I grew up with “fun” family vacations, sometimes including bike trips. Nothing too crazy, just an afternoon riding around Mackinac Island or Beaver Island, but my memories are primarily of me walking beside my bike with big band aids on my knees because trees/fences/rocks/people would often jump in my way causing me to fall. This has been the root of a long held dislike for biking – I’m not very good at it. 

Unfortunately for me, one of the things you read about the most when vising Bolivia is the infamous Death Road. Death Road, or Old Road (a new one has been built), was christened the most dangerous road in the world in 1995 due to the large amount of deaths that occurred annually. A new road has been built, and the old road connecting the Yungas Region of Bolivia to La Paz is now rarely used by cars, other than those following the tourists crazy enough to bike it. Which Will was determined to be.

 

 

Despite the name, it is now a big tourist attraction and the companies that take you out take great care of your safety and well being. We read a bunch of reviews and ended up choosing to ride with Barracuda Biking. Our friend, Ellen, was in the country travelling around with us, and it was not originally on her list of things to do. We assured her “No! It’ll be great!” until we were at the tour agency and the woman assured us it was 4 hours biking downhill. I then joined her side of “what the hell are we doing?” Too late though, all of a sudden we were already in the van on the way to the starting point.

The tours all ask you to be prepared with layers of clothing as the 4 hours downhill bit results in quite a bit of an altitude change, from about 15,400ft to 3,608ft (4700m to 1100m) – so from freezing to jungle. When we got to the starting point, the good luck for the day was beginning and it was snowing heavily – nice big, wet snow flakes. Our guides (we had 3 for a group of 11) asked multiple times if we still wanted to do the beginning stretch of road. We had 2 crazy guys on our trip who kept saying “OF COURSE!” over everyone else’s silence. So we all went for it. The first stretch of road is paved and primarily for you to get a good feel of the bike. We made it approximately 5 minutes before pulling off with a big “fuck this.” Going downhill in that kind of snow and wind resulted in being wet and feeling like someone is throwing ice blades at your face. Not fun.

 

 

Everyone on the tour ended up giving up at some point like us other than the original 2 crazy guys. I would recommend if you do this trip to pass on the first stretch of road if it is cold and snowy. We spent the next hour wet and freezing, which wasn’t really worth it. The beginning of Death Road is much lower in altitude so on our way in the van, the snow turned to rain then stopped, leaving warm sun. I much would have preferred to just start there. 

The relief in the change of weather did a pretty decent job of distracting me from what was to come next – biking down a road called Death Road. Sorry Mom and Papá, but I went for it. The safety instructions, however, didn’t really help ease my nerves – don’t go too fast, but don’t go too slow; stay towards the left (aka the edge) to see any cars (!); if a car does come (!), stay to the left (aka the edge). Then we were off!

Knowing my distaste of biking (and still wondering how I agreed to do a biking tour on a mountain), I chose to stay towards the back. Will took off immediately for the front of the pack. The road is a rocky, dirt road where you bike through waterfalls and around big bends. The tour is set up so you stop every 10-15 minutes as a group to take photos and relax your joints from the bumpy ride. I was pretty impressed with the ride, because the road is quite wide for biking comfortably and there weren’t cars coming the opposite direction. I was starting to get more and more comfortable as the ride went on, Will was blissed out and ready to sign up for the next day, and Ellen wanted to answer the “how’s it going” question when the tour was over. 

 

 

The views you get to see when you stop (during the ride I was staring 3 feet in front of my bike, no where else), are truly amazing. You see the jungle and waterfalls coming down from the steep cliffs on every side. I was starting to see why people loved this tour. There is the feeling of danger, but you are really quite safe, with stunning views and really good brakes. These were the thoughts passing through my head right before I flew over my handlebars. In all the times I fell on bikes growing up, never have I flipped over handle bars. I made sure to never be close enough to an edge to have falling off be an issue (I respect my biking history), but it’s still pretty freaky. I ended up with a pretty nasty bruise on my thigh from the bike and on my left hand from catching myself. So be careful! It is rocky and bumpy, and it is easy to lose control.

From then on out, I was fairly grumpy and ready to give up. I just have an issue with “giving up” so kept going and eventually it ended. The end of the trip went in a bit of a slow-blur. I was now the last one riding right in front of our van, but I could appreciate that the road got flatter, smoother, and wider. Finally we ended the tour in a small town. We went to a place with a swimming pool, a buffet, and showers. All in all, this was a fun, safe, gorgeous tour. Will loved it and its his favorite thing ever. Ellen and I enjoyed that we did it and pushed our limits. Will I ever do it again? Nope. Am I glad I did it once? Yep.