Mountain biking Bolivia’s Death Road

February 18, 2019 SouthAmerica

The route that descends the east flank of the Andes from a high pass near La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, drops 3,574 meters in elevation (descent of 11,725 feet) to the lowland jungle, once considered the world’s most dangerous road. The single-lane unpaved road was blasted out in cliff-hanging curves that saw the fate of many travelers on this only route connecting the highlands with the rest of eastern Bolivia. The danger came from the heavy commercial traffic and buses passing one another. This infamous route is now less hectic since the completion of a new two-lane paved road. For more than a decade organized mountain bike trips down the old Death Road has become a bucket list item for many people around the world. We checked this one off the list, and have a few comments to share about the experience.

Some disclaimers to begin this short summary. I have been mountain biking since the early 90’s, and I am used to riding hard-tail bikes. My previous riding experience is fairly broad in Nevada and California, which includes technical single-track trails around Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe. Thus the riding experience down Bolivia’s Death Road is not as difficult as such California classics as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Hole in the Ground, or Scott Peak-Stanford Rock trail. In fact, most of the time I go riding I prefer not to ride on dirt roads; single-track trails are more interesting. The Death Road is a graded dirt road, so the technical aspect of this trip is basic. Some may find the high elevation of the starting place of the Death Road hard to handle and risk feeling altitude sickness.

First, few people will be traveling to Bolivia bringing their own mountain bikes. La Paz has several tourist agencies that rent bikes, provide guides, and transport to make the Death Road ride. This experience is usually done in a group of riders, and many of these other riders will not have much knowledge or ability riding a mountain bike. In the group situation, the other riders can be the biggest hazard riding the Death Road. Second, the rental bikes are generally full suspension, heavy machines, that have variable quality of parts and maintenance- I will return to this point during the riding description. Make sure to inspect the bike you are renting before being taken on the trip. Make sure that the tires are in good shape, but most importantly that the brakes do work. Prices for the journey vary by agency, time of the year, and by group size, so I am not going to list any estimates here. Third, when I made the trip I paid to go solo, eliminating the hassles of riding with amateurs.

The bike trip begins pre-sunrise. The agencies like having the tourists up to the mountain pass at Lake Estrellani (4,664 meters elevation along the road) for the experience of the sunrise, and this can be quite cold. You will want a sweater to start the trip off. The real reason for the early start is actually quickly escaping the congested traffic of La Paz. A later departure could add on another 45 minutes to the trip. A solo trip with guide and minivan driver takes about half a day out and back from La Paz. A full group, if rounding up different riders from backpacker hostels, could take longer to get moving in the morning, and the entire ride will drag as the guide keeps everyone together with the slower riders.

From the pass down to the dirt segment of the old Death Road one rides on pavement (Route 3), dropping 1,512 m to the turn off. This is pretty much a simple downhill run with nothing much remarkable about the riding, but the scenery is intense. The Cordillera Oriental by La Paz has several plus 6,000 meters peaks encrusted in glaciers, including Huayna Potosi (6,088 m) and (Illimani (6,438 m). These summits are highly sought after by mountain climbers. They also make for interesting photography.

From the 3,152-meter elevation fork off the paved highway, the Death Road is single-lane and graded dirt with sections of rough loose small rocks. This is the North Yungas road. The drainage crossing in many places are armored by boulders and need to be ridden more slowly. For the descent, the tour operators require the use of their mountain biking protection gear, which includes full helmet, biking clothes that are rather thick, gloves, and plastic armored knee and elbow pads. I really did not feel like I needed any of these protections, which would fend of scratches, but do essentially nothing if one were to fall of a cliff. This road has claimed several bikers’ lives over the last decade. Furthermore, about halfway into the ride these protection pieces were fiercely chaffing, making the riding experience painful. Then in the lower elevations, where it is humid and hot, the gear turned one into a rolling sauna that was very uncomfortable.

