25/03/2011 - Bolivia, La Paz to Coroico via the Yungas Road

Today we cycled the Yungas road.  This road is otherwise known as 'El Camino de la Muerte' or death road and is one of the most dangerous in the world, claiming many motorists and of late during its tourist renaissance, 18 cyclists.  The ride starts at 4,800 meters on a bitumen road.  This part I was fine for.  So fine that the others labelled me the cannonball as Christian (the guide) and me flew down the road far ahead of the others.  Then once we had descended to 3,500 meters we hit the death road.  Here I transformed from the cannonball to Miss Daisy.  I hate cliffs, hence the change.  I was nervous for days about doing the ride and almost pulled out.  Slowly but surely was the theme of the day for me, I rarely looked over the edge and took my time trying not to listen to my fears.  I settled into a nice rhythm with a girl called Bree as we were both as scared and slow, which made it marginally less daunting.  Everything was going fine until my rear brake failed.  I stopped to get it fixed whilst the rest cycled on.  It took 10 mins to change the brake and a bit more to catch up with the group.  Liz was a bit frazzled but relieved when I rejoined the group.  It was funny, I should have freaked at the brake failure and jumped on the support bus, but I continued on, thinking that if it failed again, the  I would stop.  Must have been the adrenalin.  In the end, we all made it safe and sound.  Relaxed at an animal sanctuary with a couple of beers and then Liz and I went to stay at an awesome Cabin in the rainforest.  A crazy day.


Here is a link to the wikipedia entry on 'El Camino de la Muerte'.


And another to Gravity, the company we used to do the ride.  Search around and have a look at the photos and videos to get a feel for what we did.


Main photos from gravity plus the photo is of me and my partner in crime on the road, Bree.