to go back home. This is why any person with physical conditions to do it, would choose to use the bicycle as his/her main means of transportation. In 2013, 19% of the people of Bogota said they used the bicycle at least once a week, while 3.81% used it as his/her main means of transportation. These statistics show the way the people of Bogota have been increasingly adopting this technology, but these percentages do not consider the recent use of motobike and the electric bicycle. Also in 2013, for a number of citizens of Bogota, motobike (0.07%) and electric bicycle (0.05%), were their main means of transportation. This easily represents, in the case of e-bikes, about 5 thousand users in a city that has approximately 10 million inhabitants and that never before had considered as today other urban transportation alternatives. Having said that, the most important question is not why people use more and more the bicycle, but why people are looking for new transportation alternatives such as the electric bicycle? Is something happening with the Bogota’s culture related to mobility problems, economy, health and environment? During the last three years, Bogota has created all the conditions to transform the mobility culture, promoting the use of the bicycle and modifying the city infrastructure to allow the use of the bicycle, despite of the adverse climate generated by national government policies that facilitate importing, commercialization and purchasing of automobiles. The interesting side of this matter is that precisely national policies of liberalization of the economy, stronger day by day, also allow the easy import and commercialization of e-bikes, which has been invisible in the transformation model of the city that has been now presented by the district administration.
218
Despite the innovative bet of the district administration, its proposal has a blind spot: the technological policy associated to mobility, a problem from which depends in some way other environmental and health problems. In this sort of “blindness”, the medium and low rent citizen that tries to solve his/her mobility problems buying an e-bike, cannot easily have access to it, but can easily have access to a car. This is why the traffic police does not know if e-bike users must be allowed to ride through sidewalks, bike lanes, bike paths or if bicycle users should wear helmets or not or vests. Even the current political and regulatory indetermination situation regarding what implies the use of e-bikes is such that bicycle users attack e-bikes users when they use the infrastructure designed for the use of traditional bicycles. From the above reflections, it is worth putting on the table some questions that will allow us to keep debating about this topic: if the use of traditional bicycles lows down and the electric bike grows in China, why in Bogota the use of traditional bicycles grows at the same speed of the electric bicycle? Why there is so many uncertainties in the rules for the use of e-bikes both in China and Bogota? What can Bogota learn from the China experience? What is behind the use of e-bikes and which is the potential of this “emerging technology”?
219
The book of the Bike 2014
Sovereignty and Food Security by Pedal By: Jorge Andres Charry Gomez, Director of Rural Economy and Food Supply, District Secretariat of Economic Development The city of Bogota gets its food supplies from the economic activities of its rural area and central region, which is composed by four neighbor departments: Boyaca, Cundinamarca, Meta and Tolima. These regions have a 65% participation in the district supplies. There are small and medium rural producers, which use different means of transportation for the logistics of its products coming from both productive units and the distribution in the city. According to the Sub-Directorate of Exports of the District Secretariat of Economic Development “the dynamics of the city of Bogota in different areas creates very important demands in terms of logistics and mobility. For instance, population variations between 2005 and 2011, in the particular case of Bogota, have implied that the capital city was above 10% of the approximately 300,000 tons that daily move are addressed to the consumption of the capital citizens�. This is expressed in several manifestations regarding transportation.
220
In the case of food, they arrive to the city in freight vehicles that, despite the measures taken by the concerned entities to improve mobility, generate negative consequences to the city in environmental and harmlessness terms and to the city fluency. Inside the city, dynamics show different nuances that, during time, have given a historical importance to the bicycle as a means of work and transportation of food light loads. It is common to see in our neighborhoods bicycles adapted to load and distribute food in recognized chains that sell snacks, cakes and dairy, or even those ice-cream carts that made us happy as kids. But these are the classic examples of the penetration of such important means of transportation which
221
The book of the Bike 2014
are crucial to the food supply. Today we can identify more than ten ways in which the bicycle is linked to distribution and logistics of food in the city, among which we can find home deliveries, storage carriage, distribution to retailers, food preparation and sell and even short distance transportation services from wholesalers to retailers like the typical case of fruvers, neighborhood stores, supermarkets, market courts or even Corabastos. For that reason, we have to recognize that the bicycle plays an important role today in the distribution and logistics of the city food security and sovereignty. This is why we have to assume the bicycle is an engine for the design of public policies that promote its use for food distribution, recognizing its virtues and advantages such as low costs of operation and adaptation to sanitary rules in force, the increase of bike lanes in the city, decrease of emissions, the quick distribution towards capillary distribution, among others. So next time we call food delivery, it better be by bike!
