My enforced early return to La Paz meant that I had more time than I expected back there...so how to fill the days..? Well why not risk life and limb moutain biking down the most dangerous road in the world - great idea...and for once it actually was!

The day we had chosen could have been better, as true to form there was yet another demonstration in Bolivia, this time about an election, which meant that the roads were yet again going to be blocked. But as it was widely known in advance the mountain bike company I had booked with were well prepared and we had to get up practically in the middle of the night so we could get out of the city before the roads were blocked. Yet despite the early start there was still some doubt about whether we would be allowed though the checkpoint and through to the "dangerous" road...

However, luck was with us and we passed smoothly through with no problems (definitely makes a change for Bolivia!). We drove up to the starting point of La Cumbre at 4,800m and were given all our equipment for the day. By the time I had put on protective trousers and a coat, a full face helmet and gloves I looked more like Darth Vader than a cyclist but we were assured it was all worth the effort. And off we went...64km of downhill madness for the next five or six hours.

The first part of the day was on tarmac road so we got plenty of chance to fly around the bends at speed and really enjoy the thrill of downhill. We had to pass through yet another checkpoint (where I managed to be the first girl through from the group) before a small uphill section. This was the first chance to really use our legs and was also a better opportunity to admire the beautiful scenery we were riding through. However, before the third and final hill I managed to get a flat tyre and had to wait for the truck behind to catch up and fix it. But as we were so near our first scheduled stop they ended up just throwing the bike on the roof and taking me up the hill in the truck instead!

So after the break my tyre was fixed and we were on our way again. And now it was time for the real death road experience. We turned off the nice smooth tarmac and saw the new track in front of us. Until six months ago this rubble, narrow road was the only way to travel between La Cumbre and our final destination of Corioco, but thankfully there is now a brand new tarmac road for all the traffic, leaving the dicing with death just for those of us crazy enough to jump on a mountain bike! I cant imagine how much more scary the ride would have been having to negociate traffic too, but thankfully for us the road was clear and we were free to hurtle down it as fast as we liked. The group was split into three smaller groups and me being me, I opted for the lead group so I could go faster, and hear all the tales and death and danger!

As I said the road is no more than a dusty, rocky track, curving round the mountain and going down a total of more than 3000m in altitude. We sped down pretty fast, and there were certainly a few scary moments, having pulled on the brakes a bit too quickly or perhaps not quick enough and as the back wheels skidded the drop over the edge became all too close. If you did have an accident, and many before us had, hence the name of the road, it was a sheer drop down down down hundreds of metres to the eventual bottom of the valley. On the way you could see the remains of buses and trucks that had been unlucky and taken that corner just that bit too fast. Apparently 2003 was the worst year with over 95 people being killed on the road in just one year. And many of the corners are named after cyclists who have died - the Italian corner or the French corner, and each one elicited a juicy story from our guide about the actual events leading up to the unfortunate accidents.

The final part of the road was definitely the best - very dusty but very very fast, lots of corners and steep downhill descents. We were rewarded for our hard days biking with a cold beer at the bottom while we waited for the slower groups to arrive. We ended up being nearly 30 minutes ahead of them...plenty of time to cool off and enjoy a drink. And because we had descended to an altitude of just 1295m it was hot too! For the first time since getting to Bolivia we were experiencing heat, and it was very very very welcome. In the village of Coroica we then had some lunch and there was just time for a quick swim in a hotel pool to cool off before the three hour bus ride back to La Paz.

After everything Bolivia had thrown at me up to this point, this was definitely a positive experience to remember and one of the best days so far.