I rarely ever really shaken me on my trip… Death Road was one of them.
As I’m thinking about it, it might be the only thing I’ve done on my trip. Jump off the best bungees in the world or skydive from the plane in the olden days. But do bikes take the road that hundreds of people die a year on mountain bikes at high speeds without cliff railings? No thank you very much. This was really one time In a lifetime transaction.
Bolivian bicycle ride Death Road
So it all started at 7:30am in the English pub. Gravity-supported mountain cycling – It is famous for being the safest company that rides every day. They have it the longest and most have English guides, so I thought I couldn’t do anything wrong! ? You’ll certainly pay a little more…but can you really put a price on your life? I quickly decided no, you can’t…and unlike the others I spit out $120 a day.
From the pub we drove by bus for an hour. I myself am a Scottish girl, Canadian, numerous couples from Australia, UK and Italy. Outside La Paz, we were handed the gear for the day – our bike (fits the size and brakes of our home country), pants, jackets, gloves, helmets, scarves, power des. To be honest, I hate Power Rades – but considering we were on a 4-5 hour journey on the bike, I thought I could do it with an extra hit of energy.
After a not-so-brief safety overview (which is a good thing, I might add!!!), we set out on the first foot of our trip.
First we rode a road that was purposefully built for traffic and ran down the hills as fast as the slopes and winds took us. We were instructed to leave the length of the bus between us and our previous riders, considering this is how so many accidents occur. Let’s take a look at our views along the way…
After warming up on this road, it’s time to go to the most known gravel road The most deadly path in the world. Stupidly, I didn’t take a moment to think of the name – more or less thought of it as a nickname I received because the road was so dangerous. After all, 300 people die in a year on the road. So it’s the name. The worst part was that one of my fellow riders informed me of the statistics just before jumping on my bike. Tell us about the timing…
After persuading myself to go (I was seriously considering salvation), I embarked on a 4-5 hour ride hill with my fellow riders. It was a pretty rush of emotions – especially the fear, which seems ok, given that riders have to ride on the side of the cliffs of the road.
However, if a) you can ride a bike and b) you can concentrate on the tasks at hand, then riding is fine. One of my previous riders fell on the bike after hitting a gravel rock and losing balance (which happens frequently during rides), but fortunately she wasn’t near Cliffside when this happened.
To be fairly fair, the only stories of people tragically falling off the cliff are those who are not confident in their bikes, trying to take photos, or running down the hills. For obvious reasons, there’s nothing I would recommend!
Dare, this is definitely the most memorable bike ride of your life and is a must for thrill seekers visiting La Paz, Bolivia.
What are your thoughts? Would you like to help us? ? In the comments below, let us know what you think of my decision to ride a bike on Death Road.