222
Who would have thought that? By: Fabián Munar
I
remember a simple phrase I read in a friend’s Facebook status more than one year ago and that today still resounds in my soul: “Who would think that the bicycle was going to change my life so much? After reading it, I smiled and commented: “Who would have thought that?” Because it is really magical. Actually, everything has been so fast. I know how to ride a bicycle thanks to my dad since I was 3 years old, but I use it every day 5 years ago. I live in the locality of Suba, in a neighborhood called Fontana, 1 km (1,093.6 yd.) away from Portal de Suba, and my two only options to connect with the city’s expanded downtown are Suba avenue and Cali avenue, both permanently in a car traffic jam, the whole year. Getting to my university took me 1 hours and 45 minutes, plus 20 minutes walking to the bus stop that will take me; i.e., to get to the university at 7 a.m., I had to be on the street at least at 5 am. This situation was driving me crazy. I used to say everyday how once I were graduated, I would move to a little town to work and escape from this madness. Permanent traffic jams had denied me the possibility to get to know this beautiful city. My father, in the contrary, used the bicycle to go to his work in the locality of Bosa. He used to come back home every day happy, talking about his new record “It took me just 25 minutes today”. Well, I got into the adventure of going to the
223
The book of the Bike 2014
university by bicycle. My uncle sold me his “best� bicycle for 60 thousand pesos, but it was a mess, a very heavy all-terrain bike: only two gears, with and without chain, the rear tire hit the frame, etc. However, no more options were at hand, so I put together all the money I would spend in buses during a month and started to pedal. From that moment my life changed, the city was no longer a tragedy, I slept one more hour, I saved money, I made sport, I was independent, I could go wherever I wanted without thinking of bus tickets, traffic didn’t stress me anymore, I arrived on time to the university, I got to know different neighborhoods. To sum up: I was very happy. And I used to wonder, I still do, how could I live, and so many others can, my life stuck in traffic. That is how I became a bike activist: I tell everybody my experience and its benefits. In that scenario I gradually got to know a whole community devoted to the same thing in different, funny and creative ways. The bicycle quickly became more than just a solution to my mobility problem, it became my life project. I am a public administrator and even before graduating I decided I was going to devote my life to a structural promotion of the bicycle. To me this implies working in three aspects: promotion of the bike culture (which is everything inside this book), security for cyclists and a bikeincluding infrastructure. Today I am the coordinator of the cycleride called SUBAse a la Bici, coordinator of special activities in the IDRD Pedalea por Bogota Project, and I keep studying to become analyst and consultant for the promotion of policies of non-motorized mobility. I am convinced that the bicycle is a key element for a cultural transformation, since it has this magical possibility to solve complex problems of modern cities such as traffic, pollution, general stress, obesity, social segregation, egoism, among others. And we have to keep working in serious policies that allow us to face those problems. Our daily challenge is that more and more people get on a bicycle. That is the revolution we are militants of. It has a lot of enemies, as all revolutions, but we are many and we are, above all, creative and stubborn.
