DEATH ROAD

DEATH ROAD

Death road is so called because up until 2008, between 200 - 300 people died on this road every year, mostly from vehicles misjudging the teeny tiny width of the rocky road when passing other vehicles and falling around 1000m to the bottom of the valley. However now a new paved road has been constructed lower down and so most traffic uses the new safer wider road, leaving the old death road to thrill seeking cyclists and the few people that live along the road. Nowadays the road should have little traffic coming up, however when vehicles do come up, it is the only road in Bolivia where you drive on the left so when vehicles pass, the driver heading down can look out his window to see how many centimetres he has to play with. This also means we should be cycling on the left (the drop side) if we met a car coming the other way which terrified me no end.

We met the group and were whizzing out of La Paz in no time. It takes around 1 to 1.5 hours to arrive at the top. We went with a company called 'Free Bikes' who had some good reviews online and were mid range price wise (For the record the bikes weren't 'free' as we had expected). After speaking to the rep in the shop she put us completely at ease as she was so professional and answered all our questions and worries. You could also choose from three different bikes in different price brackets. We went for the midrange front suspension bike and it was as comfortable as you could hope for going down an insanely bumpy road! We also had a small group size of seven but maybe we were just lucky on the day.We had a team of three coming with us: Martin the happy German guide, Marco the driver, and the photographer / back stop (whose name we've forgotten oooops)

The start point is at La Cumbre which is 4700m above sea level and the finish is at Yolosa which is 1185m above sea level. A ridiculous descent of 3650m!!!

We started on a tarmac road but we knew that later we would get onto the real death road. The tarmac section should have been very easy but a very dense low fog had settled and it was raining too. Visibility was incredibly low and I was pleased we had high vis jackets but wondered why we didn't have lights on our bikes. I took it slowly as there are huge drops and we were riding on the edge to allow cars and buses to pass. There were times when I had dropped back too much that I couldn't see the bikers in front and had to rely on the white line markings on the road.

At one point we had to go off road as there was a tunnel that vehicles could go through but cyclists couldn't as it would be too dangerous. This was a whole different ball game, it wasn't so much a gravel track or a dirt path like I'd expected but a really rocky rutted excuse for a road. For a complete downhill mountain bike beginner it was difficult to know how to tackle this terrain. The girl in front of me hit a rock and didn't hold her handlebars straight and the front wheel went to the side and she fell off. She wasn't hurt but it was a sobering reminder that falling off or loosing control of the bike too close to the edge on the real death road could actually result in death. The drops are mind boggling and I made a mental plan to always cycle as close to the safe side as possible, even if it meant the road was in worse condition there, and I would just go very slowly on those bits and on bends. I knew my limits and didn't want to push them at all. It was already such a mental and physical challenge that I didn't want to put any extra pressure on myself to keep up with the group.

When we got to a famous bend in the road, it was completely covered in fog. It is a place to take the best photo standing on the edge and should look a little something like this.

But actually looked like this!

I'm not going to lie - it was bloody tough. Your mind often plays tricks on you as you round a bend or when you see a near vertical drop of the section you're just about the cycle. I was almost glad it was such a foggy day so I couldn't see the immense drops to my left. Along the way Martin pointed out interesting points such as 'democracy corner' where five leaders of opposition political parties were forced to chose between jumping to their deaths or being shot in the head. As so many people were dying on the road at this time, it was an easy place to 'get rid' of people and claim they were involved in a car accident. We also learned that 'The Butcher of Leon' a nazi had fled here after the war and took on the identity of a person that he had killed in the war. Along the way there were many graves marking those who had died in accidents. A good reminder to keep those handle bars straight and your eyes on the road!

History lesson over we plundered ever down, cycling through waterfalls and getting slowly more confident (but never cocky) on the bike.

The stand out section came much lower down when it had stopped raining and the ground was dry. We were able to trust the bikes more and also we knew the drop was much less here!!!

What a rush!
Was it scary - kind of, but not as bad as I had built it up in my head.
Would we do it again - YOU BET
Would we make silly poses and jump in the air to make the bland photos appear more interesting - MAYBE NOT