The Death Road (Year of the Climb 1/100, PJAMM Rank 11/100)

Steamy jungle, snow-capped mountains, and the agony and ecstasy of everything in-between

It was already dark when we arrived at La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary at the edge of the Amazon rain forest in Bolivia. The drive from La Paz gave a preview of the next day’s route, and I couldn’t believe that I would be riding up close to snowy areas at 15,270 feet yet here I was rolling my bike through a jungle path between animal enclosures in the dark while trying to find my room. It was hot and humid, and I wondered where exactly the jaguars were that I had seen on La Senda Verde’s website. The rustling in the trees above me had to be monkeys, right?

The day before, I was bedridden all day in Lima, questioning if I should even board the plane to La Paz that night, given that food poisoning had left me barely able to climb up a flight of stairs let alone the 11^th hardest bicycle climb on earth. Boarding a plane to Bolivia and hoping I would feel better soon felt foolish, and I began to wonder if attempting “the world’s 100 hardest cycling climbs in a calendar year” was also a bad idea.

Thankfully I started feeling better in the Lima airport, and La Paz, a vibrant city at 12,000 feet of altitude seemed so magical in the early morning light when I arrived that I felt like I had gambled and won. It didn’t hurt that Noel, a guide I found by sleuthing around on the PJAMM website and Strava, was at the airport to pick me up (and he had taken care of all the detailed planning) even though I arrived early. Often visa-on-arrival lines are long, but I benefitted from there being few Americans arriving on a flight that originated from Lima.

I had to check my phone, it really is that high!

My travel high lasted until a couple of hours into the climb. This was one of the toughest routes I had ever attempted, and despite all my preparation, I had only been above Colorado “14er” altitude once in my life, and I wasn’t on a bike then. And of course, it had only been 36 hours since a flight of stairs was a difficult climb. I was back in that familiar place that I learned a lot about while riding a bike across Africa last year: Survival Mode.

Noel’s photo from above, showing the Death Road winding its way down the hillside below me

I guess that’s one of the many things I love about cycling. You can slow down a lot, and you’re still doing it. As long as you are going fast enough to not topple over, you are going somewhere, and you’ll get there eventually. So maybe a long day on the bike turns into a really long day, but starting around sunrise allows for that sort of thing.

Making my way slowly around postcard corner

And there aren’t many better places to be moving slowly on a bike. Despite its name, the gravel section of the Death Road is one of the safest routes I’ve ever been on. Because there is an adjacent paved road now, all the traffic that caused so many tragedies in the past happens somewhere else, out of sight and out of mind (aside from the numerous memorials that mark the tragedies of the past along the Death Road). I was only overtaken by my own support vehicle, and the very few vehicles traveling in the other direction were there to support downhill riders, so they were extremely cautious and conscientious.

In December 1999, 8 Israeli travelers were killed in a jeep accident.

I hope the video I’ve posted below gives some sense of the lush surroundings, the dramatic vistas and the peaceful, verdant environment. As the ride progressed and I reached the pavement after the gravel, there was much more traffic, but it was well worth it because the scenery became even more exciting as snow-capped peaks came into view. The transition was energizing and I knew I was in the final phase of my long climb.

Strava Link

PJAMM page for Death Road

A few notes:

- Noel is a fantastic adventure guide and Bolivia is a fantastic place to adventure. I can give you his contact information when you are ready to go there. I’m certain that I will be returning some day.

-I was able to complete 9 of the 12 South American climbs in Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Colombia but I’m not able to go to Ecuador at the moment. I hope the situation improves there and I can make it by the end of the year.

-If anyone has any good connections in El Salvador for the one climb there in the mountainous Guatemala/Honduras border region, please let me know.

-Video editing is a work-in-progress for me. The telemetry sync is not precise and because I was offline when I added telemetry, the maps do not show up appropriately. The sound quality is far below my standards as a former audio engineer. I am working on all of these issues so eventually my videos will be more polished.

-I’m at home for a week so I will continue to try to catch up on video and photo editing in addition to writing as I recharge and resupply for my next set of climbs. I’m ahead of schedule on the climbs, and far behind on the posting. This does reflect my priorities, but for my own sake I don’t want to neglect the chronicling of all of this.

-Alex