224
Manifesto of the Bogota Bicycle We, members of international non-government organizations, higher education institutions, public district institutions, bicycle users collectives and members of the civil society, state the right we all citizens have to use sustainable and enjoyable transportation means inside and outside the city limits. We declare that education, promotion and spreading of the use of bicycle demands a bigger commitment from national, regional and local governments; all public national and district bodies; and from every group of followers involved in human development and sustainable mobility issues. Non-motorized means of transportation, especially the bicycle, don’t pollute and favor the displacement of people based on the rational and comprehensive use of physical and natural resources and energy flows. The bicycle itself generates benefits of various natures: It’s a clean, quiet, affordable and sustainable vehicle; prevents traffic jams, making it safer and more fluent; is a social cohesion foundation; demands very few space to park and improves public space quality; is efficient in terms of reduction of displacement time through the city; improves physical and mental health, since it is a moderate physical activity. In Bogota, 33% of the trips that take more than 15 minutes are made in non-motorized vehicles, and 15% of them are made by bicycle. This represents 13 to 26% of monthly money savings for those who use the bicycle to move in the city. The bicycle takes up 92% less space than a car and do not emit neither carbon monoxide nor carbon dioxide, so it’s use does not pollute the atmosphere. As a result of different working groups, and to increase the use of the bicycle as a means of transportation, we propose to adopt the following measures:
Institutionalism
— Creating and institutional body in charge of implementing a bicycle policy in Bogota. — Generating financial resources to implement such bicycle policy. — Updating the Master Plan of Bike Paths to achieve a Bicycle Mobility Plan complementary to the Mobility Master Plan. — Promoting the use of bicycle in all governmental institutions and bodies, with offices in the district. — Promoting the elaboration of Sustainable Mobility Entrepreneurial Plans.
Road Security
— Designing massive education and information campaigns for the protection of cyclists on the road, along with media, companies, universities, schools and libraries, among others. — Implementing diagrams for traffic calming to give priority to non-motorized means. — Implementing the Metro y Medio Law (A Meter and a Half Law): the mandatory distance between cars and bicycle users that rules the overpassing of cyclists on the public road. — Counting with a traffic lights system that give priority to cyclists and updates the district traffic lights net programming to include periods for the safe pass of bicycle users and pedestrians. — Creating a protocol for the traffic police to manage bicycle accidents. — Harding punishments and fines to those motorized vehicles drivers who violate traffic rules, provoking accidents and incidents that involve pedestrians and cyclists.
225
The book of the Bike 2014
— Creating education campaigns addressed to bicycle users, pedestrians and motorized vehicles drivers on the adequate use of the bike paths, pedestrian crossings, road behavior and road security rules. — Guaranteeing financial resources to increase the amount of personnel addressed to the mobility guides for the bike paths program, focusing on the protection of the cyclist.
Personal Security (Robbery Prevention)
— Creating a database system and an intelligence police diagram to follow up bicycle robberies. — Creating a system of voluntary bicycle registration. — Making available the bicycle robbery report system. — Increasing the number of police officers in the bike paths, who must be sensible and trained for an ef fec t ive and efficient management of bicycle and its infrastructure. — Promoting security diagrams for bicycles in private and public institutions.
Infrastructure
— Harmonizing designs and rules, according to the cyclist needs. — Having a constant maintenance system for the bike paths that includes pavement painting, signposting, lighting, tree pruning, garbage and glass collection, among others. — Improving connectivity between bike paths and bike lanes. — Promoting shared lanes for cyclists and pedestrians in places where space does not allow separation. — Adapting the existing signposting, giving priority to the cyclist. — Connecting bike paths and bike lanes to the Transmilenio stations as complementary systems. — Making obey existing rules regarding bicycle spaces in parking lots, providing the necessary infrastructure (See District Decree 036/2004). — Creating a huge impact campaign addressed to regain public spaces.
226
— Relocating bus stops that now block the bike paths. — Designing a network of bicycle green roads to connect the city with adjoining municipalities and natural parks. — Building safe bicycle parking spaces in the city to comply with decrees for that purpose. — Totally fixing ramps in pedestrian crossings of the bike paths network and increasing the number of level crossings of the existing network to improve their design and comfort for bicycle users. — Implementing bike paths in highly populated areas, such as the downtown. — Updating the methodology used by the mobility sector for the decision making of feasibility and implementation of bike lanes in the city.
Integration
— Optimizing the integration infrastructure (bike parking spaces) in the stations of the Integrated System of Public Transportation (SITP) and Transmilenio. — Implementing a Public Bicycle System as a complementary public means of transportation to the SITP. — Including the bicycle to the SITP city perspective, especially as an option to feed that system. — Including the user perspective in analysis and studies on integration. — Building and implementing safe, efficient and economical bike parking spaces in education institutions, cultural centers, libraries and massive events. — Promoting transportation systems that may include the transportation of bicycles inside and outside the city (taxis, buses, fast traffic buses, BRT, using bike carriers or allowing their entry). — Promoting the building and implementation of bike lanes and bike paths that allow a safe traffic out of the city limits (mobility plans and the bike lanes and bike paths network must be integrated to the development plans of the region, i.e., Soacha, Chia and Mosquera, among others).
