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Not everybody loves it, but they tolerate it.
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And I appreciate the community putting up with it every year. And we really have a village to put the Iron Horse on. I don't really like this phrase but it takes a village to do this. I always, always, always want to say that this event would not survive without the community's support.
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And so I'd like to believe that spirit's still alive.Īlthough this event was limited to 1,000 cyclists rather than the typical 4,000 strong of recent years, the first post pandemic Iron Horse Bicycle Classic has served as an example of Durango's incredible resiliency. To Ed, that was far more impressive than some hot shot bike racer riding their in two and a half hours.
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But that wasn't an important to Ed as the person that wanted to make a life change and bought a bike and set the Iron Horse as a goal and succeeded. That it was great, that some young kid was fast and won the race to Silverton. That was something that was extremely important. But the great thing about Ed doing it and what we miss from Ed not doing that is capturing some of those personal stories. I used to say, Ed met everyone that came. He'd be here tonight, helping us break things down. I would normally, he and I would have five or six conversations throughout the weekend. And so for all of us that have been involved in it a long time, it's not normal for me not to see Ed here. It's had an effect in as much as that it's the first time it's ever happened without Ed being here. And yes, some of our participants were upset but they also said that they were so happy to be back out again and doing something cycling related, special event related, that they were okay with it.Īnother big change for the post COVID event was the absence of Iron Horse founder, Ed Zink, who passed away after the last Iron Horse in 2019. But it was different without the train pulling up, the whistle, all of that stuff. I told everybody they were going to have a 26 block advantage on their bikes to get ahead of the train. I told the riders though, we started up near 33rd Street and East 2nd, right next to the train tracks. Yes, it's different not to start down near the train station. The Durango to Silverton train would not take part in Saturday's race. In addition to several canceled and altered events, the 49th Iron Horse Bicycle Classic had another notable omission. Fortunately at the last second, the stars aligned and a trimmed down Iron Horse event was able to take place. And through the years it's had a lot of iterations but what has held true is bicycle racing in Durango on Memorial Day weekend.ĭue to the continued restrictions posed by COVID 19 in early 2021, it was unclear whether or not the Iron Horse would even run again this year. Finished off 49 years of the event and that's kind of the history of it. What kind of drove the idea was we could use an event give us some summer kickoff. So back then, Durango wasn't quite the metropolis that it is now. And a local businessman named Ed Zink, who owned a bike shop here, said that's an interesting idea. Back in 1971, the Mayer brothers, Tom and Jim Mayer, one worked for the train, one rode his bike. My name is Gaige Sippy, director of the Iron Hose Bicycle Classic. Gaige Sippy, who served as director of the Iron Horse for the past 15 years, met with us to discuss what it's been like having the event return in 2021. You're watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Kroegers ACE hardware and San Juan Basin Public Health. This year's Iron Horse was the largest event to date since COVID restrictions were eased down in mid May, setting the stage for more large special events over the Durango summer season. After taking a year hiatus pending restrictions from COVID-19, Durango's Iron Horse Bicycle Classic returned for its 49th year over Memorial Day weekend.