I see groups of people riding mountain bikes in Puerto Plata. There might be more of them here but mountain bikes cost more here then in the US and most people make a lot less money here. That is one thing I don't like about the DR it is not friendly for bicycles. If I started to ride more I think I would load my bicycle in my car and drive to the dirt roads / trails. I don't think I would ride on the main road to get there. Luckily I get tired before I can get out of my barrio so I don't worry about the main road. We can ride around El Doral without any problems.
It would be great if the main highway over here would bypass Puerto Plata, Sosua, Cabarete. Only local traffic coming into the main road over the city. The main street on Cabarete would be great if you didn't have some many vehicles driving fast and crazy up and down the street. Cabarete could be a bicycle friendly location.
The malecon (puerto plata) on the weekends they could close down have the street and make the open half a one way. They do this in Copacabana in Rio on sundays. They close have the street and that part is only open for walking, bicycles, skateboards. They could have charity 5k runs /walk.
Pattaya has a bed race once a year in Thailand. Something like that would be nice on the malecon. I know it would take a lot of police here to coordinate. But on the holiday weekends here they seem to have a lot of police and other people helping out. They would want to not do it on a holiday weekend. But I think they have enough police, paramedics and corporate sponsorship. A the local business could sponsor have a bed to race and the larger companies could have their normal booths.