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Published: September 16th 2007
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Janna on death road
me at the picture postcard corner awesome The day I had been waiting for finally arrived. I could't sleep I was so excited. Got up and packed our things, we are taking everything with us on the bus and after the ride will get dropped off at new hostel.
The bus collected us at just before 8am and loaded up. we headed off on a 1 hour journey which ended up taking over and hour and a half due to the gridlock traffic of La Paz. During our drive we met our two guides, Lyn a South African lady who briefed us and gave out safety gear, and Jubi a local La Pazian downhill biker extraordinaire who ´rocked' on a bike.
We had to go through some checkpoints along the way too. finally we arrived at our start point, La Cumbre 4760m above sea level (thank god we've acclimatised already) where we unloaded our bikes and dressed up in the safety gear. we were given bug eye goggles, gloves and buffs to keep out the bitter cold along with black umpa lumpa suit top and trousers which we all laughed at at first but came to be very grateful for and then over hot in later.
Death road
this is a snatch of the road as it snakes through the hills We blessed our bikes by pouring 96% neat alcohol on them and offering some to Pachamama (mother earth) by pouring on the ground before taking a sneeky swig ourselves. not sure if this is dumb or necessary !!!
my bike was a Cona, super delux, double suspension, super soft, bouncy, mega bike of great comfort. We had a quick recap on riding techniques (for the beginners you understand) and set off on a crazy Bolivian tar mack road where it seems the only rule is that you should at least start off on the right hand side but it doesn't really matter if you don't stay there!!! the whole journey will take us on 64km route descending 3650m. The first 22km was on a really beautiful tarmac road zigzagging down through mountain passes and past a drugs check point called Unduavi at 3200m where we all had to dismount and show our faces. apparently the jungle in this area is rife with cocaine factorys so this road block is supposed to limit the movement of drugs, yeah right, ha ha.
The tar mac road is a new replacement for the old road AKA the most dangerous road
Happy bike rider
buzzed all day long - best ever natural high i have ever experienced in the world/death road. so now there isn't as much traffic using the old road as there used to be. and judging by the amount of traffic we had to encounter on the new road, i´m really glad.
The new road and old road intersection at 3150m is where we stopped for a quick safety brief. Apparently the tarmac section is ridden in order to allow us to get used to our bikes and our guides to assess our abilities. They gave us some more top riding tips to keep us alive on the narrow dirt road and we set off once again, this time on the left hand side because the uphill traffic gets right of way (which means they get to stay mountain side and we get to go drop side, nice).
the guides checked our bikes over once again and we set off. me in the lead of course. well you have't seen anything like it. we rounded the first corner and the most amazing scary narrow road opened up ahead of us. I slammed on my breaks in awe and immediately lost the back wheels to a skid. my heart started beating alot quicker
knackered and chuffed
yeah totally chuffed and knackered - i was the only one to cycle the whole of the uphill section as you can image. shit, what had they been saying about keeping control on gravel again.
we were flying around on the stupidest road you ever saw, we were single file on the left hand side with the drop just inches to our left. every now and again the edge had fallen away leaving a hole in the road literally reaching our track. no room for error here at all. a complete thrill and you can't help looking over the edge and all around you even though when you do, your bike veers in the direction you were looking - defo a bad thing to do too often.
the route took us under waterfalls, under overhanging rock cliffs, through seriously bumpy lumpy track and over loose stones and rocks. round infinate corners to the left and right, through streams and puddles and mud and dust. the landscape is breathtaking.
When you start thinking about it all, and you get plenty of time to do so, you can't help wondering what on earth you are doing. it is SERIOUSLY dangerous and scary but at the same time so simple and easy and totally awesome that you let your
my bike
Cona, fully suspended, proper soft, comfylux, ride your ass off, downhill superstar bike and other equipment and my foot in the background excitement run away with you and try to keep up with the leader. you can't help pushing it a bit more each corner, faster, more lean, less brakes, standing up, little jumps here and there. I mean seriously!!! Then you glance left to the 600m drop and freak yourself out and instinctively reach for the breaks, have a wobble and scare yourself again. bugger, nearly lost it, gotta try harder, get faster again. whats is wrong with me?
I can't describe the road, other than to say how beautiful and exhillarating and totally heart stoppingly scary it is. the photo's just don't do it justice. I have had the time of my life today, pushing all boundaries and thoroughly enjoying myself. one of the best days i have ever had.
We stopped regularly to regroup and check equipment. the whole day was really well organised and totally professional. ate lunch snack thing at side of road in sunshine. our support bus brought up the rear for all those who wanted to skip sections, rest, derobe etc
We arrived at the bottom at about 4pm (6 hours of riding later) were we swam in a pool plagued by
buddies
one of my team on the road a naughty little spider monkey and ate a huge buffet lunch. We were all very pleased with ourselves for completing the most dangerous road in the world in one piece.
We gratefully reveived our free T-shirt and Beer and loaded up the bus with bikes and then to our horror, drove all the way back up the crazy road finishing in the dark with a round of applause for the driver. he does it every day - madman
To celebrate, we all went out for a nite on the Bolivian town. Went to a place called Mungo´s and then on to a very funky cool little club called Orange. Met up with Rolando´s brother, Ronnie (he´s in town with GAP)and said G´bye to Martin our current tour leader. Much merriment was had until i finally fell into bed at about 4am
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