We Tried To Ride Up One Of The Highest Roads In The World

This is Mount Chakal Tire. It is 5,421 meters or 18,000 feet high. At that altitude, there is 48% less oxygen than there is at sea level. Yes. Now, fortunately for us and for you, there is a gravel road all the way to the top, making it one of the highest roads on the planet. Question is, can we ride up it? Chakal Tire lies just to the north of La Paz, one of Bolivia's two capital cities, fact fans, which lies deep in the Andes, a mountain range dripping in history, culture and mystery. So this mountain is surrounded by some far higher peaks, over 6,000 meters, but is notable for being home to the world's highest ski resort, although it's now closed because the snow and the glacier there has melted. I wonder why that happened. Who knows? Now, we're here not only to ride up the climb, but also on a special mission for the indoor cycling platform, Roovy, because it allows you to recreate real-world routes while cycling on an indoor smart trainer, and there is a huge archive to explore. Recently, though, some of their newer routes have been getting a little more adventurous, straying away from cycling heartlands like the Alps or the Pyrenees, and moving to destinations like Iceland, Colombia, and Tajikistan, and now, Bolivia. By the time this video goes out, you'll be able to ride this climb in Roovy, and that's because we're filming it for them. Well, we're not, Olly, because that'd be painfully slow, and we'd almost certainly do something wrong, but nevertheless, you will be able to join us on this climb on Roovy. The climb actually begins here in the city of El Alto, which sits on a plateau above La Paz, which you can see behind us. Today's a Sunday, which means it's market day, and this is actually the largest market in South America. We're hoping to try and get up and back in time to get some sartenes, which apparently are only sold in the mornings. Let's go. From here, we'll ride through the edge of the city on tarmac for a few kilometers before hitting gravel. In total, we climb for 22.5 kilometers, although the last 16 is where it gets really serious. 7% average, with sections up to 14%. And yes, there is very little oxygen, but more on that later. The first section, once you leave the view of La Paz behind, it's not the most beautiful place I've ever ridden, Olly, but El Alto is quite a poor city, really, certainly the poor relation to La Paz. The two are connected by roads, of course, but also cable cars. I think it's the world's first mass transit cable car. Which is pretty cool. The gravel is also super rough right here. The height we're going up today, over 5,400 meters, to put that into context, that's higher than Everest Base Camp. And it's by far, by a long way, the highest that I've ever been. And already on these lower slopes, the altitude, I can really feel it. Altitude's probably quite a hard thing for people to comprehend if you've never experienced it before. So to put it into some kind of context, the key Tour de France climbs, like Alpe d'Huez, is 1,850 meters. Mont Ventoux, a little bit higher, just shy of 2,000. Col du Tourmalet, 2,100. Then, a bit more context, the highest paved road in the USA is Mount Blue Sky Highway, which is about 4,300 and something. And I have just gone past that, according to my Wahoo, I'm at 4,355. I've just got 1,100 meters to go. Stopped for a little breather at 4,500 meters. Yeah, you need it. Yeah. It's absolutely nuts. Yeah. Now, hopefully by this point, you'll have seen our bikepacking gravel adventure down to the youngest region of Bolivia, which is basically tropical, isn't it? With vegetation everywhere and water. And then literally, what, 30, 40 kilometers to the other side, you have this, which is the Altiplano, the high plains. And it is incredibly dry. Yeah, we're fully in the rain shadow of the Andes here. So, yeah, just there's hardly any rainfall compared to the crazy intense rainforest rainfall that you get on either side. Yeah, it's so dry and cold, is it, up in the Altiplano, that people freeze dry potatoes by leaving them outside their houses. How cool is that? Just naturally freeze-dried. Freeze-dried potatoes. Yeah, and apparently a freeze-dried potato is kind of like the potato equivalent of a chickpea. It needs to be rehydrated overnight and then boiled. What a treat. I've yet to try one, but I'm looking forward to that moment. Yeah, I bet you are. Yeah. Now, a climb like this is far harder than it might appear on paper. And that's because of the effects of altitude. So, if you're well-trained and have good altitude genes, and you're an athlete and you're adapted to these kinds of conditions, then you might lose 5-6% of your aerobic capacity with every 1,000 meters climbed. However, someone like me is going to be losing around 9-10% off my aerobic capacity with every 1,000 meters because I'm not Nairo Quintana. We're in just absolute wilderness here. It's incredible. I mean, look at this lake and the mountains behind it. Oh, I love it. I've never ridden anywhere like this. It is incredible. Ollie and I have been separated, unfortunately. I think when you're doing something like this, you just have to ride at your own tempo. So, yeah, it's fine. It's just missing the company. Si's gone on ahead. He's managing with this a lot better than I am. I think a good tip I've got for you if you come and do this or ride anywhere where there's really high altitude is you've just got to settle in and go at your own pace because there's a massive disconnect between your power and your breathing and your heart rate. You've just got to do your own thing. Looking at the profile on my Wahoo, it's very much a climb of two halves, this one. The next 3K are going to be the toughest. I'm going to climb about 300 meters. I've been told to take it easy and maybe stop every now and then just to let my body catch up. I mean, I wouldn't mind looking at the view. I'm within sight of the summit. I can see the buildings up there. You get some amazing lakes over here, but I've just had to stop just to catch a little breath and have a little breather before I push on to the summit because, man, this is extreme cycling up here. Definitely the most extreme I've ever done. Let's go. I don't know if you can see that. We've just gone through 5,000 meters. The road is just brilliant. It's getting quite technical. There's a lot of rocks, but because I'm going at a snail's pace, there's just technical challenges, really, as opposed to bumps now. It's just taking my mind off things. When I say things, I mean my legs, my lungs, and my head. Oh, my word. That is a climb and a half. It's just one of the most beautiful places I've ever been coupled with one of the biggest challenges. I think I've been harder than this once before, but never riding a bike. Cheers, buddy. Thanks for the encouragement. When I first heard you, I was like, oh, yes, I'm not far from the top. Then I got over onto that bit and I was like, holy This last bit is really hard. Come on, Ollie. Yes, mate. Fair play, buddy. Well done, mate. That was some ride. Oh, mate. Do you know what? I feel so proud of myself for getting up that. You were amazing. Because I've been to high altitudes before, I think it makes a difference. Your middle name, Nairo Quintana. That is absolutely savage, the altitude and then how rocky parts of it are and the off-road nature I find particularly difficult, but there were some really technical bits, weren't there? Yes, I didn't put my foot down though. I was riding through those bits. Fair play. I've just been handed up a mug of coca tea. Get yourself some, mate. Yes, it's not the good stuff. This is the good stuff. Yes, take some deep breaths. We'll be back in a sec. Amazing. We have had sandwiches, coffee, and a fire in the Club Andino Boliviano, the ski resort from 1939, which is an absolute treat, isn't it? Yes. This is the most extreme climb I've ever done in my life and it's absolutely amazing. One of the best things about this is you can experience it too from the comfort of your own home on Ruvik, although just remember that when you do it and you do a far quicker time on this climb than Si and I, you've got 48% more oxygen than we have. Yes, and 100% fewer bumps and you're probably also not stopping to vlog stuff. We really have been consulting the big book of cycling excuses. To be fair, I've never heard 48% more oxygen before. Remember that one. I'll add that to the list. Yes, anyway, go check it out. I'm going to be riding it again, that's for sure. Yes, amazing. Cool. Give it a big thumbs up if you've enjoyed it. We'll see you on the next one. Love you, bye.