Following the Dream

Christian March 22nd, 2008

     We decided to take the plunge and mountain bike down the World´s Most Dangerous Road (also known as the Road of Death).  This trip would start at 15,400 feet above sea level and continue down to 3600 feet over 40 miles.  This is called the world´s most dangerous road due to the number of deaths that have occurred on the road.  It is a winding dirt/gravel road that is narrow, has waterfalls pouring onto it, and one side of the road is a cliff that drops off more that 1000 ft.  This is definetly a risky ride that we were to emark on.  Here are some links to learn about the road:

“The Big Drop”

The Travel Rag

Tour des todes

World’s Most Dangerous Road

I woke up the morning of the ride with what our tour guide called Bolivia Belly.  This consists of running to the bathroom every few minutes.  This was not a good start to our day for the ride.  We met our guides Matt and Jubert(?) at a cafe where I popped an Immodium.  They both seemed really cool and down to earth.  We then piled into a van with tons of bikes on top and headed to the starting point of the ride, La Cumbre.  On the way up we stopped at a checkpoint where our guide Matt let us know we could get out and get something to eat, but to beware of the UFOs.  Everyone on the bus gave him a puzzled stare until he explained himself, “UFOs, you know unidenified fried objects”.  We all laughed, having seen them everywhere in La Paz.  It was very high, 15,400 feet and was very misty and snowy, not to mention freezing.  They handed out our gear (helmets, gloves, goggles, rain suits, etc) and started to give everyone one on one crash courses on thier bikes.  While they were handing out the bikes, Bolivia Belly hit once again.  I made it behind a shed, with the dense mist giving me cover to get close with nature.  Looks like a second Immodium was in order.

    When I got back from my episode, Casey and I were given our bikes.  It was funny, they all had names so that you could tell them apart.  Mine was aptly named Idiot, while Casey´s was called Trinadad and Tabago.  The guide that gave me my bike, Jubert had just won the downhill championship.  Once we were all geared up and given a crash course we were on our way.  The first section of the road was asphalt.  This was nice.  We cruised down the hill, and around the turns at blazing speeds.  All the meanwhile shivering from the wind chill.  I stuck towards the front, while Casey stayed in the middle.  During the first part of the trip we passed soaring mountian peaks, grazing llamas and alpacas, tiny villages, and even got to walk our bikes through a drug checkpoint.  From there we continued on the asphalt some more.  We went past a tunnel, where I blew out my tire trying to wheel tap a rock.  They changed my tire at the stop where we had to pay a 3-4 dollar tax for the road.  After that we had to climb some hills.  Being up so high made my lungs feel like they were going to burst.  Casey caught up to me and a couple of others when we were trying to fix this guy´s bike.  She said she could not do anymore hills.  I could understand why.  When the air is so thin, it makes everything extremely tough.  She joined a few other girls in the van with their bikes on top.  I pushed on through the hills, having to stop a couple of times.

  After the asphalt we were onto the scary part of the WMDR.  The guides stopped us before going on and gave us some extra safety instructions.  We started down the first part and the kid in front of me, who was still hung over from St. Pattys day ate it on the gravel.  He was fine, just a little brush burn.  I stayed with Casey for the first half hour or so.  It was crazy, the road was no more than 10-15 feet wide with cliffs on the side.  You could not see how far the drop off was since we were still in the clouds and the mist was dense.

     After that part, I started to really get into my element.  I told Casey that I was going to go ahead and start going faster and that I would come back if she wanted.  I stayed in the front behind the guide, flying down the hill, around the turns, coming within inches of the 1000+ ft drops.  It was terrific.  We would stop every 20-30 minutes to let the rest of the group catch up.  We passed waterfalls, butterflys, and great views.  The one part of the road acutally had waterfalls pouring onto the road.  This was apparently the most dangerous part and was the part of the road where the last mountain biker died.  We continued down.  Once we were lower, we crossed through streams.  One girl on the tour did a superman off her bike and into one of the streams after loosing her balance.  The ride was great and ended at a animal refuge.

    The animal refuge was great, minus the sandflys that ate us alive within minutes.  We did not even have time to put DEET on.  At the refuge there were monkeys, dogs, cats, ducks, rabbits, macaws, parrots, roosters, turkeys, and some unidentified animals.  We were offered free hot showers and lunch.  I did not eat given the state of my stomach.  While seated at the table, the monkeys invaded.  There were three brothers that worked together and stole are garlic bread.  While I was holding the basket of bread away from one of them, the monkey jumped on my head then on the basket, grabbing a piece.  It was pretty cool to get that close to them.  We then headed back to La Paz in the van.  We were even given a free t-shirt that says on the back that we survived the world´s most dangerous road.

• Bolivia
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