There wouldn’t be an annual race between bike and train each spring in Durango without an idea born from brothers Tom and Jim Mayer. And there wouldn’t be an Iron Horse Bicycle Classic without Ed Zink.
The 49th edition of the IHBC this weekend will be the first without Zink, a lifelong Durango resident who died in October 2019 at the age of 71.
When the 2020 edition was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opportunity to honor Zink’s memory was put on hold. And with a scaled-back event scheduled this year because of the ongoing pandemic, IHBC organizers will look to the 50th event in 2022 as a chance to celebrate the man who made an idea into a cycling legend.
Still, when about 1,000 cyclists depart Durango on their way to Silverton on Saturday morning, it will still be because of Zink.
“When I’m up there riding the passes, I think about him a lot. You can’t help but do an Iron Horse without thinking about Ed,” said Durango’s Ned Overend, a five-time IHBC road race winner and former mountain bike world champion. “He created an event that has thrived for so long, and it has changed people’s lives, including mine. On one end of the spectrum, he helped a guy like me become a pro racer. On the other end for a lot of people who do the tour ride, some sedentary people have seen that challenge of riding to Silverton and take it on, and it helps them become healthier people and lifelong cyclists. That’s Ed’s legacy, among other things.”
It was in 1971 when Tom Mayer famously challenged his brother, Jim, a brakeman on the steam-powered locomotive running on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad line from Durango to Silverton, to a race. Tom bet Jim he could ride his bike to Silverton faster than the train arrived. That day, Tom was the proud winner of a candy bar.
After his feat, Tom was in the Outdoorsman shop in Durango where he purchased his bicycle parts. The shop was run by a young Zink, who later went on to own and operate Mountain Bike Specialists. Mayer wanted to rally more cyclists to ride to Silverton, but in a town that had yet to become the cycling hub it is today, few were interested.
When the city of Durango was looking for an event to kick-start the summer season with an event called Narrow Gauge Days, Zink knew Mayer’s idea of a race between bike and train could be the special attraction to make it a lasting tradition. Soon, he got the towns of Durango and Silverton on board.
The first race in 1972 had only 36 riders and stopped on top of Coal Bank Pass without a highway closure to vehicle traffic. Durango’s own Mike Elliott, an Olympic cross-country skier, won that race and was awarded a small trophy – a candle. With the race complete, the cyclists then rode down into Silverton to see if they could beat the train.
Over the next 48 years, Zink used the idea of racing the locomotive paired with a closed highway over two pristine mountain passes to draw worldwide participation and pro racers chasing everything from the train to cash purses. And more importantly in his eyes, it also became an economic boon for the towns of Durango and Silverton to kickoff summer tourism season.
“Ed had the vision and saw what it would do not only for Durango but the whole community and the other communities around,” said Tom Mayer, who won’t attend this year but said he wouldn’t miss the 50th anniversary in 2022, when he will be 73 years old. “Years back when I first started the race, it was because I loved to go to Silverton and wanted people to go with me. When I went to the highway patrol and told them what I wanted to do, there was no way of doing it, especially on a holiday weekend. But when I talked to Ed, he had them sold on it. He had this vision and a way of getting things done.
“What he did for Durango was totally awesome. Through Ed’s efforts, it has carried on, and it’s all because he got the community behind it. I hope everything keeps going and they carry on with it. What a way to kick off the season.”
Zink became a titan in the bike industry in Durango, helping bring a UCI Mountain Bike World Championship to town in 1990 and a UCI World Cup race in 2001. He was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1992, and Mountain Bike Specialists won Best Mountain Bike Shop in the U.S. at Interbike trade show in 2016. But the IHBC’s ability to endure five decades is an accomplishment perhaps even more rare in the cycling world.
The IHBC is coming off a tough year after the 2020 cancellation. The second-longest-running bike race in the country wasn’t immune to the economic impacts of the pandemic. Taking a cue from what Zink would have done, the race committee adapted and rolled with the punches dealt. All along, the focus has been on putting together a safe event while also looking to help the town bounce back from the COVID-19 downturn.
The result is a scaled back 49th IHBC weekend with the road race and a reduced Citizens Tour ride Saturday followed by the mountain bike races Sunday at Durango Mesa Park and Horse Gulch as well as a gravel ride. The downtown community events are all on hold until 2022.
And that is fine for the IHBC, which hopes to fully honor Zink’s legacy at the 50th anniversary event when many longtime IHBC participants plan to return to partake in the golden anniversary.
“I’m just very excited for the town and the cyclists and having an event like this as the world is getting back to normal,” said Ed’s wife, Patti Zink. “In my heart, I know Ed would be so excited about what’s going on. Ed was never afraid of change, and he would be completely happy with this year’s event and doing whatever needed to be done to obey protocols and protect the health of the participants. And he was so excited about the 50th anniversary, so he would be ecstatic to see the race resume this year so that milestone could be reached next year.
“This is something he spent 48 years of his life volunteering for. I know he’s going to be excited and have a smile on his face when cyclists take off Saturday morning for Silverton.”
With Zink at the front of their minds, the IHBC crew is ready to do his event justice this weekend. Then it’s full steam ahead into the year of preparation for the 50th.
“It’s funny to think this event has never happened without Ed at least somewhat playing a part in it,” IHBC director Gaige Sippy said. “This may be the first time we’ve ever had an Iron Horse held without Ed Zink, but he’s still playing a part. It’s just a different part.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
