The One Cycling Experience that'll take your breath away - Death Road Cycling

The name “The World’s Most Dangerous Road” was anointed by the Inter-American Development Bank after reports showed an annual death toll of 200-300 people on this road. Dubbed the World’s Most Dangerous Road, The Stretch between La Paz and Coroico in Bolivia, South America - called the North Yungas Road - lies at a height of 15000 feet and spans over 60 kilometres in length and is locally dubbed “The Death Road” / “Camino de la muerte!”.

You could look at these stats and think “Whoa-Dangerous Place” or “Well.. Nice spot for some gravity assisted mountain biking.”


The downhill experience begins at La Paz with an uphill ride first to reach 15250 feet. Visible from the starting point at La Paz are the snow-capped Huayana Potosi mountains (19000 feet and 25km from La Paz). The ride downhill has sheer 3000 feet drops on the sides with no survival rate on them and boasts a high death toll.

Prior to heading out, the bikers follow a Bolivian tradition of offering some bitter alcohol to their Bikes, Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and themselves! And then the ride begins! After the initial uphill ride and views of the ice-capped peaks, you head downhill with some places flat. The ride takes you from the Andean peaks to Amazonian jungles of Bolivia till at last you reach civilization.


As you take the ride, you’ll see a number of crosses and mailboxes, all memoirs of the souls that perished in the past, down the Death Road. “20 bikers have perished since 1998” reports mountain biker Marina Lvova in a friend’s blog. Several deaths in the road are vehicular accidents and also alcohol-related. Experienced bikers have gone down the deep ravines too, not coming back. 3 bikers including a guide have died since 2014 and in 2011, a 32-year-old Japanese woman fell off an edge,while filming her boyfriend, and died from a blow to the head despite wearing a helmet. In 2010, an Israeli backpacker died after going over the edge.


Yes, there are risks but if you follow some basic guidelines that the trip instructors offer, keep to the left and follow the "right to way" road rules, there is no reason why you wouldn’t end up having the ride of your life. The road has several hairpin bends and has 15 stops in total enroute in the guided tour. After the icy peaks and amazonian jungles, there’s sheer drops, clouds and plains and rock and dust to contend with. Downhillers are expected to keep to the left and don’t have the right of the way, unlike American Traffic Rules. And there aren’t guardrails on the left too!


Catherine Pearson,from Manchester, who made the trip in 2010, summarises the feeling - "If a truck comes along and you go over a stone the wrong way, you don't know what could happen. Sometimes while I was cycling, I was thinking 'I'm going too fast, I need to brake' and then I braked and I thought 'I'm braking too hard and might tip over.'"

The road narrows down to 3m at one point and is rocky. You pass through farmers working on their farms or carrying sticks on their mules/ Llamas on the way. There’s also a nice Single Track in between for some ridge-cycling and hurtling down. You hurtle down the tracks at speeds of 40 kph at one point. The Bolivian government has built a newer road to divert regular traffic of cars and trucks with the South Yungas Road in 2005. The downhill ride takes 5 - 6 hours according to several trip-survivors and you reach Coroico which lies at an altitude of 4500 feet.


The perils, the challenge, the beer at the end of the adrenaline-pumping hurtle down peaks, jungle, dust and finally landing at civilization at Coroico are all what makes this journey exciting and a must-have for the 20000 annual visitors to this place.

After the ride, you could hitch back a taxi ride to Yolosa, La Paz - where you can appreciate some rescued amazonian wildlife at La Sende Verde and feast on the buffet on offer and some hot showers. If you’re in Bolivia, you’ll need to find out - whether you have it in you to experience the adrenalin and survive the humbling to the ground.