The Asian Invasion of Ecuador: Ciclopaseo - traffic-free bike riding through the city of Quito on Sunday's

airline damage of my rim

Quito is a big and congested city. As a biker (coming from Colorado where I had hundreds of options of trails and relatively friendly car traffic) finding a place to ride has been a challenge. I mostly mountain bike (but I occasionally road bike) so i had my friend bring my mountain bike with him on his visit since I didn't have any more room to check it on the airplane when I first came. My friend had very carefully taken the bike apart and packed it well in a cardboard bike box from a bike shop. Unfortunately, the baggage handlers at United airlines didn't take good care of it and my bike was damaged. Not sure if they took a chainsaw and hacked my box for fun but it sure looked like it. I had to replace the front rim and tire and headset while the frame also took damage.

I did some research before I moved to Quito and knew that bikes were going to be expensive due to import taxes and since I've been here I've stopped at about a dozen bike shops and prices are about 30-50% more then back in the U.S. so I'm glad I brought my bike down. But I was pleasantly surprised that a block from my apartment is a high-end Specialized bike shop but they are pricey of course (about 30% more then back in the U.S. but thats with the 12% local tax included).You can get road bikes here but most people have fat-tires, especially beefed up downhill bikes.

The traffic here is pretty horrendous and since traffic signs are optional, riding on the road would be a gamble. So my bike riding has been limited to 2 locations, Parque Metropolitano which is right next to my house and the weekly Ciclopaseo through the heart of Quito.

Every Sunday from 8am to 2pm, a route of 30km (18miles) is created from North to South Quito for bikers/walkers/runner/other pedestrians. I've done this twice now and most people bike but there are a fair number of walkers (most of them with dogs) and some rollerbladers/skateboarders/other modes of wheeled transportation. Since I only have my mountain bike with me thats what I ride but the majority of the riders are also on fat tires and a larger number of them are on downhill bikes (wearing their downhill helmets as well which is a bit odd).

renting a bike from a guy on the street near the park entrance

The first time I did the Ciclopaseo, Liz rented a bike from a guy parked on the street (at the entrance to the Metropolitan Park by our apartment) for $2.50/hour. We biked south to "Old Town" and back to our apartment in about 2 hours. The next time I biked north past the airport till the road closure ended, about 6 miles from my apartment. While on the route, we noticed plenty of other places to rent bikes from.