Recently I’ve received from our friend from Czech Rep small package. I was very happy to see my t-shirt and dvd-rom with photos from our great imagined adventure – one day trip by bike down the Death Road – ‘El Camino de la Muerte’ near Coroico, and La Paz in Bolivia. When i heard about this famous road and finally saw the photos of the trucks which were passing by on the very narrow mountain road where there was only just enough place just for one and a half truck, and from then i was dreaming to go down that road.
Being in the Bolivia we decided to got for that adventure – Gravity Assisted Mountain biking (you can easily guess why it’s called like that).
Death Road Bolivia
Full description of this road you can find for example at Wikipedia: Yungas_Road So i won’t repeat and copy that text, however i think it’s worthy to write a very brief description of it:
El Camino de la Muerte it’s a 43 miles road leading from the La paz to Coroico, about 50 km from La Paz. It’s famous of it’s the incredible scenic variety and a spectacular descent of more than 3,600m/11,800 feet, from snow-covered high-altitude plains and mountain ranges down to the steaming Amazonian Jungle. First part is the easy one on asphalt, but the second part of the ride is on the dramatic and scenic “World s Most Dangerous Road,” locally known as “Camino de la muerte!”. The road itself has 64kms (40 miles) of downhill riding with only a few small uphills and a couple of flat bits! But believe me those uphills on the almost 3000m are not the easy ones, especially for the gringos.
We began the ride at wind-swept La Cumbre (4,700m/15,400 feet) where we could see fantastic views of a number of snow-covered peaks, including Huayna Potosí (6,088m/19,973 feet). Later we descended, going by the new easy asphalt road, with wonderful views, after passing the narcotics check point (!), and after a brief undulating section of road we entered the jungle itself and the most challenging part of the ride. This infamous narrow dirt road is cut precariously into the side of the mountain and descends 2,000m (6,500 feet). With 1,000m+ (3,300 feet) sheer drops off to our left and hulking rock overhangs and cascading waterfalls to our right, we’ve ridden through mist, low cloud and dust… down… still down… with extreme caution, and adrenaline flowing – one mistake and you become a part of the history of the Death Road…
Death Road Bolivia
Near near the end of the ride it was getting progressively hotter and dustier, finally we’ve arrived at the bottom in Yolosa (1,100m/3,600 feet)…
Fortunately on the end of the ride there were waiting for us showers, dinner and the local beer :) Also there was a small open swimming pool – a things about a tired rider would dream of.
Wonderful adventure worth to see. And now the time for some photos, as always quickly selected from the big collection…
The beginning – Our pack of the riders.
Startin point – the preparations at La Cumbre 4,700m
Death Road – First, easy part of the track
One of the stops on the track to check the slope ;)
Death Road Panorama – we are going that way.
Death Road – It’s hard to believe but that 1st biker is me :)