Regulations
— Highlighting the benefits of the bicycle as an alternative means of transportation in the regulations related to it. — Prohibiting gasoline-motor bicycle circulation through bike paths and bike lanes. — Restricting electric bicycles circulation through specific places of the bike paths and bike lanes network, giving priority to non-motorized bicycles. — Establishing a maximum speed for bike paths and bike lanes. — Standardizing and regulating the use of biketaxis so they can serve as public low-capacity transportation vehicles, integrate to the city transportation system and serve as touristic transportation in specific areas. — Regulating the appropriate use of footbridges and bikebridges by bicycle users, so the cyclist is given priority without affecting the pedestrians’ security. — Creating an awareness campaign for traffic authorities (district workers, police officers, auxiliary officials) on the mobility conditions of bicycle users and pedestrians.
— Organizing events and other activities to promote the bicycle as a means of transportation, creating respect among different mobility actors and promoting a better bicycle status. — Encouraging the support of private and public institutions to organize daily bicycle trips of employees and customers (program bike to work). The undersigned engage to jointly work for the aforementioned proposals to become concrete actions, with the purpose of making the bicycle a respectable and acceptable sustainable urban means of transportation. We will spare no availability, efforts or management to achieve our main goal: a productive, peaceful, environmentally sustainable, kinder city.
Citizen Participation
— Defining an entity of civic participation among bicycle users (including different civic collectives) and district entities. — The District administration shall ask, socialize and promote the participation of the society when implementing or creating new policies and rules that may affect the bicycle users’ mobility. — Promoting the creation of civic review board in the field of bicycle mobility.
Promotión
— Designing promotion strategies for the use of bicycles. — Promoting the district officials commitment towards the promotion of the use of bicycles.
227
Ride On Music and Lyrics: Andrea de Francisco Ride On, Ride On feel the fresh air cleaning up your head feel the intensity of all your heart’s engine. Ride On, Ride On take care of mother Earth open up your mind and awareness so you can keep your breath a bit more every day Ride On, Ride On your mind is well aware riding with people is the way let’s stop cars trashing city air Ride On, Ride On helmet on , open road is the explanation change your destination connect to all the nation [Chorus] Ride On, Ride On for life Ride On, Ride On for your neighbors
228
Ride On, Ride On through the countries Ride On, Ride On to your workplace Ride On, Ride On some think life’s a rollercoaster and run over people at every corner putting reality ahead but the truth is still there Ride On, Rice On some think there is only one way and that way is theirs always judging any guy talking on his back [Flow] Get Up and Start Riding, build up your own freedom stop criticizing, change needs to be here now you need to raise awareness, to work on your patience let’s transparency twang, not everything is science
No more cars in town, collapse is arriving let’s stop bringing all down, change starts by riding Get Up and Start Riding, build up your own freedom stop criticizing, just feeling the freedom [Chorus 2] Ride On, Ride On ride on far away ride on up the stairway ride on, downunder ride on, ride on ride on for peace and freedom Ride On, Ride On ride on far away ride on up the stairway ride on, downunder ride on, ride on ride on feeling the freedom
229
