This month, what do you say to four hours of freewheeling down
Bolivia's infamous Death Road, the
most dangerous road in the world?
Complete lunatic
Gaz Bourne
couldn't resist the challenge: "Just like most members of the
sane universe, the thought of hurtling down an eight foot wide gravel road edged
by sheer drops of 900 foot, at speeds of up to 70 km/h, on a mountain bike, did
not exactly fill me with confidence. Ever since I arrived in South America,
whenever someone mentioned Bolivia the next question, almost
inevitably, was ‘have you done the ‘Death Road’? I couldn't resist: A mixture of
the dreaded male ego and a genuine desire for the ‘thrill factor’ were literally
pushing me towards the abyss.
At the top our guide explained that the 64
km descent would take around four and a half hours, with the first one and a
half on tarmac before the ‘fun’ on the gravel really began.
The first
part was awesome fun, hurtling through the Andes with breathtaking views. Just when I was beginning
to relax we arrived at a tunnel; on the other side the real ‘Death Road’ awaited
us. Pausing at the top our guide had some last words for us, ‘make sure you
always ride on the outside edge’. Come again, had I heard him right? Did he say
the OUTSIDE edge with the 900 foot drop just a few centimeters away?
Unfortunately I had heard him correctly, the logic being that when you are
confronted with oncoming traffic, you don’t have to pedal fast towards the edge
to avoid the truck or bus as you are already there!
The next three hours
passed in an exhilarating haze of bumps, dust and near misses, as I hung on for
dear life, my fingers squeezing the breaks for all they were worth, yet never
seeming to scrub off as much speed as I would have liked.
Arriving at
the bottom at 1,100m I was absolutely exhausted, covered in dust and shaking
with all the effort and adrenaline I had exerted over the previous four and a
half hours."
Click here
>> to read Gaz's full article.