Mountain Biking “The World’s Most Dangerous Road”
20 04 2007Mom, you always remind me to tell you about my dangerous outings after I’m through with them. Well get ready for another.
The road from La Paz, Bolivia to Coroico, Bolivia contains a section that drops more than 3300 meters (more than 10,826 feet) in about 64 km (39.77 miles). Over the years of its use, it was responsible for 100-200 fatalities per year.
Well yesterday our tour company (Downhill Madness) started us at the top on two nearly-new Rocky Mountain Flow hardtail mountain bikes and accompanied us on the descent.
The views were incredible. We started well above treeline, high in the Andes, offering clouds for us to ride through, and amazing views of peaks above and valleys below. I was wearing fleece pants, fleece jacket, rain jacket, and outer windproof pants provided by the tour company. When you near the end you are in a tropical region with flowers and beautiful trees all around and by that time you are HOT!
See the picture below. This is Meghan’s group (we were split up) at the famously photogenic cliff.
Hi Neenan and Meggie!
I guess you could be sure I’d have a message on this one, ha ha! Yes, it’s always easier on me to find out about your extreme experiences after the fact! The photo is amazing, so I can only imagine what the real view must be. You all are really packing in a lot of adventures and making the most out of your trip, including wonderful food and drink and chocolate….yum!
I feel like I’ve had a virtual tour of South America along with you, but I still look forward to hearing about it in person in June…..can’t wait!
Love, Mom (to-be)
Yes the views were incredible. On the trip we descended from a high alpine area (above treeline) to tropical wetlands with flowers of every color. Along the way there were several places where we stopped and the guide showed us where a bus had driven off the edge, killing all 49 people on board, or a semi (lorry for you Brits) truck cab was still down in the canyon below, even places where people had fallen while riding downhill on - yes - a mountain bike.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the company provides a photo CD-R so we didn’t have to worry about carrying a camera along (although we did get a few shots ourselves - our camera stayed in the support van). However, the majority of long-distance photos (like the one above) on the CD were out of focus, a frustrating reality.
So jealous… That’s *a lot* of downhill riding!!!