Origin of the Iron
Horse Classic
by Tom Mayer
by Tom Mayer
The story has been told for
years that the Iron Horse
Classic was started by a bet between the Mayer brothers.
We'll here's the rest of
the story.
| In 1971,
I lived in Durango and loved riding the roads in the area. I
was riding a century (100 mile ride) most weekends. I enjoyed riding
along with the train. My brother, Jim was a brakeman on the train, so
it was a
good chance to get to at least see him. One day I told him I would be
riding to Silverton and would see him up there. He asked if I was going
to beat the train and I said "Sure, no sweat." He doubted
that
because the tracks were 5miles shorter and only a few
percent grade,
while I would have to climb over 2 passes. So he said "I'll bet you
can't beat the train. What do you want to bet?" I said "Oh, a candy
bar." He remembers it being a Baby Ruth. So as the train came by the
house, I waved to him, hopped on my Paramount and headed for Silverton. As
I recall it was a pretty nice day. There were |
 It wasn't snowy as shown
here, but I shot this photo around that time and shows the perspective
view as I started.
|
| a few places where I
would see the train again. The new highway wasn't there then. The
7% grade up Shalona Hill was always a good warm up. Of course the
scenery was as spectacular as ever. I don't remember having to push a
hard pace. Of course the two passes took some work. I was in great
shape and could just enjoy the ride. After 40 years, I don't remember a
lot of the details. It was
just another ride, though probably my favorite. Little did I know
it would become the famous race that it is today with thousands of
riders from all over the country and the world. |
 Engineer Mountain -Coalbank Pass is to the right of the peak.
|
| I do
remember arriving in Silverton well ahead of the train and
standing there waiting for Jim to arrive. He was surprised I had
beaten him. He said, "Ok, who's pickup did you get a ride in." I assured him I had ridden the whole thing. He wanted to take me to lunch, but I didn't want to cool down so I continued my ride by going up to Howardsville and Eureka (old town sites). I don't remember much about the ride back, other than I was feeling the sections where I had to climb and that I did follow the train all the way into town and then rode the 10 miles back home making it about 110 miles. |
 481 Ready to leave
Silverton
|
History of the First
Iron Horse Bicyle Race
| While
I lived in Durango, I had tried to get others to ride to Silverton with
me. I had gotten a small bicycle club going, but 20 miles was about the
limit for them. In 1972 I was living in Albuquerque, but still made
trips back to Durango. It occured to me that the way to get others to
try my favorite ride was to put on a race. I guess I checked with some
of my friends and they were interested. I went to the Highway Patrol in
Durango and laid out my plan for the race. To say that I was met
with immediate resistance would be putting it mildly. It was more like
"A race on the Silverton highway! No way absolutely not! We're not
going to have that. It's too dangerous... blah blah blah. I wasn't
going to give up that easily. I went to my friend Ed Zink, manager of the
Outdoorsman, a prominent outdoor shop. I knew Ed could be persuasive.
He said, "Well, let me talk to them." There's more to this part of
the story that I didn't learn until this year. I'll fill you in on that
later in the story. So Ed was able to convince them how much benefit
this would have for Durango. Once we had the okay, I went to Silverton
and went around to various shops and stores and ask for donations for
prizes for the race. The only prize that we had that was bicycle related
was a small sculpture of a pennyfarthing or high wheeler bicycle. The
rest of the prizes were things like jewelry or knickknacks. Rick
Scarborough owned the Iron Horse Chuckwagon
in Silverton and
donated free lunch to anyone who beat the train. I don't remember much
more of the details, but I do thank those who volunteered to help
to make
it all come to pass. So I put out the word to my racing buddies in
Albuquerque, Phoenix and Tucson. Someone else said, "I know some people
in Denver. I can call them." Another knew some in Salt Lake. And of
course we had riders from Durango. I think the total that first year
was 36 riders. Only five of us beat the train that year, but that was
because we started late due to a mud slide or rocks on the tracks. As I
recall, we had to wait
at least a half hour. We also rode along with the train for a about a
mile going up the Animas Valley until the engineer blew the whistle and
we took off. Up around Shalona Lake some rail fan put grease on the
tracks. The train crew blamed us and decided to get even by coming into
Silverton on schedule. According to an article from the Durango Herald
May 30, 1972: "The senior race to Coal Bank Pass was divided into the
open and the ABL of A divisions. Mike Elliot and Ed Kautz easily won
their divisions. Behind Elliott in the open division came Tom Mayer and John Anderson. " |