More Biskipples

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic is a nearly forty year tradition here in Durango. The fortieth race will be next year, actually. It started as a bet between two brothers - one who worked on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train and one who was a bicycle enthusiast. The two brothers "raced" their respective vehicles and, eventually, the brother on the bike won. Since 1972, more and more people have been celebrating the start of Summer and the first runs of the train by racing that old Iron Horse coal powered engine more than 50 miles up the mountain (from 6,500 feet elevation to almost 11,000). It's a grueling race. Our neighborhood is right on the course. We prefer to watch. :-)

One of our friends (actually several, but one in particular) was riding her first Iron Horse this year. Ashley told us what time she should pass by and we were there to cheer her on! Norah was actually really interested in the race. She yelled, "Good dob!" (good job) at all the riders going by. Our house is right before the first downhill on the course, so people seemed to appreciate the encouragement. We did get to see Ashley. She was doing an amazing job! Norah yelled and cheered and then sadly asked, "Were's Ashley?" I guess she didn't realize that she'd be riding PAST us, not TO us.

Anyway, here are some photos of the event:

A view of the course from the end of our street. See the teeny dots on the road? Those are the racers.

See them now? Literally chugging up the hill...

We walked down to the entrance of our neighborhood and then decided to cross the street so that we could be on the same side as the riders coming up. A lovely day for a bike race don't you think?

Even after about 20 miles of riding, most of the riders would come in packs of about 20 or so. This photo was taken between groups. Every time one group passed and another came up over the rise, Norah would exclaim, "More biskipples!!"

Then we saw Ashley. She's the second one in the picture above. See the shadow of Mark holding Norah and Norah waving at the bottom of the frame?

Waving...

Air high five!

Still smiling!

Off to the downhill portion!

So, as far as we could tell, Ashley's first race was a smashing success! We, the sideline cheerers, salute all of the crazies chugging up the hill to beat the train. As Norah would say, "Good Dob!"