Biking The World´s Most Dangerous Road
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
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92
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Trip End
Dec 17, 2008
La Paz,
Bolivia
Friday, September 12, 2008
La Cumbre Coroico 18
. The bikes were superb Kona's - 2500 quid each and really great to ride with top suspension and hydraulic disk brakes ... now I want one when I get home to replace my ageing mountain bike. We had a group of about 12 bikers and you go on a bus for about an hour or so north of La Paz (with the bikes on the roof) until you get up to "La Cumbre" which with it's altitude is really cold and surrounded by snow capped mountains. After getting all our gear and bikes we had a pretty thorough safety briefing before setting off down the first part which is a long and relatively fast paved road section , before you get to the notorious part. A lot of the safety messages were backed up with numerous graphic tales of the very real and nasty accidents that have happened on the road which certainly makes you pay attention. After the paved section , there is a checkpoint for drugs and so on before you get onto the actual part known as "the worlds most dangerous road" ... the scenery is really magnificent ... not that you can afford to be looking at it too much whilst you are riding along ... its rather a better idea to be looking at the road & focusing on what you are doing. Nonetheless we had lots of stops along the way where we could appreciate the mountainous rainforest surroundings and every so often take a peak over the sheer drops to see where you would end up if you dont concentrate hard whilst riding . Actually one of the most famous "death road" stories concerns a very unfortunate French tourist who was actually standing still with her bike waiting for a truck to pass by ..
La Cumbre Coroico 37
. as there wasn't enough room she kindly stepped backwards to try and make more space .. and you can imagine the rest :( These days there is a new road which thankfully has actually taken virtually all the traffic away ... we only passed very few vehicles on the way other than the mountain bike companies tour buses. Anyway pleased to report no problems on our way down ... one girl did fall off at one point but pleased to say nowhere near the narrow bits or the edge of the cliff & she didnt hurt herself too much just a minor bruise on the elbow. Generally I felt I was riding very comfortably within my limits and the ride wasnt actually as "hardcore" as I was somehow expecting ... actually a good thing that I can say I never felt at all unsafe. There was one section where I did enjoy pushing on quite a bit faster (a safer section near the end I hasten to add with wider roads) , trying to keep up with one of the guides , Cesar ... but he is a pro rider and way too quick for me ! Given the steep , twisting , downhill route of the road I certainly wouldnt fancy doing this in the wet season , but we had bone dry dust & gravel for nearly the whole way. Overall , with plenty of breaks it took about 4.5 hours to get down and at the bottom we finished our run at a very nice little Animal Sanctuary called La Senda Verde where we enjoyed the superb hot showers , a great buffet , a beer and a chance to play with some of the animals such as the numerous mischievous monkeys. The bus back then went up the same way we had come down , along the "old road" ... and this was possibly more unnerving than the cycling because you can really stare down at the sheer drops and experience how narrow the road is in parts for a vehicle by comparison to a bike ... given the statistics I suppose we were more at risk going up in the bus than coming down on the bike. Still we got to really check out the breathtaking views and a bottle of beer each picked up from a shop on the way helped make the three hour journey back to La Paz go faster. Later in the evening several of our biking group headed out for dinner and then more than a few drinks to celebrate conquering the "world's most dangerous road" ! 
