The 2024 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic has finished after some fantastic racing over the last couple of days. The final event of the weekend was the mountain bike race which started and finished at Chapman Hill on Sunday afternoon.
Despite not having a bib, Fort Lewis junior Toby Hassett took victory in the men’s pro race in an impressive showing where he led most of the race.
Erin Osborne bounced back after a tough loss in the road race to Lauren Aggeler to beat Aggeler in the mountain bike race. Osborne was behind Aggeler early before an incredible showing of endurance and strength to cruise past Aggeler and win easily.
Hassett finished the four laps around the 4.97-mile course in 1 hour, 23 minutes and 55 seconds.
“It was great,” Hassett said. “My legs were feeling surprisingly good today after the road race yesterday. I just kept it under control with a little group for the first couple laps and then once I was feeling good and some gaps started to open up I hit it a little harder and then rode smooth and fast to the finish. The course is fun today. I really like that type of racing. It's a unique Durango style of course and I love it.”
Hassett said the tighter sections of the course that are bike-handling intensive make it unique to Durango along with the on-and-off effort style of the course. This has put riders who aren’t from Durango out of their element in the past according to Hassett.
The 20-year-old also said the Iron Horse road race opened up and got his leg firing for the mountain bike race. He said because of the twisty nature of the course especially up near the Fort Lewis College campus, he could see where other riders were in relation to him which helped with his pacing once he got his big gap.
Hassett said anytime in the future he is in the States he’ll be in Durango for the Iron Horse. Hassett said he’s motivated to do better in the road race after finishing 16th and blowing up near the top of Coal Bank Pass. He then fell off the top group.
Behind Hassett in the men’s pro mountain bike race was former cyclocross and mountain bike national champion Todd Wells. The 48-year-old Durangoan couldn’t match the pace of Hassett but was able to track down 17-year-old Emmett McManus late in the race and finished second easily.
“The race went pretty well for me it was fun,” Wells said. “We were a group for a bit for the first part and then there was always someone to chase and someone behind me so there was good motivation the whole time to keep going.”
Wells finished with a time of 1:24:18.3.
The former national champion enjoyed the temperature and the wind during the race. He thought the trails were great and were packed in well, despite a lack of rain in Durango recently.
It was a family affair for Wells this weekend. He rode with his son Cooper in the Citizen’s Tour yesterday. Cooper Wells finished first in the men’s 14 and under mountain bike race today. Wells’ brother Troy finished 11th in the pro men’s mountain bike race.
“Mountain biking and cycling are such great lifelong sports,” Wells said. “It's good for your health. Being able to race around with these younger guys, it keeps me young and it keeps me engaged. Now I have my son who's really into it, I have to stay fit because these kids are super fast. I want to be able to ride with him as long as I can.”
Behind Wells was McManus who finished third with a time of 1:25:12.8. McManus was happy with his performance. He said he pushed too hard to stay with Hassett and it cost him in the end as Wells passed him late in the race.
McManus is looking forward to coming back to the Iron Horse next year to get some wins.
On the women’s side, Osborne dominated the second part of the four-lap women’s race. She finished with a time of 1:37:00.5.
Osborne said she was a little nervous going into the race because Aggeler had more experience on the course. Osborne let Aggeler lead the first lap to get a good sense of the right line.
Then some men caught up at the start of the second lap and Aggeler and Osborne hung on their wheels. She made her move on Aggeler during what Osborne described as a maze section and then Osborne never let up until the finish.
“Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was motivated for sure to try and get the win for today, even though I knew the overall wouldn't have changed,” Osborne said after losing to Aggeler yesterday in the road race. “Just for my sake, I knew I had to go for it and give it my all until the very end of the line. I did not want to want her to catch me again after I had a decent gap. I’d definitely say yesterday motivated me.”
Osborne said she enjoys racing against Aggeler and says they have similar abilities which makes the racing even better.
“It's been a blast and she's a really down-to-earth racer and just human in general,” Osborne said about Aggeler. “So that also makes it a lot of fun, just because we're both genuinely stoked for each other when we win.”
Aggeler finished second with a time of 1:40:58.8 which was almost four minutes behind Osborne.
“Yesterday was such an emotional day for me like after winning the road race and I was just like so stoked and it was nice to celebrate with all my family,” Aggeler said. “I knew Erin would have some motivation going into the mountain bike race because she was a bit disappointed with how it ended yesterday but she's such a fighter.”
Aggeler said the start of the race was good and she and Osborne were together for 1.5 laps. But Osborne took off on one of the hills and Aggeler didn’t have the legs to stay with her after Aggeler’s road race win on Saturday.
The Durangoan enjoyed racing at Chapman Hill with the support of the local fans. Aggeler said she enjoyed riding on the rim and the iconic Lion’s Den climb.
“Obviously it’s a super great weekend for me,” Aggeler said. “I'm really happy for Erin she deserves it and it's fun because we constantly go back and forth. No matter what race we're at, we're always competing with each other we're always either getting first or second going back and forth with each other. So it's fun to have a good rivalry with her.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
