The 50th edition of the Iron Horse road race will feature plenty of big names from Durango that succeeded on the world stage.
Last year’s champion, Riley Amos, returns to defend his title. Amos has raced in the UCI World Cup in the U23 mountain bike division this year for Trek Factory Racing and ranks fourth overall after three races. Amos won last year’s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 53.8 seconds.
WorldTour rider Quinn Simmons also will compete in the Durango Coca-Cola Road Race. Simmons, who races for Trek-Segafredo, won the green King of the Mountain jersey at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race this year in Italy.
Simmons’ younger brother, Colby, and his dad, Scott, also will compete in the road race. Colby, the U.S. junior champion, signed a contract with the Jumbo-Visma Development team and has raced in Europe this season in the U23 peloton.
Howard Grotts, 2016 Olympian and 2018 Iron Horse winner, will join them. He finished third last year, just 2:24 behind Amos.
Local legend Ned Overend, who won the inaugural UCI World Mountain Biking Championship in 1990, also is in the field. Overend crossed seventh last year, at 65 years old, just 3:42 back.
Sarah Sturm will headline the women’s field. Sturm, who also lives in Durango, is the 2019 Iron Horse winner and the 2021 runner-up. Last year, she finished just five seconds after Erin Huck in 2:43:22.7.
The 47-mile race over Coal Bank and Molas passes from Durango to Silverton will start at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
For people looking to watch some racing, however, arguably the most spectator-friendly events will be Sunday at Chapman Hill – the Dual Slalom and Roostmaster races.
“For spectating, it’s a great opportunity to do that,” said the Iron Horse’s outgoing director, Gaige Sippy. “We’re really trying to keep it intimate and close, and we have really strong fields on both the men and women’s fields.”
The Roostmaster is similar to a short-track cross-country race, except it will be held on a more technical course. The Roostmaster’s route will include the dual slalom course, jumps and steep climbs up the face of Chapman Hill.
In the dual slalom, bikers will race head to head down a technical downhill course with the winners advancing.
Qualification for the Roostmaster will start about 3:30 p.m. and will be followed by dual slalom and the Roostmaster finals.
A Hobby Horse Community Bike Parade will depart from the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge train station at 3 p.m. Sunday and head over to the Chapman so people can watch the action.
The 55- and 93-mile Las Strada La Plata Gravel Rides are set to begin at 8 a.m. Sunday. Those tours, however, are non-timed rides.
The Morehart Murphy Subaru Mountain Bike Race, meanwhile, will take place at 8 a.m. Monday. The race will start and finish at Durango Mesa Park. The 7-mile loop also includes trails in the Horse Gulch system, like Stacy’s, the Cuchillo Loop and the Zip Line Chute. The mountain bike race won’t roll through downtown Durango like in year’s past.
“There should be some good racing,” Sippy said. “We’ve got a full compliment of events.”
