Buenos Aires Travel: Bicycling in Buenos Aires with www.bikingbuenosaires.com

Bicycling is one of my great passions and I have been fortunate to cycle in places like Rome, Madrid, Berlin, New York City, San Francisco, Miami, and many more. So when I travelled to Argentina in November of 2011, there was no doubt I was going to do some biking in Buenos Aires. And instead of just renting a bicycle I decided to go on some guided bicycle tours to learn more about the city.

I located a company called www.bikingbuenosaires.com and connected with one of the two co-owners, Robin Gerlach. Robin took me on a one-on-one guided bicycle tour of the wonderful park system in Buenos Aires’ upscale Palermo neighbourhood and we stopped for a delicious lunch in the city’s Barrio Chino (Chinatown). I also had a chance to meet his business partner Will Whittle who’s been building this cool business together with Robin.

The next day I went on an 8-hour bicycle tour of some of the major sights in Buenos Aires, led by Rodrigo Liffourena, the company’s multilingual bicycle guide who boasts an encyclopaedic knowledge of the city. During the tour I connected with three other interesting female adventurers who I am still in touch with. I found out that these bicycle tours are a great way to make new friends as well.

Finally, on the third day I took the Graffiti Tour, guided by Johnny Robson from www.graffitimundo.com. The country’s political struggles express themselves through graffiti art and it was great to decipher some of the symbolic pictorial messages with the help of our knowledable guide.

These three tours gave me an amazing first-hand look at so many areas of Buenos Aires that I would have never been able to explore on my own. And with the help of these local experts I learned so much about Argentina, its history and culture, and about life in the fascinating city of Buenos Aires.

Here is an interview with Robin Gerlach, with occasional comments from his partner Will, that will give you an overview of why bicycling is such a great way of exploring the exciting city of Buenos Aires. [For actual video clips and on-camera interviews with Robin, Will, Rodrigo and Johnny, please scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and you will see video clips of my bicycling experiences].

____________________________________________________________

1. Please tell us about your background. Where did you grow up and go to college?

Robin- I grew up in a very small town in Colorado and always loved riding a bicycle whether it was a bmx through town or a mountain bike on a single track through the Rocky Mountains.  After years of small town living I longed to get to a city, a larger school on the west coast. I landed at San Diego State University in 2003 and then met my brother from another mother, William Whittle, now my fellow business partner and founder of Biking Buenos Aires.

William- I entered this world October 28, 1984 in San Jose, California but grew up in the foothills of Sacramento. My childhood consisted of tree-forts, peewee football, and of course my Mongoose Menace bmx bike. I rode most times without a destination in mind, in fact, my pops says I learned how to ride my bike before learning how to walk. I have the scars to prove it!

My grandparents told me as a kid that I can go to any college I’m accepted to so I always had my sights on San Diego State University after high school. My roommate Robin and I destroyed school projects, lead professional business organizations (Alpha Kappa Psi) and hunted for success.

2.       What made you so passionate about bicycling?

I always loved the feeling of riding a bike as a kid. After several years without riding a bike in college I re-discovered my passion for cycling when I was traveling through Europe in 2007. Every city I went to I would rent a bike or take a bike tour as I quickly found out it was by far the best way to familiarize myself with a foreign city.  Upon living in Buenos Aires after the travels, we met a good friend from Cuba named Barry. He rode his bike all over BA and showed us this city on two wheels and the potential was endless for William and I via Barry’s inspiration combined with our passion.

William — The freedom it allows, the balance you find, the exercise you get and smile that precedes when you find life’s rhythm flowing from the two wheels taking you wherever you need to go.

3.       Will Whittle is your a business partner at Biking Buenos Aires. Please tell us about Will as well.

Willie is the cool California kid, imaginative and creative. I’ll let you hear about Will from the source himself… enter Whittle – I don’t know what this guy is talking about, I grew up on a farm. The truth is that I consider myself an idealist and Robin’s more of a realist so we balance each other out well. I guess I’m someone who’s always looking for that next original idea so I tend to play trial and error a lot. At least in my mind.

4.       How did you first meet and how did you come up with the idea to create a bicycle tour company together in the Argentine capital?

