Weekend in Durango

I've already talked about the Iron Horse but the weekend definitely wasn't a loss. I love Durango. The worst part about visiting Durango is knowing that sooner or later we gotta go leave. This was my 5th year doing the IronHorse and our weekend is typically the same year after year. Friday is usually reserved for recovery from the drive, packet pickup, and a short ride to loosen up. Minus the pouring rain, Friday was pretty normal. I've already discussed what happened on Saturday, so we had Sunday left to enjoy.

Here's the start of Ryan's Kid Race. Largest turnout yet!!! Coby cruising towards the finish line.

We always spend our entire Sunday downtown for the kids races and the criteriums. My oldest son has done the kids race since he was 5 years old. It's amazing to see how much he's grown. Our youngest is now going on his second year racing. This was his first year without training wheels. I was super impressed at how well both of them rode. Ryan (oldest) had to compete on his mtn bike which surprisingly wasn't all that bad. It was all mtn bikes that took the first three spots. Next year though he'll be racing a road bike. It's been ordered but didn't arrive in time for the Colorado trip. We've got a local race coming up that I'm hoping he will be able to compete in. It doesn't give him much time to train though.

Ryan waiting for the pre-race instruction.

Criteriums

Being that the road race was cancelled, I think that lead to a greater turn out for the criteriums. Cats 4 and 5 were a big group but I think the 3's were the funnest to watch. They were hauling butt. There's a 90 degree corner and the bottom of the hill and they were hitting it full blast. There was only one small tangle when one guys pedal was caught up the bottle cage of another bike.

Cat 3's were super fast!

The highlight of the criteriums is the Cruiser Classic. This event brings out the crazy ones. It's hilarious what people think of. The best group this year was 3 kids all dressed as Elvis playing yukeleles and riding unicycles. The were awesome. Then there came the Super Family. This guy has been in the ride before but this year they included a trailer attached to a two seater, elevated seat, bike. Remember the 90 degree corner......well the trailer (and it's rider) didn't make the corner. The trailer went rolling and so did the passenger. They were all dressed in Superman outfits and what I thought was the guys boot falling off.......wasn't. After rolling from the trailer he went to stand up. His left leg just buckled. It was truly an amazing (disgusting) site. What I believed was his boot facing sideways from his leg was actually his foot. It was 90 degrees from the direction it should have been. He just dropped and laid there. Fortunately the ambulance was sitting on that corner. His family was staying at the same hotel we were and told us the next morning that he broke both his Tibia and Fibula at different levels. He had surgery that night and went home the next morning. Amazing medicine.

Here's the Cruiser Race!!

Super Family before "the corner".

And...After

Hotel
We stayed at the Iron Horse Inn which was very convenient. The cool part is that our room was 100 feet from the railroad tracks. Now for a typical train that would really suck because of the noise but this is the Durango/Silverton train. It only runs twice a day 8:15 and 9:15am. So every morning you would find my boys searching for coins to put on the track. I'm still amazed at how heavy that train must be. You couldn't flatten these coins that much with a sledge hammer.

This is all right outside our door.

Any cyclist would love Durango. When the shoulder on the highway is as wide at the car lane, you know they care about cycling. For the most part everyone is very courteous to cyclists. I'm sure that if I lived there I would think otherwise but for now I'm pretty impressed.

Last year I did the Durango Fall Blaze which is a 100 mile bike tour around Durango and surrounding area. It was this ride that showed me what a beautiful place it is. There is such a diverse population. You've got your cyclists, both road and mountain. You've got your hippies and tree huggers. Property in Durango is outrageous so you surely have your rich folks. There are hay farms and horses throughout so you have your cowboys and western folk. And of course you have your good ol red necks. It's just a cool place, no matter what you enjoy. Every morning I'd walk out the door of the room and look over the valley. It was so lush and green. If I had a million, I'd definitely have a home in Durango. For now though I guess I'll enjoy our couple of visits a year.


Thanks for reading