Durango

I got up early and wandered down to the lake overlook. Not much of a lake really. The water had clearly been much, much higher when the local maps were made, but now there was not much more than a pond sitting in the bottom of the valley. Back into Colorado, where we stopped at Durango, another mountain bike hub. First port of call was a place called Steaming Beans for coffee and internet catch-up, and to make plans for the next few days with the maps and guide books out. Jon and I tackled another of Colorado’s Top Ten Rides – a double black diamond rated route up onto a ridge and down a super rocky, technical descent – more like trials riding than mountain biking, with a huge vertical drop into the valley below if you get it wrong. So not many pics.

At the top we met a couple of locals, Andy and Ivan, who showed us some more awesome riding over the back of Horse Gulch and Telegraph Hill, including an epic swooping twisting downhill called Sidewinder. We met the girls for dinner at Steamboat brewery, then piled back into the van for a late night drive to Mesa Verde National Park, where we camped.