From a couple that rode with Ken that day on Yungas Road...

It was, up until that point on the day, a great trip and everyone including Ken was having a great time.

He was a couple of people back behind me on the bike tour so whenever the group stopped for everyone else to catch up we had been chatting while waiting for the others. We were all having fun and all had smiles on our faces all morning, with regards to chatting to Ken it was more small chat as we had only met that morning however we did have quite a chuckle at some of his stories and things he'd been up to since he´d been over in Bolivia. I recall a conversation about his visit to the dentist to get his teeth cleaned because it was better value than at home and how when he was there, they tried to pile on the extras to bump his cost up. He was really amused at the Bolivians and their funny ways. Also he mentioned that he had taken an old watch he had to get fixed at a jewellers but they had made it worse, again an amusing tale.

I would say that around half of the 14 in our group got to know Ken that morning on the bikes and thought of him as a good fun guy who was up for a challenge and was having a great time. I know he was also very kind to one of the girls who wasn´t very well and had been following in the bus that morning. Also there were other people in the 2 groups behind us that had met him either at breakfast or in the hostel, and were devestated to learn of his accident.

As far as the trip went we were about three quarters of our way through the day, we probably covered about 45kms of the 65kms. Nobody wanted to continue and we all just wanted to assist where we could with the rescue of Ken. My wife was one of the first few people to arrive where he had gone over the edge literally only seconds after it happened, and they could see him where he had fallen, but he did not move or show an sign of consciousness so we can only assume it was quick and he didn´t suffer too much.

The nature of the accident is difficult to judge as no one actually saw what made him come off on the corner where he fell - it could have been a heart attack that caused him to veer off the road or equally it could have been a tragic accident where he lost control of the bike due to a hitting one of the rocks in the gravel. All I would say was that he seemed to be struggling for breath on one of the uphill sections where he travelled in the bus for some of it along with some others in our group, who said that he had felt dizzy too. However,this may well have been effects of the altitude as La Paz is one of the highest cities in the world and it does take about 3-4 days at least to acclimatise, and other people were struggling for breath at some points too.

Our sympathys are with you all and I hope that our emails help shed some light on the event. We certainly will never forget Ken and the tragic accident.