Photography Credits 1. Pedaling for a Human Bogota Cover Page: IDRD Press; page 18 (up): Rodando bajo la lluvia, Juan Diego Buitrago C.; page 18 (down): IDRD Press; page. 19 (up): IDRD Press; page 19 (down): IDRD Press; page 20 (up): IDRD Press; page 20 (down): IDRD Press; page 21 (up): IDRD Press; page 22 (up): IDRD Press; page 22 (down): IDRD Press; page 23 (up): IDRD Press; page 23 (down): IDRD Press; page 24: SCRD Archive; page 25 (up): SCRD Archive; page 25 (down): SCRD Archive. 2. Bogota Doesn’t Have Sea... But It Has... Ciclovia: 40 Years! Cover Page: Carlos Caicedo, Ciclovías Book’s Photograhy. Bogota para el ciudadano, Benjamin Villegas, Villegas Publishing House, Fundabici’s Library; Sub-Cover Page: Rudolf, Ciclovías Book’s Photograhy. Bogota para el ciudadano, Benjamin Villegas, Villegas Publishing House, Fundabici’s Library; page 30: Lazaro Herran; page 31 (up): Gerard Jan Bartelsman, Ciclovías Book’s Photograhy. Bogota para el ciudadano, Benjamin Villegas, Villegas Publishing House, Fundabici’s Library; page 31 (down): Camilo Elias Lizarazo Ayala; page 32 (up): IDRD Press; page 32 (down): IDRD Press; page 33 (up): IDRD Press; page 33 (down): IDRD Press; page 34 (up) i manera, Aida Liz Casallaz; page 34 (down): Daniel Alexander Buitrago Cruz; page 35: IDRD Press; page 36 (up): IDRD Press; page 36 (down): IDRD Press; page 37: Danilo Murillo Daza -DaMurDaz-; pages 38-39: John Gaitan, SCRD; page 40: IDRD Press; page 41: Daniel Alexander Buitrago Cruz; page 42 (up): IDRD Press; page 42 (down): IDRD Press; page 43: IDRD Press; page 44 (left): Juan Paez; page 44 (right): Juan Paez; page 45: IDRD Press; page 46: Ivan Cano Mejia; page 47: IDRD Press; page 51: IDRD Press; page 52: Toto Serrath; page 53: IDRD Press. 3.Prominent Bikeusers Cover Page: Erick Sanchez; page 57: Toto Serrath; page 58 (up): Mauricio Moreno; page 58 (down): William M. Vallejo; page 59: Nili Johana Betancur Posada; page 60: Wilmer Giraldo; page 61 (left): Jose Guillermo; page 61 (right): Munar’s Family archive; page 62: Germán Hernandez; page 63: Andre Anne; page 64 (up): It Happens magazine; page 64 (down): Andres Felipe Zapata; page 65 (up): Andres Felipe Zapata; page 66: Maria Arroyo; page 68 (up): Maria Arroyo; page 68 (down): Maria Arroyo; page 69: Erick Sanchez; page 70: Paula Diaz; page 71 (down): Jessica Ruiz; page 72: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 73: Wilfran Lopez; pages 74-75: Bicigota; page 76: Cesar Pinilla; page 77: Rey Ladino’s family archive; page 78 (left): Juan Carlos Zapata; page 79: Jeduphotography; page 80: Jeduphotography; page 81: Jeduphotography; page 82: Luz Estela Perez; page 83: Luz Estela Perez; page 84: Alvaro Camilo Bravo; page 85: Alvaro Camilo Bravo; page 86: Alvaro Camilo Bravo; page 87 (up to down): Angelica Maritza Lozano Reyes; Felipe Rico’s archive; Fredy Vargas; Adriana Paola Cabra Hernandez; Juan Pablo Santacruz Patiño’s archive; Henry Velasquez Ramirez; Jefferson Castillo’s archive; Diana Beltran; Isabel Cristina Alhippio.
247
The book of the Bike 2014
4. Urban Races Cover Page: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 90: Francisco Giraldo; page 91 (up): Juan Davila; page 92: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 93: Andres Felipe Zapata. 5. Bikenetwork Cover Page: ConcienBiciate; page 96: Carlos Bejarano; page 97: Jorge Reyes; page 99: Andres Felipe Zapata; pages 100-101: Fernando Beltran; page 101 (up): Jeduphotography; page 102: Angy Fernandez; page 103: Alexander Casas; pages 104-105 (up): Alexander Casas; pages 104-105 (down): Alexander Casas; page 106: Daniel Bernal; page 107: Laura Sanchez; page 108: William Puentes Obando; page 109: William Puentes Obando; page 111: Basura Cero Citizen Collective; page 112 (down): Basura Cero Citizen Collective; page 113 (up): Basura Cero Citizen Collective ; page 114: Diego Nu単ez; page 115: Danilo Murillo Daza -DaMurDaz-; page 116: IDRD