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I survived! and not only that, i absolutely loved every minute of it! Well, apart from the cold shower at the end and the fact that we had to cycle uphill for 25 minutes!! How hardcore am I?!? At the beginning I was so nervous and worried and convinced that I would be right at the back of the group going 2mph, I fully expected to either hit a truck (which i actually very nearly did!) or go over the edge. We had heard so many horror stories and we talked to people who had done it before who all said it was fun but really dangerous and really scary. I was terrified. But as soon as we got going it was utterly fantastic.
Our guide Louis was great, he was up at the front all the time and there was another guide which Louis called Pelicular because he was always filming us and taking photos. I was right up front the whole time (apart from the uphill part where I maintained a firm position in last place, i am so unfit!) Everytime we stopped to let the others catch up, me and this other guy were begging Louis to
let us go faster. It was just so much fun. I did lose control a couple of times because it was really wet and muddy to begin with and my back tyre liked to slip out but I didn't fall at all. (and thank goodness because it would have really hurt!)
The views were totally stunning. You start at La Cumbre which is 4700m above sea level so it was very cold (wooly hats under the helmets were a necessity) and at first the road was smooth asphalt. Louis said that on the asphalt we were going around 80km/hour. It felt pretty fast, we covered 20km in 20 minutes, including a break to let the others catch up. We came to a precipice where we could look out over the valley and see the road snake around the mountainside. It was stunning.
After the easy and relatively safe bit we stopped for a team talk. The next part of the road was the notorious "death road" It's so-called because there are more accidents on this road than anywhere else. buses and trucks go over the side all the time, there is an accident once a month! It also
isnt too kind to mountain bikers and there are memorials and shrines along the roadside to prove it! The road is so dangerous because its very narrow, only one lane at most parts, with a steep drop of up to 500m, but also the bus and truck drivers like to get drunk and so fall off the side easily.
Louise warned us about the dangers of the road and advised us to take it easy and as slow as we wanted. and so we set off. It was really bumpy and muddy, my hands really hurt from holding on so tight, I felt like i was going to get that disease that miners get from holding the drills! After the first 10 minutes we stopped to let the group catch up. Louis said to me "you pratice much mountain biking before?" and so I said no its my first time and then he looked at me shocked and said "oh, you go very very fast" I just smiled and asked him to go faster!
Trucks and buses were passing all the time, they're meant to beep at blind corners and the group stops to let them past but
at one point Louis and I were well ahead of the rest of the group and rounded a corner pretty fast only to come face to face with a minivan! It missed Louis by about a metre and I whipped round behind him, a little closer to the cliff edge than i would have liked but after that i pretty much hugged the inside of the bends! I didnt like my chances in another Cliff vrs Van vrs Emma scenario!
The views along the way were so beautiful, the valley was cloaked in clouds with the surrounding mountains peeking out of the top and most of the cliffsides were covered in semi-tropical rainforest. You could really feel the climate change as we descended. (we finished in Coroico which is only 1800m above sea level) Luckily the van followed us all the way so we could stop to peel off layers. It had been raining the previous day so most of the road was very wet and muddy. We got completely covered in mud, head to toe! It was great! At the end theres a hotel where we could get a very very cold shower and buffet lunch! Perfect!
When we got back to the hostel we got the choose a t'shirt, "I survived the death road" sort of thing and Louis was telling the other guides about how i was "el mejor" (the best). "muy muy rapido" (very very fast) He was so cool, about 5ft 3 inches, I could have just put him in my pocket and taken him home!
The drive home was a bit dicey though, I didnt realise we had to drive back up the Death Road! It was quite misty and there was alot of traffic, lucky we didnt have to pass on the cliffside!
We were a bit dissappointed that we couldnt do the tour with the other guide, Ben. It was his day off, we met him a couple of days ago and went out clubbing. He´s really nice and speaks english very well. He´s also a major fan of Blink 182 so he gets my vote! After speaking with him about the tour he's going to try to get it cheap for me so I can do it again, and if its on a day he´s working he says he´ll go as fast as i can keep up
with! brilliant!
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