
With 3,000ft+ sheer drops, the La Paz mountain road has seen between 200 and 300 fatalities per year and now a well known Irish man has ridden down it!
Former top GAA player Colm Parkinson is not famous for his footballing prowess alone, but also for his work as a sports broadcaster and journalist.
And now he can add daredevil descender to his business card.
He’s currently in South America, Bolivia to be precise, and has shared the clip below on the Twitter machine.
It shows him and a travel companion cycling down the La Paz mountain track – dubbed ‘the most dangerous road in the world’.
With a sheer drop to a near certain death if you went over the edge – and plenty have down the years – Parkinson rode down the mountain road when it was absolutely hammering down with rain.
And not only did the wet conditions make it extremely slippy and dirty, but it also concealed the potholes. And waterfalls drenched them from above in places.
The Inter-American Development Bank proclaimed La Paz as the world's most dangerous road, saying between 200 and 300 people had died on it annually.
The road, three metres wide in places but a slither of a dirt track in others, descends from La Cumbre at 15,400 feet to the city of La Paz.
Gravity Bolivia runs guided group riders down the road and describes the trickiest part thus: “This infamous narrow dirt road is cut precariously into the side of the mountain and descends 2,000m (6,500 feet).
“With 1,000m+ (3,300 feet) sheer drops off to our left and hulking rock overhangs and cascading waterfalls to our right, we ride through mist, low cloud and dust.”
Irishman Parkinson who has just done the ride is a 38-year-old former footballer turned presenter on Newstalk’s Off the Ball show.
In his playing days was decorated at club provincial and minor national level – including a minor All Ireland title with Laois in 1996.
He was selected to represent Ireland in the International Rules Series in 1998, thus confirming his status among the best of his generation.
Biking down the worlds most dangerous road, La Paz. Stay in the inside lane! pic.twitter.com/71v68eRQwo
— Colm Parkinson (@Woolberto) April 18, 2016
