Day 11 - Santa Fe National Forest to SFNM and End of Route.

We started our final day on the only 1-track of the entire route: a series of twisty moto-trails leading through and then out of the forest These led eventually to jeep track and some pretty gnarly descending and technical climbing along the forest boundary. Eventually we arrived at a series of paved roads that descended out of the treeline and down to a valley. A long paved climb out of the valley led us to an unpaved railtrail near the edge of municipal Santa Fe.

The final day of the route wasn't as melancholy as I would have expected. In retrospect, it's easy to assign a degree of sadness to the end of such an incredible experience but putting myself back in that moment we really only were feeling elation. It was with excitement and downright triumph that we carried ourselves into downtown off that railtrail. Plus, the final day had a little bit of everything, paved climbs, dirt roads, technical riding, railtrails - it was sort of like a montage of the trip as a whole, and it was a lot of fun.
-Andy
 

Eventually the rail trial gave way to a paved bike trail that ran alongside the NM Rail Runner commuter train, where we located some half pipe goodnees to mess around on. We began the final stretch into downtown, but before completing the route as mapped we stopped at Second Street Brewing for a couple beers before dropping our bags at the hotel and taking our bikes to Mellow Velo to be boxed. We had a nice long chat with the owner, super chill dude, and a great shop. After taking care of logistics we met up with Tony's parents for well earned dinner. The next day we were met by friend-of-the-team Alex Morse on his way through to live the van life in AZ. Our time in Santa Fe was mostly spent eating and drinking, which we earned, and we had a grand old time before setting off from the SF airport and to our various destinations on the east coast. That's a wrap on the trip.