The Iron Horse

This past Saturday I was one of 1200 riders on the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Citizen's Tour(there is also a simultaneous road race with 1200 riders, many of whom quickly passed us!).

The ride covers 50 miles of HWY 550 from Durango to Silverton, CO and riders "race" the train. Check out the race profile below:

WE ROCKED IT!!!!

You can see pictures of my ride here at the top of Molas Pass, and here at the finish line in Silverton. Check out Ryan and Patricia making it over the pass! It's 8 miles downhill from there to the finish!

Despite the weather forecast, there was no rain, snow or thunderstorms during the ride. We were even treated to sunshine in Silverton.

Following the ride Dave and I along with Ryan and Patricia went 26 miles further north to Ouray. We relaxed in the hot springs and had a fabulous, well deserved dinner.

Dave and I spent 1 more day in Ouray; a late morning breakfast with the Scarboroughs, lazy afternoon hike, beers at Mr. Grumpy Pants Brewing Company, more hot springs and another great dinner.

Fabulous visit with the family!

Yes, I know this posting is 2 months late.....  but better late than never!

Ed, Kailey and Ashley came to visit us in March.  We spent one last powder filled weekend at Wolf Creek.  I believe I heard "there's just too much powder" more than a few times ;o)

We spent an evening in Durango, an afternoon at Mesa Verde and fit in a quick stop to 4 corners before heading to Chinle for a night.  

It was sooooo good to see them but the visit was way too short.  I  missed them the moment they left.   I'm already looking forward to next year's ski outing!

Compost Help!!

Tonight I tilled the land in our backyard for one of our gardens.  I planned on mixing my compost with the soil (if you can call it soil).   When I started scooping out the dirt from the compost bin, there were a lot of fruit flies.  As I dug deeper there were TONS of larvae!  

From a simple problem solving wheel I have on composting (thanks Patricia!), it mentions that this is often from food scraps, especially if the scraps contain meat or fats.  I am very careful not to add any such scraps!  I do admit to not turning the compost in the past few months.  But, most of the compost is really wet, dark dirt and some leaves that haven't composted b/c of sitting on top all winter.   There are very few pieces of food, if any that I see (a pumpkin rind and a few corn husks).

The quick guide said to cover the larvae with ~6 inches of compost and mix to increase temperature.  This will hopefully kill the larvae/flies.   

I need to do some more searching on the topic, but thought I would put out a cry for help!!!

I guess this means months until my compost is finally ready??

Any suggestions from my composting family/friends?

Help!