Andean mountain bikers (by Joe)

One of the discoveries of our trip is how much we enjoy mountain biking.

We did some great courses in north Thailand, in New Zealand, and in the Chilean and Argentinian Lake Districts. However, the best place for mountain-biking (certainly on our trip and possibly in the world) has to be Bolivia, especially around the city of La Paz, which stands some 4000m above sea-level.

The big thing here is what they call (a bit naffly) `gravity assisted` mountain-biking. This involves - as you might imagine - a tour company taking you and a guide by bus to the top of a mountain, handing you a bike and letting gravity take charge. It`s very much like downhill vs. cross-country skiing, where you get to enjoy the fun bit without too much hard work.

We found an excellent agency here in La Paz (www.bside-adventures.com) and did two terrific courses with them - both of which involved descents of over 3000 metres.

The first was the La Paz to Coroico `Death Road` (as described in Laura`s blog below). The stats for this were impressive with the course taking you on a descent from 4700m down to 1700m over some 65km (89% of which was downhill). And there were some incredible cliff drops along the way (see the top pic in Laura`s blog below).

Yet, amazing though it is, the Death Road paled in comparison to our second ride - the incredible Chacaltaya to Zongo run, which must surely be one of the longest - and highest - downhill rides in the world.

It took us from an incredible 5300 metres high up on the Andean altiplano all the way down to the tropical climate of Zongo valley at 1400 metres, so a drop of 3.9km on a course of 52km.

It was an utterly amazing ride for the awesome ´roof of the world` views at the top, as well as the sheer exhilaration and speed of the descent. (See me overexcited at the top - above/left)

And just to liven things up a little further, I even managed a little 30km/hr tumble over my handlebars. In truth, I was probably fortunate not to go over a cliff and to complete the course with just a few grazes, bumps and bruises.

Laura saw the crash in full technicolour from 20 metres behind - and the remarkable thing (it seemed to me as I lay on the rocky gravel road considering whether I was able to move my neck or not) was how quickly she was on the scene, camera in hand, to snap a couple of pics for the blog (see right/ above).

We take this blog seriously, you know ...

Anyway, here´s some pics of our amazing Chacaltaya to Zonga ride, from us at the very top with the track behind and below, through the ride, to Laura being awarded her B-side Adventures ´Zongo Valley Hero´ t-shirt at the bottom.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

Joe