What is life without going to the extreme?
That's what we thought when we decided to race down the "camino de la muerte".
This is 62km of downhill on a mountain bike! Promising!!!
In the morning we got picked up. We got protection gear to wear. I'm sure it helps a lot to have gloves on when you fall down a 500m cliff! Chrisy was delighted about her idea she had the day before when she got ready.
The first part after arriving the pass was a briefing by our two guides we had with us. One thing to remember was: stay on the road! The first few kilometers were on a paved roads. We overtook busses and trucks. We reached good top speeds so it was no problem to leave them behind in no time.
It was pretty chilly on the pass and when you go in full speed down on the road through some mist it gave me some chills. I guess it was because the mist and not the narrow road!
It got really interesting when we went on the dirt road. For many years this road was the only main way of transportation up the mountains to La Paz. During that time many accidents happened and cars, trucks and busses came of the small road and fell. It is the only road in Bolivia where it is left hand traffic. This is for the slower traffic coming up are in less danger of going over the cliff.
We had a lot of fun going down this now rarely used road. Chrisy was doing well. She was number 3 (from the end)!
The views cleared up as more and more we came down. It also got warmer and warmer. On top of the pass it was an alpine environment. As further down it became more and more tropical with bananas, papaya and other fruit trees along the road. We only had to paddle a couple of times. The rest was a steady never-ending downhill dream. Some of our group pushed the speed to levels where I had to slow down a little bit. Just in time...
One of the other guys tire blew up and he fell. Almost down the cliff. Except of some scratches nothing happened and the tire was fixed in no time by our experienced guide.
After almost 5 hours we arrived at our finish where we had a beer before going to our lunch restaurant. There was even a pool and some showers for the needed refreshment after so much sweat of fear we accumulated during the ride.
To better understand why this road has the name "Death Road" see some pictures from a few years back before the new road was opened for the motorized traffic:
WHAT A RIDE! On the "Camino de la Muerte"
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