Rio is the one big city where a motorbike ride can end in a rainforest. Floresta da Tijuca, now a national park, is one of the largest urban forests in the world, and it is also a replanted forest. In the nineteenth century the original Atlantic forest had been cut for coffee and charcoal, the city's springs were drying up, and the emperor's government started replanting the slopes. What you ride through today is a second-growth jungle that grew back from that effort.
The title of the ride, Carioca landscapes between mountain and sea, is a fair description. Within a few kilometres you can go from the beach at Barra or Copacabana to a cool forest road with monkeys in the trees, waterfalls in the creeks and a view that opens suddenly onto the lagoon, the sea and the granite domes. The roads inside the park climb and twist in tight bends, with a patchy surface, moss, fallen leaves and the occasional pothole, and the air is humid and smells of wet earth. Be careful in the rain, which comes fast.
Practical points matter in Rio. Fuel and food are easy to find in the city, and the neighbourhoods around Alto da Boa Vista and the Tijuca side have bakeries and small restaurants. Park carefully and keep valuables out of sight, and ask locals or your accommodation about which areas to avoid, as safety varies a lot between districts, especially after dark. Traffic can be heavy on the main roads, and motorcycles filter between lanes in a way that visitors take a day or two to understand.
Weather decides the day. Mist can cover the peaks and close down views, and summer afternoons bring heavy thunderstorms, so mornings are the best time for forest roads. The dry winter months, from May to September, are cooler and clearer. The park also has marmosets, coatis and many birds, and the sound of the forest, particularly at dawn, is surprisingly loud for a place so close to millions of people. A cold coconut water from a roadside stand is the correct reward.