4th of July Weekend 2011

Dusk on the 4th in Rico on the hill to light fireworks.

It was a very busy weekend with only one ride done on Saturday and full involvement with the Rico Fire Department attending to 4th of July festivities. As well my buddy Dale Savage and his son Hunter are in town for a week to enjoy the high country and escape the heat of Las Vegas, NV.
I decided to skip the Durango Dirty Century with tired legs from the previous two weekends huge efforts and it was the right call to make. The legs felt tired on Saturday's ride.
TR came over from Montrose on Saturday morning for a mini epic training ride. We rode North out of Rico to Groundhog Stock Trail near Lizard Head Pass south to Winter Trail, West Fall Creek Trail and onto the Calico and down Horse Creek and back into Rico. It was only a 34 mile ride and 5200 feet of climbing but it felt like a lot more as it took us nearly 5 hours to cover this route. Lots of hiking and crawling over the snow fields at 11k elevation. The motor bike dudes cleared Winter Trail the previous day so it made it nice not to stop and tree hop. The snow on West Fall Creek should be melted in another two weeks. I was amazed how much is still up there.

The Rico 4th of July celebration went well with a picnic and softball games on Sunday and the parade and fireworks on Monday. And wading in the cold Dolores River chasing plastic ducks for the duck race. It made for a very busy weekend. I definitely got my fill of my volunteering duty with the fire station.

Slipping and sliding in the snow on West Fall Creek Trail.