UnBoliviable

Having seen the Top Gear special, and read all about "The Death Road" we decided it would be a once in a lifetime experience to cycle down it! After much deliberation over the many tour companies, mainly the free t-shirt design, we chose Pro Downhill, the company offering knee, and elbow pads as well as over clothes, and the best rider to guide ratio we could find!

The day started bright and early with a walk to the cycle cafe, for a hearty breakfast, of hot bread, fruit and coffee. We where picked up from the cafe, in a mini bus along with the 3 others who where on our trip. We headed an hour out, and above La Paz 4,700m, to start our safety brief, before the first 22km of the ride. This took place on a paved road, and allowed us opportunity to get to grips with the bikes! We made a few stops on the way to admire the views, and to pass through the anti-narcotic check point. Before our final stop to pay entrance into the death road!

We loaded back into the bus for an 8km climb on gravel roads, we where all thankful of not having to pedal up the hill! The short drive brought us to the top of the real death road, thankfully for me it was surrounded by cloud, so we could not see down in to the valley from this point! The start of the ride was a little bit shaky but once we got into the swing of things we where flying down the road, following our guide, while he was taking plenty of photos! We made multiple stops on the way down the road, stopping for snacks drinks, and photos at some of the more famous points along the way, including riding through waterfalls!

The only part of the ride that required us to pedal was for about 15 minutes on some flat land, fortunately not uphill! Before a technical final descent to a small town of Yolansita, and to a nice hotel with a swimming pool, for a buffet lunch!