M2D day three

This leg of the trip took us down from high elevation to the relatively lower elevations of the basin where the air would be a bit thicker. It was scheduled to be a net loss of elevation of 5-6,000 feet so it looked to be a recovery day more or less. Turned out to be a lot less for me anyway. We started the day with a bit of climbing but then hit the first downhill section - roughly 2 miles of very rocky double track. I quickly fell to the back, never being a big fan of getting my fillings rattled loose by baby heads. Luckily we got on smoother gravel roads for most of the descent and some 40mph hilarity followed. At the bottom of the descent I noticed that the pack had bounced loose from the rear rack of my bike. Worse still was the realization that my credit cards and drivers license were in that pack. With little choice I began climbing up the roads I had just bombed down wondering if I would even see the pack as it could easily have bounced into the weeds and we had been descending for a good 10 miles at this point. My best guess was that it had come off in the first very rocky two miles, and sure enough with about a mile left to the top there was my pack sitting in a puddle in the middle of the trail. I've never been so happy to see the bright yellow of a rain jacket before. The ride back down was just as much fun if not more so, as it was starting to rain a bit. Mike Richmond had very generously waited for me and was camped out under a sunshade at the 18 mile point. We still had another 15-20 miles to go most of it on rolling ranch roads, but there was a final climb into a head wind to finish the day. I had good legs and that was the only salvation. Our cabin was on the edge of a rocky arroyo, quite different than the alpine scenery of the prior two. This was juniper, sage and horney toad country. Everyone slept like the dead.