Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Storm will move into Colorado on Friday night

Iron Horse meteorlogist hedges his bet toward ‘wetter’
The fourth annual Iron Horse in 1975 featured a “Citizens’ Ride” for the first time in the event’s history. The Citizens Tour was capped at 2,500 cyclists in 2007, and it has sold out every year since.

Each day through Sunday, The Durango Herald will look ahead to race weekend as well as back at some key moments in Iron Horse history.

Weekend forecast

For the first time in Iron Horse Bicycle Classic history, race organizers have hired a meteorologist to help them best prepare for all Memorial Day weekend activities. Joel Gratz of opensnow.com is providing daily reports to IHBC race director Gaige Sippy.

“Another storm will move into Colorado late Friday night, and it will influence our weather through Sunday or perhaps into Monday,” Gratz wrote on the website. “I do not think the weekend will be a complete washout, but there will be showers around Saturday and Sunday, with snow levels hovering around 10,000 feet. There are still some differences in the models for this weekend. ... Based on our current pattern of wet weather in addition to the soggy ground, which contributes moisture into atmosphere via evaporation, I would hedge a bit more toward the wetter European model forecast.”

From the Iron Horse archives:

Four years after the Iron Horse debuted in Durango and Silverton, the event was opened to the “citizens” in 1975. Available to recreational cyclists, including children, the “Citizens’ Ride” launched when the first Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge train reached the Ramada Inn, what now is called the Iron Horse Inn, then they pedaled 6.5 miles north on U.S. Highway 550 and finished at Hermosa Bridge. This year, the IHBC again reached its maximum capacity of 2,500 Citizens Tour cyclists, a cap put in place in 2007. It has sold out every year since, the fastest in 2½ days in 2013.

– Herald Staff



Reader Comments