The Weekend Part One: Mountain Biking Death Road, Bolivia

(click title to see photos)

Lucas's Birthday Weekend began with an early start on Saturday morning to meet the rest of the group also biking 'Death Road'. After a 45 minute bus ride we were at the top of the road (altitude - 4800m) and recieving brief instructions on how the brakes and gears work (I feared for those people who chose to bike this road without knowing how a bike works). The first part of the ride was a 45 minute sprint down some good (and steep) asphalt road - dropping about 1500m in altitude, and then the dangerous road began...

'Death Road' aka 'The Worlds Most Dangerous Road' has this reputation due to the 100+ people that die on it each year from cars, trucks and buses that travel the narrow track and plummet down the 800m vertical drop off the edges.

After only 5 minutes of racing down the bumpy dirt track I braked too hard round a bend and went sliding towards the edge of the road/cliff. Luckily my knee hooked itself onto a rock which slowed me down enough to pull up just at the edge. My knee felt a little bruised but good enough to keep riding to I hopped back on and kept going (although with more caution this time - so it was a blessing that I came off as I may have met a worse fate at the narrower more slippery sections further down).

About 5 hours and plenty of adrenalin later we arrived at Yalosi (altitude - 200m) for a warmish beer and some photos before catching the bus up to Coroico and our hotel. On arrival I removed the two layers of trousers I had been wearing to discover them both soaked in blood and a gaping hole in my knee. Which looked really interesting - I'd never been able to see so deep down to my bone before. I asked the tour guide if they had any bandaids I could use and he sent me to the hospital to get stitches. An hour and $10AUD later I had my knee stitched up and I was ready for a few quiet drinks to celebrate Lucas's birthday, and that was how Saturday ended....