Cyclists brave the world’s most dangerous road in Bolivia
Cyclists brave the world’s most dangerous road in Bolivia
High, scenic and varied terrain on Yungas road makes for a white-knuckled ride, as a guide reveals stories of what’s also known as death road.
By Tamara HinsonSpecial to the Star
Sat., Aug. 20, 2016
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA — No doubt the guide is trying to be reassuring when he says he’s undergone rope rescue training, but it’s a timely reminder that the road we’re about to cycle down has claimed hundreds of lives.
Regarded as the world’s highest capital (Sucre is Bolivia’s official one, but La Paz has more government buildings and is regarded as the de facto capital), La Paz is a city crammed into an enormous bowl, 3,640 metres above sea level. It’s also home to the world’s most dangerous road.
In 1998, New Zealand mountain biker Alistair Matthew came to La Paz. At the time, access to the city had been via the Yungas road, a crumbling dirt track carved into a mountainside. Vehicles regularly toppled off. Matthew heard about the road, saw its potential as the ultimate adrenaline-fuelled adventure for cyclists and founded Gravity Bolivia, starting out with just three bikes.
The road quickly became a rite of passage for backpackers. Today, 20 operators offer excursions along the death road — named not because of fatalities, but because many of the prisoners of war who built it died during construction in the 1930s, during the Chaco War.
A shiny new road opened in 2006 and now only a few foolhardy drivers brave the route. Accidents involving drivers and cyclists still happen with alarming regularity, although one particular incident helped reduced these fatalities. After British cyclist Theo Dreyfus died in a 2009 accident, his father Dominic founded a memorial fund to pay for a permanent ambulance on the road.
More:
https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2016/08/20/cyclists-brave-the-worlds-most-dangerous-road-in-bolivia.html
(More photos at link.)
= new reply since forum marked as read
NOT! That's scary as a pic much less to ride. 