In the Zura halls of the SDSU campus, we were roommates in the big bad world that was college life. Since then we’d always imagined running a business together being both business majors. There was really only one stipulation; we have to absolutely love what we do naturally. Many intelligent people have told us along the way to indulge in whatever we are passionate about.  Biking BA revolves around two passions, the city of Buenos Aires and bicycles.  We ventured to BA after college and met our mentor, Barry, who revealed this city to us on two wheels.

Enter Willi- Well said.

5.       What was involved in getting this company off the ground?

Patience, resiliency, buena onda….repeat

6.       All your bicycles have license plates – a very unique feature. What are these license plates all about?

We were standing there looking at our haggard fleet of used bikes with a good friend of ours one night and he said “I’ll buy you guys a bike, just put my name on it somewhere.”  We quickly thought of license plates and contacted our closest friends and family about this idea, after two weeks we had 9 or 10 ‘bike sponsors’. Each bike has its respective sponsor’s names on it and we say it carries their personality as well. All of our friends and family are just as much a part of this experience as we are. They live vicariously through their bike.  And fortunately for them, their bike gets to show this place off to people from everywhere.

7.       What is life like for you in Buenos Aires? Why do you like the city so much?

Buenos Aires is very difficult to put into words, it’s a love/hate affair. Love the freedom, fast city pace, melting-pot population, never-ending nightlife, beautiful architecture, mouth melting meat, etc. etc. What bugs us on the daily would probably include lack of customer service, ridiculous inflation, and not having snow and mountains close by.

8.       Please tell us about the biking infrastructure in BA. Are there bicycle paths? What about bicycle safety?

Buenos Aires is currently at the growth stage of a true bicycle culture so every day we’re seeing more and more people riding through the streets. Luckily in March of 2010, the governor of BA began the Mejor en Bici program, inspired by Barcelona’s Bicing Program. There are about 80km of bike trails throughout the city now and more are going up every day. The city is surprisingly flat so we don’t need any geared bikes.

9.       How many and what kinds of bikes does your company have? Do you rent them as well?

The fleet of blue beauties is now up to 22.  In high season, we reserve the bikes more for tours. As slow season comes around we offer more rentals.

10.   How big are your tour groups?

We can handle up to 8 riders per tour guide and are just as eager to take just a single person. Sometimes we take out groups of 20 people but we still go with the 8/1 passenger to guide ratio. Safety is one of our biggest concerns so we stress keeping people safe on our bikes so they can relax and enjoy the ride.

11.   You also have qualified bicycle guides that work with you. Please tell us about your colleagues.

Where to begin? Let’s try chronological order. Rodrigo was a gift from the List of Craig in April 2011. Addicted to pizza, cricket and travelling, he’s a Porteño gifted with languages and skilled socially, but will always be a Bogan to us. Brett and Karri have recently joined the team a few months back and both have continuously impressed us with fresh ideas, dedication and buena onda. Just visit our TripAdvisor page to read about these characters from a customer’s perspective.

12.   Please give us a description of your Parks & Plazas Signature Tour.

The reason we named it Signature Tour is because a man named Charles Thays decorated most of these neighborhoods with his beautifully designed green spaces. His Botanical and Rose Garden really stand out in Parque 3 de Febrero, a popular place to stroll and enjoy nature aside from the bustling city. We owe a lot to him for making this city a truly refreshing green urban jungle with trees lining most sidewalks. The highlight of this tour however, is Recoleta’s astonishing cemetery.

Approximately 1 block in circumference, this miniature city is complete with avenues and towering tombs both old and new. As strange as it sounds, including a visit to a cemetery as part of this tour, most people leave with a unique insight into Argentine extremism of life after death. Other architectural eye-candy and sculptures are also visited along the way including UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires) Faculty of Law and a monstrous metal flower.

13.   What about your Heart of the City Tour?

Covering San Telmo, La Boca, Puerto Madero, the Ecological Reserve and Monserratt where you pedal around the nation’s oldest monument located directly in the center of an exploding Plaza de Mayo, this is where most historical events collided, especially in the last century. It’s the perfect combination of city and nature riding and is topped off with the most delicious pork sandwich (Bondiola) from the almost famous Parrilla mi Sueño. We even ride out to the oldest port in the city which happens to be the most colorful. And yes, La Boca Juniors stadium “La Bombonera” is on the way!

