2011 Iron Horse Classic

This annual post always starts out the same..... rave, rave, rave about how fun the Iron Horse Classic is. I'll get to that.

As has become tradition, I raced it again this year, but fairly miserably. I began to wonder within minutes of the start, when the pace was already in my brain - Geez, Are we going faster this year, this is causing more distress than usual this early? Hung on to Shalona Hill, then had my answer when I fell off the back rather abruptly. Went really slow for the rest of the race, I mean really slow. Insights? Yes, I have one. Slower is harder. When your going slow in a race, it's generally not because your trying to race slow, no, it's because your genuinely slow - but the effort to go slow isn't any less than the effort to go fast - your just stuck out there longer when the effort generates less speed. It was the slowest and hardest one I've done, with nothing to blame the day on other than my own limited capacity, indeed it was a perfect day for a mountain race. Despite the slowness, I enjoyed the heck out of the classic route from Durango to Silverton.

Mixed it up this year, skipped the other road Omnium events to do the Mtb race Sunday morning. And, contrary to what I expected, had a little more snap in the legs for that race. Finish was still poor, but slowness wasn't the sole factor, this was an important course to preride, and I hadn't. Critical sprint section going into the final stretch of downhill 1track, and here's another insight - when your the last one to know it's a sprint, your not gonna catch it. I realized I'd made a mistake the second the wave came up when we hit the pavement, and there was no catching it by the time I tried to accelerate. Was happy with how the legs and effort felt though, for the first time this year I felt like I was managing and thinking during a race vs. barely hanging on. Small positive from a punishing weekend.

So back to these Iron Horse organizers. Mentioned they added a Mtn Bike race to the mix this year. Good course, nothing great or spectacular......... until the pro race. That's when, after coming down off the mountain section, they moved the fences inside the restaurant, ran a ramp through a window, and detoured the course through the Steamworks Brewery..... check it.....

Course entered through the front window.....

Here's the exit ramp.....
Deadly Nedley in hot pursuit of the 16 or 17 year old kid that won the race.... Ned had his day the previous morning when he won the road race... again....
The kids races were awesome again... Brock's the Spiderman dude in blue, head down and charging like a bull...
Chesney's into the standing pedal lately, and spent a lot of her race out of the saddle...
Along with Kylie who also came out of the saddle to hammer the short climb.
Racing is only half the enjoyment of the Durango trip - simple stuff like setting out nickles and pennies on the tracks to get flattened by the train, and skipping rocks in the river from the railroad tracks are also among the enjoyments. We always love this trip.
In Silverton after the road race... one positive about riding slow is that you don't have to wait as long post race before they open the road back up to return to Durango.

This was the first of two weekends of racing in Colorado, with some touring of the rockies in between.... more to come.