Stage 10

After my late night push the day before and my early wake up to get to Durango not too late I was feeling a bit tired and sore, not bad that it took me 10 days to get feel this way for the first time of the trip.  I had limited water so I opted not to do my typical breakfast coffee & oatmeal.  I got packed up fairly quickly and tried to figure out where the trail went as I couldn't the night before.  Again I started down an ancient jeep road and realized quickly that there was no trail markers, I got on the main road and rode for a bit before seeing a trail marker but then found where the trail turned off the road.  The riding was much less steep than the books elevation chart would suggest and I was stoked as I was making pretty good time.  The trail eventually got as steep as I thought it would and I struggled to ride some of it.  I came up on a father and son hiking pair who I scared from stalking them then asking to pass, the father said I need a bell, whats wrong with people? Your saying a bell/horn ringing behind you in the middle of no where is less startling than a human voice?
It seemed like the climb was never going to end and then I came to a major intersection and new I was getting close.  I came out of the forest onto some rocky plateaus and saw the next plateaus I'd have to carry my bike up, crap.  Once I got over the 3rd one I saw Taylor Lake and knew it was mostly downhill from here.  I hiked the short hill over Kennebec Pass.  At the top I put my knee brace on for the first time in the trip as I knew I was about to descend for 6,500 feet and would be more comfortable riding at full throttle with it.  I started down the terraced shale walls.  I came into a waterfall just off the trail and checked my water and saw I was nearly completely dry, not surprising as it had been over 24 hours since I had filled up my Camelbak in Silverton and I hadn't filled my bottle since late in the day before.  I just filled my bottle as I knew I was close to the end after just one more hill.
After crossing the creek several times on some really fun flowy yet rocky trails I started up the hill.  In the book I knew this was only 1000 feet of climbing split over two climbs with some flat between them.  HOLY CRAP this was a rough climb, I ended up walking most of it and I just wanted the climb to be done.  When I finally got to the top I met a local on a day ride. He knew the race was going on and told me it was a descent from here all the way to town.  I put my knee brace back on and started down.  I quickly got stopped by some cows and the local caught me, we waited a minute for the cow to figure out where to go and I kept going.  I rode the rest of of the 2,500 foot and 10 mile descent straight without a stop.
When I got to the parking lot I powered up my phone and called my friends in town to let them know I made it and where to meet up.  I made plans to meet one of them at a school at the bottom of the road.  As I rode down the hill I was pumped to see some old friends I hadn't seen in years and see Durango for the time ever.  I thought about how far I had just ridden and how few people had probably accomplished this journey successfully, and I couldn't stop thinking about what trail to ride next year.

Mileage: 49
Climbing: 6,083
Sleeping Elevation: ~6,800