Bolivia

Considering some cycling in Bolivia in July. I'll be with a novice(not that I'm that strong) thus don't want a lot of hard climbing. Any suggestions of regions/routes that might be right. Or we might want to stay in a small city/town and do lots of day rides. We have about three weeks.

Anyone know the stituation about putting bikes on intercity buses?

Thanks in advance.

Hi there Cosmo,
you'll find a lot of info in my Bolivia notes. Among many other things, I write there<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Any worthwhile trip in Bolivia is going to meet more than its fair share of hills and unpaved roads, and the important thing here is to manage your expectations - 50km or 60km is often enough for a day. There are certainly some immense climbs for those who enjoy such challenges, but you do not have to inflict them on yourself.<hr></blockquote>One approach to monster climbs is to ride down them, using a bus to position yourself at the top. Not every bus will accept your bike, but you will almost always be able to negotiate something, as there is generally competition between companies and there is usually a price that will make it worth their while. Buses that put their luggage on the roof are usually more flexible than higher comfort lines.

While you can certainly ride around in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca and the main plain of the Altiplano, which is less hilly than the central highlands and eastern valleys, you are often at or not far off 4000m around there, so need to appreciate (1) the need for prior altitude acclimatisation and (2) at that altitude even gentle hills are hard work, even if you are fully acclimatised. For example, objectively speaking the hill immediately east of Copacabana isn't very big (about 250m climb) or steep, but it feels like a killer. But the Eastern Valleys etc are much more scenic than the main roads around La Paz, in my view.

Most places in Bolivia just don't have the network of local roads to make circular day-rides feasible. The Cusco area in Peru is rather better for day rides and short distance pottering around than anywhere I can think of in Bolivia, and has the advantage of being at only 3200m. Tracey and Colin's site at Masterly Inactivity has some ideas for that.

Ivan

Pedalling from La Paz up to Copacobana on Lake Titicaca is very pleasant and not too strenuous.
We managed to get our bikes on the buses without too much difficulty. It helps if you book your ticket the day before and let them know you will be travelling with bikes. You may have to pay a small supplement.
There's an account or our tour here.

I would just comment that as an experienced long distance tourer I found Bolivia to be the hardest cycling I ever did. There's the combination of high altitude (don't underestimate it's effects - which slowed me considerably even after 2 months of high altitude cycling), poor sandy roads, long distances between towns, difficulty in finding water, man-eating Llamas (well I had a few delicious ones, at least)...

It's an amazing place with great rewards but do some research and work out if you are strong enough. But if you do go then I hope you have a great time.

David