The upper sections of the Death Road is basic coasting, using the brakes to slow into the turns, and some peddling to get the speed up after crossing the armored drainages. The rental mountain bike I had came with disc brakes actuated by hydraulic lines, which were faulty. To get the brakes to slow me down I had to pump them several times, every time I used them. This quickly became a nuisance, and probably was a safety hazard, but I tried riding most of the way down without braking, not minding to get the speed up. This left my guide farther back, and he frequently called out for me to stop to explain something about the route. Some of these stops were for him to take pictures of me with the bike. They clearly had their official most photogenic stops they use on each trip. I had other stops in mind for using my camera. It was nice that at the end of the ride, back in La Paz, they provided a CD of the pictures.

A basic rule they use on the descent is for riders to maintain a position along the left side of the road, which is the cliff side. Those not liking heights will find this unnerving. The reason is so that the rider can better observe any oncoming traffic on the blind curves. During the entire descent I think we had about three taxis going up the route. Nobody gained or passed us on the way down.

The cliff-side riding was the most interesting aspect of the Death Road where it had been blasted out of the granitic rock. Parts are inset into the cliff so that a roof of rock hangs over the road. The cliffs are nearly completely covered in green vegetation. Several waterfalls splash right onto the road.

Down into the lower half of the Death Road the heat turns way up. If you stop to drink water or take a picture the biting black gnats will swarm you. The lower section has several tourist ziplines that the trip guides will offer as a side adventure. I skipped these. Down lower the occasional wooden shacks have families living off the mountainside farms. The most excitement I had on the ride was near here when I had to brake hard (pumping them quickly) so as not to run over a monkey crossing the road.

The lowest-most section of the road widens, and more car traffic is in the area. At the major bridge (elevation 1,207 meters) a collection of shacks await to sell tourists drinks, snacks, and souvenirs. At this point the guide said we could stop, or continue on several more kilometers to a lower pick up point. I took that option, but on some uphill sections on sloppy mud road I was soon regretting it. We ploughed on, got a few more downhill runs in, and then at the small police station and collection of more developed stores we had the minivan meet us. This was at the new highway overpass over the river, at an elevation of 1,090 meters. The agency had sack lunches prepared. First we stripped off all the bike gear, and I changed out of the agency riding cloths, having me strip down to the skivvies in front of several dozen Bolivians, but no big deal because I was not the first gringo to do so. I had several gnarly rashes from the rubbing protective gear. The gnats were biting. So I hurried through the sandwich and fruit to get back in the van and return up the Andes.

The return trip up the hill had the minivan struggling, being very under powered. To see the pressure change with elevation, carry an empty water bottle with you and witness how much it collapses. While we descended into La Paz the old minivan had transmission issues, which I thought would have us stopped to seek out a new ride. The driver ground metal and egged the minivan all the way back to the hotel. I am pretty sure he caused more damage to the car.

It was great to have ridden the much hyped Bolivian Death Road, more for the scenery, seeing a monkey, and getting to know a bit more about Bolivia. It was not something that would rank high as a mountain biking ride. The trails around Lake Tahoe are far more enjoyable. But still, this was the only mountain bike trip I had completed in South America after twenty years of working there on and off. Carrying a mountain bike around on South American journeys is just not that convenient.

Final notes- I am not listing any particular agency for renting bikes. These should be researched in person at La Paz. I do encourage you to do so the ride if you consider yourself capable for the experience. There are risks, and several riders have died by taking cliff falls. Make sure your brakes work better than the bike I had. Try better fitting protective gear, and maybe bring some lotion or Vaseline to help with chaffing on the ride. Do bring sunscreen and bug repellent. The guides know some English, but I am a Spanish speaker, so communication was not an issue for me. This experience may seem more sketchy if you cannot communicate with the guides. You may be better off going with some select friends instead of taking the solo trip like I did. I could see the ride being very annoying if it was in a larger group with people delaying the trip progress. The main issue doing this ride is being comfortable with your speed, control your speed and everything should work out fine. I am not recommending this ride as a must do Bucket List experience- it is a nice thing to do if you happen to be in the area.