![]() Each year hundreds of riders will feel the thrill of descending into Silverton and looking to see if the train has arrived. In recent years the participants have come from every state and many foreign countries to ride the famed Iron Horse course. The Iron Horse is an ideal early summer meeting of the riders from each of these cycling centers as they attempt to bring home the glory to their own communities. Durango is centrally located between Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. In 41 years the Iron Horse has become one of the classic bicycle events in the West. ![]() In 1972 a group of 36 riders decided to celebrate the first run of the train in the spring by accepting the challenge. When Tom became strong enough to win, the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it. The train takes a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed, so it is truly a race between man and machine. As the train came by the house, the steam whistle screamed and Tom climbed on his trusty steel framed 10 speed and pedaled up over the rim of the old volcano and descended into the caldera to the mining town of Silverton. Tom challenged Jim to a race to Silverton. Tom was a young bicycle enthusiast who grew up alongside the tracks to Silverton. ![]() Jim worked as a brakeman on the D & R G W railroad which had run the steam powered locomotive between Durango and Silverton since the 1880's. The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was the brain child of Tom Mayer and his older brother Jim. ![]()
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