14.   You offer the Buenos Aires Ultimate Tour – a great way to discover the whole city.

This tour is called the Ultimate because it’s designed for people who want to see the most of Buenos Aires all in one day. The bicycle makes it possible to get to know the heartbeat of the city in one day. This is a combination of our Parks & Plaza and Heart of the City tour with some additional stops.  It’s a good, long day of riding that will quite honestly leave you a bit knackered at the end but with the satisfaction of experiencing so much in one day. It has been a popular tour for all types of travelers and even those who live here. If you truly want to experience BA with all 5 senses and really know what this city is all about in one day, this is the tour for you.

15.   One of the unique tours you offer is the Graffiti Tour. Please provide us with more information.

We teamed up with non-profit organization Graffitimundo, an incredible organization that does a brilliant job representing the street art/artists of Buenos Aires. They represent the artists with integrity and really do a great job opening the doors of street art and graffiti to people from all over the world. It had been one of our desires to create a graffiti tour on our bikes for a long time but we didn’t know where to begin. We contacted Graffitimundo because they’re the experts and haven’t looked back since. These tours go every Sunday and we’ve been very fortunate working with them as it has proven to be one of the better business decisions we’ve made.  Definitely check out this tour on your next trip to BA!

16.   Do you also offer private tours?

We do! Private tours just cost $25 extra for the group, not per person. For private tours, anything goes. The tour can last as long as you’d like and it’s customized to your personal interests.

17.   Is lunch or any kind of refreshment included in the tour?

Water and yerba mate (traditional tea) are included on all of our tours.  The Heart of the City and Ultimate City tours both include lunch at our favorite parrilla (barbecue spot) in Buenos Aires, Parrilla Mi Sueño. The bondiola is so good that many people from our tours have gone back to this spot in the days after the tours to eat it again. Words don’t do it justice, if you want to try real Argentine street food, join us on one of these tours and let the bondiola put a smile on your face and leave you satisfecho!

18.   You are able to offer tours in multiple languages. Please tell us more about that.

It’s a requirement that all of our guides be bilingual (English and Spanish). Fortunately we have guides that are well-versed in other languages (French, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese and Afrikaans). Did we mention how great our guides are?  They’re the face of Biking BA and they do an incredible job showing people this city in whatever language people want it communicated to them.  We offer the tours in all other languages (aside from Spanish and English) as private tours.

19.   Please comment on the weather in Buenos Aires throughout the year. Are tours cancelled in case of rain?

Buenos Aires has a healthy mix of rain and shine. For the rainy days, we provide rain ponchos. The tour will only be suspended or postponed due to rain if there is lighting or it is a torrential downpour and poses too dangerous to ride.

20.   You have been recommended by quite a few organizations. Please tell us about that.

We’ve been fortunate to meet many great people along the way who are travel journalists or work for publications such as Lonely Planet, Timeout Buenos Aires, etc.  We invite them to ride with us and let the bikes, our guides and this beautiful city do the rest and they most often have a great time and share it with others. Our passion for making the bicycle the preferred mode of transportation and showing people that this city is much better by bike often yields recommendations from our friends. Honestly, if you get to see Buenos Aires on 2 wheels it would be hard for you to not recommend the experience, that’s the beauty of biking in BA.

21.   What’s in store for 2012 for Robin, Will and Biking Buenos Aires?

Besides continuously improving our existing tours, we are looking forward to adding a few more theme tours to explore other areas of interest that Buenos Aires is known for. Wouldn’t you like to know what’s up our sleeve…

Thanks, Robin and Will, for taking the time to tell us about your venture and the bicycling opportunities in Buenos Aires. I am already curious to hear more about your new initiatives for next year. Do stay in touch and let us know what’s in store for you in the coming year.

____________________________________________________________

Related Videos:

Meet Robin and Will

Robin gets us started on our tour through Palermo

Robin talks about the culture and ethnic make-up of Buenos Aires

Robin explains to me how Yerba Mate is made

Robin introduces the Graffiti Tour

Rodrigo introduces the Ultimate City Tour

Rodrigo talks about Evita and Juan Peron and the National Library

Rodrigo tells us about Puerto Madero

Rodrigo shows us the fabulous “El Ateneo” bookshop

Johnny gives us an overview of the graffiti scene in Buenos Aires

Johnny explains a symbolic image of former president Nestor Kirchner

Johnny explains how graffiti artists connect internationally

Johnny tells us about Graffitimundo

Comments

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website