Press; page 117 (up) IDRD Press; page 117 (middle): IDRD Press; page 117 (down): IDRD Press; page 118: Nestor Yesid Villarte Moreno; page 119: Chiks Bikes; page 120: Chiks Bikes; page 121 (left): IDRD Press; page 121 (right): IDRD Press; page 123: IDRD Press; page 124: IDRD Press; page 125: ConcienBiciate; page 126: ConcienBiciate; page 127: Belymar Laya; page 128: Diana Romero; page 129: Juan Valentin Sierra; page 130 (up): John Gaitan, SCRD; page 130 (down): John Gaitan, SCRD; page 131: ConcienBiciate; page 132: ConcienBiciate; page 133: ConcienBiciate; page 134: ConcienBiciate; page 135: ConcienBiciate. 6. BMX Cover Page: Juan Paez; Sub-Cover Page: Drenaje urbano, Juan Paez; page 140 (left): David Caneva Akle; page 140 (right): David Caneva Akle; page 141: David Caneva Akle; page 142: Jairo Garrido; page 143: David Caneva Akle; page 145: Feeble, Juan Paez; page 149: Tree Ride, Juan Paez. 7. Bikentrepreneurship Cover Page: Maria Arroyo; Sub-Cover Page: Don Torres. Pionero en la industria BMX, Juan Paez ; page 154: Manuel Ricardo Aza Botia; page 155: Manuel Ricardo Aza Botia; page 156: Andres Jara; page 157 (up): Andres Jara; page 157 (down): Andres Jara; page 158: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 159: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 161: Tod Seelie; page 162: Peter DiAntoni; page 164: Bogocleta; page 165: Bogocleta; page 166: Stephano Novoa; page 167: David Segura; page 168: Cristiam Sabogal; page 169: Cristiam Sabogal; page 171: Julian Molina (report for Art BMX Magazine), Juan Paez; page 172: Walter Chacon, Juan Paez; page 173: Julian Sanchez (interview by Canal Capital), Juan Paez; page 174: Andres Felipe Zapata; page 175: Diego Mateus; page 176: Juan Paez; page 177: Juan Paez; page 179: LaCicla.in; page 180: LaCicla.in; page 181: Laika Bikes; page 182: Cesar Salamanca Rojas; page 183: Cesar Salamanca Rojas; page 184: Fabio Andres Hernandez; page 185: Fabio Andres Hernandez; page 186 (up): Fernando Enrique Saltaren; page 186 (down): Fernando Enrique Saltaren; page 187 (left): Fernando Enrique Saltaren; page 187 (right): Fernando Enrique Saltaren.
248
8. Bicycle Dreams and Challenges Cover Page: Gabriel Pulido Redondo; page 191 (left): Juan Diego Franco; page 191 (right): Juan Diego Franco; page 192: Diana Carolina Zu単iga; page 193: Diana Carolina Zu単iga; page 194: Any / Angela Sanchez Restrepo; page 195: Any / Angela Sanchez Restrepo; page 197: Miguel Angel Sanjuanelo Rodriguez; page 198: Alex Cruz; page 199: Alex Cruz; page 200: Gabriel Pulido Redondo; page 201: Gabriel Pulido Redondo; page 202: David Cano R.; page 203: David Cano R.; page 204: Operation Group for Control and Surveillance (GUIA), District Mobility Secretariat; page 205: archive of the Operation Group for Control and Surveillance (GUIA), District Mobility Secretariat; page 207: Andres David Rivera Uma単a; page 208: Putos Perros; page 209: Putos Perros; page 210: Carlos Alberto Beltran; page 212: Gabriel Pulido Redondo; page 214: Nelson Andres Cipagauta; page 216: Claudia Liliana Rincon; page 219: Rodolfo Andres Hernandez Perez; page 221: Archive of the Economic Development Secretariat; page 222: Archive of the Economic Development Secretariat; page 223: Wilfran Lopez; page 224: Checo Ramirez. Illustrations used as watermark backs in pages 9 to 12 were made by David Cornelia.
249
Lemon Green is a family business famiempresa devoted to manufacture sports clothes, reflective gear, semi waterproof jackets, reflective ankle gear and bicycle saddlebags that make cyclists visible in the country’s highways, in order to avoid accidents as the one where the grandmother was involved and that gave birth to this initiative.
Contact
Fernando Enrique Saltaren E-mail: creatividadverdelimon@outlook.com Address: carrera 103 B Nº 142-11, apartamento 102 Telephone numbers: 312 542 93 73 – 683 77 27
187