World´s Most Dangerous Road

Several people had warned me, before coming to South America, to steer clear of Bolivia´s infamous "World´s Most Dangerous Road." (thank you, Chad!). I gather the road has been the subject of programs on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic channel, etc. It was apparently so named by the Inter-American Bank after reviewing the number of accidents and deaths. It certainly has reason for being so well known. The stretch of the road in question is only about 50 miles long. However, during that 50 miles, it descends 10,000 feet! This is pretty mind-boggling. For example, going from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe is half that elecvation gain, but a considerably longer distance. In addition, most of the road is dirt. It´s been chiseled out of mountain cliffs, at times about 10 feet wide, curving and twisting its way downhill. I think we were told there are two guardrails. The vertical drop off the edge of the road is 1000 feet in parts. Each year, up until just a few months ago, dozens of vehicles went over the edge, and all accidents are fatal. Annual fatalities were in the hundreds, according to my guidebook. For that reason, I had long ago decided there was no way I would ride as a passenger in a vehicle down that road. I decided to ride a bike down it instead. What a blast!!!

About half a dozen years ago, an enterprising and enthusiastic mountain bike-riding Brit, decided to open up a business escorting crazy gringos on the 10,000 foot downhill bike ride. He now has other enthusiastic bike riders working for him as guides.

We left early in the morning and rode for an hour up to La Cumbre, a mountain top out of La Paz at about 13,000 feet. There were 13 of us. Ten were somewhere between 20 and 25. Three of us were "adults," including my Swiss buddy Albi. At 13,000 feet, it was on the cold side. We had sweaters and warm jackets and pants...the works. We would ride in and out of fog or high clouds. As we descended, it got warmer and warmer and we peeled off clothes down to t-shirts and the orange vest.

They wisely started us off on pavement with a mix of up and down. The uphill stretches were humbling! No matter how deeply I inhaled, I just couldn´t seem to get enough air in my lungs. My legs and muscles were fine. I just couldn´t get enough oxygen. Fortunately, I just kept my steady, relatively slow pace. The rest of the road was downhill on gravel. Fortunately for us, the "new road" has recently ben completed, so there was minimal traffic on this one. Again, what a blast!

I was so proud of us "adults." Albi and I both have considerable experience on mountain bikes. Albi didn´t hesitate to bomb down the hill like a crazy teenager (I hope he´s reading this!). We had about a dozen "stretches." I was right behind the lead guide on about two of them. Albi was right behind on about all the rest. I must confess that I probably went faster than I should have, but it was too much fun! Two of the young people had spills, one very minor and one a bit more serious. He was knocked unconscious for about 5 minutes and suffered a good deal of road rash, but afterwards he seemed to be in pretty good shape. I suspect he´ll definitely be hurting tonight. Nobody went over the edge.

At the stops, I would take in the spectacular views of steep canyons, lush with green vegetation, the Coroico River down below, the high waterfalls up both sides of the canyon. Then, during the ride, I focused 100 percent of my attention on the road, understandably. I think this bike ride has been the highlight of my South American trip so far!

The tour company that hosted the trip really did it up right. They drove us to the top of the mountain. The bus followed along behind us. About the time I felt hungry or thirsty, they had snacks and water or Pepsi. At the bottom, they had a "free" glass of beer, showers, and a full lunch. Lunch was even complete with monkeys that stole food off your plate if you weren´t careful.

My bike was full suspension (thank you, thank you!) with disc brakes. They wisely had no derailer, only a middle sprocket and the eight or so gears in the back were more than enough for going downhill. I would wholeheartedly recommend this trip to anyone who finds themselves in La Paz! I was very flattered when one bike guide tried to talk me into another ride on Tuesday down a different stretch. The fact that she is young and attractive is of course not a factor of input. I don´t know whether to stretch my luck or not! By the way, Elsbeth, please make sure our health insurance premiums are current.

Hasta luego!