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Iron Horse weekend back to classics

Tour riders go with train; bikers speed through Steamworks
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train crosses Main Avenue as riders keep pace during the start of the 2011 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Citizens Tour. The Citizens Tour is slated to start with the train again in 2015.

Although winter is just arriving, cyclists planning to ride in the 2015 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic should not only be training, they should be marking their calendars for registration. Local cyclists can register Dec. 5, while everyone else can sign up Dec. 6.

“The community has been very supportive over the years,” said Gaige Sippy, Iron Horse director, who has returned to the position after a year’s sabbatical. “We want to recognize the locals.”

Signups will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Mountain Bike Specialists, 949 Main Ave. Fifteen computers will be available for registration. Cyclists need to arrive with their information and a method of payment.

Organizers are bringing back two traditions. Riders in the Citizens Tour to Silverton and the Quarter Horse to Durango Mountain Resort will start at Camino del Rio and College Drive, so they’ll actually be racing the train, harkening back to the event’s start in 1972. And back by “popular demand,” Sippy said, is the mountain race through town with a leg through Steamworks Brewing Co., which was not held in 2014.

“We have the market cornered on ‘unique, and we need to celebrate that,’” Sippy said. “Where else can you raise against a steam train engine and then through a beer pub? And it is such a great event for the community with the festival atmosphere.”

The race weekend will hold some new events, too.

Still in the works is the organization of a special Memorial Day train for the Citizens Tour to race, with passengers who are veterans, Wounded Warriors and adaptive sports clients.

“It is Memorial Day, after all, and this will let us honor them and allow people who can’t ride a bike in the race to still compete in it,” Sippy said.

Packet pickup will be Friday, May 22, in Buckley Park, where a pro/open fat tire criterium will kick off the weekend and get “more mountain bikers in town,” Sippy said.

In addition to the mountain bike race through town on Sunday, a new circuit race will go from downtown to Fort Lewis College and back. The casual group ride through the Animas Valley and the kids’ race will be still be held Sunday.

The Iron Horse weekend will end with the time trials on East Animas Road (County Road 250) on Memorial Day.

Also returning in 2015 will be age groups within the men’s and women’s divisions. omnium points will be available in all categories of road events and for professional level mountain bikers.

The race from downtown to Silverton was reduced to a ride to Purgatory this year after threatening weather forced organizers to conduct an abridged race.

Visit www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com for information.

Durango Herald Staff Writer Ann Butler contributed to this story.



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