Durango Colorado gets ready for the 34th annual event that has become a cycling tradition. The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was the brain child of Tom Mayer, and his older brother Jim. Jim worked as an engineer on the D & R G W railroad which had run the steam powered locomotive between Durango and Silverton since the 1880's. Tom was a young bicycle enthusiast who grew up along side the tracks to Silverton. Tom challenged Jim to a race to Silverton, so as the train came by the house, the steam whistle would scream and Tom would climb on his trusty old steel framed 10 speed and pedal up over the rim of the old volcano and descend into the caldera to the mining town of Silverton. The train takes a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed, so it is truly a race. When Tom became strong enough to win, the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it.
In 1972 a group of 36 riders decided to celebrate the first run of the train in the spring, by accepting the challenge. It's been all up hill since then. In 33 years the Iron Horse has become truly one of the Classic bicycle events in the West. Durango is centrally located between Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. It is an ideal early summer meeting of the riders from each of these cycling centers, to bring home the glory to their own communities. In recent years the participants come from every state and many foreign countries to ride the famed Iron Horse course. Each year hundreds of riders will feel the thrill of descending into Silverton, and looking to see if the train is there yet. And familiar faces will be there, as many people come back year after year to the "best race we've found anywhere".